Saturday Dec 14:
L 2 Watford 0 That was shite. Watford deserved something from this game but if you’re going to get anything against the Reds you can’t afford to waste the kind of chances that Watford did.
It was a typical early kick off following a midweek Euro away type game though really. These are never good, not when you’re playing a struggling team anyway. These are the games we’ve always drawn or lost in the past. Go back over the last couple of decades and they are littered with letdown games against shite. The last couple of years though we seem to have completely eradicated them.
These days we just win whether we play good, bad or indifferent. This one was somewhere between bad and indifferent, but the goals were class, especially the first one. Mo loves playing Watford.
You’d never believe they were bottom of the table based on this performance, but then in a way I suppose maybe you would. Scoring goals has been a huge problem all season, and we saw that today. I hope they get out of the bottom three but it’s not looking likely.
My boy Troy loves the Reds doesn’t he? See him on the pitch at full time being matey with all the lads? He was chatting with Sadio in the tunnel too, it was captured on camera as Sadio wished him Merry Christmas and told him to “look after my boy (his Senegal team-mate Sarr) because he’s shy”. Love that.
Deeney had a little tussle with Virg in the first half too which was funny. He was chasing a through ball and Virg stepped across and gave him a little elbow in the ribs. Deeney looked genuinely upset about it, he was looking at him like “how could you? You’re my hero”. Virg immediately gave him a friendly little pat and they had a hug and all was well with the world again.
It’s funny because if that was, say, David Luiz or Mustafi, Deeney would have had fucking murder with them because of the disdain he has for weak defenders. He fucking loves Virg. Who doesn’t though?
Sunday Dec 15:
The u23s drew 1-1 with Chelsea today and the line up revealed a lot about who is likely to play at Villa. It was basically Curtis Jones plus 10 under 18 players. Jones scored a brilliant goal (his 13th of the season) but only played a half before being withdrawn. He’s travelling to Qatar and won’t play against Villa. Nor will Neco Williams.
The lads who played today did a pretty remarkable job though all things considered. Chelsea had loads of highly rated kids out there, some of whom are on the fringes of Lampard’s senior squad, while we had a number of 16 year olds, so this was a hell of an effort.
In the big league today, City had a predictably easy win at Arsenal but the interesting thing was that the game wasn’t shown in China because the Chinese have seen their arses over a tweet by Mesut Ozil and as a result of that they pulled the game and showed a repeat of Wolves v Spurs instead.
Ozil spoke out about the treatment of Muslims over in China, and Arsenal shit themselves and were at pains to point out that these were Ozil’s views alone and don’t represent what Arsenal as a club feel. They didn’t do this when Bellerin (the big fucking hero) tweeted “Fuck Johnson” the other day. Why? Because like most other sports teams, Arsenal are terrified of upsetting the Chinese because of how much money is at stake.
Same thing happened with the NBA a few months ago. LeBron James is something of a social justice warrior and is generally great when it comes to speaking on important issues. When an NBA exec from another team condemned China for their human rights issues though, LeBron wasn’t having it and said the guy ‘was not educated’ on the China situation.
Why would he do that? Because the NBA is fucking massive in China and LeBron & co are wetting their beaks. just like Arsenal. Good for Ozil for speaking out, although he’s best mates with the Turkish president and they’ve got some shit going on over there themselves, so Ozil is leaving himself a bit open to claims of hypocrisy. A bit like when Guardiola preaches about Catalan independence while taking the Abu Dhabi money.
I don’t actually know where I’m going with this now as I’ve started rambling. I suppose the point is just, fuck Arsenal.
Monday Dec 16:
Atletico it is then The draw I want the least really but it’s a worse draw for them than it is us. I don’t know what to expect because I don’t watch La Liga and until this week I didn’t know just how many players have left in the last year or two. I immediately think of Atletico as that ruthless team of defensive minded, spoiling bastards led by Diego Godin at the back, but apparently they aren’t that team anymore.
I’m still taking nothing for granted though because Simeone will have them defending for their lives and shithousing all over the gaff. I expect two horrible games.
In other news, there’s a lot of talk that Ancelotti is going to take the Everton job. This blows my mind really and I compared it on Twitter to Robert De Niro accepting a part on Coronation Street. Immediately I was inundated with replies on how De Niro did adverts for Warburton’s bread. Ok, smart arses, so that comparison doesn’t work. Let’s just replace him with Al Pacino, ok? Happy now?
Meanwhile, former Everton boss Fat Sam was on Talksport this morning talking about the Arsenal job. He said he knows he’s got no chance of getting it but that if he did go in there he’d sort out that defence and make them harder to beat because he’s done that at every club he’s been at.
Imagine falling so far that Allardyce is telling people he could make you better and he isn’t talking through his arse. Arsenal are so shit these days that I can’t even take pleasure in, I just find them grossly offensive.
Allardyce is actually right. He would make them less shit. It tells you all you need to know about just how fucking shit and spineless Arsenal are currently that they could actually do a lot worse than Allardyce, and they probably will.
Tuesday Dec 17:
Ancelotti is actually taking the job, the fucking loon. Mind you, they must be paying him something utterly obscene for him to agree to it. He’s a good manager and perhaps even more importantly he’s a hugely respected figure within football, which instantly gives Everton some much needed credibility, but he’s something of a specialist who is suited to specific types of situations, and this ain’t it. Expect him to go the way of Koeman. That severance pay off is gonna be huge.
Meanwhile, Villa 5 L 0. I’v e got mixed feelings about this. Going out of the cup doesn’t bother me because it was always going to end this way. The scoreline is upsetting though as it just doesn’t reflect the game. Villa deserved to win as they were far more clinical and their experience (and physicality) was always going to prove decisive, but the kids did brilliantly I thought.
The bravery on the ball and the way they went out there and just played ‘Liverpool football’ was great. Harvey Elliott was the best player on the pitch and Neil Taylor was genuinely worried any time Harvey had the ball at his feet. He could play for the first team now and wouldn’t look out of place. He’s the best 16 year old we’ve had since Michael Owen.
Pedro Chirivella was class too. How on earth is he still stuck here in our u23 side? Don’t tell me there aren’t hundreds of teams who couldn’t use a player like him, because I’m not having it. That lad is a quality footballer who plays with his head up.
Of course we’re getting flak from some for the team we picked, even though there was no viable alternative. That soft twat on Talksport who does the show with Jason Cundy was kicking off that Origi, Shaqiri, Lallana, Milner and the other squad players weren’t involved. They’ll be playing tomorrow night, because there is no way on earth we go full strength against Monterrey with the injuries we have and the games we’ve got coming up.
All in all, I see this as a positive because there are some kids who would never have gotten to play for our first team who can now say they have, while for the likes of Elliott and Hoever it’s more valuable experience.
Wednesday Dec 18:
L 2 Monterrey 1 Jesus, that was tough. It shouldn’t be, because these are 8th in the Mexican league and would struggle in the Championship, but this competition means so much to these clubs that you get an almost superhuman effort from them.
We struggled without Van Dijk, but that’s to be expected as Hendo has never played there before. Not only did the defence suffer, but the midfield did too because Hendo wasn’t in there. Lallana, Ox and Keita is not a midfield three anyone ever expected to see, but needs must.
Keita played well and scored for the third game in a row. Salah was sharp too, but without the contribution of the subs we were never winning this. The amount of late goals we get is incredible, but it’s almost a self fulfilling prophecy now. We know we’re going to score and the opponents are fearing the worst.
The pass from Trent to pick out Bobby for the winner was just sublime. Anyone else would have blasted that cross into the middle, but Trent just eased it in there into the perfect spot.
He gets a lot of media recognition and seems to be highlighted on MOTD every other week, yet I still feel like Trent is widely under-rated. He’s a genuine superstar talent and does things most other players can only dream of. I suppose playing in a team with loads of other stars means there’s only so many plaudits to go around.
Thursday Dec 19:
Arteta takes the Arsenal job and City aren’t happy about how it was handled. Seems they’re always complaining about something lately. One might even say they’re always the victims of something. They want £2m compensation from Arsenal, which seems a bit steep for a fella who puts the cones out and fetches Guardiola’s coffee. He’s hardly Pep Ljinders is he?
I think City are most upset that he’s gone to Arsenal and not Everton, thus denying them the chance to ring the Blues and ask “where’s the Arteta money, Bill?”. You like that one? Me too, I was going to tweet it out but I thought nah, that’s so good people shouldn’t get that for free. That’s what you pay your money for folks.
Imagine thinking that Mikel Arteta has enough about him to sort out the absolute shambolic mess that it Arsenal right now. Then again, other than Klopp I don’t think there is anyone out there who can fix them any time soon.
Meanwhile, Minamino is now officially a Red and will reportedly make his debut against Everton in the FA Cup. Can’t wait, hope it goes the same way as Big Virg’s debut against them went.
Friday Dec 20:
Origi is asked what his favourite goal from last season was and he said it was the Everton one. This is just some top trolling. I mean, the lad scored one of, if not THE most iconic goal in club history with that winner against Barca, and he also scored in a Champions League final. Yet he picked a scruffy little header from a yard out against a mid table team. You’ve got to hand it to him, he knows his audience!
In other news today, the kids came from 2-1 down in the last minute to beat PSG 3-2 with two stoppage time goals. Gotta love this mentality running right through the club. Some of these lads played at Villa only a few nights earlier, including Tom Him who came on a sub to score the equaliser. The winner came from another sub, Larouci, who is back from the injury that kept him out the other night.
Arsenal are linked with a move for Ndidi. They’re rumoured to be ready to offer Leicester a deal of Granit Xhaka and £40m. Ah, the old £40m plus one pound bid again.
….and that was the week that was
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