Liverpool 5-0 Huddersfield: Owen and Neville are staggered by ‘brilliant’ Reds

Michael Owen and Phil Neville are staggered by the brilliant Liverpool side that beat Huddersfield Town 5-0 in the Premier League on Friday night.

Sadio Mane scored twice for the Reds to take his season’s tally to 20, while Mohamed Salah also bagged a double as he moved top of Golden Boot rankings with 21 strikes.

Naby Keita broke records for Liverpool by scoring after 15 seconds as he got the side off to a lightning start, but it wasn’t the forwards or midfielders who Owen and Neville singled out for praise.

Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold have been an attacking force all season and have 20 assists between them this season.

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Because Mane and Salah cut inside from their wide positions, the team’s width has to come from Robertson and Alexander-Arnold – said Owen.

The amount of running required by those two youngsters to support attacks but also avoid leaving the side exposed at the back is ‘phenomenal’, chimed in Neville.

As well as staying out wide and running all day, Robertson and Alexander-Arnold also have to be able to deliver accurate crosses to Mane, Salah and the central striker – which is normally Roberto Firmino.

Talking about those forwards, Owen continued to say that to have two players who’ve scored more than 20 goals a season is absolutely ‘staggering’.

But it’s not time Liverpool have been blessed with such ability as Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez both got more than 20 under Brendan Rodgers. That season the side fell short of the ultimate goal, so hopefully the Reds haven’t been cursed forever!

Although under Klopp, we have a much more solid team with high performers all over the pitch. If Rodgers had a defender as good as Virgil van Dijk, there is no way Liverpool wouldn’t have won the league that season.

And with two players on 20 assists between them and two others with 20 or more goals, you can be sure that next season will feature a title challenge as well.