The Warm-Up: You are bearing witness to footballing perfection

Did you ever in your life, in your wildest, most fevered dreams or nightmares, even remotely consider that you might witness something like what Liverpool are doing in the Premier League this season. That you would ever, could ever, see a team get to the end of January having dropped *two points from 23 league matches*. What is unfolding in front of our eyes is so utterly beyond what we thought possible that it belongs in the realms of fantasy; evidence, surely, that we are all living inside a computer simulation. And it seems to need a swift Ctrl + Alt + Del.

And yet Liverpool have made this impossibility seem utterly normal. There was no surprise last night when, at 1-1 against Wolves and with time running out, they turned up the intensity and won the game through Roberto Firmino’s well-taken strike. There has never - not ever, in the history of English football - been a team so completely attuned to winning. So utterly confident in its pursuit of three points. When winning matches becomes routine, like brushing your teeth or taking the dog for a walk.

There is no way to adequately explain this season. We are all well versed in the expert recruitment Liverpool have engaged in, converting the money received from Philippe Coutinho into Alisson and Virgil van Dijk, compiling a stellar cast of names with savvy moves. We know that Jurgen Klopp is an extraordinary coach and a master motivator, a manager who brings the best out of his players but also creates an unshakeable bond with supporters. We know that Trent Alexander-Arnold is not just a local lad done good but a once-in-a-generation talent in global terms, already the best full-back in world football and someone who is redefining the position. We know Liverpool’s behind-the-scenes team are scientific and professional, employing throw-in coaches as well as legions of other staff members to assist Klopp’s project.

We know all of this, and yet this doesn’t explain how Liverpool have won 22 of their 23 league games this season. Nothing can explain that. Many great teams have bought exceptionally well, had the benefit of a world class manager and harnessed extraordinary young talents. But no one has ever done what Liverpool are doing. Or even come close. And the ease with which they win matches is unparalleled. Week after week after week, with barely any hint of trouble.

And if you can’t quite call it total perfection, those two dropped points against United mitigate against that, it is as close to being perfect as could possibly be realised within the boundaries of professional sport.

“We don’t go for perfection, we go for a perfect reaction,” said Klopp. “We try to fight back in difficult situations in games, which is what the boys did again. I’m really, really pleased. You only have to calm the game down again, that is what was needed. The fact that we have different options to score a goal gives us the opportunity to stay in the game.

“We scored a wonderful goal after a set piece but again not the second and not the third. That means everything is open. And then it gets intense ... you only have to calm the game down again. The goal they scored was a counterattack when we were 1-0 up – that makes not too much sense.

“Then they scored and there were another five to 10 minutes of Wolves’ time. Then we calmed the game down again and controlled it ... Then [we got] a worldie from Bobby. It was a super, super, super goal. Moments can help us or the genius moment of Bobby Firmino can help us.”

Moments, matches, months, a whole season. They are all Liverpool’s now.

The Warm-Up won’t lie - it almost had a heart attack when it saw the tweet below drop on its timeline yesterday. As if there wasn’t enough going on with the Australian Open to deal with.

But it turns out, the Manchester United board are sticking by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer rather than booting him out.

As well they might. Solskjaer might be a poor manager, and many United fans may have come to accept that he isn’t going to be the saviour they needed, but if the Glazers think the atmosphere has become poisonous now, just wait to see what happens if they ditch a genuine legend of the club before they ditch Ed Woodward, a man almost universally loathed by the fan base.

United could quickly improve if they swapped Solskjaer for an elite manager like Mauricio Pochettino but despite how bad United are at present, it’s hard to see how they can do that without enraging even those supporters who would welcome a change. This is how bad it has got at Old Trafford.

Speaking of how bad it has got at Old Trafford, Woodward’s woes are being compounded by the fact that United are proving incapable of signing a player they have seemed certain of signing for nearly all of January.

United fans had already mentally slotted Bruno Fernandes into their midfield but somehow, the club seem unable to get him from Sporting. A feat which really should be in reach of a financial behemoth like United.

The latest reports on Thursday suggested that United are refusing to meet his £68m valuation and the deal could now be off, despite weeks and weeks of feverish updates around his move to Old Trafford.

If Woodward can’t even recognise the potential usefulness of buying a shiny new distraction for supporters at the moment then all sense really has departed the club.

“I cannot take credit for Ronaldo’s current form, you can only give credit to his mother for creating such a specimen!”

Maurizio Sarri on Cristiano Ronaldo. Okay then.

Putting objectivity aside for a second, Santi Cazorla is a beautiful man and someone please needs to make this happen:

He’s right you know.

A short diversion from football to remind you that the Australian Open is currently in progress (live and exclusive on Eurosport) and Nick Kyrgios is doing Nick Kyrgios things.

It’s FA Cup fourth round weekend and Friday night kicks off with Northampton v Derby and QPR v Sheffield Wednesday.