Cometh the hour…cometh the Carvalho

@TomCunningham75

Cometh the hour…cometh the Carvalho

I never really know what approach to take after moments like that. Part of me wants to remain sensible; remain pragmatic, almost taking the Sean Dyche approach. But, then the other half of me wants to spam explicits and scream Fabio Carvalho’s name from every rooftop that I can find. So, we’ll go for a mix, shall we? For, that was the moment that will signal lift off in Liverpool’s season.

For 98 excruciatingly frustrating, cramp-filled minutes, the Anfield fortress looked as blunt as ever, as out of artillery as ever. In truth, fortress is a long way down the list of superlatives you could use to describe it for those minutes which felt like an eternity. Meanwhile, the tenants of that fortress, known for being mentally monsters, looked more like mentality mice, who were the ones asking the questions, and being forced to answer the same puzzling thoughts of those around them.

The truth is, if you asked me if I thought Liverpool would be about to find yet another moment to remember at Anfield against Newcastle, my answer would have been a resounding no. And maybe even some of the players lacked that belief. After all, they had been a shadow of their previously glorious selves.

Of course, and this is me turning to the pragmatic approach, we still have issues to address. Liverpool were breached incredibly easily once more. The positives that the high-line brings no longer outweighed the negatives, as Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez struggled as a partnership again, whilst Jordan Henderson also looked a painful drop off from the quality that we have become so used to seeing from Thiago Alcantara. And those, as well as other problems, are things that must be addressed quickly.

Sometimes, however, all it takes is one, vital reminder of the emotions that these players are capable of dragging from within us; a reminder that everyone needed, whether in red on the pitch or in the Anfield stands. As the ball agonisingly bounced inside the Newcastle area, as it turns out, the football storytellers were carving out yet another twist; helping to form yet another potential new Anfield hero. And, as it was, cometh the hour, cometh the Carvalho was the case; the reminder that we had so desperately needed.

Now, after that one reminder, perhaps things don’t look too bleak; perhaps that belief is back; those questions over the ability to do what looked near-impossible have perhaps been answered for the sake and relief of those on and off the pitch. Just maybe, as Anfield roared for the first real time this season, it signalled the readjustment into the steady and mentally unbreachable side that we have seen over the years. I, for one, hope that is the case.

BY TOM CUNNINGHAM