Saturday Oct 19:
Solskjaer says he would resign if he thought it was in the best interests of United. Bollocks. Loads of people say stuff like this, but virtually none of them have ever done or ever would.
Solskjaer loves United but unless he genuinely believes he's one of the top dozen coaches in the world then he's lying. Does he really think United can't do better than him? Actually he might be right, given the state they're in currently who'd want to go there? Well, anyone wanting to line their pockets, obviously, but if you were, say, Pochettino, why would you take that job? Well Solskjaer eventually gets his P45 they should give Giggseh a call.
Reports today have us rivalling Chelsea for the signature of Bournemouth midfielder Lewis Cook. There might be something in this as it's like the James Maddison thing, we've been linked with him regularly over the last few years. Not sure we need another midfielder like, unless he's replacing Milner (and Lallana). I don't want him, the only Bournemouth player I want to see at Anfield next season is Harry Wilson.
Meanwhile, David Luiz says Arsenal can challenge for the title THIS season. Silly boy. Watch them lose at Sheffield United now.
There were wiins for the 18s and the 23s today. Couple of goals for Brewster and another great showing by Curtis Jones.
Sunday Oct 20:
Man United 1 L 1 Shite. Absolute fucking shite. I’m happy that we managed to salvage a point and that’s credit to the players and their never say die mentality, but what the fuck was wrong them in that first half? The second wasn’t really much better either, but the first half we just looked like a different team. Actually, we looked like this team always looks at Old Trafford.
I genuinely don’t get it. Old Trafford is not a place to be fearful of. United are shit. Loads of teams go there and win now. Because United are shit. They were even shit today. All the talk beforehand about how the might raise they game. They didn’t. They were shit. They approached the game like Sheffield United did, only they didn’t play as well as the Blades.
Shelf Utd created twice as many chances but they didn’t take any. Tactically it was virtually the same approach though. We should be able to deal with that. People can analyse it all they want and stroke their chins while talking about how Solskjaer’s masterplan nullified our full backs and stifled the front three. It’s all bollocks. We stifled ourselves.
We didn’t move the ball quickly enough and we played in the wrong areas. It’s that simple. We come up against teams who dod this all the time and we usually have no problem with it. As soon as we go to Old Trafford though we forget how to play football.
And it’s some of our best and most experienced players who are the biggest culprits. Bobby is always shite here. Salah too, although he was obviously not there today. Hendo did fuck all, Gini disappeared and Mané wasn’t anywhere near his level either.
The good news is the fixture is out of the way and we won’t have to go there in the middle of a title run in like last year. The bad news is we have to wait another year to put the record straight. Unless we get them in one of the cups, which I hope we do actually. The sooner we can put this hoodoo to bed the better. Because did I mention that United are fucking shit?
Monday Oct 21:
Evra was the guest on MNF and although I’ve deliberately not watched any of it as I’m not going to put my blood pressure through that trauma, I have seen what people were saying about it on the forum. So apparently Carra apologised for wearing the t-shirt in support of Suarez. I sort of understand why he’s done that as racism is such a thorny issue that you don’t want to be on the wrong side of, especially when you’re in Carragher’s position (after the spitting thing), but anyone from LFC apologising to Evra is never going to sit well with me.
I supported Suarez back then too and I don’t regret any of the thousands of words I wrote on the subject. Evra is a lying little cunt. Of course nobody ever pulls him on that, and much as we’d love to have seen it, there’s no way Carragher could have gone down that road on live TV. Evra and United won that battle and it’s a fight that we’ll never win now. History is written by the victors and United won that big time. Truth is the biggest casualty of war, as they say.
Nevertheless, Evra deserved no apology. For anyone who has forgotten what actually happened, let’s recap.
Initially he comes off the pitch telling Ferguson that Suarez called him “n***er” ten times. The story then changes to “maybe it was five times”. Eventually, when the truth comes out, we discover that Suarez used the Spanish word “negro” once, in a completely different context to how he was accused. They were having a discussion in Spanish, a language that Evra is fluent in. Yet he starts throwing “N bombs” around even though the word was never used.
Whether or not Suarez should have been banned for what he said and the context he said it in is a nuanced issue, and not really the point here. Apologising to Evra when he lied his fucking arse off just doesn’t sit well. The real victim of that incident was Suarez, who was falsely accused and labelled as a racist (most people who didn’t follow it as closely as we did still believe the initial accusation by Evra).
The t-shirts were a well intentioned but ultimately bad idea and it wasn’t a good look for the club. “Defending a racist” they said. Fuck off. Bottom line is that Kenny and the players knew Suarez hadn’t said what he was being accused of saying and wanted to support him. Nothing wrong with that in principle, but the t-shirt thing wasn’t good and there were better ways of handling that.
That being said, Carra apologising to Evra about it leaves a bad taste in the mouth because it implies that they were supporting a guilty man, when they weren’t. How about one day getting Suarez on MNF and letting him give side of the story? I won’t hold my breath on that. Like I say, history has been written by the victors, and the victors are cunts.
Tuesday Oct 22:
Finally got round to watching that Man City thing on Amazon. Some observations. It’s shit. Too much focus on ugly looking supporters, washed up musicians with Paul Weller haircuts and boardroom cunts in suits, and not enough behind the scenes dressing room footage. The stuff with Guardiola and the players is great, really interesting.
That’s not a very likeable squad though. De Bruyne seems alright (although he’s pretty dull) and surprisingly I found myself warming to Aguero quite a bit. The rest though, not a fucking personality amongst them. No wonder Milner left. Mendy is the only exception really, and he got far more screen time than he deserved purely because unlike the rest of the squad he is at least somewhat interesting. He’s basically just the class clown though.
And that little bald kit-man might be the most annoying Manc on the planet, which I realise is a bold fucking statement, especially while Brian Kidd still lives and breathes, the turncoat cunt. He’s on this too by the way, sharing pearls of wisdom such as “there aren’t enough super-perlatives to describe Aguero”. He actually said that. Hate him, the fucking grass.
Wednesday Oct 23:
Genk 1 L 4 That’s how you’re supposed to deal with these games. We weren’t at our best but we were good enough to win easily. It’s what we haven’t done in away group games since we put seven past Maribor. Our record in these games is inexplicable in the context of our overall results, both domestically and in the knock out stages, so it’s good to finally nail one of these.
The most interesting aspect of it was the midfield. Klopp gave LFC Twitter what they’ve been demanding and included both Ox and Naby in midfield. The way it played out showed why some fans have been calling for it and also why Klopp probably will never have this as his favoured selection.
Ox scored twice while Naby was involved more than anyone else, both with and without the ball. There was a lot of evidence for the “anti-midfield grafter” element in our fanbase to justify why these two should play more often. Equally though, we were wide open on the break at times and a better side would have taken advantage. Why was that? Because none of Hendo, Gini or Milner were in there covering for the full backs and filling gaps.
To me, Ox and Keita (and Lallana) are fighting for the same spot, because one of Hendo/Gini (and to a lesser extent BGJ) will always be in there when it matters.
The goals were great though, especially the three in the second half. The one from Ox was beautiful but the Mané goal was the pick for me. That’s what we’re all about, I love those type of goals when the front three combine like that.
The only sour note from tonight was that fucking cringeworthy Origi banner. It’s amazing to me that there are still people in this day and age who think it would be even remotely ok to put that on a banner. It’s wrong on so many levels. Even leaving the racial element aside, it’s not even funny.
Plus there are kids in the stadium. You don’t expect to take your kids the match and have them subjected to a banner depicting a giant cock. Not unless you’re going to Chelsea (captain, leader legend etc).
What I would say though is some of the things that have been said about the banner are over the top. Yes it was ignorant and it was offensive, and it depicted a racial stereotype. It was not intentionally racist though or designed to offend. The lads who made that banner are completely out of touch with what is acceptable and/or thick as pig shit, but I’m fairly certain they meant no harm.
Thursday Oct 24:
The perpetrators of the Origi banner have been identified and the police are involved. Hmmm, I hope they aren’t TOO involved as this should simply be a case of sitting them down and telling them they got it badly wrong and explaining why. They probably already know that anyway as enough people will have told them I’d expect. There shouldn’t be any legal action taken though, as last time I checked being thick wasn’t a crime.
Meanwhile, the Suarez t-shirt thing is still in the news because today Glen Johnson waded into the discussion. He’d always spoken well on this but now even he is apologising. He KNOWS Evra lied and I’m pretty sure he’s said so in the past. He was the only one to point out that the handshake thing was a clear set up too. Now that he’s got a media career to protect he’s choosing his words more carefully though, sadly.
"In the club's defence I think they were just trying to support one of their players and obviously a friend of the players. I think we got it wrong. The ban was only a couple of days before so it was almost like they reacted too quick and didn't let the dust settle. They tried to support him too soon I think." Fair enough, I agree with all of that.
“I don't think anyone in that dressing room or at the club believed that Luis was racist or was capable of being racist. Of course, he got the ban but I never heard anything so I don't think, I'm obviously not saying Patrice was lying.” Hmmm, sitting on the fence there a bit aren;t we, Glen?
"I get on very well with Luis and I find it very, very hard to believe he would have done something like that. You don't get a ban for no reason, of course. In terms of the t-shirt you just hope you're not getting this wrong. As I've said I get on really well with Luis and we're good mates. I would not be friends with a racist. I would be the first to turn my back on him. I think due to the timing I have to apologise to Patrice as well. I think it was all a bit too soon to the actual incident."
The little cunt accused your mate of saying “n***er” ten times. You know that Suarez didn’t say it, you know exactly what he did say and you speak Spanish so you know the context of it. So no, Glen, you don’t owe Evra an apology.
I understand why he said what he did, and I understand why Carra did too. It’s all about the optics in these situations and causing a storm by accusing Evra of being a liar isn’t going to do either of them any good with their employers.
I feel just as strongly about this now as I did back then, even though Suarez has long since left. What that tells me is that is, like I thought at the time, this is more about right and wrong than it is about defending ‘our’ player.
There was a serious miscarriage of justice carried out there and it still bothers me to this day. Not because it’s Suarez, not even because it was a Liverpool player, but because it was a stitch up and an innocent man (doesn’t matter that Suarez is a cunt who has pulled all manner of shit before and since, the point is that he was innocent on this occasion) was branded a racist on the say so of a lying twat with previous for it.
Friday Oct 25:
Klopp was in good form in his presser. Joking about how Fabinho isn’t tired because all he does on international duty is fly there and back. He also spoke about how the other night Fabinho was “the only midfield player” at times, which merely confirms what I was saying about how unlikely it is that we’ll see Ox and Keita together too often. Wouldn’t surprise me if neither started on Sunday, although personally I’d keep Ox in there.
In other news today, the court case involving the kit deal is over and Nike have won. Cue everyone going mad about #Mbappe2020. It’s partly tongue in cheek, but it’s also quite a logical leap considering Nike will want him out of PSG and they’d sell a shit tonne of a shirts if he came here. They’d need to find a way to help with the financing of the deal though, but they helped Coutinho get to Barca so I’d say they owe us.
Juve are said to be in for him too though. Initially I laughed that off, after all, he’s under contract to a club so that would normally rule them freeloading fucks out of it. Then I read about them pulling some dodgy Man City style shit regarding inflated sponsorship deals, so maybe they would be in for him. Not sure why anyone good would want to play in Italy these days though.
Meanwhile, on the field tonight… fucking hell. I’m not sure what’s the bigger story here. Leicester scoring nine away, or Southampton conceding nine at home. I think it’s probably the latter. Leicester are good, we know this, but no matter how good they are they shouldn’t be scoring nine away from home. Southampton are shite. They’re much less than the sum of their parts, as on paper they aren’t bad.
I’d sack that manager immediately. You can’t recover from a result like this. He’s finished. He’s not been doing a good job anyway, but conceding nine at home?? It can’t happen. One Southampton fan on social media described their manager as “the worst Austrian that has ever lived”. He’s obviously not, but I get where that fan is coming from. Hitler did many despicable, evil, shameful things but he never conceded nine at home to Brendan Rodgers. Pack your bags Ralph, Big Sam is on his way.
…..and that was the week that was
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