Revisiting Liverpool’s elusive Fab Four
September 13th, 2017. Liverpool faced Sevilla at Anfield in a group stage match of the UEFA Champions League. Why is that date important, you ask? Well, for starters… it’s my birthday! But, more importantly, Liverpool fans got a small glimpse of what they were waiting for a long time. Their famous “Fab Four”.
Ever since Mohamed Salah was announced as a Liverpool player, fans dreamed of the prospect of watching Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané and Philippe Coutinho sharing the pitch with the exciting Egyptian. But, as we know, plans got delayed after Philippe Coutinho suffered an “injury” that suspiciouly took him out for the whole first month of the new season. Yet, September came, the former number 10’s back miraculously healed when he flew to play for his national team, the transfer window slammed shut and he was forced to play for Liverpool — since his other option was to sulk for at least three more months.
The game against Sevilla saw Jürgen Klopp introduce Coutinho to Anfield for the first time since his refusal to play for the club, aided by the fact that the scoreline was a draw and Liverpool needed a win in front of the home crowd. So, out came Emre Can after 75 minutes and the little magician, who went on a disappearing act, was back.
It’s not the dream start the fans were hoping for and it lasted less than 10 minutes before Mané made way for Daniel Sturridge, but the Fab Four bonanza was up and running.
Well, sort of… After the small matter of Sadio Mané almost decapitating Ederson in his last Premier League outing, the Senegalese had to serve a three-game ban. So it was only against Spartak Moscow, two weeks later, that the band was back together. For the first time ever, the famous Fab Four was starting a game. The end result? A disappointing draw in Russia, but Coutinho did get on the scoresheet after great link-up with Mané.
Liverpool then returned to England to face Newcastle at St.James Park. Finally! The Premier League will finally see what the fab four is capable of! Well… that would be the case had Jürgen Klopp not decided to play Daniel Sturridge ahead of Firmino. But maybe we’ll see Bobby coming from the bench against tired legs and lift new spirits, giving much-needed energy for his other three mates… Oh, Klopp is bringing Firmino and Dominic Solanke together? So that means… yeah, Sadio Mané and Sturridge are out. Damn, we can’t catch a break! Oh, great, now Mo Salah is out too… Ok, Chamberlain, give it a go… and Liverpool drew again.
The game against Manchester United was next up. But, as you guessed, Sadio Mané is ruled out with an small injury. And, as you probably guessed too, Liverpool drew. This small injury leaves Mané out of matches against Maribor (twice), Tottenham and Huddersfield (which Coutinho didn’t play as well). Liverpool won three and lost one in a very embarassing manner, as you may recall.
The senegalese made his return against West Ham but Coutinho was still out.
So November 18th, more than a month apart from their last outing against Newcastle, is the date. The Fab Four was finally reunited to face Southampton, at home! Coutinho and Mohamed Salah ran the show, the brazilians are dancing and laughing, and Liverpool won the game 3–0. All is good again!
Liverpool then faced Sevilla three days later in Spain, hoping to build momentum in the group after back-to-back wins against Maribor. Klopp, once again, fields his Fab Four as they are also trying to build momentum as a unit. And, boy, did it pay off! Liverpool ran absolute riot and goals from Firmino (twice) and Sadio Mané sent the Reds to half-time with a 3-goal lead. And then, disaster struck. Sevilla scored twice in 15 minutes and the atmosphere was bouncing! After the second goal, Klopp decided to remove Coutinho and Alberto Moreno from the game, looking for more defensive solidity, and it worked! Emre Can and James Milner’s introduction killed off Sevilla’s momentum and Klopp’s men had the upper hand once again. But that didn’t matter anymore because they had a single-goal lead and Sevilla only needed a last-minute set-piece to undo all that work. The game finished 3–3.
That seemed to be the last straw for Jürgen, as he decided the Fab Four couldn’t work together — if not in very specific circumstances — and started a rotation policy that would last until the end of December.
Liverpool faced Chelsea with Mané and Firmino on the bench. Then came Stoke City and Salah and Coutinho were rested. Sadio watched from the bench as his three amigos ran riot against Brighton at the AMEX.
Needing a win against Spartak Moscow at Anfield to progress to the Champions League knockouts, Klopp fielded his four men together again, wanting to throw everything he had at them. Coutinho scored a hat-trick, Mané got two, Firmino and Salah scored one each and Liverpool destroyed the Russians with a 7–0 thumping to qualify.
The Derby against Everton was up next and Klopp rested both of his brazilians. The result was a draw (you would be excused to think Everton won the game given the celebrations) and it probably was what prompted Klopp to turn to his four men again against West Brom. This time, though, they fell short and the game ended on a disappointing 0–0.
The Fab Four would only see the pitch again twice, against Arsenal and Leicester, resulting in a thrilling 3–3 and a 2–1 victory, respectively. The famous quartet was then short of a member when Coutinho was sold to Barcelona and we know what happened after that.
When Mohamed Salah first signed from Roma, fans had dreams about their newly-formed front line but mitigating factors made sure that dreams they’d be.
Liverpool’s new Beatles barely performed together, playing 8 (well, seven… 10 minutes against Sevilla… C’mon) out of 23 possible games together and recording just 3 wins during their three months together. Coutinho was a wonderful footballer for us but talks about “reuniting the Fab Four”, which fans seem eager to reemerge even if they’re not actually true, make no sense. They were never united to begin with.
