Sunday Jul 25:
Oh boy....
“There was a moment when I didn’t feel loved and appreciated. Not my teammates, not the people at Melwood. From them, I know, I can say they all love me and I love them. It was not from that side, more the other side. Not towards the end, also before that. Basically in the last two seasons, I had it a few times.”
I think (hope?) he’s talking about ownership and Edwards there, but the rest of this was definitely about the fans.
“The media didn’t help. There was a story that Liverpool made an offer, I didn’t accept because I wanted more money and the fans made it like: ‘OK, he didn’t get the offer, so he doesn’t try his best to win games.
“Then the results were not really good and everything looked like it was against me. Some moments, it was like: ‘Wow, me again?’ It’s a collective.
“But my teammates never gave me the feeling that I let them down or I was taking the piss or something like that. With the team everything was fine.”
I mean, that’s clearly not true. I run an LFC fans forum, I speak to loads of fans in day to day life and I don’t ever remember seeing or hearing anyone saying Gini isn’t trying because he knows he’s leaving. No-one was singling him out for us being shite during that bad run either. In fact, most people were saying "imagine how fucked we'd be if we'd sold Gini last summer"
Whoppers on twitter are another matter of course.
“When it went bad, I was the player who they blamed – that I wanted to leave. “Every day in training and in the games, I gave everything I had to bring it to a good end because, during the years, Liverpool meant so much to me and because of the way the fans in the stadium were treating me.
“My feeling was that the fans in the stadium and the fans on social media were two different kinds. The fans in the stadium always supported me.
“On social media, if we lost, I was the one who got the blame. There was a moment when I was like: ‘Wow. If they only knew what I was doing to stay fit and play every game.’
“Other players might have said: ‘OK, I am not fit.’ You get players in their last year who are like: ‘I’m not playing because it is a risk.’ I did the opposite.”
Most people will feel that he should rise above that shit because he must know that social media bellends (many of whom who worship at the altar of Thiago and/or ’Naby Lad’) only represent a really small (minuscule even) portion of the fanbase. His name was chanted every fucking game, he was appreciated by all fans with a functioning brain and let’s not forget here there is not a single player in the squad - except maybe Virgil - that has a 100% fan approval rating.
Why is that? Because some people don’t have a fucking clue, and some of those also don’t have any fucking common decency and therefore think it’s ok to message players with shit like “get out of my club”. That winds me up so much. It’s not ‘your’ club you fucking meffs.
I get the argument that he shouldn’t pay any attention to it but I’d be a massive hypocrite if I were to say that considering how much time I’ve devoted to ripping into those nonces on here.
So I don’t have any problem with what Gini actually said (although he should have emphasised it was only a small number of wankers) but the problem here is that because he said it that will be the focus now and the message will be distorted. It’ll be “Gini left because of the fans” which simply isn’t true. We know he left because he didn’t like the contract he was offered and if he had liked that contract then the social media FIFA virgins wouldn’t have been given a second thought.
There are a lot of reds not happy about what Gini has said but in a way I’m glad he said it. I’d bring back the death penalty for any ‘red’ that ever messaged Gini (or anyone else, even fucking Keita) giving him shit and telling him to leave. That might seem a little severe but it’s not like I’d be giving them the same slow painful death I’d sanction for more serious crimes. No, for cases like this it would be a quick and painless death.
Monday Jul 26:
Everton won a trophy. Sure, it’s only pre-season but beggars can’t be choosers. Remember when they lost to some random African team in their own cup, the Sport Pesa trophy or something. So Rafa is already ahead of the curve on that front.
Big Dunc wasn’t there to see it though. He wasn’t allowed into the US because he’s an ex con but there were some photos floating around social media of him wandering around town in his Everton trackie posing for photos with fans, the mad bastard.
On the transfer front, Shaq could be headed to Lazio or Napoli and there’s a batshit crazy story in the Italian press about us bidding a gazillion quid for Chiesa. I may have exaggerated the fee a bit there but it’s no more unrealistic than the report in Italy.
I watched one of the Inside Training vids today and it was decent. They had 3v3 counter attacking drills which is right in my wheelhouse as I love all that Red Arrows shit. It wasn’t the usual suspects like Robbo, Sadio and Mo who caught the eye though. It was Milner. Fucking hell, I don’t know how much editing was done by the TV crew, but he was ridiculous at both ends. The man’s a monster.
The other thing I noticed was Origi. Can’t believe this hasn’t really jumped out at me before, but why does he take such fucking tiny steps? He’s built like an Olympic sprinter but he doesn’t open his legs out at all when he runs. It’s these little tiny shuffling steps and it looks weird.
Tuesday Jul 27:
Ox is being chased by West Ham. Catching him shouldn’t be a problem as it’s only a matter of time until he can’t run because of some random injury he’s bound to pick up before the season starts.
Tell you what though, while I’m not completely against the idea of selling him, if he’s shown the door before “Naby Lad” then I’m gonna fucking riot. He should have been the first one out this summer and his continued presence irks me massively. I reckon it’s 50% about him and 50% about his dickhead cult following, but him still being here is annoying as fuck.
In other news today, United are edging closer to landing Varane and that’s double bad news for us. Firstly, it makes them stronger. Secondly, reports in Spain reckon Madrid are only selling him to clear the decks for Mbappe next summer. If we don’t get Mbappe we should all go and burn Nike headquarters to the ground. Their kits have been shite
What are we, about 3 weeks away from the start of the season and we’re yet to have one single good thing happen so far this summer. Signing Konate doesn’t count because spending £35m on a fourth choice defender isn’t enough to get my juices flowing, sorry. It has me scratching my head though.
So we’ve had Gini leave, Keita stay, every day there are more reports of outgoings and fuck all on players coming in to replace them. We’ve had the Hendo contract stuff, United signing Sancho and Varane while City are reportedly close to landing Grealish.
If it wasn’t for Everton keeping us amused this summer would be depressing as fuck.
Wednesday Jul 28:
Some cunt called Ethan Ennis has left us to join United. No idea who he is or if he’s any good but I hate him already. Little bastard. If he’s a scouser this is completely unacceptable. If he’s not, he can still fuck off but it’s not quite as bad. It’s fine for a lad from Manchester to come and play for us, because we don’t sign about hating mancs every week. Any scouser who goes and plays for them is a fucking disgrace.
Gerrard has spoken out about the rumours that he was on Everton’s shortlist when Ancelotti walked. Basically he said there’s no way he’d ever have anything to do with Everton but Rafa isn’t a true Red so he was entitled to do whatever he liked. I don’t even think that was a dig at Rafa, just a statement of fact.
I see the Adama rumours have started up again. Granted, as far as I can tell the source is the Daily Star, so y’know, it’s almost certainly bollocks. The suggestion was that we want him on a cut price deal (definitely sounds like us) and that we’re looking at around £25m. Wolves wanted £60m but there were no takers, so maybe they’ll accept less.
I’ve said loads of times I reckon Klopp could turn him into a world beater, but I wouldn’t be looking to pay loads of money for him. If he was available for £35m or less though? Fuck yeah we should be all over that. I’d even play him right back in some home games against shite teams, either to rest Trent or maybe have a little look at him in midfield to see how that pans out.
Thursday Jul 29:
We lost 4-3 to Hertha Berlin today but if ever there was an example of ‘pre-season results meaning fuck all’ then this was it. I enjoyed this game. We looked sharp, played some lovely stuff, dominated throughout but conceded four goals, not least because we used six different centre backs during the game. Two of them were Gomez and Van Dijk, which was great to see.
The way Virg got completely skinned on the fourth goal by that Jovetic bum (I’d forgotten he even existed and how much I didn’t like his weird face) was a reminder that he’s not just going to slot back in and be the Van Dijk he was before. It’ll take some time and there’s absolutely no way we put both him and Gomez in at the same time. It’ll be Matip and Konate to start the season with Virg being eased back.
At least I hope so, because what we saw today is not something I want to see when the real stuff begins. We’d never hear the fucking end of it if a PL player beat him like that. Arsenals fans are still smelling themselves about Pepe almost running past him once.
Harvey is looking good and he’s clearly going to be given Shaq’s role now. Sometimes midfield, sometimes front three, but mostly the bench. I love Shaq but this is the natural order of things and we need to be pushing Harvey through this year. McAteer compared him to Iniesta on LFCTV afterwards. You can laugh at that but I said the same thing in the chat the other day. I wasn’t being serious, unlike McAteer, but a midfield that eventually includes Elliott and Jones is going to be creative as fuck.
And if Elliott does eventually end up as a number eight, that opens the door for Kaide Gordon in the right sided forward’s role. He’s boss that kid, I really liked the look of him in the couple o games I saw last season and he’s looked very lively in pre-season. Still a year or so away from contending for the first team but he’s fun to watch.
Friday Jul 30:
Trent signs a new deal. Obviously that’s good news but it does my head in that ‘new contracts’ seem to be the new ‘big signings’ as far as our ‘announcements’ are concerned. Fucking United are signing Sancho and Varane, City are closing in on Grealish and we’re like “yay, we got Alisson and Trent tied down!”. Just makes me think of that Chris Rock thing. What do you want, a fucking cookie? Always wanting praise for shit they’re supposed to do.
Giving players new deals isn’t cause for celebration or anything to be self satisfied with. This is what you’re meant to do. You keep your good players and then you improve by adding more good players. Do City or United make such a song and dance about players signing new deals? Maybe they do, I don’t follow them closely enough to know to be honest, but it doesn’t seem like they do.
There’s just no joy to be had in any of these windows. Even when we signed Thiago is was a massive anti-climax because it had rumbled on for so fucking long that by the time it was done most of us were bored shitless by the whole saga. I’d love nothing more than a Jota or Fabinho type signing that comes out of nowhere and has us all buzzing.
It’s beginning to feel like Saul Niguez is this year’s Thiago. We’re still being linked with him but as usual we’ll drag it out, trying to save every last penny we can on the fee (and wages too, why sign someone in June and pay him two months wages when you can do it in August and let his current club pay him until then). It’s exhausting, and I’m not even following it particularly closely. Those of you who actually are still invested in this must be going round the fucking bend.
Meanwhile, over at the Pit “Hamez” isn’t happy and says he feels unwanted by Rafa. Fair play, it didn’t take him long to take the hint. I think I said last week that Rafa wouldn’t give him the fucking time of day as he’s a complete luxury player. Ancelotti indulged him and didn’t expect him to track back but that’s never going to fly with Rafa. He’d pick one of the groundsmen ahead of him if it meant the full back getting more protection.
….and that was the week that was.
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