Tuesday Jul 28:
Done my back in so spent a couple of hours lying in bed watching interviews on LFCTV. Some great content on there, most of it relating to the title win. Here’s a few observations.
Ox - He’s always a great interview as he’s such a positive, likeable lad. He seems to be close to everyone as you always see him messing about and having a laugh with different lads, regardless of nationality. You can tell that all of the lads get on well and there’s a good atmosphere in the group, but Ox seems to be one that relates well to everybody.
Lovren - Top fella, his interview was great. He doesn’t shy away from the fact he had his bad moments here and doesn’t seem in the slightest bit resentful of some of the shit he got for fans during those bad times (and during the good times too, for that matter!). He never complained about not being in the side and seemed quite philosophical about much of it being down to being fit at the right time.
He didn’t play much these last couple of seasons (some will say that’s why we’ve been so successful) but like everyone else he feels like he played his part. This is something that shines through with all of the players and it clearly comes from Klopp drumming it into everyone that they are important regardless of whether they are on the pitch or not.
Lallana - Similar to Lovren in that you can tell he feels like he earned his medal even though he hardly played. We’ve heard a lot recently about how the key to our consistency is the high level of training and that Lallana has been as important to that as anyone. Perhaps even more so considering he wasn’t playing yet he still trained as hard as anyone and set a great example to the rest of the squad.
I’ve seen people scoffing at that suggestion and dismissing the part played by those who didn’t play much, and maybe in the past I’d have felt the same way. It’s almost like a sympathy vote, just a little pat on the head to those who didn’t play. Just being nice by saying “Yeah of course you played your part too”.
Now though I actually believe that 100%. I absolutely feel that Andy Lonergan deserves a medal for example. What we’ve seen these last couple of years is unprecedented and too many people now (whether it’s Klopp, Ljinders or the players) are putting this success and consistency down to how we train. How can anyone disagree with that? It’s obvious that what we see on the pitch is only possible because of what they do at Melwood.
And everyone talks glowingly about the tone set by Lallana and how much of a help he’s been to the rest of the squad. So yeah, he deserves his medal because he earned it. Klopp’s description of him as “100% a Liverpool Legend” is not a view that will be shared by many as I think maybe his definition of the word ‘legend’ is somewhat different to how most of us see it, but I completely understand where he’s coming from.
The interview with Lallana was brilliant really moving. You’d need to have a heart of stone to not be touched by that *coughs* Mum *coughs*. Of all the players we’ve had in my lifetime, Lallana is one I have enjoyed watching the most. In fact I loved watching him even before we bought him. That’s not me saying he’s one of the best players I’ve seen, so put your pitch forks away (especially you, Mum). What I mean is I’ve always loved watching him as technically he is absolutely brilliant.
Whereas people always mocked the Cruyff turns (or “stupid twirly whirly things” as my Mum always described them), I just saw the balance and grace and how easily he could manipulate the ball with either foot. I’m not trying to tell you he’s been a great player for us and overall his career here ended up being disappointing (mainly because of injuries). But I loved watching him play.
It was the same with Mike Marsh back in the day. He was another player I loved to watch even if he would never be seen as a great player. Marshy was technically brilliant and I remember Souness once saying that if you watched the lads in training you’d think Marsh was by far the best player we had. It doesn’t always translate into games but I’ve always liked players like that. I’m like Brendan I guess, got a keen eye for the “wonderful technicians”. In fact, even my childhood hero Paul Walsh probably comes into that category. I always admired the way he played, with the skill, the balance, the grace. Plus Walshy obviously had boss hair as well, which is always important.
It’s just a real shame the way things turned out for Lallana with the injuries, because from the moment Klopp came in and made him part of a midfield three he looked like a perfect fit. That season when we got back into the top four he was one of our most important players. Then the injuries came and by the time he eventually got over them he’d fallen way down the pecking order.
Something to bear in mind though is the success we’ve had this season is not just a result of this season’s work. It’s part of a journey that started when Klopp arrived and set us on the right path. Lallana played an important role in the early part of that journey and that’s why Klopp has such a lot of respect and affection for him and it’s why his medal is well deserved.
Meanwhile, more details emerge from City’s CAS hearing. They had nine lawyers working the case and the panel of three judges consisted of one handpicked by them, one handpicked by UEFA and a third who was recommended by City and - astonishingly - UEFA went along with it.
It’s so easy to rig things like this. Sammy the Bull Gravano got John Gotti off charges three times by bribery and intimidation of witnesses and jurors etc, so if Sammy can do it then Abu Dhabi with all their wealth, power and influence can do this shit in their sleep. City seem like they’re untouchable, but so did Gotti until he rubbed Gravano up the wrong way.
Wednesday Jul 29:
Fucking hell. Dejan has only been gone a day or two and already Mo is having some kind of crisis. Have you seen his new haircut? This wouldn’t have happened if Lovren was still here. What’s next, an ear-ring? A fucking sleeve tattoo? I’m worried, not gonna lie.
Meanwhile, Brewster scored again but Swansea’s season is over after they lost at Brentford. He’s averaged a goal every two games there and his form has been especially good since the restart. No idea what will happen with him next season and I think it all hinges on whether Origi stays or is sold.
Villa are reportedly interested in Big Div and he’d be a great get for them as they’re terrible up front. If he stays then Rhian needs to go out on loan again. The new subs rule might change how clubs think about loans though. Being able to use five from nine really helps in terms of bringing kids through. Jones, Elliott and Williams were on the bench in almost every game since the restart.
Long term you’ll see the likes of City and Chelsea abuse that change to more subs and just make more high profile signings, but for us and other sides that want to promote youth it’s definitely a good thing.
What that means for Brewster remains to be seen but if he stays then the only role he should ever be used in is understudy to Bobby, because he’s not a wide player. We’ve got enough square pegs being tried in those round holes. And seeing as how we’ve got Minamino apparently being groomed for that spot as Bobby’s deputy, I’m not sure there’s a place for Brewster at the moment.
Thursday Jul 30:
Der Spiegel have more emails that incriminate City and show they lied at the CAS hearing. I haven’t read through them all as, well, what’s the point? I read loads of it when they first published all this a couple of years ago and got myself all worked up about it. It was so blatant what they were doing and it seemed like there was no way they could escape punishment. I knew UEFA would act on those emails and they did, for all the good that came from it.
They were bang to rights but they got away with it. So nothing will happen over this shit and I’m not going to get myself worked up by reading all what they’ve been up to because there’s nothing I can do about it other get angry at the injustice of it all. Still, it’s hard to avoid it completely and I did stumble across one email on Twitter which showed that one of the City execs lied through his teeth.
When asked at CAS “Have you ever arranged any payments to be made to Etihad in relation to its sponsorship obligations of MCFC?”, Simon Pearce answered: “Absolutely, categorically not".
Now there’s an email been published showing him doing exactly that. This extract was particularly damning:
For those of you who aren’t sure what any of this means and who (understandably) haven’t followed it closely, basically what they do to funnel the Abu Dhabi cash into the club is they have a company (usually from Abu Dhabi) sponsor them for a hugely inflated fee, which as the above showed was £99m that particular year. However, the company (in this case Etihad) is only on the hook for a small part of that - £8m.
So while the company will pay City the full £99m and that will show up on City’s books, City’s owners will then reimburse them for the other £91m, meaning the company is only paying £8m and Sheikh Mansour is therefore pumping his own money into the club, which isn’t allowed.
It’s blatant cheating, everyone knows they’re doing it and there were emails where they were admitting the whole thing (including the one released today), but UEFA weren’t able to make it stick.
Still, on the bright side at least we won’t have the Saudis pulling the same shit at Newcastle. They’ve pulled out after it dragged on too long for their liking. That Amanda Staveley is one horrible opportunist cunt. She’s always involved in all of these shitty deals and they never happen. Remember her being a part of that jarg Kenny Huang consortium that tried to blag their way into buying the Reds back in the day?
She’s fucking poison her. The cheeky twat put a statement out today saying “I’m absolutely heartbroken for the club, the fans and the community”. As if this fucking witch gives a shit about anything other than her own bank balance. Fuck her, fuck the Saudis and fuck any Newcastle fan who is whining about it.
Of course she had to throw our name into it just to ignite a bit more fume. “Liverpool and Spurs among others” were against it. Damn fucking right we were. As should every other club in the league, including Man City. Why would any club be in favour of this? Turkey’s voting for Christmas.
Also today, Curtis Jones is named Premier League 2 Player of the Year. Quite right too. I didn’t see every game he played but I saw enough. I’ve written a few times in here about how he was levels above everyone else in those games. The best way to describe it is you know how when you watch Messi and everything goes through him and he completely sets the entire tempo of the game? That’s Jones in u23 games now. The game is played at his pace and no-one can get near him.
It wasn’t like this a year ago. He was always talented but since he’s been full time with the first team he’s just taken off. It makes sense when you think about it. He’s training against all these world class players every day, and training sessions are played with the same intensity as games. So he’s got that every day and then he goes out to play against a load of kids. It’s a doddle for him.
Friday Jul 31:
Still struggling with my back so still spending a lot of time lying down watching videos on LFCTV. Today I watched some interviews with the coaching staff as well as Mo, Alisson and Gomez. What was interesting is that Ljinders and Krawietz were asked when they knew we’d won it and both answered that it was when Chelsea scored the penalty against City. The focus was always on the next game and at no point did they or any of the players get ahead of themselves.
They asked the same question to Mo and tried to put words in his mouth about whether his goal against United at Anfield was the moment he knew. He too was having none of it though. He said the moment he knew was….. erm, when we beat City in November! Fucking brilliant that. Everyone else is toeing the Hendo party line of not getting ahead of themselves and Mo is like “nah we won this months ago lads”.
We’ve been linked with a few different defenders since Lovren left. There’s a lad in German who’s paying for Klopp’s mate Wagner. There’s another fella playing in Spain (for Villarreal I think, although I can’t remember) and, exhaustingly, we’re STILL being touted with a move for Koulibaly.
In an ideal world yeah we’d replace Lovren and we’d sign a young left back to understudy Robbo. This isn’t an ideal world though. Money seems to be an issue for us this summer and that puts us at a disadvantage when Chelsea, City and United don’t seem to be affected at all by what’s happened.
So we need to prioritise. That doesn’t mean Thiago (I’m still not having that link at all, even if the German media keep peddling it) and it doesn’t mean a Lovren replacement. I keep saying it, but whatever funds we have available needs to go on a fourth forward.
Saturday Aug 1:
Sancho reportedly wants to come here but it looks like United are the only ones in for him. Am I the only one thinking that he’d be a dickhead to go there? Why not stay at Dortmund for at least another year, see how the market shakes out post Covid?
He’s only a kid and has plenty of time on his side. Plus Dortmund have a boss young team and it must be fun for him playing there. If he joins United then he’s an idiot, and the fact he left City to get first team football in Germany tells me he isn’t an idiot.
A player like him (creative, talented wide attacker) is exactly what we need and if he does end up at United it’s going to be one of those situations similar to Pulisic, where you see him tearing it up and can’t help think “he should be playing for us”.
Speaking of Pulisic, he was on fire today until he had to go off with an injury. That FA Cup Final was exactly what I’d have expected. Two slapheads fighting over a pot of hairgel. Such a shambles. Aubamayeng even dropped the fucking trophy as he prepared to lift it.
I didn’t care who won as I was always going to focus more on laughing at whoever lost. As it turns out I didn’t get too much enjoyment out of Chelsea losing because I was more annoyed with Anthony Taylor than anything else. He’s fucking shit him yet he keeps getting these big games. I don’t get it. I know there’s a shortage of quality refs but I just refuse to accept that this clown is one of the top ones.
I’m not arsed about Chelsea’s suffering but that doesn’t change the fact that something stinks here. No referee has ever been allowed to take charge of a second FA Cup Final until now. So why Taylor? What makes it even worse is the last one he refereed was between the same two clubs and Chelsea were pissed off with him then too.
If the rules are to be changed for a referee, then why wasn’t it Michael Oliver? I don’t get this at all. I didn’t like the rule to begin with as there aren’t too many good refs these days and by only letting them do one final you’re ensuring that one of the crap ones is eventually going to get one. Or in this case two. I’d be livid about this if I were a Chelsea fan. I’m pissed off about it anyway purely because next time it might not be Chelsea getting screwed, it could be us.
So while I’m not arsed about Chelsea suffering, I’m not happy about Arteta winning something and I’m not happy that I can’t watch Arsenal Fan TV tonight. I am happy for Ian Wright and for Ray Parlour. Top fellas them.
Still, what a great job Fwank has done at Chelsea, eh? Took them from 3rd to 4th, got six less points than Sarri, conceded 54 goals in the league and got beat in a cup final by the worst Arsenal side I can ever remember. So good to see promising young English managers being given a chance at a top club and doing so well.
Meanwhile, the new kit was launched today. I don’t particularly care much about these things anymore as I’m not 12. It’s funny seeing grown men getting all pissed off about it though. Of course if I was designing the kit it would look like something from the mid 80s, but here’s the thing: It doesn’t matter what I think, or what anyone of my generation thinks. We like to think it does, but really it doesn’t. Our time has passed.
We aren’t the ones likely to buy the shirt of the training gear. The younger generation are the ones spending their money (and our money) on this stuff now. This is something that I think is lost on a lot of Reds of my age or older. Nike or LFC don’t give a fuck whether we like it or not as we’re not the target market.
For what it’s worth I don’t mind this kit. It’s not the best we’ve had but it’s alright. It’ll sell massively because the Reds are boss and Nike will have this in every shop all around the globe. I liked the launch video for it and after watching it I’m convinced that Ox is a future host of MOTD if he wants it. Most players are pundits at best and would be well out of their league when it comes to hosting (see John Barnes back in the day), but Ox is a natural.
The promo was good fun. Robbo was hilarious as usual, I enjoyed the little bits we got from Jones and Milner was obviously great. Not gonna lie though, I’m having serious doubts as to whether Virg is as cool as I thought he was. Him constantly shouting that the new shirt was “FIRE!” perturbed me more than a little. In fact, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, I found him to be…. don’t hate me for this… a little annoying. I know, I know, I wish I hadn’t said it now, but I’m just being honest. It was irritating. No doubt it’s cool as fuck and it’s what all the kids are saying, but I didn’t like it. Defo an age thing.
Sunday Aug 2:
Had the radio on in the car this morning and the fella from Reverand and the Makers was on. I’ve seen him on twitter and he seems sound and I’ve actually seen them play live in town back in the day, so I thought I’d give it a listen to see what he had to say. He was picking his greatest ever England XI. I almost turned off at that point as I have zero interest in that, but for whatever reason I left it on for a bit.
No surprises early doors. Seaman in goal, Neville and Cole the full backs, Campbell and Ferdinand in the middle. Then he gets to midfield and the cunt starts going on about Paul fucking Scholes. Now I had a rant about this in the last round up of the season so I’m not going to repeat myself too much here about why this gets me all riled up, but this was exactly what I was talking about.
He picked Scholes not because of what he’d seen with his own eyes. If it was based on that then I’m sure the little ginger bollocks wouldn’t even make the bench. No, he was going on about Scholes because he’d spoken to some ex pros who trotted out the old “no-one could get near him in training” and “he was two or three moves ahead of everyone else”. The other one I forgot to mention in the round up was “he had a mental picture of where everyone on the pitch was”.
So despite the fact that he probably saw him play hundreds of times he ignores all of that and instead forms his opinion based on what he’s read from people who he assumes know more than he does because they played the game. All these tired old clichés used to describe Scholes make me sick. Funny that no-one ever said any of this until that little Xavi gobshite said he was the best player he played against. Since then every cunt seems to be lining up to say “hey look at me, look how knowledgeable I am about footy” by going completely over the top about Scholes.
I could feel myself getting all riled up about it but I eventually reached for the ‘off’ button when he talked down Gerrard in comparison to Scholes because “you always think of him, sleeves rolled up and having to be the hero because the Liverpool teams he played in weren’t very good”. Outrageous. No idea what he said after that as I couldn’t sit through any more of it. I had steam coming out of my ears as I drove home and the second I got back I fired up the laptop so I get all of this off my chest.
This Scholes thing is brainwashing. There’s no other way to describe it. People ignore what they see with their own eyes because they keep hearing something completely different. The same fuckers who’ve done this tried it with Michael Carrick too. Another very good (but not world class) player who seemed to get better and better with each year that passed following his retirement.
So anyway, later on I’m browsing through youtube and I see in their footy recommendations an interview with Ben Foster. I said in the round up the other day I wouldn’t be against bringing Foster in as our number two if Adrian gets off, but scratch that now. Don’t want the cunt anywhere near us.
Why? The title of the video was “Ben Foster reveals why Paul Scholes is the BEST PLAYER he’s played with”. So he’s just another goon trying to make himself look all insightful and knowledgeable because - unlike the rest of us uneducated oiks - he can see why Scholes is so great that only a discerning football sage can see it.
If you think Scholes is even in the same stratosphere as Gerrard then I don’t want to hear from you as your opinion is utterly worthless. Of course he was a really good player but why can’t these knobs just leave it at that? Why do they have to exaggerate so much just to make out they’re so much smarter than all of those who ‘can’t see it’. Paul Scholes is the biggest myth in the history of English football.
Monday Aug 3:
PSG want Matip. Sound, we’ll package him up and send him over and you can do the same with Mbappe. Or you can just fuck off. That works for me too. Keep your eyes off Big Bird as he’s going nowhere.
I do wonder what the future holds with us and Mbappe though. I know it seems unrealistic but I just have this gut feeling that he’s destined to play for us. This Nike thing could be the key to it. I’m watching all the promo stuff they’re doing for the kit launch and that, and I keep imagining that the Nike execs must be thinking “imagine if we had Mbappe here”.
Most of you won’t have picked up on this (and the only reason I have is because I’ve been doing a bit of freelancing reviewing sports equipment and did something on footy boots) but the only lads in the Nike promos are the ones who wear Nike boots. So that’s Alisson, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robbo, Jones, Milner and Hendo. You just know Nike would love to be able to wheel out one of the front three too, but they can’t as Sadio is New Balance and Bobby and Mo are both Adidas.
Nike had LeBron James do something to push the new kit deal but they’ll defo have been thinking how great it would be if they had a Messi / Ronaldo / Salah / Neymar / Mbappe global superstar to help with this push.
It’s obvious that we can’t afford to sign Mbappe, not just right now but also in the future unless he’s on a Bosman. His wages would be off the scale but maybe there’s a way around it somehow. Klopp loves him and also seems to be on very friendly terms with Mbappe senior. Mbappe clearly buzzes off the Reds and you know he’d be happy to play here. And Nike would love to have their most marketable player at their most marketable club.
I’m not saying it would be straightforward, but….
…..and that was the week that was
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