GLEN JOHNSON: In this week’s blog, Brand Ambassador Glen Johnson reflects on Liverpool’s entertaining draw at Old Trafford, and explains why he believes Raheem Sterling is one of the best in the business today.
Old Trafford draw no concern for Klopp
As I mentioned last week, a trip to Old Trafford is one of the hardest away fixtures in the Premier League and it was never going to be as straightforward as many people thought it would be for Liverpool. However good or bad this United side are, they were always going to raise their game for such a big match and in the end it wasn’t a big surprise to me that the game ended in a draw.
Jurgen Klopp should take the positives out of it. It’s another point, they are still unbeaten in the league and they’ve still got a six-point cushion over Manchester City. That’s still a pretty sizeable gap and I’d be pretty sure Klopp would have taken that at the start of the season.
His players will obviously be gutted they didn’t keep the winning run going, particularly as it seemed a really good time to play United, but Adam Lallana’s late goal made sure they got a point and kept the momentum going.
(c) Andrew Yates/Sportimage via PA Images
Any team struggles without Salah’s quality
Mohamed Salah was obviously a big miss for Liverpool on Sunday and any team is going to find it hard when you lose a player of his quality. Liverpool are clearly better when he’s in the side and it shows that even though they had Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane available, they are a better team when the front-three are all together. It gives your teammates such a boost, especially in the big games, when you look around and know you have your best players on the pitch. They are the ones who are the difference makers and it would definitely have been a boost for the United players to see Salah out injured.
Liverpool’s starting 11 is one of the best in Europe, but where they slightly struggle compared to the likes of City is their squad depth. You need quality in numbers in all positions and that’s perhaps where Klopp’s side slightly fall down. If they can get their first choice side on the pitch though, they’ve shown they are a match for anyone.
(c) Paul Terry/Sportimage via PA Images
Hard for Spurs to better last season
It’s really hard to see Spurs bettering how they got on last season. To reach the Champions League final was an incredible achievement, but for whatever reason, they’ve really struggled to live up to those heights so far this season. It’s a pretty similar side to what they had last year, so it’s hard to put a finger on the real issue, but they simply aren’t clicking in the way we know they can.
The board have obviously spent huge sums of money on the new stadium and they’ll be expecting Champions League football every season. Invariably they’d have hoped to budget on maintaining their place in the competition, so you’d think things will need to improve quickly, based on their start to the new campaign, they seem some way off.
(c) Robin Parker/Sportimage via PA Images
I don’t see their slow start being down to a European hangover. Hardly anyone saw them getting to the final last season and the Tottenham players should see that as a positive. They’ve proved they’ve got the players to succeed in these big games and they need to start showing that, it’s a simple as that.
It’s the same case for Mauricio Pochettino. He’s got the club to a European final and it’s very hard to see him taking Spurs any further. He’s constantly linked with the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester United and if they do come calling, you’d wonder if he’d struggle to turn them down. I don’t see them getting any closer to the top than that final and they look a long way off winning the league. He’s shown what he can do, but he simply hasn’t got the squad to challenge Manchester City and Liverpool and unless he’s given massive amounts of money to spend in the transfer window, I don’t see them bridging the gap.
(c) pressinphoto/Sipa USA)
Sterling one of the world’s best
When Raheem Sterling first burst onto the scene at Liverpool, he showed he had plenty of ability in training and on the pitch but I don’t think any of us saw him becoming the player he has become. He was technically very raw when I played with him. He was all about pace, power and being good in small spaces, but he was still technically a fair way off. Some of the stuff he does on the pitch now shows how much he’s improved. He’s so composed in front of goal and seems to have grown out of the lose touches and poor touches that were in his game a few years ago.
A few people have said Sterling is one of the top-five players in the world and on current evidence, I’d agree. There aren’t many players I’d want more in my front-three than him. He just seems to get better and better and both Man City and England have got a world-class player on their hands.
(c) Darren Staples/Sportimage via PA Images
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