Monday Aug 22:
Man Utd 2 L 1. Fuming. It’s one of those results that will rankle for years to come. We’ve had several of them at this place over the years. It’s not losing there that stays with me. We’ve had loads of defeats there when they were good and we weren’t and not one of them really stayed with me. They kind of blend into one big massive turd really. No regrets about those ones.
It’s these needless ones that really hang around like a bad smell. The games when you know we’re miles better than them and we should be beating them comfortably. What we saw last season was an exception, I’m not expecting us to put five past them every time. We should be winning by two or three though for the most part, such is the gulf between the two teams now.
Even with all the injuries we should have been spanking them tonight. Brentford put four past them, Brighton outplayed them and won, because United are shite. But then right now even shite can cause us problems. This was so much like the Fulham game in all kinds of ways. I’ll reference this more in the report so won’t labour the point here. Basically United just did what Fulham did and it worked.
Klopp didn’t think the performance was as bad as the Fulham one. I thought it was worse. We created plenty of chances against Fulham despite being shite. Tonight we didn’t create as much (probably because there was no Nunez to call on this time) and I thought we were worse defensively. That first United goal is so, so, so fucking bad. Trent half arsing it and Virgil not even doing that. No wonder Milner lost his shit.
Alisson playing dodgeball wasn’t great either, he completely bought the dummy by Sancho. I don’t think Milner did though. Milner knew there was a risk of that happening but he had to try to make a block in case the shot did come. Him diving in probably stopped Sancho shooting and forced the drag back.
Milner has done the right thing there, but he’ll have been expecting back up that never arrived. Virg had his hands behind his back and was rooted to the spot even before Sancho collected the ball. I can’t get my around it. It gets worse every time I see it. Trent really needed a fucking rocket as well though, but Milner was busy laying the law down to Van Dijk.
We’re not used to seeing stuff like that but I don’t see it as a big deal. It’s normal for players to do that in bad moments and I’d be more worried if they just accepted it. I wish Milner was five years younger though, because he looked like an old man out there at times tonight. Mind you, so did Trent and he’s only 23.
Such a wretched night. Not only did we lose and continue our worrying start, but we allowed them to pick themselves up off the floor and regain some self respect after being ridiculed for two weeks. It’s galling seeing them swaggering around like they’re Manchester United again and have turned some kind of corner. You’re still shit lads, it’s just that tonight we were worse.
Their fans were as loathsome as expected. The full repertoire of anti scouse shite was pouring out from them all night. Weren’t they supposed to be boycotting this match or walking out or something? Guess walk outs only happen when they’re getting fucking pasted. There were more Hillsborough chants than they was anti-Glazer stuff and that just about sums that fan base up more than anything. I hope the Glazers stay there forever and bleed the cunts dry, because no set of supporters would deserve that more.
It was TLW’s 23rd birthday today. It’s also my 13th wedding anniversary, which I only remembered this morning (my wife didn’t remember either so I avoided the doghouse). Now it’s memorable for all the wrong reasons though. Nice one Reds. Pricks.
Tuesday Aug 23:
There’s a report that Naby’s injury might be fairly serious. That report came from the same source in Germany who said last week he was unhappy. He’s being briefed by the agent so I wouldn’t be taking this at face value. Probably just another minor little muscle injury that keeps him out a week or two until the window shuts while the agent tries to find him a new club.
The way Klopp spoke about it definitely got my antenna up as you can often tell by what he doesn’t say whether there’s something going on. You know the language he uses in certain situations, so when he deviates from that it sets off an alarm bell. For me, this Keita thing isn’t as straightforward as it seems.
There’s some talk that we might go for Tielemans. I’m not a fan. I don’t think he’s that good and I don’t see him as a good fit for our midfield. That being said, if my only choice was to sell Keita and bring him in, then I’d take that deal in a heartbeat. If there’s another choice though then that’s where I’d be leaning because I don’t particularly want Tielemans. Bit of a blam merchant who shoots from anywhere, and he’s got an irrationally annoying face.
If we were signing a PL midfielder I’d prefer Ward-Prowse, but I wouldn’t be doing that deal either as he’d be well overpriced due to his importance to Southampton. Ramsey at Villa has been mentioned too. Not for me. Not ready to start every week and we’ve already got midfielders in his age group. We’ve got no-one in the 22-27 age range so that’s where we need to be looking I think.
Wednesday Aug 24:
Some of the kids have really got off to a good start on loan. Conor Bradley has been dynamite for Bolton so far and James Balagizi has been tearing it up for Crawley Town. He scored against Fulham last night in a League Cup upset and now has three for the season already. He’s an interesting one because a year or so back he looked really special, but then he seemed to be treading a water a bit. I wondered whether it was because after moving up from the 18s he was no longer bigger and stronger than everyone else, but he’s playing against men now in League Two and doing well so it’s not that.
I think it’s the Premier League 2 that’s the problem. It’s shite. Just really uninspiring. The u18 league is fun to watch but the PL2 seems to be where promising players go to die. I just can’t sit through the games anymore for some reason. Maybe it’s just me, I don’t know. How can I love watching the 18s but then have virtually no interest in what is effectively the reserves? I used to love ressies football but now I just can’t be arsed with it. I saw bits and pieces of it last year and was disappointed in the lack of progression of Balagizi, but look at him now.
Tyler Morton has started well too and was man of the match last night playing at centre back. I don’t mind that, could be good for his development. Fabinho has played at the back and it probably helps him when playing the six so this is all good experience for Morton. I think he has an outside chance of making it as he’s got something about him. You can rarely tell with kids now though as some kick on and others don’t. We could actually do with him in the squad right now with all the injuries and legginess we’ve got in midfield.
You can see why the club are loaning out all the kids who might have a chance though. Unless they’re really fucking good like Trent, Jones, Elliott etc and are immediately made a part of the senior squad, I think we’re going to see anyone with a chance being loaned out asap now. So you have Bradley, Morton, Beck, Balagizi out there, Rhys Williams too.
On that note, in Ljinders book he reveals a conversation where Klopp told Rhys the plan is for him to be loaned out for a few seasons and then he has a chance to be a first team centre half. I just don’t see that myself as he doesn’t have the pace and that’s not something he’ll pick up on loan, but the point is that we’re probably going to see more and loans now because the PL2 is shite. The idea of a Spanish style system where a B team plays in League One or Two is interesting but it’s a complete non starter because teams would have to be relegated to make way for them and that, quite rightly, would not happen.
Speaking of Ljinders book, I was so excited about that but what a letdown it’s been so far. I’m only a couple of chapters in but it’s not doing it for me. Lots of clichés and motivational soundbites but not a great deal of substance or interesting inside knowledge so far. I’m hoping it gets better but I think I built this up too much in my head and made it impossible for it to live up to my expectations.
In other news, Mike Riley is going at the end of the season. Woohoo! Wait, he’s being replaced by Howard Webb??? Talk about out of the frying pan into the fires of Mount Doom. Kinell.
Thursday Aug 25:
We got Derby County in the League Cup, which could be worse as we may still be able to play a lot of kids and edge through. I think this is trickier than it would usually be though because some of the kids are needed in the first team and some of the squad players are also in the line up now. So how weak do we go against Derby? Are we looking at Van den Berg, Bajcetic, Clark, Musialowski and co? If so, we’re probably getting knocked out.
As I said above, the best kids are out on loan so with 10 players currently injured that’s leaving us vulnerable for that game with Derby. I’m not sure I care or not though. It was great winning the domestic cups last season, but we probably paid a price for it late in the season. Drawing with Spurs and losing to Madrid may not have happened with fresher legs, but I’m just speculating there as none of us know. Losing to Derby might benefit us in the long run but it would not be good for our short term morale or the narrative that our season is already imploding.
I haven’t see any of the rest of the draw other I know that City got Chelsea, which must have been some kind of mistake as they only ever get the easiest draw possible. Are we sure it wasn’t Chelsea Women and someone has just got it wrong? Wait, can I say that now? I can’t? Ok, swap it out for Chelsea Pensioners instead, I think it’s still fair game to joke about old people. It’s not? Fucks sake. Ok just change it to Everton then. We’re good with that, right? Cool. Because the day we aren’t is the day I walk away from this.
Friday Aug 26:
Klopp’s presser today was really good. He seemed upbeat and spoke about a big meeting on Wednesday in which he was able to get a lot of things off his chest and help the players get some perspective back. He wasn’t shouting and it sounds like it was more motivational and tactical than laying the law down, so hopefully it does the trick.
He was somewhat conciliatory towards Julia from the BBC too. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago how he got really arsey about what was a legitimate question about us conceding first all the time. We’ve conceded first in every game since and while he stopped short of saying “yeah I was wrong about that” he did concede it was a valid discussion point.
He was widely misquoted about what he said regarding signing a midfielder though. That Fabrizio Romano fella went big on Klopp saying he’d be signing one and that he was wrong when he said he didn’t need one. From what I saw he was being sarcastic with the “you were right and I was wrong” thing he said to the journalists and that nothing has really changed.
If a player he wants becomes available they’ll move, but they won’t sign someone not on the list just because fans are demanding we do something and that we’re short of bodies. I see both sides here really. Klopp only wants to sign someone who will either be first choice or at the very least really pushing for it. A lot of fans just want someone better than Milner, Jones, Ox, Harvey etc and who is more reliable than Thiago and Keita.
I just think if we sign someone who isn’t pushing for a starting place when everyone is available, then what’s the point? It’s a waste of money. Get someone who will be in the team for the next five years or more, or just fuck Keita off and get someone who is a reliable number four in the pecking order. Don’t bring someone in just to be another body, like Kabak or Ben Davies for example.
Meanwhile, after me saying about how dull the u21 league is, there was a six goal thriller at Spurs as the lads came from 3-0 down at half time to get a draw. I didn’t watch it and if I had been I can guarantee I’d have switched it off at 3-0 down. Nice comeback though. The goals came from Chambers, Woltman and Blair and apparently we had a perfectly good winner from Stewart wrongly disallowed for offside. I might watch their next game, but probably not.
Almost forgot, the CL draw was yesterday. We got some familiar faces in Ajax and Napoli and an unfamiliar one in Rangers. The way we’re playing right now none of those would be easy but hopefully by the time the games come around we’ll be back on track. Rangers made the Europa League final last season and only lost on pens, so they’ll be really tough in both games. Napoli aren’t what they were under Ancelotti but it’s always a tough place to go. As for Ajax, they’ve apparently said they’ll be asking Ten Hag for tips on how to beat us, so I’m not worried about them. I mean what can he say? “Try to do what Fulham did and hope that eight of their team have an off night”. Thats how they beat us.
….and that was the week that was
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