It is called the Glory Game after all. Football history is all about the glory, the moments of art and imagination which inspire legend.
Liverpool know all about that of course. The names are illustrious, the deeds stirring. Yet even a cursory glimpse into their history shows it is the hard yards which provide the route to titles.
Shankly’s teams were famous for those horrible scraps, the dour victories. Paisley’s teams too, were fighters before anything else, the 1979 team - perhaps the greatest of all - conceding just 16 goals in 42 games.
It’s a prosaic truth that has become a truism. Winning the games you don’t deserve to...the ugly wins deliver the league. So it is no wonder that wisdom was wheeled out so liberally after this defeat of West Ham.
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Jurgen Klopp spoke of winning when not playing well: “You can’t win 12 in a row by winning only the games where you are flying,” was his frank assessment. Trent Alexander-Arnold spoke of “grinding it out”.
Interestingly, he suggested: “These are the ones that matter.” He means in the title race of course - that is what it takes to win the league. The one-nils. The ugly victories. The clean sheets.
Liverpool have 15 of them in the Premier League already this season, pulling level with Manchester City in that statistic on Saturday evening. They have averaged 2.6 goals per game, but the zeros against are the prize.
“Clean sheets are so important - that is what we base ourselves on,” Andy Robertson explained after a big win, and quite possibly a big moment in this season’s race.
“They give us confidence in what we’re doing. Today was one of the tougher ones. We had to put bodies on the line, last-ditch tackles and things like that.
“Don’t get me wrong, the forwards love scoring goals but the start of winning games is by keeping clean sheets, then hopefully the boys up top do their magic. Luckily Sadio did today. Then it was up to us to dig deep.”
Mane’s moment really was magic, a run so perfect it deserves more praise than it received. Yet Liverpool were lucky, despite several more first half chances. They looked tired, lethargic even at times, struggling on a slow, heavy pitch.
It happens of course. Yet there were signs against Chelsea in the EFL Cup final too. Mo Salah hasn’t been near his mercurial best, the midfield is looking a little more open. Thiago’s absence, and his ability to control the pace of contests, is a big miss.
The question is, can they grind through this period, emerge with their energy restored, their proximity to the summit of the table intact? Robertson believes that is the key. They have won 12 in a row now, but he believes it will take more, far more.
“12 games on the bounce is incredible but we need to keep going. We need more than that if we want to achieve what we want to achieve,” he explained.
“If we don’t play well, we’ve managed to still grind out results, which is important, so long may it continue. We’re into March now and we’re still fighting for three competitions. That’s exciting.
“But it’s up to us to make it exciting, and the only way we do that is finding ways to keep winning games. Because we’ve still got a gap to close, we’re still in the chasing pack and we’ve got to keep chasing. That’s the key.”
