After Trent Alexander-Arnold hammered Liverpool’s third goal into Leicester’s net with the sureness and power of a batsman nailing a cover drive, he ran to the Liverpool fans in the corner and shrugged. His message was clear. Simple.
This was it, but it hasn’t been this season and that’s the big conundrum facing Jürgen Klopp and his team as they desperately try to regain all that was lost in the dysfunctional purgatory of two thirds of this football year.
This was win seven over the spin in the Premier League. It was comfortable and at times immersive and means Liverpool, in fifth, are now so tight on the shoulder of Newcastle and Manchester United in third and fourth in the Champions League that they must be leaving a mark.
Alexander-Arnold was magnificent here, his passing being geometrically perfect at times. Mohamed Salah, with three assists, was also on his game, as was Curtis Jones, the young midfielder recovering from a stress fracture of his leg and scoring twice in three minutes of the first half. Luis Diaz was also excellent as was Jordan Henderson.
Curtis Jones scored a string of goals as Liverpool beat Leicester 3-0 on Monday night
Trent Alexander-Arnold (left) followed and scored a stunning free-kick for the Reds’ third goal
Alexander-Arnold (right) smashed the ball superbly from the 25-yard free kick that sailed into the back of the net
But where has it all been this season? Where was this when Liverpool lost eight times in the league to places like Wolves, Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Brentford and Bournemouth?
This is the question that will haunt them if they are left out of Champions League football next season.
Leicester, of course, likes to trade problems. Dean Smith’s side were competitive here until Jones scored his first. After that, they were meek and vaguely disorganized. Their next game is away from Newcastle and it says a lot about them that the biggest hope they have is that other teams in and around the bottom three don’t win their games between now and then.
In games like this, the first goal always feels so important. Teams struggling at the bottom of a ranking generally have little confidence in their list of weaknesses. As such, they have trouble reacting when the opponent scores first.
So it was for Everton at home to Manchester City on Sunday. One minute they were in the game and the next City had scored and no more. At Leeds, Sam Allardyce even went so far as to articulate it ahead of his new team’s game against Newcastle. Admit first and we won’t recover was the gist of it.
So Leicester only conformed to the stereotype when they lost all semblance of form, credibility and cohesion when they were left here. The first half hour of play they were more than fine. Harvey Barnes and Jamie Vardy both threatened to break Liverpool’s precarious offside trap. Vardy did that once and forced Alisson to close the corner and make the save. Previously, Jonny Evans, playing his first game since March, came close to a free kick when it crossed the Liverpool penalty area.
Liverpool for their part were not without a presence on the counterattack. Diaz hit the side net, while Alexander-Arnold delivered a nice punched pass in the path of Cody Gakpo, but the Dutch striker failed to make the required first touch.
However, it wasn’t until they scored that they looked completely comfortable. The problem for Leicester was that they didn’t score once.
The first goal was wonderful. Leicester might wonder why a long pass from Alisson was so easily controlled by Diaz, but from then on it was all about the passing and vision as the ball went through Henderson to Salah and then, stunningly, to the far post where Jones entered with a sideways foot. on the half volley.
Jones completed the move well, but Salah’s role was key as indeed it was minutes later when he played Jones down the middle for the second goal. Both times the VAR checked for offside and both times Liverpool players were on the right side of the line.
Leicester suddenly threatened to fall apart. Somehow they managed to lose the ball straight off their own kick-off after the second kick-off and Gakpo would have scored an embarrassingly easy third Liverpool goal if his shot hadn’t hit a little too close to Daniel Iversen. Leicester were booed at half-time, but cheered again. Looking at their team, it wasn’t easy to figure out how they are in this predicament. Likewise, some of their mistakes and sloppiness bore the hallmarks of a group of players long since lost their direction.
As long as the deficit remained two, Smith’s team was theoretically still in the game. Liverpool continued to pass the ball cleanly, creating corners and occasionally leading.
Jones (centre) was player of the match, scoring his second and third goals of the season
The result means Dean Smith’s side remain within the bottom three, two points clear of safety
Cody Gakpo (right) was a handful for Leicester during the match, driving the ball to the Foxes defenders on several occasions
For Liverpool it is now their seventh victory on the bounce and they are now one point behind Man United
Salah curled a shot over from 20 yards and got another saved by Iversen. Diaz, meanwhile, reached the byline with a strong run, but his cross was not expected by anyone in the red.
Diaz has been out injured for much of this season and Liverpool have missed his focus and the direct nature of his running.
But it was a strong wave from Henderson that gave Liverpool the free-kick that allowed Alexander-Arnold to bat in the third inning with 19 minutes remaining.
It was a free-kick taken so confidently that you would have heard the thud coming from old Filbert Street. In its own way, it summed up the emphatic nature of this victory.