Not sure I agree entirely.
For us to beat a top six side, two things are required; us to play exceptionally well and them to play quite badly. If either one of those is missing then a side like us (and I include the whole bottom half, if not all of the "Other 14" in that) doesnt get that win.
We do not have the players or resources to just beat Liverpool away when they are at the top of their game or near it. We probably never will.
And Liverpool were nowhere near the top of their game yesterday.
I agree with you- they turned up. They weren't shocking. First half they seemed pretty good but were having a bad day on finishing and, to an extent, creating around our excellent defensive play. Liverpool at the top of their game would have found more ways through and finished one of the chances they had. But they weren't awful, they definitely turned up- but found a much harder game than they expected.
Second half, Liverpool seemed awful. Their fans were all saying that they just didn't come out after the break. They created nothing. Absolutely, we did magnificent defensive work to make that incredibly hard for them. But they are a world class squad that is used to finding solutions to clubs doing that, both here and in Europe. And they had a bad day because in that second half it sounds like they never even looked like finding any solutions.
I said on the match thread when the team came out that Nuno's lineup was the right one. The only way to win games like this is to be incredibly disciplined and to either nab one first half and defend it, or reduce the amount of time you are directly competing with them toe to toe down to about 20 minutes in the second half as they get tired and desperate.
You have to earn the right though. You have to defend for your lives as a team, frustrate them, keep them out. Cooper understood this and had the same tactic there last season. But if you make a mistake or they just find a solution and score, then the whole game is up. There is no margin for error.
Our brilliance was in frustrating them and making them more and more worried as the game went on. We earned the right to go toe to toe with them for 20 mins. We bring the quick and dangerous players on as they get desperate and make themselves vulnerable, and one of them takes one of the chances. Then they really are desperate.
It was a superb performance, on the pitch and tactically. Bold and simple. It wasn't unpredictable; even I said this is what he would do. But our players out there earned the right to have that shot at them in the second half.
But all that magnificent defensive work doesn't win the game if they don't fall into panic or just fail to find any solutions.
