Perhaps it was Chelsea’s 5-0 battering of the other Merseyside club that inspired Liverpool to run riot on visitors Watford. Perhaps it was simply the continuation of the dominance the Reds are beginning to routinely enforce. Either way, Liverpool hammered the Hornets 6-1 in a score that could easily have been more uneven.
The Reds started brightly intent on a rapid start with Watford barely getting a sniff of the ball for the opening 15 minutes. Finding a rhythm proved a bit harder for the home side as some early sloppiness prevented them from making their industry pay early.
More encouraging, however, is how little the bigger, more physical sides seem to trouble Liverpool as they have over the past few years.
Liverpool did nearly jump ahead in the 7th minute, when the team press won the ball back with Adam Lallana and Roberto Firmino combining. Even Lucas Leiva’s had a chance in 17th minute on the doorstep of the back post. Then Philippe Coutinho took two completely defenders out of the game with a divine first touch before flashing a shot wide in the 20th minute. Early, the Reds created chances only to spurn them.
Then the landslide started with Sadio Mane’s flick header that came from a cross by Coutinho after a short corner. Once they forced that lead in the 27th minute, the match was effectively over but the Reds were far from finished.
Apart from those three early chances, there were four from Daniel Sturridge alone that could have run the score even further out of balance. The striker managed to smash two off the crossbar and force Costel Pantilimon saves that a sharper Sturridge would likely have buried, although one resulted in Gini Wijnaldum breaking his duck.
The only flattery from this scoreline was that Liverpool failed again to keep a clean sheet.
No matter, first week of November and Liverpool surged to the top of the league.
Here are my four findings from the game:
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