2016-17 pundits' picks: Match of the Season
Here's one that certainly wasn't easy for our panel to decide – Liverpool's best game of the season. So many candidates, but which clashes stood out?
Gareth Roberts: It’s hard to beat the derby at Goodison Park. It wasn’t a classic game of football, as is so often the case in matches between Liverpool and Everton, but to win it in the way we did was superb. Everton had dug in and done a good job of not allowing Liverpool’s creativity to show through but when the board for injury-time came up there was only one likely winner. For the victory to come so late, so deep into injury-time… it was possibly the sweetest way to win three points there.
Steve Hunter: Beating Everton 1-0 at Goodison Park thanks to Sadio Mane’s last-gasp winner. It was our last game before Christmas and was the ideal present – a red Christmas!
Jan Molby: There was a lot of really good performances and most of them were before Christmas. It started with a cracker and the 4-3 win at Arsenal was a great performance. Beating Everton in the last minute was great and real drama before Christmas, but I have to say in hindsight winning at Chelsea with a superb first-half performance is the one that stands out for me.
Matt Smith: You could say the last game against Middlesbrough because it was so important I suppose, but you could also say the first one against Arsenal because it was so spectacular. In the context of the whole season I am going to say the 2-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. That jumps out because of the quality of the football Liverpool played and not many teams beat Chelsea this season. I remember it for the brilliance of the strike from Jordan Henderson, who has been much missed in the second half of the year, and the fact they played a couple of different ways – offensively to get in front and then stubbornly hold on in the last 20 minutes – I thought that was excellent.
Roy Evans: The 3-0 win over Middlesbrough in the final game of the season because at the end of the day we had to win, we did the job and we qualified for the Champions League.
Melissa Reddy: Liverpool’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City at the Etihad was a pulsating, barely-believable encounter. How the scoreline stayed so low is still a mystery given the attacking onslaught both teams provided. Breathless and bold, it will long live in the memory. The 2-0 victory against Tottenham at Anfield is also high on my list for Mane’s masterclass, and the 4-3 win over Arsenal at the Emirates on the opening day of the season was absolute scenes!
David Fairclough: I am going to go for the Arsenal game at the start of the season. You can’t forget some of the things that happened very early on. We were playing really great stuff and I think it generally excited people and it made us feel like we would challenge this year.
Chris Bascombe: The first game of the season against Arsenal for a number of reasons. First of all, when you start the season you are never actually sure how it’s going to go. Yes, you have your expectations and before that game everyone was hoping for a top-four challenge. After the game those expectations were changed and you thought ‘Hang on, how good was that?!’ They didn’t quite sustain that level beyond January but nevertheless that start ultimately made sure Liverpool were in the Champions League places, and that win was the difference to keeping Arsenal out of the top four. Liverpool took Arsenal apart at the start of the second half and it set the tone. I know they didn’t keep that level of football for eight or nine months, but I think that’s the standard of football Liverpool are looking for. It’s almost a blueprint if Klopp can get the players he wants in the summer for the style of football we are going to see over the next two seasons.