5 Things We Learnt From Watford 0-5 Liverpool

 1) 100 PL goals from Mane

Sadio Mane became the 3rd African player to score 100 PL goals being only 4 behind both Didier Drogba and his own teammate, Mo Salah. Salah played a delightful pass from outside his left foot which Mane latched onto and finished with ease. He could have scored a similar goal in the 71st minute when Bobby passed him the ball but his first time finish let him down. He also had a part to play in Liverpool's second as he found Milner on the overlap and the veteran passed the ball to Bobby who tapped it into an empty net. 

2) Magic Mo!

Mo Salah is doing unreal things at the moment. First, he displayed his vision and precision as he laid on a exquisite pass for Mane's opener. Second, he scored an outrageous goal, almost identical to the one he scored against Manchester City, beating 3 Watford players, for Liverpool's fourth. Not only did he take his tally to 104 PL goals but he also joined Didier Drogba as the highest scoring African player in PL history. 

3)Back in the team, back among the goals for Bobby

It was the perfect afternoon for Bobby Firmino. He didn't start the game in the best of fashion as he played a few poor balls and didn't make the proper choices in laying off the ball from his feet. However, he bounced back admirably being at the right place at the right time, scoring a hat-trick. Not only did he find the back of the net thrice but also laid the assist for Mo's goal. Overall, it was a perfect match for Liverpool's favoured 'Front 3'. Firmino, Mane and Salah have now scored 23(yes, 23!) goals against Watford.

4) 5-star performance from the Reds

Today's match could've easily proven to be a banana skin for Liverpool. Alisson and Fabinho were unavailable, Watford had a new coach at the helm and Liverpool's last visit to Vicarage Road wasn't the most memorable one. However, the way Liverpool started the game looked as if they wanted to make amends for that 3-0 loss against Watford in February 2020. It was an utterly dominant display so much so that Watford didn't even have a shot on goal by HT. All 3 of Liverpool's famous 'Front 3' were on the scoresheet and being 4-0 up with half an hour to go allowed Jurgen Klopp to rest our full-backs before the CL clash against Atleti at the Wanda Metropolitano. This also helped provide some valuable minutes to fringe players like Tsimikas, Oxlade Chamberlain and Neco Williams. Watford did comeback into the game but Kelleher's save to deny Sarr in the 84th minute preserved Liverpool's clean sheet. Most important of all, every player managed to come unscathed and this was a very encouraging sign for the team.

5) Next up is the CL game against Atletico 

Liverpool have had mixed fortunes at the Wanda Metropolitano. They obviously won 'No.6' there in the 2018-19 season but lost 1-0 to Atletico in the 1st leg of the Round of 16 tie, the following season. Atletico Madrid have also proven to be a bogey team for Liverpool in the UEFA CL: Liverpool have failed to win any of the 4 games against the Rojiblancos. Let us hope that the Reds manage to turn around this poor run of form this time around.