Saturday Aug 17:
Southampton 1 L 2 You know, it’s easy to pick holes in performances sometimes and if we’re being honest, there was a lot about this one that wasn’t good. But when you consider what the boys had to contend with this week, they were never going to be at their absolute best and it’s therefore pointless analysing the performance too much. All that matters is finding a way to win, and they did. They nearly always do these days. “Mentality Monsters”.
If Adrian doesn’t make that horrendous fuck up we win this one comfortably and we’re all talking about what a good away display that was. The first was shite, but we played pretty well second half and it was only that blunder that made things a bit hairy. Adrian got away with it big time there though because if Ings hadn’t missed that sitter soon after then everyone would be taking about him. Like Alisson at Leicester last year though, it didn’t cost us so we can look back and laugh. He needs to be much more careful in future though because that casual shit just isn’t acceptable.
Thing is though, this is almost inevitable now because managers want their keepers to play out from the back. It doesn’t matter how good they are with their feet (and Adrian is decent), it’s risky and at some point they’ll get caught out. I’m not necessarily saying I want my keeper to launch it all the time, but equally he doesn’t need to always be looking to play fucking slide rule passes to his defenders either.
On a positive note though, how good was it seeing Ox back in midfield and playing like that? All things being equal, with everyone fit and one their best form, I think he makes my best eleven you know. Maybe not for every game and a lot of it is opposition dependant (no problem with the ‘three grafters’ set up when we play top sides), but Ox gives us that something a bit different from the others. I just hope he can stay fit now.
Also today, I watched the last half an hour of the u18s game today and it was great entertainment. They beat stoke 3-2 with a last minute winner, and what a goal it was. 16 year old Layton Stewart latched onto a brilliant ball by Jake Cain and finished with a mid-air flicked volley lob over the keeper. Firmino-esque it was. He’s supposed to be one to watch. I didn’t see much of him prior to the goal but that finish was so fucking good.
There’s a big French lad at the back who caught the eye too. Billy Koumetio. He’s 16 but physically he stands out at this level in the way Big Virg does at senior level. I’m gonna try and watch the 18s as much as I can this year.
Sunday Aug 18:
So it seems that with yesterday’s win, Klopp became the fastest Liverpool manager to reach 300 points. He doesn’t have a league title to show for that but as I keep saying, none of the sides of the past had to deal with anything like Guardiola’s Man City. I maintain this is the best side we’ve ever had, and although this stat doesn’t really mean a great deal in the grand scheme of things, I feel as though it’s more validation to my view that this team right now is our best ever. The mad thing is is only feels like yesterday that we were being subjected to the weekly comparison with Brendan’s points tally.
Meanwhile, Marko Grujic says that former team-mate Phil Coutinho “will be the best player in Germany”. Second best, surely? I mean come on big fella, where’s your self belief? I’m not sure Coutinho will even be the best player at Bayern, let alone the whole league. It all depends on how much his confidence has been knocked by Barca.
I wouldn’t have worried about that if we’d brought him back, as Klopp could probably even have me thinking I could go out there and score 30 goals a season (I guarantee my mate John is reading this and thinking “not sure about 30, but you could defo get 25”). Klopp would have had Coutinho back to his old self in no time. Whether Bayern’s coach can do that or not who knows, and frankly now, who cares. I’m interested to see how he does there, but I’m neither rooting for nor against him.
Timo Werner is reportedly running down his contract and will be a free agent next summer. Bayern are favourites to get him but we’re STILL being linked with, even though when you actually stop and think about it, we’ve never really done anything to suggest we’re in the slightest bit interested in him. We might be if he’s on a free though. Bet he ends up at Juve though, the bargain bin rummaging through tightwad fucks.
Shaq is making some noises about not being satisfied. Nothing he said was especially dramatic but it was enough to give the click baiters what they crave. Basically he thinks he should play more and is hoping to find a solution. Nothing to see here really, he’s got a point but until he gets out on the pitch and actually gets the chance to show he should play more, he can’t really do anything about it.
He’s not going to start much and I think he understands that, as there are world class players ahead of him. I think his frustration (and mine) comes from the fact that when subs are made late in games that are in the bag, he still doesn’t usually get on. If Milner is on the bench, Klopp will always bring him on at some point. Same with Hendo actually. Shaq’s problem is that Ox, Lallana and Origi will also be sent on before him. I feel sorry for him, he’s too good to never play.
Klopp must have a fucking heart of stone as I just couldn’t do it. One look at Shaq’s little face would be enough for me. I’d be like “You go on and have some fun little fella” and I’d rub his little head. Regardless of what happened on the pitch, seeing his little beaming smile would be worth it.
Monday Aug 19:
Harry Wilson scored for Bournemouth at the weekend and Klopp sent him a message of congratulations along with a selfie. Imagine being one of his players, you’d constantly be pissing yourself at the mad shit he does. You just know he was pulling some mad face on that selfie. It's going to be interesting to see how Harry does there, because it does feel as though Klopp likes him enough that he wants to give him time and wait for him to develop. He was good at the weekend so that's a perfect start for him.
Mo did an interview with CNN and was asked about his future. We got the usual stuff about ‘happy at the club’ ‘happy in the city’ and that has been used for countless articles today on how that means he’ll be staying and talk of him leaving next summer is therefore without foundation.
A lot of the talk is because Neville was goading Carra and said ““Salah’s going to leave in the next 12 months, I can see it already.
“He [Carragher] knows, he won’t say it. I can see it, you can feel it, you can smell it, you know when a player’s like…”
He's shit-stirring but I sort of feel the same way you know. The only thing giving me pause is that I don’t really see any club out there who could afford him. Maybe Mo would fancy a crack at playing for one of the big two in Spain, but they don’t have the cash. Well, Madrid might do as they’re like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, constantly buying shit and saying “yeah yeah put it on my tab”. Their level of debt is massive, yet they still spend £300m this summer or something. If they could do that again then I reckon it would be “bye bye Mo, hello Jaden or Kylian” next summer. Hope not, but it wouldn't shock me.
Are we in for Michel Vorm? Achteburg said we’d had talks with him but it wasn’t clear if he meant weeks ago or if we were still looking at it. It’d be a bit of a slap in the face for Adrian if we did bring him in. The only way it would be acceptable is if Alisson’s injury is worse than we’re being told, but the man himself keeps reassuring us he’s fine, so fingers crossed he’s not bullshitting us the way Klopp tends to.
Meanwhile, the u23s were spanked at Chelsea tonight. Really disappointing performance considering the exciting talent in the side. Hoever, Van Den Berg, Jones, Larouci, Brewster, Elliott… they should be much better than this but they got battered. Granted, Chelsea had a bit more experience in their side and Batshuayi scored twice, but they were just miles better all over the park and clearly these kids of ours have some developing to do, especially on the physical side of things. They’ve conceded ten goals in three games so far this season. That shit needs cleaning up.
Tuesday Aug 20:
Klopp is hinting at retirement in a couple of years. Fucking hell. We are where we are right now solely because of him. That’s right, I said it, it’s 100% because of him. Of course others have contributed, but not one of them (players, staff or Michael Edwards) would be looking as good as they are without Klopp. What we’re seeing now, it’s still all on him and we’d still be bumming around hoping to sneak 4th every other year if he hadn’t arrived.
He’s had the biggest impact on the club since Shankly when he arrived and transformed the place. We’ve been close to being really good at times since we last won the title and we’ve had some very good managers. We’ve had nothing like Klopp though. What he’s done is incredible, especially as it wasn’t achieved off the back of an open cheque book.
Without him, we’ll just drift back into the pack again. Of that I’m sure. I mean who else is there who we could bring in? Pochettino is probably the next best out there, but would he have us at the level we are now? Not for me, even though I do think he’s great in his own right.
There’s Guardiola too of course. He’s the next best manager out there behind Klopp, so maybe Edwards should be testing the water there. Ask him if in a couple of years he wants to manage a proper football club instead of that joke of an environment he’s in now? Ok, I wasn’t being entirely serious there (although thinking about it, it’s not as ridiculous as it initially seemed when I started saying it), but we are going to need a contingency plan in case Klopp doesn’t stick around.
So what do we do? Personally I think it’s fairly obvious that if Klopp were to retire, within six months he’d be itching to get back in again, just like when he left Dortmund and his ‘year off’ turned into a few months. Shankly regretted quitting and would have come back. Kenny has admitted that once his batteries were recharged he would have liked to have come back too.
So if Klopp won’t sign a new deal, offer him double the money with a clause allowing him a year off at any time he chooses. Let Ljinders or someone fill in until he wants to come back. Basically do whatever it takes to keep him, even if it’s something as unorthodox as that. “No individual is bigger than the club” but Klopp is as close as you’ll ever get.
Meanwhile, we’ve rejected a loan offer from a Danish club for Bobby Duncan. Bit random that like. I don’t really see what we’d have gained by it, but usually when there’s talk like this it’s because the player is being hawked around behind the scenes (either by club or agent). He’d be much better off playing in the u23s this season and learning the system. If he does well at that level, then loan him out, but he’s got a long, long way to go yet. He’s got something about him and he knows where the net is, but to play in our front three you need to be so well rounded and at this point Bobby isn’t.
Wednesday Aug 21:
‘Big Sexy’ is reportedly on his way out at Juve. Surprising in the sense that he didn’t really make much of an impression over there (a league that slow should have suited him perfectly), but not surprising that those scabby bastards are looking to cash in after signing him on a free. Mind you, considering the massively inflated salary they gave him they might not make too much on the deal, as no-one else is stupid enough to match that wage. No-one except United, but our window is shut so they can't do anything even if they wanted to.
Can's a good player but if those reports of his salary were accurate they were paying him more than we pay Van Dijk and Salah. Crazy. It’s funny the way he was virtually forgotten about the second he walked out the door though. I can’t ever remember an established player leaving us and the fans just never giving him a second thought afterwards. It was almost like he was never here.
We got Fabinho, who’s a much better player, and we picked up 97 points and won a Champions League. Emre picked up a Series A winner’s medal but he was a bit part player and now he’s been placed in the discount bin because they’ve replaced him with some more shiny new toys.
Several players have left Liverpool and gone on to better things, but most don’t. And fewer still continue to have things so good when they leave Kloppo.
Which brings me nicely to Daniel Sturridge, who today signed for Trabsonzspor. I didn’t see that coming. I was convinced he’d be headed to the MLS, and this is a strange one for me. I just can’t figure out what the appeal is for him going there. I give it less than a year before he’s looking for another club.
Also today, Jaden Sancho has signed a new deal at Dortmund. Doesn’t necessarily mean anything other than they’ll get a bigger fee when he leaves, but you do have to wonder why he would sign this if he was - as claimed - planning on returning to England next summer.
Thursday Aug 22:
The Anny Road is apparently going to be extended to take the capacity over 60k. At least that’s what the club are implying having allowed the previous planning application to expire having done nothing with it. Whether it happens or not we’ll see.
I wonder what would be a realistic number for us to fill every week though? 65 maybe? Possibly 70? We could probably do 80k if ticket prices were lowered, but that’s never going to happen. They’ve put a freeze on it after what happened last time they went for an increase, but you know they’ll be looking to sneak that through just as soon as they feel they can do it without a big backlash.
Saw a clickbait headline today that read “Unai Emery reveals the one advantage Liverpool have ahead of this weekend’s fixture”. Presumably that advantage is being fucking miles better than them?
Speaking of clickbait, the Echo continues to scrape the barrel for content. “We 'signed' reported £91m target Kai Havertz for Liverpool with spectacular results”. I looked at that and I’m thinking “don’t click as you’ll only end up getting wound up by what you see” so I didn’t click and I moved on.
And then I kept thinking, what the fuck were they on about? They didn’t sign him on Footy Manager and write an article based on that, surely? I mean that would be fucking ludicrous. So I went back and almost clicked it. But I didn’t, I carried on with my day.
But it continued to bother me. It had to have been footy manager, or Fifa. Would they really do that just to get an article out of it? So I went back, and yep, that’s exactly what they did. It almost defies belief. Someone signed him, then let the season play out on simulation mode and then compiled a detailed report on how his season went. Goals, assists, key passes, what position he mostly played in…. I mean fucking hell, is this where we are now?
No wonder so many of our fans on social media are fucking clueless and post shite about wanting to swap the likes of Henderson and Milner for players they only know from fucking Fifa games. Jesus Christ. I’m irrationally angry now, both at the Echo for what they’ve become, and myself for giving them the click.
Friday Aug 23:
New deal for Ox. Made up for him. There was a feature on him yesterday by Neil Jones at goal.com that really put into perspective what Ox went through. We don’t really get it as fans because we aren’t seeing the daily grind that the injured lads have to go through. We also didn’t know that the injury he had was described at the time by one of the physics as “as bad as it gets”.
His knee was completely fucked up and his hamstring muscle was detached from the knee and to be reattached. They didn’t tell us any of this at the time, but you read about it now and it’s like “fucking hell Ox!”. Just so good to have him back and hopefully we'll see him pick up where he left off, as he was looking great until that night against Roma.
Looks like Nike might be the new kit makers and it could be a crazy amount of money. Said it before, I’d prefer Adidas just because it would remind me of the 80s and because they could bring out all the boss throwback kits. I’ve got mates who’d rather stay with NB because they like the gear. Ultimately I’m not really arsed.
Speaking of not really arsed, Fernando Torres retired today. I’m not really arsed, because in his last 12 months here he was not really arsed.
.... and that was the week that was.
Recommended Comments