Saturday Jan 5:
Lots of interesting bits from Klopp’s pre-Wolves presser today. The 16 year old Dutch kid might play against Wolves, as might Curtis Jones and Rafa Camacho, who is a target for his former club Sporting Lisbon apparently. We might need him on Monday though because we’ve got no back up right back after Clyne was allowed to join Bournemouth on loan.
Something doesn’t really add up here. Clyne apparently asked to leave, but why would he want out when there’s a chance of him playing a role in a title win and / or Champions League success? Ok, he’s not first choice, but he started against United and he’s been on the bench ever since.
He’s not a million miles away from getting a game. Trent could get injured, Gomez is regularly injured, and Clyne might even be next in line at left back. He’s giving that up to go and play for Bournemouth? It’s not even a World Cup or Euros year, so it’s not like he needs to worry about an England spot.
Just seems weird to me, but then Clyne’s entire situation for the past couple of years has been weird. There was barely ever any updates on when he’d be fit again after his back injury, and when was the last time he did any kind of interview with the TV channel? Usually injured players are on there all the time, hell, Ox is on there more than Peter McDowell, but Clyne has been nowhere to be seen. Like I say, just a very odd situation.
He’ll be joined at Bournemouth by Dom Solanke, who made a permanent move there for £19m. Michael Edwards drives a harder bargain that Daniel Levy these days. Credit where it's due, we do great when it comes to bringing in big money for players we don’t want. I like Solanke though, he’ll be a good player for someone but it's been clear for a while it wouldn’t be for us. Just not a great fit for how we play.
Klopp basically said we needed to do right by him and let him leave because if you want to attract young players to the club you have to show them that they’ll either get a chance or they’ll be allowed to move on. Keeping hold of Solanke would have served no purpose at this point. £19m though? Bournemouth are great aren’t they?
Other snippets from today were that Moreno and Mignolet will both start in Monday night’s upcoming defeat at Wolves. Moreno is “an unbelievably professional person” apparently, and as for Mignolet, well Klopp said “I could write a book of all the good things I could say about Simon”. Yeah, and it’d be in the fiction aisle, amirite?
Sunday Jan 6:
Fulham want Origi and we want £25m. Neither is happening and here’s why: Fulham have got Mitrovic, Shurrle and Sessegnon, so they’re fine up top. They need defenders, not a centre forward. And as for us, well we’ve just sold Solanke so why would we let Origi go as well?
Unless we’re bringing someone in of course, or promoting a kid. Bobby Duncan is making big progress but fuck knows where Rhian Brewster is. He was meant to be back in November and there’s still no sign of him and as far as I’m aware there’s been no updates. He’ll be at Bournemouth before we know it.
It’s easy to say Clyne, Solanke and Origi are all expendable and won’t be missed, but I don’t like the idea of us coming out of a transfer window significantly weaker than when we went into it, especially when there’s so much at stake in the next five months. Mind you, I'm still pissed we sold arl Ragnar in the summer.
Monday Jan 7:
Wolves 2 L 1. Shite that. Proper shite. I had no problem with Klopp’s team selection and I can’t say I’m bothered we won’t be in the next round. I was prepared for a defeat and fully expected it, but I thought the weakened team would at least have a go. Some did but others clearly didn’t give a fuck and are just waiting for the season to end so they can leave.
Lovren getting injured shows just why we can do without the FA Cup this year. Imagine if that had been Virgil playing and getting injured. Or Salah. Or Robbo. Bloody hell, the thought of us having to roll with Moreno in any kind of meaningful game fills me with dread. This should be his last game for us all being well. If Robbo needs a rest, put Milner there.
Lovren being out for a while gives us a problem though. Gomez and Matip are a couple of weeks off at least, so that leaves Fabinho as the only option alongside Virgil. If anything happens to him? I think we’d see Hendo there, or possibly Gini at a push. Then again, I reckon even I could play there and Virgil would get me through it.
Ki-Jana Hoever did himself a power of good tonight though. Fucking hell, that is one ice cold kid that. No nerves at all, and even on the couple of anxious looking moments he had there was no trace of worry or fear on his face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid that relaxed and calm on his debut, it was incredible. No wonder Clyne was sent packing. This kid looks like he could play right back standing on his fucking head.
Tuesday Jan 8:
Pogba’s brother speaks out and says Mourinho was the problem at United. He’s probably right but any credibility he might have was shot to pieces by this comment: “Mourinho always wants to be the maestro, the centre of attention. Paul does not even think about this aspect”.
Holy shit, I genuinely hope he’s saying that just to troll his brother, because if he genuinely believes that every single thing, big or small, that Paul Pogba does, is not done to make him the centre of attention, then he needs locking up as he’s a fucking danger.
Meanwhile, Guardiola denies having the groundsman let the grass grow longer to slow us down last week. I actually thought when I was watching it that there was something not right with the pitch, as it looked slow as fuck and the grass was longer than usual. Apparently some of our fans have been accusing Guardiola of doing it to make life difficult for us to move the ball quickly.
Come on now, Guardiola isn’t Tony fucking Pulis and I’m not buying the notion that it was his doing.
He came out strongly to defend himself, saying “We want to cut the field all the time, all my career, 10 years as a manager. The better conditions for both teams, I never put in some trick about this.
“Always when you do this, karma or something punishes you. You have to do the best for the opponents, for the game, respect the game and the rules.
Ok Pep, you had me right up until “respect the game and the rules”. Say that again with a straight face.
In other news, over at the Everton AGM….
Denise Barrett-Baxendale says Everton’s vision for next ten years and beyond is to be “challenging at the top of the Premier League and competing at the highest level in European Competitons”.
And it’s my vision for the next ten years to get my golf game in shape and enter the PGA senior tour where I’ll win the grand slam of majors. Whose chances do you like more?
Another delusive boardroom stooge, Keith Harris, says: We are hoping to put a spade in the ground early next year, we certainly will be in a position to complete within 3 years. It will be a fortress that clubs shudder to visit.
Harris also said that Farhad Moshiri and him asked Arsenal Wenger which stadium does he dread visiting the most?
“Goodison Park”, said Wenger.
What he didn’t say was that Wenger dreaded visiting Goodison because the stadium is falling down, the away dressing room stinks of piss, and Duncan Ferguson is given free reign to roam around the hallways with his pigeons.
Don’t ever change, Everton.
Wednesday Jan 9:
City put nine past Burton in the cup. So many things to take away from this. Firstly, the ground was empty. 30k apparently, but that’s bollocks. There might well have been more Burton fans there than City fans. Now I’ve said before that I’m not one for scoffing at clubs not filling their ground because as fans we’re being ripped off by our clubs and I’m not going to sit in judgement when there are empty seats.
That being said, this is a bit different isn’t it? It’s a cup semi final. Yes, it’s a League One opponent, but City were in that league not so long ago, getting 35k for home games. They’ve been successful for a few years now, but it’s not exactly been decades of dominance has it? Are they bored with success already? This is part of what I was meaning when I wrote last week that Aguero has wasted his career playing for City.
They’re a small club that has been artificially elevated by the financial backing of an entire country. All the money in the world can’t buy them fans or make them a big club. They know that, which is part of the reason why they’re so obsessed with us.
The other thing people are debating is whether they should have eased up on Burton instead of continuing to pile on the misery. I don’t have a specific problem with them trying to score more goals, but I reckon most teams would have taken their foot off the gas once they reached five or six. City not doing that doesn’t surprise me because they’re knobs.
Burton aren’t part timers though. If they didn’t like it they should have stopped them. If they felt like City were embarrassing them then fucking kick them, turn the game into a war. Don’t let them continue to play their pretty little passes and run up the score. I don’t feel sorry for Burton at all, but if they have anything about them they’ll bust some fucking heads in the second leg.
Telling that Phil Foden couldn’t get a start even against lower league opposition when Guardiola is rotating his squad. No fucking wonder kids like Jaden Sancho and Bobby Duncan are getting the hell out of dodge. If Foden is as good as people say he is (I don’t know because he never plays so I never see him) he’d probably have 25-30 starts if he was playing for us.
City will never bring kids through because they have so much money they can’t help but spend it on players they don’t need. Case in point; Riyad Mahrez. They didn’t need him, they’re struggling to find a place for him and his presence in the squad has made it more difficult for Foden.
The other reason they won’t bring kids through is because Flat Track Pep doesn’t want to. He loves a stacked deck, he’s built his career on it. When he leaves City he's nailed on to end up at PSG.
Thursday Jan 10:
Where is all this Tarkowski talk coming from? Sean Dyche doesn’t know, he says it’s all news to him. I bet Klopp has no idea either, as there’s no way we’re in for Tarkwoski, and certainly not for the £50m being talked about. I don’t see it with Tarkowski at all. He’s another Michael Keane. Burnley’s defensive record this year has been garbage despite them playing defensive football. How good can he be? Basically a poor man's Harry Maguire, and he's not that good either.
Other rumours today have us looking to bring Coutinho back. Now that's a rumour I can get behind. He had a stinker tonight as they lost in the Spanish Cup and their fans haven’t taken to him at all. Ok, if this is a possibility then I’d be all over it. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten the shit he pulled to get out but I’d happily bury that in the past if we could bring him back here. It would have to be at a cut down price though.
We haven’t replaced him and if he came back he’d be a great asset to us, in midfield against the dregs of the league and in the front three or as an impact sub against the good sides. It won’t happen though as I just don’t think Klopp would spend that kind of money on him. If he was spending big, he’d sign a different type of player I think. Maybe I’m wrong though, as he did want to sign Nabil Fekir.
The worry I have is if Barca sell Coutinho he’s going to end up in Manchester. Whether it’s City or United I don’t know, but I suspect both would be all over him like Juventus on a freebie if he was made available. Would we? It might depend on how desperate Coutinho was to get back here. Could he convince Klopp to give him another chance? Maybe, if he was humble enough.
Jurgen once told him “Stay here and be successful and they will end up building a statue in your honour. Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more."
Coutinho is now finding that out.
Friday Jan 11:
Ben Woodburn is back at Melwood, but not for long it seems. His loan with Sheffield United has been cancelled (I thought it was cancelled about two months ago?) but other Championship clubs want to take him. This is a crucial time for Woodburn as his career has stalled massively in the last 18 months. The first thing that needs to happen is a decision needs to be made on what his long term position is (personally I see him as a midfield player) and then whoever signs him needs to be playing him there. Sheffield United was obviously a bad fit for him so the club need to make a better decision this time.
Another teenager who won’t be going on loan, at least according to reports today, is Rafa Camacho. The suggestion is that Klopp thinks he could have a role to play this season. Can’t see it myself, not based on the Wolves game anyway. It’s not that he was bad, it’s just that he seemed to play everywhere except right back.
Whether that’s down to him or whether it was Klopp trying out some weird new system I’m not sure. I suspect it’s the latter, but the idea of using a teenage winger at full back in any meaningful game seems a bit mental to me so I’ll take this talk with a pinch of salt. That said, I might play him left back ahead of Moreno, as that lad's head is already back in Spain.
Finally, it looks like Chelsea are making a move for Koulibaly and there are some who think we should rival them. I think he’s brilliant and the prospect of him lining up alongside Virgil is an enticing one, but Joe Gomez looks like he could be one of the very best if he can stop getting injured. We’ve got Lovren and Matip too, so spending big on another centre back is not going to happen, not this month anyway.
Might be one to revisit in the summer if we move Lovren and Matip on. With Virgil and Koulibaly playing together we might never concede a goal ever again. If we spend big in the summer though I'd rather it was on Coutinho, but I'm probably in a minority there.
.... and that was the week that was
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