Liverpool continued to show no signs of slowing down with a 5-0 thumping of West Ham to leave 2024 behind on a high, but what should we make of Trent’s celebration?
Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo, Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Diogo Jota were on the scoresheet on Sunday evening, but it was the vice-captain’s celebration that got people talking.
As the right-back wheeled away he appeared to make a ‘keep talking’ gesture in celebration, which comes in the wake of a big few days of speculation over a move to Real Madrid.
The significance of it has been heavily debated since, but there was a lot more to Liverpool’s big win as well.
Here, Joanna Durkan (@JoannaDurkan_) and Adam Beattie (@Beatts94), who was at the London Stadium, discuss the highs and lows of the 5-0 win and how we interpreted Trent’s celebration.
The good…
ADAM: I think the expectation for most of us was three points, but the ease with which we dealt with the task at hand was such a promising sign.
As soon as the second one went in it felt like job done and the rest of it was a mere procession and formality.
The players got serenaded one by one and I think by the end we were just looking forward to them coming over to us at full-time so we could give it the big one together.
On another note, what Salah is currently doing is nothing short of superhuman. I’ve never had much time for individual awards but there has to come a point at which it is impossible for him to keep being overlooked for the big ones.
The Reds mean business pic.twitter.com/mxgJFMJ2bS
— Adam Beattie (@beatts94) December 29, 2024
JOANNA: I was at a family event for this one and I actually quite enjoyed watching the majority of it without listening to any of the commentary, it made for a nice change.
It felt like it could’ve easily been 10-0, merciful from us there!
I thought Macca was class in midfield and the recent rest he’s had thanks to suspension has done him, and us, the world of good. The money we spent on him continues to prove one hell of a bargain.
Mo was the obvious highlight, again. It is a pleasure to get to witness what he can do on a football pitch and like you’ve said Adam, he surely can’t be passed up for awards now.
A huge plus was also being able to take Gravenberch and Gakpo off early and remove the threat of suspension against Man United.
The bad…
JOANNA: Joe Gomez. Absolutely gutted for him having finally been given the opportunity to have a run of games in the absence of Ibou.
He’s been solid and now we’ve just got two fit senior centre-backs ahead of another intense run of games – at least Endo’s shown he’s capable…
ADAM: As you’ve said Joanna, the Gomez injury was a body blow, particularly given how short we currently are at that end of the pitch.
It felt like he’d turned a corner with his fitness and nobody will be more gutted than him if he’s looking at a lengthy spell out of the side.
Performance-wise it was practically flawless. We’ve picked up a habit of starting slowly in recent weeks but the Reds were having none of that on Sunday afternoon.
To single out any sub-par individual performances would feel like nitpicking.
And how are you interpreting Trent’s ‘keep talking’ celebration?
ADAM: I think we’re sometimes guilty of assuming footballers live in a bubble away from all the noise when, in reality, they’re probably just as conscious of it as we are.
My instinct is that he is aware of the stick that has come his way recently and that he wanted to make that known in his celebration.
A few have gone a little bit early with the criticism in my opinion. We can all agree it would be a hugely bitter pill to swallow if he does go for nothing but it makes little sense to hurl any abuse until we hear something concrete.
While he’s still wearing a Liverpool shirt and putting in performances like that, I’m more than willing to keep backing him.
JOANNA: I’m electing to view it in a positive light, I’d just be going down a rabbit hole otherwise.
As Adam has said, he won’t be in the dark about what is being said about him on social media and the claims that are continually emerging from Madrid-based papers.
Having elected not to take to the press to discuss contract matters, this felt like his version of a ‘statement’ – not a clear one, admittedly, but one nevertheless.
Let’s hope we can look back on it in a few months time and relish the fact that he was always going to stay…
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