Jan Molby: Villa Beaten, Madrid Outclassed, Now Comes the Real Test
This Is About More Than Just Beating City
People keep asking if we’ve turned a corner. After the wins over Aston Villa and Real Madrid, it is tempting to say yes. But I would hold off. It feels better, of course it does, but two games at Anfield do not make a full recovery. Let’s see what Sunday brings against Manchester City before we make any declarations.
Things were looking rough before Villa. We had lost six out of seven. It was bleak. We were languishing seven points behind the leaders and the performances were flat, lifeless. There was no good half in us. Sometimes, not even a good ten minutes. The questions were mounting and even with all the noise around Slot, it was hard not to feel some concern creeping in.
Anfield Still Makes the Difference
What helped, no question, was having two games at home. That is something you can lean on when you’re struggling. Anfield brought calm and structure back into the side. Robbo came back in. The midfield looked familiar again. Alexis Mac Allister picked up some form. Salah worked harder off the ball. The press had a bit of bite again.
It is often simple. You win second balls. You run a bit more. You dig in. Suddenly you are in the game. That is what happened. Salah put himself about. Won a few tackles. Even that helps. You get the crowd onside, you get your teammates looking around and thinking, alright, let’s go.
Villa played into our hands. They tried to play through us, which, given our vulnerabilities, was surprising. But it suited us. Madrid tried something similar. And at Anfield, if you try to play your own tempo and pass it around at the back, you are going to get eaten alive. That is what happened.
City Is the Real Test
Now we see if anything has really changed. Going to City is a different challenge. Guardiola might decide to play a different game. He has shown that he can adapt. He did it at Arsenal a few weeks ago. If they go long to Haaland, and look to fight for second balls, that unsettles teams. They might not have Ederson available to ping it long like before, but they can still get it forward quickly and make it scrappy.
That is not the sort of game we like. If we are going to find out if this team is back, it will be in how we handle that. Not just whether we win or not, but how we cope. Can we keep our shape? Can we find control? Can we trust the structure?
Because that is the difference now. There is finally a structure again. For weeks, we were throwing things at the wall. Chopping and changing. Trying to make new pieces fit. But the last two games, things clicked. The balance returned. The front line worked because of the shape behind them.