That was the week that was (Jun 23-29 2020)

Tuesday Jun 23:

Uh-oh. Some girl drops a bombshell on twitter claiming she was touched up by Keita back in January but that the police wouldn’t take it further because it was her word against his. What followed was predictable tribal nonsense from some of our fans calling her a liar and then rival fans bringing up ‘yeah and you defended Suarez too, this is why everyone hates you”.

None of us know what happened and we never will. It’s easy to pick holes in her story and plenty have, but some details not seeming to add up doesn’t automatically mean that she’s lying. Every word she said may be true, or none of it might be. We’ll never know and given the lack of evidence the police can’t really do anything. Just because it wasn’t prosecuted doesn’t mean she’s lying, but it was enough for some of the "LFC Family" to go right after her. Sickening really.

It’s mad how some people wanted to immediately insist Keita couldn’t have done this and even madder that they chose to say that to the girl herself. They were the only two people there. Literally nobody else knows what happened, but I even saw one crank (there may have been others, I stopped reading as it was too infuriating) who insisted that Naby couldn’t do it because he’s muslim.

I mean where to even fucking start with that? Are we seriously claiming that anyone who follows a religion is incapable of crime now? Incredible. 

Just imagine going on Twitter and calling some girl a liar just because you want to defend a lad you’ve never met and who, let’s face it, we know absolutely nothing about. It’s mental. 

To be fair we don’t actually know anything about any of the players and what they are or aren’t capable of, but at least with some of them you like to think you have a feel for their character and personality because we see and hear from them all the time.

I feel like I know much more about what Henderson is like as a person than I do Fabinho for example. And I feel like I know what kind of character Mané is because we’ve seen him do loads of interviews, there’s been a documentary about him and generally you just feel like you ‘know him’. 

I realise that’s daft really as we don’t actually ‘know’ any of these lads, but Keita is like a complete stranger. I know nothing about him, have no feel for what kind of lad he is at all. We never see or hear from him because he never bothered learning English. He might be the nicest lad in the world (I doubt it because I’m fairly sure Sadio has that honour) or he might be a twat. I have no idea, which is kind of the point here.

I’m not saying he did it or he didn’t do it because what the fuck do I know? Other than the two people involved no-one else has a fucking clue. 

It would be typical Naby though. Started full of promise, looked like he was making good progress and then all of a sudden he's stopped in his tracks by forces beyond his control and it all ends up with his fanboys defending him on the internet. 

Sorry, I know, shouldn't make light of it but I couldn’t help myself.

Right, so I just saw something on twitter from sky sports news who were quoting Jurgen over something he said about BLM and why those banging on about “White Lives Matter” are missing the point of it all. I looked at the replies, and here’s the first five that showed up…..

I scrolled down, and here were the next five….

After that it was a mixture of both sides of the argument. Here’s what I’m struggling with here though. Look at the time of the tweets. They aren’t listed in order of posting, they’re just pretty random. Yet the first TEN replies shown by Twitter were all basically anti BLM and ripping into Klopp. That can’t be a co-incidence, surely? Anyone know how that kind of thing works?

Wednesday Jun 24:

L 4 Palace 0 Well that was nice wasn’t it? Behind anything I could have hoped for actually. I’ve watched a few games since the restart and it’s just watered down shite, nothing like what we see when the stadium is full. I dunno though, maybe I’m being overly critical and I’m allowing my preconceived notions to influence my opinion, but I don’t think so.

Even the ‘good’ games have been crap. Until this one. Yeah it’s going to seem better because we won and played so well, but it wasn’t really the goals or the good football that made this different. It was the intensity, the almost manic desire to win the ball back when we lost it.

You don’t see that in empty stadiums because it’s the crowds that drive players on to that extra effort and provide them with the extra shot of adrenaline. Think about all the superhuman effort we’ve seen from the lads on European nights when they’ve defied the odds. 

Well this was like that. It was unbelievable. I felt sorry for Palace because no team could have lived with this. They couldn’t get out of their own half. As soon as they got the ball they had three players on them before they could decide what to do with it. 

Despite what he said publicly, I reckon Klopp was as disappointed as the rest of us with the derby performance. Players talking tonight about how they wanted to produce the best behind closed doors performance ever. That’s come from him. They’re just repeating what he’s drummed into them.

Klopp himself said he doesn’t know if its the best, but it was definitely the best counter pressing performance behind closed doors. It’s probably as good a counter pressing performance as I’ve seen full stop. Can’t actually get over how good we were you know.

I expect this in front of a full house. I wouldn’t have thought it possible in an empty stadium, but it just shows what these lads have within themselves. Every single one of them was right at it tonight. The goals were all different but all fantastic, and we could easily have scored more. We should have had two penalties for a start.

It was just great and I’m buzzing now. Footy has been back a week or so but I’ve not been feeling it. NOW I feel like footy is back. We’re on the brink of the title now and if City falter tomorrow night it’s all ours. If that happens then we wouldn’t have the pleasure of winning it on the field, but it doesn’t matter. If this is the performance that seals it then it’s a fitting way to do it as it showcased everything that makes this team great.

If you could write a perfect way to win the title then maybe beating City at the Etihad would be the way to go, and that might happen. Personally I like the idea of them fucking up tomorrow and then having to give us a guard of honour next week. I just want it won as quickly as possible now, so…. *spits on floor* come on Chelsea. *spits on floor again*.

Thursday Jun 25:

So there it is. The 30 year wait is over. I thought I’d be going mad when it finally happened, but I couldn’t have been calmer. Subdued even. The best way to describe how I felt when it was confirmed is I was a bit like Admiral Ackbar at the end of Return of the Jedi when the Death Star was destroyed. Everyone is going mental, dancing, singing, partying. And Ackbar just slumps back in his seat. Relieved. Satisfied. Happy for everyone else. That’s how I was tonight.

I saw loads of mates bearing their souls in various group chats. For them the ale was flowing, and some tears too. Me? I just wasn’t feeling it. Of course I’m happy about it but I’ve known for months that we had this in the bag. There was no “Aguero moment” and that’s fine. I’d prefer it this way as it’s far less stressful. It does impact massively on the actual moment of triumph though.

Is it less enjoyable? Not really, it’s just different. There’s no outpouring of emotion from me because it’s been such a slow procession. I can’t pinpoint the moment when I knew we’d won it but when the lead got to around 12-15 points I knew there was no way this team would blow it. So basically it was a long time ago, probably as far back as December.

I’m also thinking that I’m so subdued because I was just sat here at home, knowing that there was not going to be any opportunity to celebrate this at the ground with my mates and with my Dad. No watching Hendo and the lads parade the trophy around a packed Anfield. 30 years we’ve dreamed of that moment and we’ve been robbed of it. It does make a difference. 

We’ll all make the best of it and it’s still fucking boss, but we’ve been denied the biggest party of all time and it’s not fair. Thirty fucking years we’ve waited. THIRTY!!! And now when our skipper lifts the trophy it will be in an empty stadium. It’s not fair but it is what it is and we’ll all make the best of it.

Better to be lifting the trophy in an empty stadium than watching some other cunts do it and then see them singing about us on the fucking plane back home. Some might say (nice little Oasis reference there, fuck you Liam and especially fuck you Noel) that winning it on the field would have been better than this. Some might even say winning it at their place next week would be the sweetest way to seal it.

Not me. This is actually fucking perfect. Now they have to give us a guard of honour. A wonder wall if you like. No doubt none of our lads will mention this as it’s just not how they are, but a year ago City’s players were singing about Kompany injuring Salah and Sean Cox being assaulted by Roma fans. And now they’ve got to stand there and applaud our boys who’ve just taken the title off them. It’s fucking sweet. Life comes at you fast sometimes, eh City?

One thing that I have found a bit baffling is the constant references to “Thirty years of hurt”. I get it, but it’s not really accurate is it? We haven’t had thirty years of hurt, we’ve had some amazing years in that time. We just haven’t won the title. Some of those years hurt like fuck but not all of them.

In fact, in the last 20 years we have actually won every single club trophy out there. We’ve got the full set, some of them more than once. Think about it. Both domestic cups, the UEFA Cup, the European Cup, the League, the Charity Shield, the Super Cup and the Club World Cup. We’ve won ALL of them in a 20 year period.

Friday Jun 26: 

Bit of stick flying around for the fans who showed up at Anfield last night. I’m not condoning it and don’t think it should have happened, but the government have basically made it a free for all by reducing social distancing to one metre and telling everywhere that they can open up again next week. Half a million people crammed onto beaches in Bournemouth yesterday so get to fuck sitting in judgement of a thousand or so who wanted to celebrate ending a THIRTY YEAR WAIT for a title.

The best thing about winning big games or trophies is the content we get. Usually I spend the next day or two just watching and reading everything. The stuff from last night was great, about from Kenny going full on ‘yer da’ and saying to Klopp “if your dad was in the war he must have fought on our side because you seem like a scouser to me”. Honestly, if anyone else had said that there’d be murder.

Klopp breaking down when talking to sky was something I’ll never forget. It might be the most iconic moment of this triumph. It’s like the hug with Hendo last year in Madrid. I love all this, especially as there’ll be more and more stuff over the next few days. Players posting videos, fans doing compilations, it’s never ending and it’s fucking boss.

We’ve got a season to finish first though and records to break. Watching Klopp’s press conference today and he started reeling off the games we have left. What struck me was I remembered at the start of the season when the fixtures came out, and we’re looking at this City game as potentially being pivotal. Then, further on, I remember looking at Chelsea and thinking ‘what if they fucked us up again?’. 

It’s absolutely incredible that none of these games are even relevant now. Yeah we still want to win them, but the title doesn’t hinge on any of it because we won it with seven games to go. It’s unbelievable really when you stop and think about it. 

Because we’ve lived through it and it’s a gradual thing, we’ve had so long to get used to it that sometimes it’s easy to forget just how unprecedented this is. There are still seven games left. SEVEN! Do you realise that we could forfeit those seven games and we’d still be Champs. The table would read “Played 31” and we’d still be top. It hasn’t happened before. Not just for us, but for anyone. No-one has ever done this.

Now hopefully we can go on and shatter other records and just keep this going so we start next season flying.

Saturday Jun 27:

Ok, see what I said yesterday about the fans going to Anfield? I stand by that, but it’s a completely different story for those who went to the Pier Head last night. Selfish and stupid. I ripped Joe Anderson for saying he was worried how our fans would behave when we won it but he was proved right and those of us who took offence and stuck up for our fanbase have been made to look like the naive dickheads we are.

I woke up this morning to see all hell had broken loose about it, and while most of the ‘outrage’ I saw from Blues and rival fans was just fucking hysterical nonsense (some tit claimed launching a firework at a building was an act of terrorism!), what actually happened is bad enough in itself and didn’t even need to be embellished.

It just makes me depressed and angry. We’d all love to go and celebrate the title by having a massive piss up with thousands of fellow reds, but there’s a fucking reason the vast majority of us have not done it. There’s a pandemic and people are still dying every day. And if that isn’t enough of a reason to keep you in, then how about this one; Jurgen asked you to.

Chances are none of the fuckers who were partying at the Pier Head will die of Covid, but how many people will they pass it on to? And how many will they pass it on to and so on. People will die because of this. People died because the Atletico Madrid game went ahead but at least we could claim ignorance on that. There’s no excuse this time.

It would have been bad enough if it was just thousands gathering in town, but what made it ten times worse was how some of them behaved. Shooting fireworks at the Liver Building? Get to fuck, you soft cunts. Same goes for those cheering it.

The place looked like a bomb site the next morning so thank fuck for all the volunteers who went down there to clean up. 

It’s just so disappointing that we only had one day of enjoying the title win before the rest of the nation had the ammunition they wanted to throw at us. And the Blues have gone into fucking overdrive. Embarrassing pricks, they’re almost as bad as fuckers who have tarnished our reputation. 

I just can’t get over the selfishness of it all. In the months and years to come when news reports show people irresponsibly ignoring social distancing, it won’t be the beachgoers who we see. It won’t be the BLM protests, or the whoppers applauding the NHS on London Bridge. It won’t be the VE Day celebrators or the far right statue shaggers. No, it’ll be us. This is the footage you’ll be seeing.

And you know what’s even worse? The government will use shit like this to shift blame from themselves onto the public. So yeah, thanks for that. Hope your ‘party’ was worth it.

Sunday Jun 28:

Klopp says Jason Sancho would “look good in red” but don’t get too excited because he’s also saying we’re doing nothing in the transfer market this year. I’ve got mixed feelings about that. Some fans are just dickheads about this shit and I fully expect all kinds of bitching and moaning when we sign no-one, as that’s what we saw last year when we signed no-one then either.

I actually feel the same way I did a year ago. We don’t need much but I’d be a lot more comfortable if we brought in another wide forward. So far we’ve been lucky in that the front three have stayed fit for the most part. Can we rely on that indefinitely though?

Others will want another left back and a replacement for Lovren amongst other things. I’m not arsed about any of that as I’m all in on Klopp’s policy of promoting the kids. It’s only the drop off from Salah and Mané to whoever replaces them that concerns me but I trust that there’s a plan in place. Maybe that’s Sancho or Mbappe in 12 months time? It might not be, I may be kidding myself, but I’m not going to waste time stressing over a quiet transfer window when we’re the best team in the world already.

Meanwhile, Luis Suarez: “I know some Liverpool supporters were angry with me because I celebrated a goal against Liverpool here in Camp Nou and for that I am so sad.”

I wasn’t angry at him celebrating his goal. Were any of you angry at that? I didn’t enjoy seeing it but he was entitled to do it. What I was angry with was the constant shithousing and trying to get Virg and Robbo in trouble. 

In fact, and I might be remembering this wrong, I wasn’t even angry with that. It just made me realise that all bets were off and if he was looking for any little edge to help his team win, then we could do the same and that booing the shit out of him at Anfield was fair game. His whole approach to that tie was “Nothing personal, just business” so the same applies from our point of view.

I don’t have any beef with Suarez over what happened when we beat them, but those two games helped me get over him once and for all. I don’t hate Suarez but I don’t love him anymore either.

He is the best player I’ve ever seen in the red shirt though. At least he was until Virgil showed up. Now it’s a more nuanced discussion. Difficult to say who was better because they play at opposite ends of the pitch. Maybe a better way of putting it is that Suarez is the most exciting player I’ve ever seen.

Monday Jun 29:

Jesus. Danny Murphy doesn’t half talk some fucking Zlatan at times.

“I think it’s a load of nonsense! Kevin De Bruyne is the best midfielder in the world and he’s clapping his hands and giving a guard of honour to players who can’t even lace his boots!”

No Danny, he’s clapping his hands to players who are 23 points ahead of his team. He’s such a moron at times. It might actually be a valid conversation as to whether the guard of honour is an outdated concept, but how come it’s being discussed now just because City are having to applaud us? 

If anything, it’s even more valid now than it ever was because it’s a passing the torch thing. The old champs paying respect to the new ones. It’s actually quite fitting when you think about it. It’s not like it’s Villa or Norwich having to do it.

I don’t remember any of these conversations when we had to applaud Chelsea. Or when United had to applaud Chelsea. 

Even disregarding all that though, Murphy is so far off base here it’s embarrassing. De Bruyne probably is the best midfielder in the world, but name me one player in our starting line up who is ‘not fit to lace his boots’. There isn’t one. It’s insulting.

And you know what? I’d bet that De Bruyne himself feels the exact opposite. Aside from him being a boyhood Red, he always seems like a top fella. He won’t think he’s above applauding an adversary that got the better of him. It’s called sportsmanship, Danny.

…..and that was the week that was