Saturday Sep 12:
L 4 Leeds 3. So that was unnecessarily stressful. For all the talk of how well Leeds did, the truth is that we should have won this by a landslide based on chances. Leeds scored from every chance they had and that, combined with them somehow having more possession (certainly didn't feel like it when I was watching) makes this game seem closer than it was. It wasn't that much different to Norwich last year, other than Leeds being much more clinical.
As irritating as this was at times, in the end there was no harm done and actually when you analyse what happened there's not really much to be concerned about. The concern would have been if we'd dropped points, but we didn't. In terms of how the game went, the good was that we looked good going forward and created a boatload of chances. The bad was that we made errors at the back, and we have been doing ever since footy came back after lock down.
That's obviously a concern but it's more of a short term worry than a long term one. We know these lads can defend well and keep clean sheets, but they seem to have lost a bit of focus and concentration. I put it down to there not being any fans in stadiums and it's not something that will continue indefinitely. Fans might not be back any time soon though so they do need to sharpen the fuck up and I expect Klopp will be drumming that into them. Personally I'd be a lot more worried if we looked bad in attack, as this is an easier fix and it's easier to overcome.
How good was Mo though? This was his best performance in a long time. He just looked dynamite all game. The hat-trick was well deserved and even though two were penalties it doesn't really cheapen it because the performance was so good. I hope this is a sign of things to come and we see 2018 Mo again, but one swallow doesn't make a summer.
Sunday Sep 13:
What the fuck is this? Arsenal are getting £20m for that keeper who played against us in the Charity Shield and acted the cunt during the shoot out. This is mad. I’d never even heard of him until Leno got injured and he got a run of games, but now he’s worth £20m?? And what's with Villa having that kind of dosh to throw around? So much for Covid killing the market.
Mind you, we’ve signed a keeper too. Not for £20m like, and we’ll probably never even see him play for us, but we’ve spent a million or so on a Brazilian kid who Alisson recommended. We seem to be stockpiling young keepers and I don’t really understand it. We must have a dozen keepers on the books now, it’s like Jurgen has a fetish for them or something.
Reports today have United having agreed terms with Thiago. Absolute bollocks, I’m just not buying this for a second. Thiago is playing for a much, much better side than United and he’d have to be a fucking moron to swap that to go and play for Solskjaer. It makes no sense. So when reports like this come out, you have to question who benefits from it.
The obvious answer here is Bayern. They’re trying to force our hand, whereas we seem happy to just let it play out until Barca make us an offer for Gini or we can sell someone else to raise the cash needed. All the reports from sources close to Thiago seem to suggest he’s agreed everything with us.
The way it's dragging out is annoying and I can't say I'm sure we'll get him, but he's not going to end up at United, that much I'm confident in predicting. You don't leave the European Champions to sign for Old Gunnar Solskjaer.
Meanwhile, Mbappe again hints at leaving PSG next summer. This is all well and good, but who can actually afford what it will cost to get him? There's only really City, and that's only because they'll disregard the rules to do it.
Kloppo should be telling Mbappe to stay there for the finl two years of his contract and that we'll come calling for him then.
Monday Sep 14:
Interesting interview with Ox today on goal.com. Specifically talking about us winning loads of games when not at our best, he said “I felt that for the most part of last season,” Oxlade-Chamberlain says. “When I look back on the season, as amazing as it was, there were a lot of times when I wasn’t happy with how I’d played, personally. That’s me being honest with myself, which I think you have to be. I know I can do better, and I don’t think I was the only one who thought that.
“But if you look at the season before, when we finished second, we had a lot more games where we won 3-0 or 4-0. The difference last season, and it was obvious, was that in the games we didn’t play well in, we were still able to win 1-0 or 2-1. We’d find a way. We were drawing those games before. We’d win 4-0 and look unbelievable, then we’d not quite be on it and we’d draw 1-1, and drop points. That didn’t happen this time.”
Also today, the agent of Marko Grujic says Liverpool want to keep him. Why? What’s the point? He’s 8th in line for a midfield spot and if Thiago comes he’ll be 9th. It’s not really fair to keep him when he’ll never play. So this seems to be a bargaining tactic. Tell Hertha Berlin “yeah if you don’t wanna pay for him that’s sound, we’ll just keep him”. There’s no way we’re keeping him though.
Same with Wilson. Both of them will go as neither will even make the bench unless we have injuries. Not only can we not afford to keep assets like that when they can't make a matchday squad, but on a personal level it's unfair to keep them. That's just not how Klopp operates. Brewster should be concerned too really, as he's not getting near an 18 man squad when everyone is available either.
Tuesday Sep 15:
“You can’t put Van Dijk in the category of Kompany and Ferdinand. He’s too arrogant” said someone on Talksport. Usually you trace this this kind of nonsense to Adrian Durham and his radio clickbait. I swear he doesn’t believe half the shit he comes out with, but if it gets people talking and ringing in then job done. This wasn’t him though, it was a former Premier League player.
I didn’t want to click on the link to the article to find out who it was as that would be falling into their trap. Instead, I had a look through the replies to the tweet and the player in question was….. Gabby Agbonlahor!!! Hahahahaha fucking hell, what kind of a world are we living in when the opinion of this bum is actually deemed worthy of airtime?
Honestly, if you were to compile a list of former players whose opinion I’d value the least, arl Thicky Agbonlahor would be right up there with Dean Windass. He looks like he eats crayons.
He also compared Grealish to “Iniesta in his prime” and said he’s the best player he ever played with. “When I played centre back in training for a bit of banter I couldn’t get near him”. Ok well thats me convinced. Kinell. Take that microphone off him and send him back to the oblivion he’s been in since he got too fat to play footy anymore.
Speaking of Talksport though, Simon Jordan was killing it again today by pulling up Lampard on the bollocks he was talking about Klopp ‘spending big’. It’s ridiculous how so many seem to think Klopp has spent loads of money when the reality virtually all of the big signings have been funded by other players leaving. There’s so much lazy analysis about it, usually from ex pros, but maybe Jordan’s background as a club owner is the reason why he can see the reality of that situation. Or maybe he’s just not a fucking moron?
Speaking of morons, Jim Davidson was trending on Twitter again today. Every time I see that I’m hoping the cunt has died, but every time it’s because he’s been a massive racist again. I’ve got a story about Jim Davidson. Many, many years ago me and a mate went to see him do a show in Southport. The place was about half full, and you could tell from the moment he came out that he had the hump about that, as let’s just say he didn’t seem too enthusiastic about his work.
Anyway, as usual there were a few hecklers. Comedians love that as it gives them a chance to get some cheap laughs at the hecklers expense. Davidson didn’t do that though. He was just a nasty cunt. The thing I remember most about that night though was his act was so fucking shit and the jokes so obvious that my mate was calling out the punchlines before Davidson could get to them (which was way funnier than the actual jokes) and old Jim was fucking FUMING about it. I thought we were going to get thrown out at one point, which would have been doing us a favour. We ended up just walking out anyway as he was such an unfunny horrible twat.
I used to watch a lot of comedy gigs back then and Davidson was by far the worst. He was even worse than Chubby Brown. In fairness, he was good the first time we saw him but I was sober the second time and that made a hell of a difference.
Frank Skinner and Lee Evans were good but the best one I saw was, surprisingly, Mark Lemarr. He was really funny.
Wednesday Sep 16:
Speaking of comedians, David James tips Arsenal for the title. What the fuck is it with some of these ex pros? I think it’s become such a dog eat dog world now and punditry jobs are in such high demand that some of these lads feel the only way they can push themselves to the front of the line is to say controversial, stupid shit just to draw attention to themselves. There’s no fucking way James actually believes Arsenal are winning the title this year. Not unless he’s been on another 48 hour playstation bender.
By the way, Agbonlahor is also tipping Arsenal to win the league within the next three years, which isn’t as bad as Jamo’s take but is still daft as fuck.
Also today, I spoke to my mum before and she asked if I was coming round to watch the match on Sunday. As it’s Chelsea we’re playing she somehow shoehorned their game against Brighton into the conversation just so she could absolutely rip into poor Adam Lallana again. She’s not letting that hatred go, this was fucking brutal.
He’s “a disgrace” apparently. I pointed out that he’s not getting injured deliberately, to which she replied “it was a minute before half time, why couldn’t he have waited? It’s because he knew the manager would tell him to get back on and stop being a wimp”. Jesus.
“He walked off like there was nothing wrong with him. He should have waited until half time but he doesn’t even want to play, he’s a disgrace.” I told her she was talking shite but she doubled down on it and got even more hostile.
“He wanted to get back to the dressing room before the others so he could have the mirror to himself to do his hair or put on his make up”. Then she compared him with Andy Carroll, who she says also doesn’t want to play and on the rare occasions when he does make an appearance “spends the whole game trying to elbow people so he can get sent off and get suspended”. She might actually have a point on that one, but lumping a great pro like Adam in with Big Andy is out of line.
I don’t even hate Richarlison as much as she hates Lallana, and I REALLY hate Richarlison.
Meanwhile, it wouldn’t be a transfer window without us being linked with Ousmane Dembele and the Spanish press have come through for us again, claiming we want him on loan. Who knows, maybe it’s true this time. I think I’d rather bring someone in on loan than spend £40m on Sarr. At least that way we’ll have dosh next summer for arl Kylian when he leaves PSG....
I see the Blues are revelling in the new found fame that “Hamez” has brought them. They were the most watched match in Colombia last weekend and their fan accounts are swinging their dicks about it, which is funny seeing as how they’ve always mocked us for being ‘global’ and revel in their relative anonymity and wear it as some kind of badge of authenticity. Now the first time they get a bit of overseas interest they’re all jizzing themselves.
Sheffield United seem to be the favourites to land Brewster but there’s still talk from the LFC patch journos that he’s been touted around for £25m. How shit is this transfer window? We aren’t getting anyone, or if we do it’s going to be some second rate benchwarmer like Sarr. All the focus seems to be on trying to get money in by selling promising young players like Wilson, Grujic and now maybe Brewster.
Meanwhile, every other cunt is signing players, even notorious mingebags Spurs, who are close to bringing in Bale on loan. Fucks sake, this is annoying.
Thursday Sep 17:
Ohhhhhhhhh yes, I cried that one in good and proper. Nothing like a good little reverse jinx. “We aren’t getting anyone, or if we are it’ll be some second rate bench warmer”. Next day, BOOM!! Thiago. You’re welcome people.
There were actually twitter rumours last night about a private jet flying into Liverpool from Munich but we see so much of this shit that it was generally just disregarded by most of us. Turns out it probably was a pre-cursor to what happened today. I’m not saying Thiago will have been on the plane (he defo wasn’t) but it will probably have been representatives from the club and maybe the medical team.
It was funny seeing the Echo shoot down the Thiago stuff eight minutes before everyone else confirmed it though. I have sympathy for the LFC reporters currently because it’s difficult for anyone to know what’s happening behind the scenes anymore as the club is such a tight ship these days, but the Echo seems to always be behind everyone else now. It’s a shame really as it used to be the go to place to have rumours confirmed or denied.
Thiago though. This is quite the coup and I’m obviously made up, with one caveat. If it means Gini leaves then I’m a lot less thrilled about this deal than I expect most of you are, but equally as I’ve said before maybe we do need to tweak the style and that a player like Thiago might be the next step in the evolution of this great side. If Gini stays as well then I’m over the fucking moon about it.
The thing that excites me the most about it are that I can’t wait to see what it means for the style of play. Thiago is so different to anything we already have that I’d say the change he will bring will be quite drastic. He’ll help us control games because he never gives the ball away, and he should help the forwards be more productive by getting the ball to them quicker and thus giving them that extra yard of space to do their thing.
In addition to what we’re getting from Thiago the player though, the other thing that I’m buzzing off is what this represents. This lad was playing for a team that has won the Bundesliga seven or eight times on the bounce and is currently (along with the Reds) the best team in Europe. They wanted him to stay and offered him a new deal and he turned it down because he wanted to come and play for us. We’re fucking massive right now. This is the place everyone wants to be.
That’s huge really. Remember when we kept losing our best players to other clubs because we’d dropped out of that group of Europe’s elite teams? Now we don’t have to worry about players leaving for ‘bigger things’ because there are no bigger things. This is where it’s at. Everyone wants to play for Klopp. Of course the money isn’t there for us to go and buy anyone we want but I doubt there is a top player anywhere in Europe that wouldn’t want to play here if he could.
I’ve repeatedly said that I’d have rather we signed another forward than a midfielder and I stand by that. I’d have preferred Mbappe, Sancho or even Traore over Thiago just because I feel as though we need to strengthen that area more than midfield. That being said, it was important that we signed ‘a star’ (irrespective of position even) just for the impact it has on the dressing room and on the fanbase. When you don’t sign anyone things can go a little flat and stale.
A new player though, especially someone who everyone in the dressing room will be excited about, well it just lifts everyone and raises the level of the players. That first training session with Thiago will be off the fucking scale. LFCTV should show that live and charge for it and make a fortune. They won’t, obviously, but I’m just saying, they could because we’d all pay for it.
The other thing to consider here is the fee. £20m plus £5m add ons is good but it’s not that much less than Bayern were asking. We haven’t pulled their pants down on the deal, but by getting them to accept four yearly payments of £5m you have to say this is one hell of a fucking bargain, especially if Brewster brings in £25m which would over the entire deal.
This sends out a nice, timely little message to everyone else; The best just got better.
Friday Sep 18:
HOLY SHITBALLS!!! Not only did we finalise Thiago today, but we’re getting the fourth forward we need as well. Granted, it’s not Mbappe, Sancho or Adama, but I’m not complaining as Diogo Jota is a boss little signing. I like him a lot and had I known he was only 23 I’d probably have suggested him myself but I thought he was a journeyman in his late twenties who was as good as he was ever going to get. Turns out he’s way younger than I thought and still has room to improve and become a genuine star.
He perfectly fits the profile we look for in strikers. He’s a similar age to what the current front three were when we brought them in and I’d imagine his numbers are pretty similar to Sadio’s as he’s not too dissimilar in what he does. I don’t mean in terms of style (he’s more like Bellamy I’d say) I just mean in terms of his contributions to goals, assists and the general job he’s done at Wolves being similar to that of Sadio at Southampton.
I’d imagine his nerdy pie chart spider graph thingy is similar to Southampton Mané when it comes to dribbles, sprints, shots and all that jazz. He’s very much a signing that fits in with how we do things and he can play anywhere across that front three. The age he’s at, and the experience he has, means he’s at that point where he’s ready to kick on to the next level as Sadio, Mo and Bobby did after coming here (the main reason I didn’t want Sarr is he’s still a year or two away from that). If he does that then we have the four man rotation I’ve been calling for.
There might even be times when they all play together. Sadio and Jota wide, with Bobby behind Mo. When you look at that, as well as the ridiculous options we’ve got in midfield now, we’re going to be a lot less predictable for teams to plan for because we’ve basically got it all now. These two signings tip us right over the edge and I don’t see anyone even running us close this year. What a fucking day!
Oh, I should also mention Ki-Jana Hoever leaving. Disappointing that but the writing was probably on the wall for him when he was overtaken by Neco. In the long term he might end up at centre back (and I hope we have a buy back clause in there because I still feel he could be really special) but he’s not the tallest and is probably a few years away from being able to play at the level we’d need in a centre back.
I’m sure the initial plan was for him to break through as a right back but with Trent becoming the world’s best and then Neco’s rapid rise from Academy kid to first team talent there was just nowhere for Hoever to go. Letting him go makes sense, especially as we needed to raise money for Thiago and Jota.
According to reports, only £4m or so of the Jota fee needs to be paid this year, and that's already been covered by the sale of Hoever.
I expect we’ll see Wilson, Grujic and Origi all leave now too. Probably Shaq and Brewster as well. So by the end we’ll have ended up bringing in Jota, Tsimikas and Thiago and still coming out with a profit of around £100m.
As Uncle Junior once said, “what did I tell ya, hold onto your cock when you negotiate with Michael Edwards”. Or something like that anyway, I forget.
Spare a thought for Everton today though. They thought they'd won the transfer window again but not only was that taken away from them, their manager had this to say about Thiago:
“Breaks my heart, breaks my heart. The only good thing about this signing is that he is a neighbour and that’s it. I think he chose the wrong team.
“He could choose the blue team, not the red team. I am joking. He is a fantastic player and my friend, Jurgen, will be happy.”
Ooof!!
and that was the week that was…
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