Jump to content

Articles

Manage articles
Show all categories
  • TLW
    Jurgen Klopp knew he had a major job to do when he first arrived at Liverpool and was more focused on building a pathway to success than reclaiming the mantle of most successful club in English Football.
     
    That he has managed to do both is just another testament to the remarkable job that the German has done since coming to the club when it was clearly at the crossroads in October 2015.
     
    A student of the game, Klopp knew all about the fierce rivalry between Liverpool and Man United and Alex Ferguson’s phrase when he first joined the Red Devils. but he was much more interested in starting the process of building a successful team rather than focusing on the past as the Mirror reported.
     

     
    “I know the famous phrase about the perch, but I had other stuff to do when I arrived here rather than think about Manchester United, to be honest.
     
    “In my first year, Leicester won the league. In my second year, Chelsea won the league. Then Man City started winning the league. But there was nothing with Manchester United. That is not me. I don’t think about anybody else.
     
    “If we face them, then yes. If we don’t face them, they can do what they want and I have nothing to do with that influence. I was made aware that Liverpool have now won most trophies because I was told about it - but then I forgot it!‌
     
    “It’s important, absolutely. But as long as we can still win something, I don’t count trophies.”
     
    On that point, the Reds currently have the edge in terms of overall trophies won (71-69) and will level Man United’s total of 20 league titles if they lift the trophy in May.
     
    Reflecting on the first meeting, Klopp knew that he had build from the ground up.
     
    “I think we lost our first game against United. Was it a goal by Wayne Rooney?  I thought we were better but they won the game. I do remember that.‌ But, for me, I can’t start the development (of a club) by thinking who is up there who I want to reach.
     
    “I can only do it step by step - and they were probably far away. It didn’t ever hinder me because it wasn’t even in my mind. He (Ferguson) came from Scotland, I came from Germany, so it was a different place and different times.”
     
    Moving on the present moment and Klopp says while his team will be deep in enemy territory as he prepares to take his side to Old Trafford for the penultimate time as Liverpool manager, they will have plenty of support with them for the FA Cup Quarter final clash.
     
    “I always prefer home games but if we play away I have always preferred to do it in the FA Cup because you can take more people.
     
    “The away crowd is a real crowd. Our fans will be on their toes and that’s important because we know Old Trafford can create quite a special atmosphere.
     
    "In general it (Old Trafford) is a good place to go. It’s real football. It’s all or nothing because it’s the Cup and it will be decided that day.
     
    “I am really happy that we aren’t going there with people saying ‘they have no chance.’ We have a chance but we must be really good.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
  • Monday Mar 11:
     
    Kyle Walker is doing the media rounds today for some reason or other, and for some reason Sky are asking him for his thoughts on the ref's performance yesterday. Of course he was effusive in his praise of Michael Oliver (or “Mike” to his friends such as dirtbag Kyle) because he showed great “character” to not be swayed by Anfield yesterday. This isn’t normal and I can’t believe Sky are putting shit like this out. What’s going on? I feel like we’re in a footy equivalent of a Black Mirror episode. This is even worse than someone slagging a referee off, as the next time he’s involved in a contentious incident and Oliver is the ref, this interview is going to do him a lot of good I reckon.
     
    PGMOL needs a massive shake up and I don't mean with the refs on the pitch, as their job gets harder by the week because of the "protocols" they have to adhere to. What needs looking at is how VAR is implemented and how it seems to exist for the purpose of backing up the on field decision rather than getting to the right outcome. Yesterday is a prime example really. Oliver doesn't give the pen and Attwell is coming out with complete horseshit to try and validate the decision. Foot not in an unnaturally high position apparently. So studs up into a players chest is normal then? Fuck off. You didn't want to tell Oliver he was wrong, that's why you let it go. We all know it.
     
    The technology is there but they don't use it properly. It's used to rule out goals for the most stupid of reasons (Solanke had one disallowed this weekend for a laughable 'handball' for example) and not used when it would be really useful. They need to work together to get the right outcome, but there's ego involved here. VAR rarely wants to tell the ref on the pitch he's wrong and the refs on the pitch don't seem to ever ask for help. It shouldn't be there to tell the ref he's made a mistake, it should be there for the ref to get a proper look at it and decide for himself what the decision should be.
     
    What should have happened yesterday is Oliver should have said "could that have been a foul, should I take a look?" and VAR should have said "yeah have another look and then make your decision". But that doesn't happen because of the protocols they have. All this 'clear and obvious' bullshit. If PGMOL aren't going to use the technology to help themselves then they need it taking out of their hands. Maybe like the NFL where the coach can challenge a decision and have it reviewed. But it can't be reviewed by the ref on the pitch as there's too much ego involved with some of them. Oliver for instance. He's not going to take kindly to a manager challenging his decisions and is likely to dig in even further. He doesn't even like his own colleagues questioning him when they've got access to angles he hasn't.
     
    Richard Keys (I know, I know) claims Oliver has told his colleague to never send him to the screen. The last time it happened was September 2022 and he stuck with his original decision. Keys reckons he's been told that Oliver was furious about that and at the next refs meeting told them to never send him to the screen again. Could be bollocks of course, Keys isn't the most reliable of witnesses after all, but he does have contacts within PGMOL and his claims have not been dismissed (not yet anyway, and he's been saying it for a while). All I know is Attwell's explanation for why VAR wasn't recommending a review was absolute nonsense.
     
    If there is even a shred of truth in what Keys is saying, then this cunt needs reigning in. A ref on the field gets one look at an incident and its therefore a really tough job. So it’s the absolute height of arrogance to refuse the help and advice of colleagues who have access to different angles, replays and slo motion footage. Oliver is either the most egotistical ref to have ever lived or he wants to influence results without the interference of colleagues correcting his wrong calls. Either way, it needs looking into. 
  • The best signings in football have historically been those that do the business on the pitch. But increasingly, advantages are being gained behind the scenes via the appointment of a shrewd sporting director (or similar job title). In Michael Edwards, Liverpool have renewed their partnership with one of the smartest minds in the beautiful game.
     
    Edwards will return to Anfield in a chief executive capacity after agreeing a move with FSG; this time, he will oversee the entirety of the club’s ‘football operations’.
     
    Of course, he’s best known for his first stint with the Reds for his recruitment – signing a plethora of stars whose performances would completely outweigh their relatively meagre transfer fee.
     
    Here’s a look at the best of Edwards’ Liverpool signings…
     
    Mo Salah (£34 million)
     
    Those browsing today’s football prices will notice that the bookmakers still believe the Reds have a strong chance of winning the Premier League title this term – odds of 11/5 put them a shade behind Manchester City (6/5) in the race for the trophy.
    If they are to dethrone City as Champions, Jurgen Klopp will need Mo Salah back fit and firing pronto – the Egyptian spotted and signed by Edwards for a meagre £34 million back in 2017.
     
    Salah has scored more than 200 goals for the Reds, won the Premier League and Champions League – helping the club to two other finals, the FA Cup and the Club World Cup, while personally winning the Golden Boot on three separate occasions.
     
     
     
     
    Money well spent, you might agree…
     
    Andy Robertson (£8 million)
     
    Although there are more decorated signings on the Edwards ledger, few can match the value-for-money scouting of Andy Robertson.
     
    The Scot was playing for lowly Hull City when he first appeared on Edwards’ radar, with a fee of just £8 million exchanging hands when Robertson joined the Reds from the Tigers in 2017. Now, he’s played around 300 games for Liverpool, winning that same haul of silverware as Salah and enjoying his status as the defender with the most assists in the Premier League era.
     
    Salah and co may have been the more eye-catching of Edwards’ signings, but none can match the extraordinary value that Robertson has brought to the table.
     
    Alisson (£62 million)
     
    When Klopp first took charge at Anfield, he wanted to implement the ‘heavy metal’ style that had proven so successful at his former club, Borussia Dortmund. To do so, he would need a goalkeeper as adept with the ball at his feet as keeping it out of the net with his hands, so Edwards opened up his Excel database of world football talent and opted for Alisson Becker, the Roma shot-stopper.
     
    Some would say that £62 million is extravagant spending on a goalkeeper, but you would be hard-pressed to argue that the Brazilian hasn’t been worth every penny.
     
     
     
     
    He’s played in more than 250 games, won the domestic treble of trophies as well as the Champions League and Club World Cup, making world-class saves along the way and even assisting three Premier League goals with his outstanding distribution.
    Let’s hope that Edwards has more gems like these up his sleeve in his second stint at Anfield!
  • I don’t think I’ve ever felt uncomfortable about us battering a team before but when the fourth goal went in and we hadn’t even reached the 15 minute mark, I was squirming a little bit. It just felt awkward. Like that video when Michael Owen was blasting volleys past a 12 year old keeper.
     
    I felt a bit sorry for Sparta but I was also annoyed with them too. It’s hard enough playing against us without doing the stupid shit they kept doing. It was the same last week too. How many of the goals we scored over both legs came from us winning the ball from them when they tried to play out from the back? At least four, probably more. Yet they kept doing it and we kept punishing them. It was uncomfortable and if we’d continued to play at full intensity we might have scored 20. I’m not even joking.
     
    Of course we were never going to do that because it would have been stupid. After that blistering start we dropped down to third gear and stayed there. Except Harvey, who came on at half time as was in sixth gear for the entire second half while everyone else was cruising along.
     
    I’m not going to say we shouldn’t be in the Europa League as we’re there for a reason, but it’s almost unfair to the other teams in it because we’re a Champions League calibre team and if we were in that competition we’d have a great chance of winning it. At this time of year we’re usually playing Porto, Barcelona, Inter etc so teams like Sparta are always going to be overmatched, especially when Klopp is putting out such strong line ups.
     
    In an ideal world I think most fans would have wanted every first teamer rested for this, but it just doesn’t work like that as managers tend to not operate that way. Klopp certainly doesn’t. There have been times when I think that’s cost us needlessly (Jota a couple o years ago in a dead rubber, Konate last week) but when I saw the line up I didn’t see too many surprises.
     
    I actually think given the scoreline from the first leg, Klopp was able to treat this almost like a kind of 11v 11 training match. We didn’t need to be flat out but it was a good session and an ideal tune up for the weekend. Players who needed a rest got it, players who needed minutes got them, everyone played well and the attacking five all got goals. Just what we needed.
  • Arsenal have been bitching about refs all season which really fucking winds me up as it’s not like they’ve suffered much, although I wouldn’t say they’ve benefited much either. In terms of the top three and officiating, you’ve City at one end of the scale, us at the other and Arsenal are somewhere in the middle.
     
    Yet their fans were some of the most vocal on twitter last week (they always are) after the drop ball nonsense at Forest, but this week they weren’t happy when people rightly pointed out that their winning goalscorer against Brentford should not have even been on the pitch when he scored.
     
    As great as last week’s win at Forest felt for us, and will have been a massive kick in the nuts for City and Arsenal, this week we were the ones getting kicked in the nuts as Arsenal got that contentious late winner against Brentford when it looked like they were going to drop points. There was nowhere near the same furore as there was about the drop ball nonsense though. Maybe if Brentford hired Uriah Rennie or Paul Durkin to bitch about it afterwards we'd have seen a bit more fuss made of it.
     
    Arsenal went in front and no doubt their fans were expecting another landslide. After all, these are the smug, smelling themselves wankers that had #prayforbrentford trending on Twitter before the game. It’s happening before all of their games now. They just make me cringe so much that my toes are permanently curled these days.
     
    Everything about Arsenal is getting on my tits now, from that God awful "North London forever" anthem they've just adopted this season to the bad try hard celebrations of Arteta and the players and pretty much everything else in between. There’s a lot of annoying faces in that team too... Ramsdale, Ben Shite, Gabriel, Saliba, Martinelli, Saka, Odegaard, Trossard, Jesus, Zinchenko… all massively annoying faces. 
     
    Arsenal were so busy enjoying the smell of their own farts after Rice headed them in front that they forgot that it was only 1-0 and that Brentford aren’t really a side you want to fuck with. They certainly aren’t the soft touches that Burnley and Sheffield United are, so Brentford fought back. Ably assisted by Diet Pickford in goal it should be said.
     
    There’s a reason Arteta doesn’t like picking him and Ramsdale himself gave it away in an interview he did when he said he needs to get involved with the crowd during games because he gets bored and can’t concentrate otherwise. Not even David James had that bad of an attention span.
     
    So Ramsdale fucked up to let Brentford get back into it through Wissa, but he made a couple of saves in the second half so that’s all fine apparently and it showed what great character he has. Yeah, I think they should play him in every game now, let him prove just how great his “character” is. 
     
    My boy Toney almost scored the goal of the season with a brilliant first time left foot half volley that was inches away from going over the despairing dive of Ramsdale, but he just got his fingers to it to keep it out. Brentford had other chances too and the second half was edgy as fuck for Arsenal. 
     
    They were getting desperate and every time the ball went in the box an Arsenal player would hit the deck wanting a pen. Some of them were iffy and could have been given, but not the one from Havertz that should have seen him booked for cheating. It was obviously a dive, the ref knew immediately which is why he waved away the penalty appeal. He bottled out of giving him a second yellow card though and VAR can’t get involved unless it’s to overturn a penalty decision and then tell the ref it’s a dive and to produce a card. 
     
    All these stupid fucking protocols they have just get in the way of them making the right decision. Attwell wouldn’t send Oliver to the screen at Anfield and they hide behind the “high bar for overturns” bollocks. There’s also been strong rumours that Oliver has given his colleagues strict instructions to not send him to the screen. Either way, this kind of shit just keeps stopping the officials from getting big decisions right.
     
    I’m not particularly arsed about the Havertz thing, this kind of shit happens all the time and Brentford had chances to win it and they had chances to stop Arsenal winning it. In the grand scheme of fucked up decisions this is low on the list. The thing that does annoy me is how little was made of it in relation to the shite we had to endure last week. 
     
    Ultimately though three points is three points and it doesn’t matter that they were lucky and left it late. One way of looking at it is that they found a way. That’s what we’d say if it was us. Its not the first time they’ve done it either, so I don’t blame Arsenal fans for thinking like that. It’s not how I see it though. I see a team that was battered some shit teams lately and had people going over the top about how impressive they are and how they might win all of their remaining games. Scraping past Brentford at home and failing to beat Porto over 210 minutes tells me they will drop points. They’ve got tough games, so they’re dropping some points, I’m not concerned about that. My concern is only what we do.
     
    Ultimately it comes down to this. There’s 10 games left and we need to get more points in those ten games than Arsenal, and we need to ensure that City don't get more than us. Can we do that? Of course we can. Over the course of the season so far we’ve done it as the only reason, THE ONLY REASON, Arsenal are ahead of us on goal difference is because of PGMOL fucking us in games against Spurs, Arsenal and City.
  • Another big win for the Reds over Sparta as Klopp's decision to field a strong line up paid off early, with four goals in the opening quarter of an hour that allowed the rest of the game to be played out as a glorified training session.
     
    Chris Smith is joined by John Brennan and TLW Editor Dave Usher to reflect on a fun night at Anfield before then turning their attentions to the big game at Old Trafford at the weekend in the FA Cup.
     
     
  • Sparta Prague manager Brian Priske conceded that his team were nowhere near the standard required to compete with Liverpool.
     
    Already out of the tie after losing 5-1 at home last week, it was all about respectability for the Czech outfit heading into the second leg, however they were blitzed in the opening 15 minutes at Anfield conceding four goals in the opening 14 minutes and  Football. historians scrambling for their record books for the greatest aggregate scoreline in European club competition.
     
    While the 21-0 scoreline registered by Chelsea against Jeunesse Hautcharage in the first round of the  1971/72 Cup Winners Cup and a year later by Feyenoord against Rumelage in the 1st round of the UEFA Cup was never threatened, this 11-2 aggregate win for the Reds was their biggest in over four decades equalling their result against Finnish side Oulun Palloseura in the first round of the European Cup in the 1980-81 season.
     
    Just like last week, this tie served as the perfect tune-up for another big game on the weekend, this time it is against Manchester United in the quarter finals of the FA Cup.
     
    Before that at lunchtime today comes the quarter-final draw for the Europa League which could see the Reds draw familiar foes in West Ham, Roma, AC Milan or intriguingly a clash with a team and manager that is taking all before them in Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen.
     
    But according to the former Danish international and Portsmouth defender, there is no doubt in his mind about who they should be fearing the most as the Echo reported.
     

     
    “We faced a world-class team, big respect to Liverpool how they played these two legs, how they approached the game,” he said. “They put in the pure quality they have. We are disappointed in the personal mistakes that we made both in the first game and definitely also here in first 20 minutes. But we faced a world-class team here again.
     
    “We have never faced anything like this. Liverpool is a Champions League team and should be in the Champions League. They may be Premier League winners in two months. Big respect to the players of Liverpool and the coaching staff.”
     
    While Sporta are certainly not without their own European pedigree, being part of this competition frequently over the past decade, Priske was unequivocal in not wanting to compare previous opponents to this Reds outfit.
     
    “I hope people don’t measure the team on these two games – it’s a completely different level to what we’ve played against this season. We’ve played good teams like Rangers and Galatasaray but to Liverpool is just a complete new different level.”
  • In the dynamic world of iGaming, launching an online casino is a venture that promises not just excitement but also significant potential for profitability. However, the bedrock of a successful online casino lies in its foundation - the software. As an SEO writer at NuxGame, a premier provider of B2B iGaming solutions, I am here to explore the intricate benefits and strategic advantages of choosing to buy online casino software. Our insights aim to guide you through making an informed decision that aligns with your business objectives and market demands.
    Understanding the Essence of Quality Online Casino Software
    The decision to buy online casino software is pivotal. It goes beyond acquiring a product; it's about investing in a partnership that will drive your business's growth. High-quality casino software is characterized by its gaming diversity, scalability, security, technological sophistication, and compliance with international regulatory standards. It ensures an engaging and secure environment for players while providing operators with robust tools for efficient business management.
    Why NuxGame’s Online Casino Software Stands Out
     
    Comprehensive Gaming Portfolio: Our software comes packed with a vast array of engaging games from renowned developers worldwide. From classic slots to live dealer games and innovative sports betting options, we offer a rich and diverse gaming experience tailored to various player preferences.
    Advanced Technological Framework: NuxGame's online casino software is built on a state-of-the-art technological framework, ensuring fast, reliable, and smooth gameplay across all devices. Our software is designed with a mobile-first approach, acknowledging the growing trend of mobile gaming.
    Customizable and Scalable Solutions: We understand that no two iGaming businesses are the same. Our software offers extensive customization options, allowing you to tailor the look, feel, and functionality of your platform to match your brand identity and meet your strategic goals. Additionally, our solutions are scalable, ready to grow as your business expands.
    Top-tier Security and Compliance: Security is paramount in the online gaming industry. Our software is fortified with advanced security measures, including end-to-end encryption and fraud prevention mechanisms, ensuring the safety of player data and transactions. Furthermore, we ensure that our products are compliant with the regulatory standards of multiple jurisdictions, facilitating your entry into global markets.
    Uninterrupted Operator Support and Software Maintenance: When you buy online casino software from NuxGame, you're not just purchasing a product; you're gaining a partner. We offer ongoing support and maintenance, ensuring your platform operates flawlessly and stays ahead of technological advancements and regulatory changes.
     
    The Strategic Benefits of Investing in Online Casino Software
     
    Quick Market Entry: With our turnkey solutions, you can launch your online casino quickly, capitalizing on market opportunities without the delays associated with developing a platform from scratch.
    Reduced Operational Costs: Our comprehensive software solution mitigates the need for significant upfront investment in game development, IT infrastructure, and security protocols, reducing your operational costs.
    Enhanced Player Satisfaction: By providing a diverse range of high-quality games and a seamless user experience, you can enhance player satisfaction and loyalty, crucial for the long-term success of your casino.
    Operational Efficiency: Our intuitive back-end management tools streamline your operations, from player management to financial transactions, allowing you to focus on strategic business growth.
     
    Making the Right Choice: Why NuxGame is Your Ideal Partner
    Choosing to buy online casino software from NuxGame is more than a transaction; it's a strategic decision that positions your business for success in the competitive iGaming landscape. Our commitment to innovation, excellence, and customer satisfaction makes us the ideal partner for entrepreneurs and businesses eager to make their mark in the online gaming industry.
    Conclusion
    The online casino market continues to grow, driven by technological advancements and increasing global access to internet gaming. In this competitive environment, the quality of your online casino software can set you apart. At NuxGame, we offer not just software but a comprehensive, customizable, and secure foundation for your iGaming venture. Our commitment to your success is reflected in our state-of-the-art technology, extensive game library, and unwavering support. By choosing to buy online casino software from NuxGame, you're ensuring that your platform is built on a foundation of quality, innovation, and reliability. Let us help you turn your vision into a thriving online casino that stands out in the bustling world of iGaming.
  • As Liverpool FC plays so many matches these days, people are looking for reliable sportsbooks where they can bet on sports. Liverpool FC is constantly playing matches and fans of the team are always betting on sports or going to matches to support the team.
     
    As the team's fanbase is growing every day, fans are trying to bet on sports. But when people are going to bet on sports, they often have big question marks in their minds about which site they should trust. To help you avoid this, we've come up with some of the best betting sites for Liverpool FC fans.
    Sky Bet
    Sky Bet is a sports betting site that has been serving players in the UK for a very long time. What we mean by a long time is actually the late 1990s. During these periods, it was known as Surrey Sports and again I was helping people bet on sports, then the brand changed hands and took the name Sky Bet and continued to provide an even more comprehensive and improved service to its customers.
     
    If we need to examine this sports betting site in this period from the past to the present, we can talk about the fact that it has developed itself quite a lot, to give an example, while most online casinos or sports betting sites still do not have an application of their own, Sky Bet 2011 In the year it released an application of its own and provided this convenience to its players. On this site you can bet on quite a lot of Sport types and this includes horse racing. With the Cheltenham Festival also approaching, people are thinking how to bet on Cheltenham, but it is pretty easy with Sky Bet and also with different events with Liverpool FC, people are going to be satisfied with Sky Bet’s versatile website.
     
    Let's also say that the site is licensed. If you like different types of bets and are looking for variety in this regard, There are more than thirty odds markets and this is a situation that people like very much. The site has 24/7 live chat feature and if you wish, it will be possible to reach them via twitter or by sending e-mail, respectively Twitter address and e-mail address are as follows; @SkyBetHelp, support@skybettingandgaming.com.
    Paddy Power
    Paddy Power ranks second on the list. This site, which is licensed, is known to be very safe among people. When you enter the site, you will be able to deposit money instantly when you want to play games and you will have the opportunity to withdraw the money you earn quickly. You also have the opportunity to pay a fee according to the payment and deposit method you use. In case you encounter any problems, the site first tries to help you via FAQ. If you cannot find the problem you encounter in this section, you can send a message to the site or you can use the live chat feature.
     
    If we need to talk about the pros and cons of the site, first of all, it is very easy to register on the site, which definitely reduces the confusion in people's minds because no one wants to spend a long time registering on a site or get confused. Nonetheless, the bonuses given to you when you register are quite great and will be very useful throughout your betting experience. If we need to talk about a negative aspect, there is no live streaming feature, but this varies according to what you are looking for on a site, so this does not have to be a negative aspect for you. Paddy Power will fulfill your wishes in the best way possible.
  • Ian Wright believes that the discussion surrounding the modern day success of Man City comes with an important caveat attached, that being the 115 charges that they have to answer to for alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules.
     
    Liverpool and Man City engaged in another chapter of their storied rivalry on Sunday afternoon, and as happens after so many of these games, there was plenty of talking points to come out of it.
     
    Despite being undermanned, the Reds ability to put the reigning champions for a sustained period of time surprised and impressed many observers in equal measure, not least the Liverpool manager himself who said “there is no higher scale than playing the best football you can play against Man City, causing City the problems we caused them today.”
     
    Then there was the dramatic finale when a seemingly stone-cold penalty appeal  was denied when Michael Oliver did not view Jeremy Doku’s high challenge on Alexis Mac Allister to be worthy of one.
     
    So while the fixture ended all square for the second time this season and we are no clearer to knowing what it means in terms of the title race, another question has started to emerge.
     

     
    With Jurgen Klopp departing at the end of this season, the clash on Sunday was the last time that the German and Pep Guardiola will come up against each other in the Premier League.
     
    In terms of that competition, City won five, Liverpool four and  there were eight draws, and in a overall sense with also covers their time in Germany it is Klopp that edges it with 11 wins to 10.
     
    As those figures state, there is certainly not a lot that separates them, however it is simplistic to go on wins and losses alone.
     
    The vast riches that Guardiola has had at his disposal courtesy of the Man City ownership differs greatly to the way FSG does business and the way that Klopp has had to build his team basically from the ground up.
     
    The matter of the pending breaches that Man City have to face is something that the mainstream football media have almost looked to tiptoe around and close their eye to and it has been left to investigative journalists to keep the topic in the forefront of people’s minds.
     
    Ian Wright is one of the very few pundits to really address it in a public setting as he was speaking on the Sky Sports Monday Night Football program (per the Echo).
     

     
    “I think when you look at the trophy cabinet that Pep [Guardiola] has done very well, but then you look at what Klopp has done to try and catch Manchester City and the way he has built that team to get them there.
     
    “You have to say, yes, it’s been easier for Pep with what he’s done. But, Klopp has a lot of love, but it’s there for everyone to see in respect to the amount of trophies.
     
    "But, we can’t speak about City without talking about the 115 charges around them. The one thing I would like more than anything else is for that to be gone so you can give the team and the manager the flowers they deserve because when you speak about them, it’s like there is an elephant in the room."
     
    Wright went on to say on his record of trophies won as a basic measuring stick alone, he would say that Guardiola has done better.
     
    While opinions will differ on ‘who is better, who has done better’, what is pleasing is that Wright has shone a light on this matter. Man City may be focussed on winning more honours, but their ultimate judgement is still to come, and this one will be away from the pitch.
     
     
  • That performance exceeded anything I expected, but the result didn’t. I actually thought we’d win the game but I didn’t think we’d completely dominate them for the entire second half. That was something wasn’t it? Fucking hell. 
     
    We should have won, we deserved to win, but we didn’t win. Partly because of our finishing and partly because earlier in the season City’s chairman paid a few refs to go over and do some side gigs in the U.A.E. and since they came back they’ve given some of the worst decisions imaginable to help City out. 
     
    Oliver is the main culprit but don’t forget that Darren England was over there taking the oil money before he did what he did in the Spurs game. Oliver though, in his first game after his little jaunt to the Middle East he failed to send Kovacic off against Arsenal. A week or two later he was VAR in the Manchester derby and invented a penalty from nothing to give City the lead in a game that was close up to that point. We’ve not seen a penalty given like that before or since. Now we are continually told there’s a “high bar” and VAR won’t intervene on penalties. The bar wasn’t very high for Oliver at Old Trafford though eh?
     
    And then he ignores that one at the end of this game. Could be because he knows what side his bread is buttered or it might just be that he took the coward’s way out. A lot of refs would have bottled that decision, not necessarily because they’re “pro City” but because it’s the 98th minute of the biggest game in world football right now, and they don’t want to be the ones who decide the game so late. We might have got that in the 75th minute. Maybe. Probably not. But defo not with the last kick of the game. 
     
    Alan Pardew was on the radio after the game and actually said “it’s probably a penalty but I’m glad it wasn’t given because a game like that shouldn’t end that way”. As ludicrous as it sounds, he’s not going to be alone in that fucked up view. Had we been 1-0 down the feeling would be different. Pardew for one would be singing a different tune, because a draw would have felt like the right outcome for neutrals and they'd have felt cheated by not getting the penalty. When it's us being cheated out of a win it's like "meh". That’s why I think both Oliver and the VAR (Attwell) bottled it. Had we been 1-0 down I bet that would have been given, if not by Oliver then by Attwell. At 1-1 though the easy thing to do it ignore it and blow for full time as soon as possible. So that’s what they did.
     
    I’ll say no more about that because there’s really nothing to say. It’s 100% a penalty. Not one of those subjective calls where you can argue it either way. I know there are people trying to argue it, but it’s a penalty. End of story. If people want to argue that it wasn’t given because it was so late in a tied game, I’ll agree. It doesn’t excuse the decision, but it explains it. If they try to argue that it’s not a foul then sorry, that’s utter bollocks. Everyone knows that’s a foul and if they’re trying to argue otherwise they need to stop and ask themselves why. They’re either biased, or they’re trying too hard to be impartial. It’s a pen. 
     
    Right, with that out of the way let me get on with the game. Just wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Klopp happier or more excited after a game than he was doing his post match stuff here. The LFCTV interview in particular, he was absolutely beaming and was singling out loads of different players, looking straight into the camera and saying things like “wow” or “oh my god”. 
     
    He was so thrilled with the performance it masked any disappointment he might have had with the result. He didn’t even get mad about the penalty and was very calm about it all, mainly because his over-riding emotion was pride in his team.
     
    I get that and I feel that way too. Except I am mad about the non-penalty and I am disappointed we didn’t win. Actually disappointment is way too strong a word, I don’t feel that. I just really wish we’d won because I think a performance like that deserved three points. If I was feeling disappointed I’d probably be picking players out and saying “he should have done this” and “he needed to do that”. That’s not how I feel though, I have no disappointment in any player and I’m not digging anyone out for missed chances. They gave us absolutely everything and produced one of the best halves of football you'll see. As great as we’ve been under Klopp, we’ve never been able to do that to City. 
×
×
  • Create New...