Andrew Robertson claims this season’s title race is different from previous seasons when Liverpool have slugged it out with Manchester City.
Arsenal have opened up a four-point lead by winning nine of their first 10 league games, while Tottenham and Manchester United have also improved. Liverpool are back in eighth after their best win of the season so far over City and they have won just three of their opening nine games.
Robertson knows this is not good enough and says the Reds still have work to do to get back into the title race. "For the last three or four years, it’s always been us and Man City in one and two,” he said.
“Now other teams are getting involved, Arsenal look amazing this season, Tottenham look a different animal, Chelsea are getting going again, Man United.
“Those teams are trying to close the gap in terms of quality, but we’re too far behind to focus on that just now. We just need to focus on putting in performances like we did tonight because if we do that I believe we’ll get chances against any team, and defensively I thought we looked solid.”
Liverpool finally looked like their old selves as they produced their best 90 minutes of the season to hand City their first league defeat since February. The Reds defence, which has been so leaky during their stuttering start, was resolute and Mohamed Salah was back to his world-class best.
Who do you think will win the Premier League this season? Comment here
Robertson says they must use the result to kickstart their season and ensure it is not a false dawn. “Hopefully,” he said. “We were obviously brilliant, but we need consistency. We’ve had a couple of performances this season where people have said, ‘can this kickstart the season?’.
“It’s important, it’s such a big win for us against an unbelievable team that put us under so much pressure. But it’s only a massive three points if we use it to our advantage. This performance was an excellent performance, but it’s important we all don’t get too carried away.
“We have to do it consistently now, that’s what our success has been built on in the past: being consistently good, consistently getting results, and when you don’t play well, still getting results. We’ve not done that this season and that’s why we’re in the position we’re in.”
Robertson says Liverpool had to beat City to stop the rot and he wants them to go on a winning run, with West Ham next up at Anfield on Wednesday. “We’re far behind, but only results are going to help that,” said the Scotland captain.
“This had to be a start playing against the best team, for me, the quality they’ve got and the confidence they come in with. It was a great performance by all of us, but, like I said, we have to carry it forward to Wednesday and another tough game, a different challenge. We have to now put a run of results together.”
Robertson also praised Alisson and he was key to Liverpool’s win as he made a string of saves before making Salah’s winner with his quick thinking. He collected the ball and quickly kicked it upfield to Salah, who capitalised on Joao Cancelo’s mistake to run through and score.
“Ali on the ball is unbelievable and you have to trust him in those moments,” he said. “It came from their corner or free-kick and Ali has got it in his hands and you trust him to make the right decisions.
“It’s something we trust Ali with, he’s unbelievable with the ball at his feet. He’s got great vision as well and when he sees something, then we have to react off it and we all pushed up and luckily the ball has ended up in the back of the net.
“I think Ali’s the best in the world for sure in what he does. We’ve all probably let him down this season in that he’s faced too many shots, he’s had to be making too many saves. I think he’ll be a lot happier tonight.”
