Sadio Mane at double as Liverpool finish with wave to punish Cardiff

If the old maxim of football is true, the one that says that the attackers of a team win games but it is a defense that takes titles, then there are surely opportunities to Anfield who were not present since 28 seasons.

When Cardiff City scored here to bring the score to 2-1 at thirteen minutes, the feeling of disappointment – even shock – was palpable, not because it was Cardiff and that they did not. had not previously warned that this was in their arsenal, as it is so unusual for Liverpool to concede these days, especially at home. In the end, this only highlights the distance traveled by Jurgen Klopp.

The intervention of Callum Patterson, who defeated Alisson, meant that Liverpool had missed the opportunity to break a new record of ten consecutive white sheets at Anfield in the league. It would have been an amazing feat to think about the club's history. It was a sequence that went back to February at a stadium where they had only lost in cup competitions for more than 18 months.

Again, Liverpool did not shine, no single player in particular stood out, but they won easily and they will remain top of the leaderboard until Monday at least.

The mood is restored with the arrival of Xherdan Shaqiri, who was left out by Klopp after being dazzled by the 4-0 win over Red Star Belgrade, where he was replaced by half an hour, apparently to rest. Liverpool was not really shaking after Cardiff reduced his deficit, but he needed someone to seal his victory. Shaqiri turned out to be the player who was making his way past the markers before dropping his shoulder and letting Cardiff goalkeeper Neil Etheridge pbad it coldly.

Liverpool is a team that plays in bursts and in these bursts, a score of 0-0 can suddenly become unrecoverable. Liverpool's second burst came at the end of the match as Sadio Mane scored 4-1 after Mohamed Salah's pbad. The afternoon was again encouraging for the Egyptian, who had already scored Liverpool's first goal after starting the move with his back heel.

The first Liverpool breakup involved Virgil van Dijk, hitting a pole with a header, beating Sol Bamba. The Ivorian would slip then, giving ground to Salah who should have shown more courage in a 50/50 challenge with Etheridge. At a corps meeting with Sean Morrison, the Cardiff captain had his arms crossed over Salah and was fortunate not to concede a penalty.

Fifteen minutes had been played. Bamba, a defender whom Warnock had already described as better than Van Dijk, was under control, and if Cardiff's approach had limited the damage, it was not very effective, especially with the retreat of his circles. The contest could have been completed.

Cardiff was submissive but Liverpool was starting to take things too easy, reaching the point where their movements were sometimes either neglected or actually lazy – something you do not badociate with a Klopp team. But for the head of Adam Lallana, cashed by Morrison just before the break, there was not much else in the first half, although it could not be said that Cardiff had failed to lead Liverpool.

Eighty-two per cent of the players had been acquired by Liverpool up to the hour but their approach had been too excessive to translate into a comfortable lead. Their second goal came to nothing, really – it certainly had not come. Yet Mane's left foot was a missile. The late blast of Patterson, Shaqiri and Mane's goals somewhat calmed things down and finally, the difference in quality was reflected in real terms.

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