www.Go To The Mountain - Musings of a Potential Guru

Haha, what a wretched and strange season Liverpool is enduring after a record winning season and being crowned Champions of England, Europe and the world. We all know about the long term injuries of Virgil Van Dijk followed be Joe Gomez and Joel Matip meaning their whole first choice centre-halves were ruled out for the whole season. Even their midfielders turned centre halves are now wiped out with Fabinho and Henderson injured. Even Jota who came on brightly to strengthen the once feared front three has been out for so long. I am not aware of any team suffering from such casualties in one season resulting in calamity. Without these key players the Reds are struggling to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. It is hard to fault Klopp even if he remains stubborn as he has won trophies in the last few seasons that few could playing the way they have been playing. Without VVD you mays till cope but without the entire centre defence pulling two key midfielders Fabinho and Henderson back

It's Manchester City's turn to run away with it this season. 10 points ahead of United in 2nd and showing no signs of slackening. Leicester are 3rd level with United but just slightly behind on goal difference. Chelsea have bounced back to 4th, level on points with West Ham with better goal difference. Champions Liverpool are now 6th followed by Everton 3 points behind with a game in hand which is their visit to Anfield for the Merseyside Derby and Aston Villa also 3 points behind with 2 games in hand. Tottenham are 9th and Arsenal 10th.  Cursed! Champions Liverpool have been cursed. It has been incredulous whatever has happened to them. They played well at Leicester and controlled proceedings and even had the lead with a good goal with Firmino's deft touches when surrounded by defenders flicking the ball from his right to left foot to a back flick to Salah who placed the ball so well into the net for his 17th league goal. As if they have to conspire to lose, VAR gave a goa

Manchester City now leads the table with 50 points, five ahead of second placed United with a game in hand and ten points ahead of Champions Liverpool languishing in fourth. City's 4-1 win at an empty Anfield was a statement of intent. It was Liverpool's best chance to narrow the gap and when the game was at 1-1, there was still a chance though City played on the front foot and dominated but the Reds came back later and were dominant with 56% of the ball and both having 8 shots at goal though City created more chances. It was the uncharacteristic display and shocking errors of Alisson Becker that gave City two goals to lead 2-1 and then 3-1 with the span of three minutes. What was Alisson thinking when he attempted to pass the ball out quickly in the danger zone giving it away to City players lurking nearby which quickly led to City scoring twice? A big hoof away would suffice in those moments. Why were Liverpool players playing the ball back to Alisson in those short distances

  In a crisis there are opportunities. The Chinese words for crisis is " 危机" (weiji) which when separated is  " 危" (danger) and " 机" (opportunity) thus when there is a crisis there are also opportunities.  In this abnormal season, everything is different. Rich / poor divide may get wider but the difference among soccer teams gets narrower and have thrown out freak results, etc. Manchester City are the team to beat as they lead the table with 47 points with a game in hand. Their neighbour United are at 44, Leicester are next with 42 and champions Liverpool at 40. West Ham came up to a deserved 5th as Chelsea climbed up a bit under a new manager with 36 points, Everton dropped off a little with 36 points to 7th, Tottenham have frustrating slumbered to 8th (33 points), Aston Villa recently weakened to 9th (32 points) and Arsenal caught up with some positive results of late to 10th (31 points). It is just 2 games past the mid-way points. It is quite clear it

At its breakneck pace, I got knee injury just for writing. There is no time. Mai Tu Liao. So I shall give for tonight's games then up-date if I could the next day.  Sheffield United v WBA - Sheffield United has the unglamorous record of being the worst team in the Premier League without a win un 19 games. Are they really that bad when you could go to Old Trafford and won 2-1? Played Man City away and gave them a hard time but lost 0-1. Sam Allardyce has been a mixed bag. I think its a Blade's win. 2-1. Wolves v Arsenal - Wolves has been having a hard time while Arsenal have been improving. Somehow I think the Gunners could just get something here with full points. 0-1. Manchester United v Southampton - United are facing a small blip - winless in two games. They will be somewhat happy that Southampton are in a bit of a slump. In life you need a bit of luck and timing is everything like the stock market. Both teams have some doubts about themselves. Draw. 2-2. Newcastle v Crystal