Clinton Morrison hits the nail on the head in frank dismissal of ‘lucky’ Liverpool narrative | OneFootball

Clinton Morrison is having none of the nonsense from some quarters that Liverpool have been ‘lucky’ this season.

For the fifth match in succession, the Reds scored in the 83rd minute or later to snatch victory from the jaws of a frustrating draw, with Virgil van Dijk’s stoppage-time header ensuring a dramatic 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid tonight.

Paul Merson bitterly declared that Arne Slot’s side have been ‘gifted’ six of their 12 points in the Premier League this term and ‘should be mid-table’ given their level of performances, but the simple fact is that the Merseysiders keep winning!

Morrison insists Liverpool’s results aren’t down to luck

Morrison covered the Liverpool-Atletico game for Sky Sports‘ Soccer Special, and rather than dismissing the Reds as fortunate because of their propensity for late winners, he attributed that to an extraordinary resilience from the players.

The ex-Crystal Palace striker said: “Everyone keeps saying Liverpool leave it late, but it can’t be lucky the number of times they’ve done it already this season.

“They keep going, they’ve got that desire to keep going right until the end. They’ve got big players and big characters. Credit to Liverpool, they would’ve been disappointed had they not won. They were comfortable at 2-0 up.”

(Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Morrison’s verdict is a breath of fresh air

Finally, an objective pundit who isn’t peddling the nonsensical ‘dumb luck’ narrative!

Liverpool’s Premier League performances mightn’t have been spellbinding so far, but they were deserving winners in each of their four games, even if it required a daft Hannibal Mejbri handball to prompt the penalty from which Mo Salah scored deep into stoppage time.

Tonight they gave their best 90-minute display of the campaign thus far, and although they were careless in letting a two-goal lead slip for the third time in five weeks, on balance they were good value for the three points that Van Dijk’s header secured.

As per Sofascore, the Reds had twice as many shots as Atletico (20-10) and dominated the xG count (2.6 to 0.61), and Marcos Llorente’s first goal shouldn’t have stood as Antoine Griezmann was offside and seemed to be impeding Alisson Becker’s view of the strike.

Maybe Liverpool have had some fortune in the early weeks of the season (e.g. Hannibal’s handball), but as Morrison says, the habitual plundering of late winners is down to a lot more than just pure luck.

This team is the living embodiment of the message on Salah’s T-shirt on the night of the epic 4-0 against Barcelona in 2019 – Never Give Up!