As everybody knows, it's the lack of the goal in the second half that's going to kill us. At 3-1, the return leg is a different match. We can beat them at our place, maybe 2-1, maybe even 3-1, but I seriously doubt that we can stop them scoring. And even 4-1 wouldn't be enough. Fair play: I truly dislike their supporters – watched it in the pub, there was one utterly obnoxious bellend giving it the big one right through the match, London accent, never seen any of them before, they seem to crawl out of the woodwork for the big European matches or the domestic finals, otherwise they're nowhere to be seen. But their team is on fire, Salah is having an extraordinary season, as good as Suarez's in 2013-14. They did a number on us, and no mistake. And Klopp quite rightly told them, at half time, right, you've done the job, now sit back, stay disciplined, and conserve energy. What shocks me is that Karius did not have a single shot to save. I didn't think the dippers were capable of that level of discipline in defence. They didn't allow anybody to stray into space unnoticed in that second half. They kept their eye on everyone. Didn't think they had that in them.
No, really, I think the CL is for another year. I regret it, because I do care about winning this competition, and our owners now clearly consider it as a priority. Whatever, this is a truly marvellous season. Just one week ago, we completely played Everton off the park, and everybody was raving about the level of our play. And that's happened over and over this season (not least against the dippers in September). I'm not consoling myself, I absolutely hate losing to that lot, and we were thoroughly beaten. But you've got to keep a sense of perspective.
One slight glimmer (and it really is a slight one): I thought Raz played fairly well when he came on, and did not look the slightest bit bothered by the famous 'Anfield atmosphere', to my eye.