Monday Jul 11:
Some takeaways from the latest training videos from Thailand. Firstly, the South American lads look like they’re trying to recruit Carvalho. Harvey, Curtis and the other young guns have a fight on their hands there. Seconds, ice baths. Just fucking nightmare fuel that for me. I’ve said this before but I couldn’t be a professional footballer if it meant getting in ice baths every day. The idea of it fucking terrifies me.
I can’t even get a cold shower. Back when I used to go the gym I’d spend a lot of time in the sauna and steamroom (more than I did in the actual gym) and outside them were showers. Some were cold, some were warm. I’m the only person I ever saw using the warm one. There was a plunge pool too that everyone used to go in after they came out of the sauna. One time I plucked up the nerve to give it a try. If everyone else Is doing it then it can’t be that bad, right? Wrong. It took every bit of self restraint I had not to scream.
And now I see the lads casually just sitting in ice baths, throwing ice at eachother and not being the slightest bit bothered by it. They don’t even grimace when they get in. This must be a me problem, right? Maybe I have super sensitive skin or something, because I can’t even get into the sea on holiday without edging my way in, inch by inch, standing on my tip toes because I don’t want the cold water hitting my stomach and chest. Reluctantly, I have to admit it - I’m fucking pathetic.
The final take away I had from watching the stuff on LFCTV though is that I’ve got a strong feeling Harvey is going to completely rip it up this season. I know you can’t judge anything based on these training videos, but even so, he looks dynamite. There was an interview with him too where he was asked about whether he enjoyed his time off and if he was able to relax. He basically said that no he didn’t, he was just itching to get back. Eye of the tiger baby. Eye of the tiger.
One other thing, Harvey was also asked about his mate Fabio and he said “what a player by the way. A true superstar”. This is interesting to me because although Harvey is a kid, he’s quite mature in his interviews and wouldn’t throw that comment around lightly. It’s also interesting to read the quotes from Klopp today about why he doesn’t need a midfielder and he doesn’t understand the obsession fans have about it.
For the record, I do want a midfielder but I also agreed with everything Jurgen said about it. I want one to replace Keita, I don’t want one in addition to what we have because we don’t want to restrict the opportunities for the young talent we have. Klopp referenced Curtis, Harvey and Fabio as creative midfield options and also said they’d be used as a number 10 if we played with just two midfielders.
The reason he was talking about this was because he was asked about Bellingham. His answer made it obvious that he wants him because he didn’t say “I don’t need a midfielder” he said “he is not on the market this summer”.
Final point, Billy Hogan did another interview on the site too. Not about Paris this time, just about general stuff to do with the tour, the stadium expansion and stuff like that. As a rule I absolute loathe rich, corporate types, especially American ones. I get a completely different vibe about this fella though. You could go for a bevvy with him I reckon and not come away thinking “what a cunt”.
Tuesday Jul 12:
I was out today so couldn’t watch the game live. I avoided the score until I got home and the plan was to watch it without knowing. As soon as I fired up LFCTV Go though it showed the score. 4-0??? What the fuck? I wasn’t going to bother watching after that but my cousin Al had watched and said to forget the score because it doesn’t really tell the story of the game. So I watched, and we were the better side overall. But they took it REALLY seriously, while Klopp picked three different teams during the game.
17 year old Isaac Mbaya was lively at right back. He looked boss whenever I saw him in the 18s last year. He’s a good midfield player but I like him a lot at right back because he’s so fucking direct and quick. He’s a bit like Kyle Walker in that respect. He made a terrible error for their opener though. Dreadful mistake that. He’s a bit like Kyle Walker in that respect too.
Harvey looked sharp, I saw nice little flashes from Carvalho, while Diaz looks like he’s picked up where he left off. Defensively it was a mess though. The lads who played the opening half an hour (let’s call them the A Team) were all over the gaff in conceding twice, and then Rhys Williams came on and gifted Martial a goal within seconds.
The B Team had a front three of Bobby Clark in the middle (he never plays there) and Curtis and Ox either side of him. No surprise there were no goals from them. The C Team was the strongest but they lost 1-0 too.
It’s funny this because we look at that scoreline and shrug because it means fuck all. Loads of United fans will be seeing this as a sign that “Ten Hag ball” is working and that “United are back”. As I say, this means fuck all. They’ve been in training a week longer than we have, they played it like it was a Champions League final and the next time we face eachother we’ll fucking destroy them, because they’re shite.
Wednesday Jul 13:
The senate enquiry states what we all knew. And were blameless and deserve credit, the organisation was a fucking shambles. There was a French senator who apologised to the fans of both teams, which was nice of him, but he wasn’t responsible for any of the shit the fans endured and although it’s appreciated, he’s not the one who should be apologising.
That Darmanin piece of shit is still dodging the issue and deflecting questions, going on about the local delinquency. My French mate Arnaud, who’ll be reading this as he’s a long time TLW community member, described Darmanin as “the biggest French cunt of all time, and that takes some doing”.
I just hope Reds don’t see this as a “French thing”. It isn’t the French who are the problem here, it’s like everything else. It’s cunts who are the problem. The way the French public, media and senate have reacted to all this has been heartwarming. The authorities are fucking scumbags, but then so are ours. We’re run by Tory scumbags, the French have a similar problem.
One final point on this, that Dan Austin lad should never have to buy another pint in his life. The work he’s done to fight on our behalf since the final has been unbelievable. We all owe him our eternal thanks.
Thursday Jul 14:
New deal with Standard Chartered. I don’t care about this one way or the other. There are better brands we could have on the shirt and there are worse ones. £50m a season or thereabouts is decent enough like. Something that struck me when I read about this today though was how good things are for us financially and on the field.
The reason I was thinking that was I’d just read something about Barca and how utterly fucked they are. It’s only when you read about it in detail that it really hits you just how bad it is. They persuaded their players to take deferred wages but they can’t afford to pay them. They want to sell De Jong to raise cash, but they owe him a load of wages they can’t afford to give him. And any funds they bring in on sales, three quarters of it goes to pay off their debt.
Unlike the PL and Ligue One, the Spanish aren’t fucking about with FFP compliance and it’s hitting Barca really hard.
Weird thing is though, somehow they’ve just signed Raphinha (even though they can’t register him until someone leaves). I saw someone on Twitter describe them as the mate who is always borrowing money because he’s skint, but then all of a sudden he fucks off on holiday.
They’re so fucked though that they really need this Super League to happen. The court case on that has just started. What would happen if they won the case and the Super League got the go ahead? The English clubs have all agreed that they won’t even enter talks on it in future but money talks. If this thing goes ahead, and Real and Barca join, as well as Juve and whoever else gets on board, it waters down the Champions League and I reckon the PL clubs would have to at the very least enter discussions on it.
If that were the case I wonder how our fans would react to it this time given what happened with UEFA in Paris? I’ve got mixed feelings on it. Getting away from UEFA appeals massively, but we’ve got history with the European Cup and a new competition (and trophy) just wouldn’t mean as much. Plus the big problem last time was the closed shop element. Unless they change that it’s a complete non-starter, but Barca won’t agree to that in case they got relegated. How funny would that be though, they fight and scrape to get the go ahead for this breakaway league and then finish bottom and are replaced by Alaves or Celta Vigo.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are signing Koulibaly. I’d be more concerned if he was three years younger but he’s still a great get for them. It doesn’t worry me though because he’s essentially replacing Rudiger, so it’s like for like. Both great players currently in their prime. I’d be more worried if they’d signed Koulibaly to play alongside Rudiger.
Friday July 15:
We beat Palace 2-0. I watched but didn’t really pay much attention to it as I had the Open on as well, plus I was doing some work. It wasn’t exactly exciting but it seemed like we completely dominated the game. Hendo’s goal was nice, Mo’s was scruffy as fuck. I switched off on the final whistle so didn't see the trophy lift. Hendo did the shuffle apparently, which rival fans will mock but clearly he's just taking the piss and having a laugh. It will have been nice for the fans there to see it in person too.
The only thing that really grabbed my interest from this performance was Carvalho. He’s so much like Coutinho it’s uncanny. He’s going to be great though, you can see it already. He’s just got “it” hasn’t he? Nunez might be more of a slow burner. He kept making runs and the ball either didn’t come, or it was played the opposite side to which he wanted it.
It’s mental that there is chatter about him already. Rival fans calling him a flop is to be expected of course, but it’s actually getting enough traction that it’s being more widely discussed as though it might actually be a thing. Trent even had to comment on it afterwards, saying the usual stuff about “once he gets one they’ll be like London buses”. Darwin himself tweeted “Resilience” and a shushing emoji so he’s aware of it too. Modern footy at its worst.
He’s featured in two friendlies and hasn’t even played two full halves. He hasn’t scored but so fucking what? Since when did these games count for anything other than fitness and bedding in new players? As I said above, he might be a bit more of a slow burner but equally he might just explode with an opening day hat-trick. We don’t know. I think we’ll ease him in quite gently and we’ll see Bobby start the season alongside Mo and Diaz. Especially as Jota has an injury that isn’t clearing up as quickly as they thought.
Ox got injured to day as well. Not serious but probably enough to ensure he’s here when the window closes.
I’ve seen a bit of complaining about ticket prices for these pre-season games and apparently the cheapest for this was £90. Maybe I’m way off base here, but I have no issue with that whatsoever. The club aren’t going over there for any reason other than because it pays well. It’s a pain in the arse, it’s not how Klopp would ideally want to prepare for the new season so if we’re going to the Far East they better make it worth our while.
As for fans having to pay extortionate amounts for pre-season games, well its likely to be the only Liverpool game they are paying to go to for the next few years so is it really that big a deal? Bottom line, if you want your team to travel to the other side of the globe to play a few pre-season games then you better be prepared to pay top watch them, otherwise they’ll do what Klopp wants and have a camp in Austria
Rashford says Liverpool and City are the teams he dislikes the most but it’s mainly Liverpool. Bit daft that, considering we like him more than his own fans do. I don’t actually believe him though. He said Anfield is the way ground he likes and dislikes the most and that our fans “can take the game away from you very quickly”.
He loves the Reds, he just can’t admit it because of who he plays for. If he was any good I’d be well up for us signing him. He’s shite though, United have ruined him. They’ll do the same to Sancho too. It’s just like how Arsenal have ruined loads of talented players over the last decade. They get that stink on them and it’s impossible to get off.
….and that was the week that was
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