In the week where the end of Jurgen Klopp’s first great frontline became indisputable a new attacking trident repeated the trick that Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane so often delivered, ripping Manchester United to pieces in a result that acts as a valuable reality check for both sides.
Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo have an awfully long way to go before they can claim to be as devastating as Mohamed Salah’s former hunting partners but a brace each in a 7-0 win is quite the way to start, the biggest win against their great rivals for a side who beat them 4-0 and 5-0 last season. Most importantly of all, there is a path for these three to discover the same multiplicative powers that made Firmino, Mane and Salah the four most terrifying words in European football for a time.
These three will be different: no one in the Liverpool side of old rampaged around the field with the irrepressible bullishness of Nunez, an aerial menace and pressing dervish. Salah himself has had to adapt for the good of the team this season. Once more at Anfield, the Egyptian was more frequently to be found by the right touchline than drifting into the middle, Trent Alexander-Arnold instead utilizing the right half spaced to display his range of incisive passing. Of course, when the chance did come to inflict for Salah some damage on the breakaway he needed no second invitation, a thunderous right-footed drive to add a further veneer of humiliation to a woeful United collapse.
Knitting it all together was another false nine. Jurgen Klopp wanted to keep Firmino long after it was apparent that he was a faded force because of his selfless qualities, the way in which he accentuates the play of those around him, a No. 9 who would be more than willing to sacrifice his own shots if a teammate is better placed. Those qualities are hard to find but Liverpool have previous when it comes to talent spotting in advanced areas.
There were…
