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  • TLW
    Jurgen Klopp has identified Yves Bissouma as the player to step into the midfield role of Gini Wijnaldum according to reports.
     
    The Dutchman is set to leave the club in the summer with no progress having been made over a new deal.
     
    Wijnaldum has been one of the most dependable players in the Jurgen Klopp tenure, and it is clear that the manager thinks extremely highly of the 30 year-old.
     
    But with the midfielder seemingly looking for a new challenge, Klopp is looking for a player in a similar vein and it appears Bissouma is that man.
     
    Daily Star (via The Times) report that Klopp is a fan of Bissouma’s qualities on the pitch, but he wants to take a broader view  by investigating his character and  work out if he has the right mentality to play for the Reds.
     
    Bissouma has been linked to a number of top clubs in the Premier League after having a very consistent season at Brighton.
     
    While the South Coast club have virtually assured their Premier League safety for another season, it is believed Bissouma wants to test himself at a bigger club with Man City and Arsenal also interested in the 24 year-old.
     

     
    In terms of his overall game, the attacking side is still a work in progress ( 2 goals/ no assists) and his passing ability is viewed generally safe rather than game-breaking.
     
    But when it comes to doing the less fashionable, but no less important tasks such as winning back the ball for his team he is in his element averaging 2.81 tackles, 1.76 clearances and 1.72 interceptions.
     
    While the former Lille man is not the finished article as yet, he has shown that he is prepared to work on his game.
     
     On the face of it, the Bissouma seems to be the type of player that Klopp can develop into a well-rounded versatile midfielder.
     
     
     
  • Thiago Alcantara scored his first Liverpool goal which secured a vital three points for the Reds in their quest for Champions League qualification next season.
     
    In keeping with this campaign, it was a performance that was hardly what you would call ‘vintage Liverpool’ but pleasingly the home team managed to keep their nerve when it counted and they registered a 2-0 victory against Southampton.
     
    With the win, Liverpool closed to within six points of Leicester City with a game in hand but the task certainly remains a difficult one.
     
    Thiago who has endured a challenging first season in English Football is someone with a wealth of experience in big game situations.
     
    Speaking after the game to Sky Sports (per the Official Site), he was well aware that three points was imperative.
     
    “I always try to bring out the reality - we are for sure not happy with the situation right now, but for the mood [and] for the confidence for the next game, we are very happy with the win. 
     
    “We try to be as objective as possible. There is a very small chance, but I think we had chances in the past. The door sometimes closed for us but the window is open, so we try to get through the window and keep fighting for this small miracle that we can have.”
     

     
    Goals from midfield and players shooting from distance have been two areas that Liverpool have lacked this season.
     
    Thiago delivered both with a strike of exquisite precision that highlighted his technical quality.
     
    While the goal was in front of an empty Kop, it did not make it any less special for the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich man who hopes he can make a habit of it.
     
     “I know that I am not a specialist, I am not a goalscorer, but I am trying to always be near the area, to make the last pass, to try to score and shoot. Yes, for sure it is very special because it is my first goal – but I hope it is not the last!”
     
    Thiago echoed the thoughts of Jurgen Klopp in saying that while this season has been a significant challenge for the whole squad, they are in a privileged position and it is down to them to bring a deal of joy to their legion of fans.
     
     “For sure, I think for all of us [it has been a tough season]. But as I said from the first day, we have the privilege to play this amazing sport and to keep playing in this kind of stadium, against amazing teams as well. 
     
    “So we have to be glad with our personal situations and try to bring joy to the fans and to the people.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  • Sunday May 2:
     
    Well at least we didn’t lose. The game getting called off didn’t bother me too much as it was nice to not have to watch it, but we really should be awarded the points for that as it’s a fucking farce. They couldn’t fulfil the fixture because their fans invaded the stadium (or were allowed in by club staff, depending on which account you believe). Sorry, that’s a forfeit and we should be awarded the points. Anything else is unacceptable, but Sky aren’t going to have that and we all know they call the shots.
     
    Bizarrely, I’ve seen a lot of “good on them” and “this goes beyond rivalry, we should stick together” type sentiments from Reds over this. I’ll simply say FUCK. THAT. 
     
    How come these fucking scrotes are being hailed as some kind of noble warriors fighting for better rights for football fans across the nation? It’s mad, I don’t get it. Am I missing something here because I just don’t see it. They aren’t fighting for fans rights, they aren’t leading some movement against leveraged buyouts or demanding reform of the ‘fit and proper owners’ guidelines. 
     
    They don’t give a fuck about leveraged buyouts other than the one the Glazers did. They don’t care about ‘fit and proper’ owners just as long as they have one. So spare me the ‘we need to stand together’ bullshit because when we were fighting Gillett and Hicks what were they doing? Waving American flags and chanting USA from the away end at Anfield, that’s what.
     
    The Glazers have been there donkeys years and for most of that period the majority of their fans tolerated it because they were winning. They had a home game a couple of days ago so where was this protest then? Half of these cunts didn’t even know why they protesting. Some of the ones I saw interviewed were going on about the fucking Super League. Y’know, the Super League that isn’t happening.
     
    There is no fucking way United fans did what they did today because the Glazers wanted to be part of a European Super League. Not a fucking chance. In fact, had the Super League idea gained traction and the Glazers had said they wanted no part of it, Old Trafford would have been filled with the very same mutants today kicking off about that. Look at the footage of it. Look at the faces of those inside that stadium. As if they are there because of the Super League. Come on!
     
    They have every right to want the Glazers out because the Glazers pulled a Gillett & Hicks and bought the club with a loan that the club are now paying off. They’re paying a shitload of money every year just for the pleasure of being owned by the Glazers, so yeah you wouldn’t be happy about that. But….
     

     
    It’s the world’s smallest violin playing just for the mancs and their ‘plight’.
     
    The Glazers have taken a billion quid out of United apparently. Obviously you wouldn’t be happy about that as a fan but it’s not that straightforward. United’s revenues are up massively because of the marketing and sponsorship deals the Glazers have brought in and they would therefore argue that they’re entitled to take their cut. Their cut is wildly excessive but it hasn’t stopped them spending more money on players than ANY OTHER CLUB IN THE WORLD. 
     
    You can go on all you want about how it’s about time fans stood up and said enough is enough and that change will only happen when drastic action is taken. Talk about fan solidarity all you like and tell us how we should back United fans in their fight against greedy owners. I can sort of see some logic in it (but not much) but my instinctive reaction is to once again channel my inner Mr Pink and say…
     

     
    The Glazers have been there 16 years and - other than a hard core minority - United fans have had zero appetite for getting them out. You know why they are protesting now? Because City are winning loads and because we have a title and a CL in the last few years. It’s that simple.
     
    The Glazers are doing nothing different now than they have done for 16 years. In fact, they're spending more than they ever have. The only thing that has changed is they aren’t winning titles now and have had to watch us and City hoovering up big prizes. That’s what today was about.
     
    It wasn’t a ‘protest’ it was a fucking hissy fit because they aren’t top dogs anymore. Those who protested back in the beginning, fair play to them. The rest of these bandwagon dickheads can fuck off though. You know what most of these Man United fans want? They want their own Sheikh Mansour. They want to be bankrolled by someone who will massively outspend City. They might try and pretend otherwise, but that’s what most of those cunts on the pitch today want and if it happens they’d be insufferable in their gloating about their spending power.
     
    I genuinely can’t get over the sympathy they are being given in some quarters. Newsflash: They are second in the league with the highest wage bill in the country and they’ve spent more than anyone else in the last few years. They broke the world transfer record to re-sign a player that had left them for nothing and they paid £80m for Harry fucking Maguire. In a few weeks time they’ll be playing in a European final and will no doubt spend big again this summer.
     
    So fucking spare me this “the Glazers are ruining United” nonsense. I know full well what the Glazers are. I also know that these are first world problems that United fans are bitching about. They aren’t Newcastle. Or Blackburn. Or Sunderland. Or Portsmouth. Or Bolton. Or Bury. The absolute fucking gall of these entitled arrogant cunts making out they’re being so hard done to. 
     
    They’ve spent over a billion quid on players in the last decade. You know what their problem is? They want to be able to spend TWO billion. Maybe all those supporting their protest and saying ‘good for them’ need to be careful what they wish for, because the Glazers are the only thing standing between United making Man City’s spending looking like FSG are controlling their purse strings. 
     
    So I can’t stress this strongly enough. Fuck them. I’d rather set fire to my own face than back those cunts.
     
    Monday May 3:
     
    Heard a Red from a well known fan media group on the radio today saying “we sympathise” with United fans and that “they have good reason to want their owners out”. I’m sick of this shit now. I’m seeing it all over twitter too. Reds being all magnanimous and taking the moral high ground by backing United fans. Fuck that shit. So many are racing to try and reach the top of Mount Righteous but I’m more than happy with my place in Tribal Valley.
     
    People have lost their fucking minds. Showing solidarity with the same fucking rats who sing “the Sun was right” and holding up “Vote Boris” pictures with “Self Pity City” on it. Even the cunts on the pitch yesterday were chanting about scousers. And don’t tell me “it’s just a minority”. Is it fuck. It’s usually the entire away end and when it’s at Old Trafford it’s tens of thousands of them. All these Reds going out of their way to publicly support their ‘cause’ is making me sick. 
     
    And now it appears we’re allowing them to rearrange the game at their convenience, possibly even to a time when they’ll be allowed to have fans in. So just to recap here. They invade their own stadium, fight with police, run riot inside the ground damaging the pitch and TV equipment, break into Covid safe areas, cause the game to be postponed and as a result of that they get to rearrange the game so they can actually come in and watch?? Fuck this shit. I’m livid. If LFC agree to this they’re fucking pathetic.
     
    Imagine them fucking bellends singing their anti-scouse songs all game while our lads no doubt shit the bed like they do every fucking time they go there. It’s quite fitting though I suppose. The fly on the top of the turd that this season has been. All those Reds backing what happened yesterday and wanting to stand shoulder to shoulder with these fucking twats, maybe think about that when you’re listening to the fucking shit they’ll be singing when this game is played.
     
    I want them to go under. To go out of existence. If that happened I’d celebrate so fucking hard it’d probably kill me. But I’d die happy. 
     
    Tuesday May 4:
     
    Just caught up on this yesterday from Simon Jordan on Talksport…. 
     
    “Gary Neville is a barrack-room lawyer who sits on PFA panels, who says salary caps are something football needs to have, while behind the scenes he’s talking about the fact the PFA should never allow salary caps to try and control football finances.
     
    “The centre of all of this is money, and the irony of this is Manchester United fans will say it’s not about money, but they’re making it about money because the Glazers are taking money out of the club.
     
    “The hypocrisy of the argument that ‘football isn’t all about money’ while you make it all about money, because it’s all about how the Glazers are taking money.
     
    “There is a selfish nature in football and it pervades football full-stop. The Premier League, despite the promotion and relegation system, has decimated English football – 90 per cent of TV revenues go into the Premier League and the other ten per cent is left for the rest.
     
    “Neville sits there advocating independent regulation – why? Because he’s one of the intellectual capitals behind independent regulation with David Bernstein and he wants a seat at the top table.
     
    “The hypocrisy of his ownership of Salford when he got a billionaire owner in there who is funding Salford who are, to my mind, losing money left right and centre, who probably breached financial fair play, and all of this is being utilised by Gary Neville to advise a soap box wrapped in hypocrisy.
     
    “Yes, these owners and the ownership models in football right now are flawed, but why are they flawed? Why has it got to his point? Because of the greed across the board in football and the hypocrisy embodied by people like Gary Neville.”
     
    Holy shit that’s amazing. That’s even better than his Ryan Fraser rant last season. Round of applause for that man, absolutely nailed it.
     
    You know what’s worse than the proposed Super League and the behaviour of those United fans at the weekend? Hearing Gary Neville soapboxing about it. Fuck that little rat. I’m muting the twat now. Not gonna watch when he’s a pundit and I’ll mute if he’s doing commentary. Ideally I will be able to live the rest of my life without ever having to listen to a Gary Neville opinion on anything. Imagine that. Bliss.
     
    I’m still seething about all this shite though you know. Each day I feel even more strongly about it. I’m so sick of seeing Reds doing this “be the bigger person” thing and thinking that backing them is the right thing to do. It fucking isn’t. I suspect a lot of it is down to this naive thinking that we might be on the cusp of some sort of football fan revolution where we can take back our game and fuck all the billionaire owners off. 
     
    I’m telling you now, there is zero percent chance of this happening and the most likely scenario here is that the only club who will benefit from it will be United if the Glazers sell up to China or the Saudi or some other cunts who will just bankroll moves for Mbappe, Haaland and whoever else they want.
     
    The bottom line is the rich always get their own way. Always. That’s how it’s always been and how it always will be. Unless they’re up against someone even richer. Like PSG losing to City tonight. It’s happening isn’t it? They're going to win a competition they had been banned from. Hopefully there's enough medals left for the players after the lawyers have been given theirs.
     
    Wednesday May 5:  
     
    That video of the manc screaming abuse at Souness and Carragher. Jesus Christ. Carra actually went to bat for them too, even after that. Personally I’m far more on board with Souey’s stance of “shut up you crying, entitled cunts”. The best bit of that video is how the manc completely loses his shit because of the contemptuous sneer Souness gave him. It immediately went from “scouse cunt” to “ARROGANT SCOUSE CUNT” as Souey got right under his skin.
     
    Meanwhile, SOS had a meeting with Billy Hogan yesterday (and they didn’t need to smash up Anfield to get it). They want fan representation on the board and for FSG to pay any potential fines for the failed ESL thing out of their own pockets and not with club funds. Both fair enough I’d say. 
     
    Tell you what though, being the fan on the board has to be the worst job in the world. Imagine the grief you’d be getting, especially at our club where you have a ‘legacy fan’ v …. actually what did they call the newer fan? I can’t remember so I’ll just call them ‘fifa virgins’. Being the fan on our board would be an absolute nightmare so if that happens good luck to whoever it is.
     
    The United game has been rearranged for the 13th May which means we play them on the Thursday and then West Brom on the Sunday. United play three times in five days but the middle one is against Leicester so you know that’ll be the ressies getting a run out as they get everyone rested up to face us. 
     
    I’d be fuming about this if I thought there was even the tiniest chance that we could catch Leicester, but we’re shite and probably won’t even catch West Ham, so this news was met with a shrug from me and no more. It doesn’t really matter and I’m not going to moan about whatever team Solskjaer picks as we only have ourselves to blame for this. 
     
    Be funny if they kick off and cause it to be called off again though as surely we’d have to be awarded the points then. If it does go ahead it’ll be good practice for next year as we’ll be doing a lot of the ol’ Thursday / Sunday thing. So every cloud and that.
     
    Meanwhile, Chelsea comfortably beat Madrid to reach the final. And now they’re the only thing standing between City and a European title. So, *deep breath* One man went to mow, went to mow a meadow, one man on his dog, went to mow a meadow. Two men went to mow, went to mow a meadow…..
     
    *ten minutes later*
     
    Supporting Chelsea is a last resort but that’s where we’re at. City are the last club on Earth I want winning a European Cup. They weren’t even meant to be in it in the first place. The only reason they are even playing is because they can afford better lawyers than UEFA. No team has ever deserved success less than these cunts but it feels like we’re the only ones saying it as nobody else seems to be arsed.
     
    I see Madrid fans aren’t happy with Hazard who was laughing and joking with his old team-mates at full time. I don’t blame them for being pissed off as I would be too. He’s been a fucking flop but the lack of self awareness to be doing that on the pitch, in front of cameras, is staggering. 
     
    One TV presenter went on a massive rant about it and said “Hazard has spent two years taking the piss out of Madrid. Two years. Kilos overweight. Unable to beat any defender. Many of you are saying, another Bale?" 
     
    Another Bale? The same Bale who won you two Champions League finals? Fuck me, I don’t like Gareth Bale but the lack of respect he gets from Madrid is staggering. Being the most arrogant club in a world that contains Manchester United is some going.
     
    Thursday May 6:
     
    Arsenal had the chance to reach the Europa League Final tonight. All they needed was a 1-0 win at home to Villarreal but they served up a damp squib 0-0 in which it looked like they weren’t even trying to score. No urgency, no effort, no emotion. They’re a fucking disgrace. 
     
    I’m glad they’re out because they had no chance of beating the mancs in the final. I don’t give the Spaniards much chance either but at least they aren’t Arsenal.
     
    Hey guess what? Chelsea are being linked with…. wait for it….. Mo Salah. Get the fuck outta here. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Mo and whether we’ll give him the contract he wants, but one thing I’d be fairly confident in stating is that he isn’t going back to Chelsea under any circumstances.
     
    For one thing, they don’t need him. Why would they splash out on massive wages for him when they’ve got more forwards than they know what to do with? Their strategy seems to be to buy up as many boss players as they can aged 24 and under so why would they move away from that to sign Mo? And why would we allow it to happen?
     
    The suggestion is we want to move him on to finance a move for Sancho. That might be true (although I doubt it), but selling him to Chelsea? If they do that, heads should fucking roll. The more likely scenario here is that Chelsea just go and sign Sancho and we’ll be once again shopping at ASDA, or more likely buying Neto.
     
    Friday May 7:
     
    Loads of content around today about the 4-0 Barca game. Turns out it’s the anniversary of it today. I didn't know, but my instinctive response when I saw all that today was to roll my eyes and cringe a little. It reminded me of how we’d be bombarded with Istanbul stuff on May 25th for years and years afterwards and the more shit we were the bigger the Istanbul obsession became. 
     
    This is probably just me, and I’m not judging anyone who posted stuff about it or who enjoyed reading it. There’s nothing wrong with it, I just don’t like seeing it when we’re shite. It’s fine when we’re doing well, but when we’re shite it just feels lame as fuck to me. I want no part of it. It’s like “yeah we’re shit now, but how good was this?”. 
     
    If we were doing well now I’d lap up this Barca stuff today, but it’s hard to explain. All those years when we were fucking rubbish and then Istanbul Day came around, it didn’t make me want to relive it and celebrate, it just pissed me off that we were a million miles away from it and that’s how I feel today. I worry that we’ll be back in the pack, winning fuck all and then every year when May 7 comes around it’ll be “CORNER TAKEN QUICKLY ORIGI!!!”.
     
    This season better be a fucking one off.
     
    In the PL tonight, Leicester were beaten 4-2 at home by Newcastle which in theory is good for us. It’s not though is it, because there’s absolutely no chance that we win our last five games, and that’s what it would take. Especially since the little fucking goblin basically said today he’ll be resting everyone when they play Leicester so he can play his best team against us. He didn’t say it in so many words, but the implication was clear.
     
    I’m not even mad. He can field whatever team he likes as we only have ourselves to blame. Win just two of the six home games we lost on the spin and we aren’t in this mess. Don’t give up late goals in our last two games and we’re in a much healthier situation. Be mad at that, not at Solskjaer playing the hand he’s been dealt.
     
    The pathetic situation we’re in right now is of our own making. There are legitimate excuses for not challenging for the title. There is no excuse for us being below Spurs (who have been so dire they sacked their manager) and West Ham. If we win our games in hand we’ll be just three points back of Leicester. We won’t though, will we? 
     
    We have five games left and there is more chance we win none of them than there is that we win all five. Still, on the bright side there is only five games left and the misery is finally over.
     
     
    …. and that was the week that was.
     
  • John Barnes believes that a reunion with Luis Suarez is a idea that should be in consideration as Jurgen Klopp looks to find more attacking options ahead of the new season
     
    The front-line has been a topic of much discussion this season with Mo Salah and Diogo Jota having to carry much of the scoring load as Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino go through considerable droughts and a general lack of confidence in front of goal.
     
    With the advent of the Coronavirus pandemic hitting club finances extremely hard, the days of big money deals are seemingly off the table until they can find ways to boost revenue with fans returning to stadiums one key element.
     
     When Suarez was effectively shown the door by new Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman, a return to Anfield started to be discussed in some quarters although with the way that the Reds were ticking along at the time, it was something that never was chased up through official channels.
     
    The Uruguayan eventually signed for Atletico Madrid on a two-year contract and has been a main catalyst behind their chase for La Liga glory scoring 19 league goals in this campaign.
     
    While he is now 34, Suarez is one of the most durable forwards of the modern era and has made no secret of his fondness for Liverpool and the fans despite being public enemy number one when the Reds defeated Barcelona in their epic Champions League semi-final tie two years ago.
     
    Barnes is renowned as being one of the most astute thinkers of the game and he believes that there could certainly be a place for Suarez in Jurgen Klopp’s squad but all boxes would have to be ticked for it to happen.
     
    The Mirror ( via Goal) reported Barnes as saying:
     
    “If they could get Luis on a free transfer that’d be ideal but it’ll come down to whether Luis says he wants to play every week or he’ll be happy to move across and be part of the squad.
     
    “But, because of his age, I don’t think he could expect to be playing every week. 
     
    "The tricky things with these type of transfers is that you have to be pretty certain that the player in question isn’t going to upset things."
     

     
    Barnes has seen Liverpool struggle through a difficult campaign and when you are not winning consistently , naturally the mood in the squad drops considerably it is hard to stay positive. 
     
    Prior to this season, Liverpool prided themselves on staying focused until the 95th minute of games and hence the ‘Mentality Monsters’ aura was developed.  
     
    Barnes says the squad as a whole need to refine that edge, and Suarez is the kind of player with his "never-say-die' and 'take no prisoner' attitude that would be perfect in this aspect.
     
    “Liverpool needs to recreate their team spirit and togetherness and, in order to do so, the players need to be happy with where they are and level of play. If Luis can do this, then great - get him on board.
     
    “As a player, I think he's always given 100 per cent, and he's a decent enough character in terms of trying all the time without being disruptive. So, yeah, that wouldn't be a bad move for Liverpool.
     
    "And I’m sure the fans would absolutely love to get Luis back and I do wonder if they may kick off if they feel that he isn’t getting enough ground time!"
     
    While Barnes is thinking of Suarez in a hypothetical scenario, what he really feels is a pressing need is to get key defenders fit and firing and a potential wide man to add creative flair.
     
    “Scoring goals hasn’t been Liverpool's problem this season in terms of winning matches - as they have scored plenty of goals. 
     
    The issues have been with the defensive play. And, as we know, in order to win matches we need both to run seamlessly.  
     
    “As with so many other teams, we always seem to focus on signing players who either score the goals or create the opportunities instead of focusing on getting the defence right and solid. And that’s Liverpool's problem! 
     
    "So yes, to sign Raphinha would be great. But, more importantly, we need to get [Virgil] van Dijk and [Joe] Gomez back, and to then have someone creative such as Raphinha that will help us a lot; perhaps even more so than having Luis back at the team."
     
     
     
     
     
  • The individual quality of Mo Salah does not just apply to the Football pitch as he was the recipient of the Laureus Sporting Inspiration award last night.
     
    The prize is given to an organisation or athlete who uses their platform to make a positive contribution for the good of society. 
     
    The Egyptian has won plenty of individual and team honours throughout his outstanding career, but you get a feeling that this award carried a lot of personal meaning.
     
    Salah personally donated a number of Oxygen tanks to his home town of Nagrig in north-west Egypt in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis which had gripped the region.
     
    But it is far from the first time that Mo has helped those in need through his charity (Nagrig Charity Association) that he set up four years ago.
     
    In April of last year, he donated thousands of tons of food to those who would otherwise have gone hungry during the coronavirus outbreak while a £30,000 donation went a long way to build an ambulance station in the town.
     
    Throughout his career, it is estimated that the 28 year-old has donated more than £400,000 to assist his hometown.
     
    Speaking when receiving the award, Salah dedicated it to the individuals who have done it very tough over the past 14 or so months- the everyday sporting fan.
     

     
    The Official Site re-produced the acceptance speech from Salah.
     
    “2020 was a very difficult year on so many levels and for so many people around the world. Some of us were kept away from our family and friends, and others even lost loved ones. We need to learn from this experience, support one another and do our best to look ahead.
     
    “Many times football players win awards and automatically thank our fans. This time, I will dedicate this award, not only to my fans, but to all the other sports fans around the world.
     
    "This past year has been a very harsh reminder of the fact that sports, including football, is nothing without fans. Everyone in the world of sport can be replaced – fans are not.
     
    "I will end on that note. Once again, thank you very much."
     
    His manager Jurgen Klopp is someone who puts the character of an individual right at the top of his own values and was understandably thrilled for his star and glowing of his character.
     
    “When you think about Mo Salah you think, first and foremost, about an outstanding football player, a great goalscorer, super technician and a good-looking guy probably. 
     
    “What you don't see and what you don't know – maybe if you are not too much in detail – is what kind of a good person he is. 
     
    “And if I tell you he's an even better person than he is a player, then you might be able to imagine what kind of guy he is. 
     
    “So, Mo, to you – well-deserved and congratulations. It's a big one, another big one for you, an individual one. 
     
    “I know without other people usually in sport that doesn't work, you cannot win individual awards. In this case, it's your award alone. Congratulations again, well-deserved.”
     
     
     
     
  • Not too many more of these to go thankfully. Don’t know how many of you are even still reading and I’m not offended if you’ve given up. I’m just limping along until this thing is over and we can try to forget it ever happened.
     
    There’s so much to hate about this season even if you completely take LFC out of the equation. I’ve mentioned before about how I can’t stand seeing teams walking out into empty stadiums and that was brought home again this weekend when I saw City and Palace walking out at Selhurst. 
     
    Comparing that with how it’s meant to be was just fucking grim. Usually there’d be the cheerleaders forming a guard of honour for the teams to come out, confetti flying everywhere, “Glad All over” blasting out and noise levels through the fucking roof, especially from that crew in the corner behind the goal. 
     
    It may not be everyone’s cup of tea but the point is Selhurst Park is usually bouncing. And here it is now, players walking out to nothing and the camera zooming in on Ederson’s ugly fucking gob. This season in a nutshell that. 
     
    Of course City won but no-one cares any more. 
     
    It was mentioned on commentary that Van Aanholt is out of contract this summer. Back up for Robbo maybe? He’s got his limitations (can’t defend being the obvious one!) but given that Tsimikas must be shite because Klopp definitely doesn’t trust him, that might be a way of bringing in a few quid while getting a bit better. Just thinking aloud really, and I’m biased here because Van Aanholt has always come across as a top lad based on things I’ve seen from him in interviews and on twitter.
     
    Also mentioned on commentary “Ray Lewington, never stops talking, great football man” said Jonathon Pearce. You know how you get people to think you’re a “great football man”? Wear footy boots and a pair of shorts with your initials on no matter what the weather is like. You can blag your way through anything if you do that.
     
    It’s like in the NFL when someone is described as “a good football guy” it generally means he has a thick moustache, a firm handshake and he likes to give ‘the Lord’ the credit for anything that goes well.
     
    Anyway, moving on. Brighton took a huge step towards safety with a well deserved 2-0 win over Leeds. They played as they have for most of the season. Nice football, very well coached, defensively organised, only this time they bagged a couple of goals and three points. They should have scored six but their finishing is as bad as ours.
     
    They took the lead with a Pascal Gross penalty but that was an awful decision I thought. MOTD didn’t make anything of it and Lineker even asked Shearer and Richards “why do defenders do that?”. Do what? All the defender did was fall over. Welbeck stuck his foot underneath the lad and then tumbled over. The defender didn’t actually do anything. VAR had a look and upheld the awful decision. Pathetic.
     
    Welbeck made the result safe with a brilliant goal. His 5th of the season. See, that’s the problem with him. Always has been. He can score a goal like that which makes you think “wow, this lad can play” but at the end of the season you look and he’s scored half a dozen goals in 40 games. His whole career has been that. He should have treble the amount of goals he has.
     
    With Brighton winning it left Fulham dangling on the precipice. They lost at Chelsea and are now nine points from safety. So in other words, they’re down.
     
    They’d only ever won at Stamford Bridge once in their entire history so they were never getting anything from this game, especially as - West Brom result aside - Chelsea have been really good since Tuchel arrived. This was always going to be the danger. They had such a great squad that Lampard was basically acting as a handicap to keep them in the pack. 
     
    If they’d started the season with Tuchel they’d be challenging City. They’ve already beaten them in the FA Cup and hopefully they’ll do the same in the Champions League. I feel unclean saying that but needs must. Other than the fans there’s not much to dislike about Chelsea currently. There isn’t one player there who jumps out as being a twat. Remember when their entire team was full of them? Now they’re a fairly inoffensive bunch. 
     
    Sure, Tuchel looks like a paedo but if I’m being entirely truthful here it wouldn’t matter if Chelsea were managed by Jimmy Saville and captained by Gary Glitter, I’d still want them to beat Man City.
     
    Still, a Chelsea / City final is just about the worst thing that could have happened other than an all Manc final obviously. This season is just one nightmare after another. At least Everton are still shit though. 
     
    Despite appointing a proven world class manager, spending a truckload of cash the last couple of years and running up huge debts in the process, they’re no better than they were before. 
     
    Their home form is rivalling ours its been so bad. They seem to lose every time they play at Goodison and their latest loss was to a Villa side still without Grealish. What’s up with him? He was back in training before they played us but still isn’t back.
     
    That Holgate tit was caught in possession by Watkins for the opener. He’s been a great signing and the best thing about him is he always looks so fucking hungry for goals. He’s just a real livewire and must be a pain in the arse to play against. He’s a pest, a bit like Vardy albeit he’s a different type of player.
     
    The Blues levelled through Dominic Calvert-Lewin. You might remember him. He won the Golden Boot at the same time Everton won the title back in September. Simple header at the back post and that was dreadful from Villa’s perspective. Barkley’s marking was shameful and I don’t know what the keeper was doing there either. Making himself look small, Brad Jones style.
     
    Villa created loads of chances and finally took one when El Ghazi bent one in from the edge of the box to win it with ten minutes to go.
     
    I see Richarlison hasn’t scored for two months. Him regularly being picked by Brazil bothers me massively and just makes me want Brazil to lose, even though we’ve got three lads in their squad too. It offends me because they should be better than that. 
     
    Someone like him shouldn’t be getting games for Brazil but then this is what they do. It’s a Brazilian tradition that there’s always some chump in their squad who nobody thinks should be anywhere near it. It’s like they do it for a bet. Maybe it started because they were so much better than everyone else and wanted to make it more interesting? They need to fuck it off now though because they aren’t that good anymore.
     
    Usually these puddings up front have a traditional British name like Jo or Fred, so I think the only satisfactory compromise here is if Richarlison changes his name to Bert or Alf just to avoid any confusion and ensure everyone knows exactly why he is in the squad. Or he could just call himself “Cunt” as that’s what everyone else calls him.
     
    Leicester failed to take advantage of the latest in a long line of refereeing howlers as they were held to a draw by ten man Southampton.
     
    Vestergaard was red carded after just ten minutes when he took a bad touch and then had to stretch to get the ball away from Vardy. He got the ball and caught Vardy on the ankle with the follow through. A painful one for sure, but a red card? Fuck off.
     
    Apparently the red was for denying a clear goalscoring opportunity rather than serious foul play. It would have been less ridiculous if they had said it was for the latter, as not even Vardy was catching that ball before it reached the keeper.
     
    Predictably, it has since been overturned which again makes a mockery of this whole system. If you’re having to overturn decisions that have already been made by officials looking at video replays then something is fucked.
     
    That being said, Southampton’s centre backs are absolutely shite though and it’s therefore no surprise that things like this keep happening to them. Bet they keep a clean sheet against us this weekend though. Nailed on.
     
    Ward-Prowse gave the ten men the lead from the spot after that Iheanacho cunt had handled. No debating that, absolute stonewall pen, although I’d be saying that even if it hadn’t hit him at all as I despise the twat.
     
    Evans equalised but this was two points dropped by Leicester and it feels like Vardy hasn’t scored for about six months now. In theory Leicester not winning is good for us as mathematically we can still catch them. It’s defo not happening though so I’d rather they got their act together and went and got second place ahead of the Mancs.
     
    Meanwhile, Gareth Bale’s pre-season preparations for the Euros continued to progress nicely as he slotted a hat-trick against relegated Sheffield United. Fucking brilliant finishes too. His celebrations haven't imp[roved while he's been away though. Annoying twat.
     
    Speaking of which, Son made it 4-0 with a cracker of his own. Spurs look like they’re enjoying themselves post-Mourinho.
     
    Dele Alli has been out of the picture so long that he’s grown dreadlocks and looks completely unrecognisable now. The last time I saw him he had short hair and now he’s sporting a 2019 Origi. He’s literally like a new signing.
     
    The Blades have only scored 18 goals all season. The record low is 20 and they’re definitely threatening that. Still no goal for Brewster who must be stressed out to fuck as this season has brought him crashing down to earth with a huge bump. It must be incredibly difficult for him to deal with this as he’s scored goals his whole life and has been told from a young age he’d be a superstar. Now reality is biting hard.
     
    Newcastle lost at home to Arsenal but they’re more or less safe anyway so it didn’t matter. Elneny and Aubamayeng got the goals and Schar was sent off for a bad tackle. Bad enough for a red card? No, but when Mike Dean is the one wielding the cards this goes with the territory.
     
    Onto Monday now and West Brom took another step towards the Championship by failing to beat Wolves in the Black Country derby. Can we even call it a derby when there aren’t any fans there? I don’t think we can you know. It’s just another game when there’s no crowd.
     
    Fans make derby games. There was no more intensity to this game than there would have been if Wolves were playing Southampton or if West Brom were facing Spurs. Footy without fans is shit and derby games without fans are even worse.
     
    Fabio Silva gave Wolves the lead with a scabby deflected effort but Diang headed in the equaliser. The Baggies need to win all four remaining games and then need a miracle. One of those games is against us. If we lose that one then everybody needs to be sacked.
     
    Finally, West Ham’s top four hopes are still alive after a gritty win at Turf Moor. Chris Wood won and converted a pen to give the Clarets an early advantage but two goals from Antonio won it for the Hammers. 
     
    You know what would be funny? If they overhauled Chelsea and got fourth, only for Chelsea to win the CL and Arsenal win the Europa League. That would leave Moyes holding his own cock in the Europa League and their tory cunt owners counting all the lost millions.
     
    Actually no, I take it back. Any scenario that sees those fucking losers Arsenal back door their way into the Champions League is not the least bit funny. I’d rather see United lifting the trophy than those fucking losers spawn their way into the Champions League.
     
    But given how everything has gone this season I think it’s nailed on that City are winning the Champions League and Arsenal are going to do their wedding crashers act like they did with the Super League. 
  • Harvey Elliott believes he can be another attacking option for Jurgen Klopp next season.
     
    The 18-year old winger has flourished on loan at Blackburn Rovers scoring six goals while developing the creative side to his game by contributing 11 assists for the Championship side and being nominated for the EFL Young Player Of the Year award.
     
    Despite making a few cameo appearances for the league champions last season, he knew it was best for his career path to have some regular minutes.
     
    The Echo (via The Counter Attack Podcast) reported Elliott as saying:
     
    “I had a few appearances here and there last season and took this loan with Blackburn, which I personally thought would be the best thing for me.
     
    "I had a chat with Jurgen as well and he said for me to go and express myself, and that the move would be the best thing for my career and for me to get the games and experience. He said he'd support me 100%.
     
    The Championship is well known for being one of the most physically demanding leagues in all of Europe.
     
    Elliott has made over 40 appearances for Rovers this season which has moved his career game tally past the half century mark.
     
    It is something which the youngster feels will put him in good stead ahead of the next step in his career
     
    “Next season I am going to go back thinking I can get in the team. I have had this experience and feel ready, and have 50 appearances under my belt, which is a lot for a teenager."
     
    Elliott has undoubtedly grown as a player but he knows competition for spots in the Liverpool first team will be fierce.
     
    “I feel 100% confident I can go in and challenge. I'm looking forward to the fight and showing to people I am a different player and ready to play when called upon.
     
    "I will need to work hard and train well and if I get my chance, I have to take it."
     
    While Jurgen Klopp is a clear admirer of his talents, so too is Tony Mowbray with the veteran manager effusive in what he has delivered for Rovers during this campaign.
     
    “Harvey is a wonderful talent. I don’t want to keep eulogising about him, because the statistics and his quality on the ball stand out for all to see.
     
    “I watched him in training once and he almost scored a goal, Pearsy (Aynsley Pears) made a brilliant save, where he ran through six men and had a shot from the edge of the box, it was like the ball was stuck to his boot.
     
    “We took him because he’s got class and we knew that he was going to help us. It didn’t matter that he was 17.
     
    “He is a great kid, he wants to introduce himself to everyone, he’s an amazing young guy, he’s got personality so he can get tetchy. 
     
    "We haven’t fallen out but we’ve had words on some occasions and he’s a brilliant football player.
     
    While acknowledging the quality of his Liverpool teammates is elite, there is one player who stands out in the mind of Elliott.
     

     
    “Firmino. When he is on the ball, you can't get it off him. He is a joke.
     
    “It's a Brazilian thing. They are all technically so good, Fabinho and even Alisson whenever they are on the ball.
     
    "Everyone has their different qualities and you can see why they are one of the best teams in the world. They have talent and skill and all work 100%.
     
    "But when I first saw Firmino, I was just dazed watching him as what he was doing with the ball was unbelievable."
     
     
     
     
  • Liverpool Football Club is a team of rich culture and history. Speaking of history, Liverpool have pulled off some of the most amazing results in the history of the sport. Some of these actions are still very fresh. There are quite a number of these remarkable wins. However, we will be discussing these three.
    The Win Against Barcelona on May 7, 2019
    This one is still very fresh in the mind of every Liverpool fan. A lot of things make this particular win very emphatic. First, Liverpool were well beaten 3-0 from the first leg of the two-legged encounter in Camp Nou. This was thanks to a brace from Lionel Messi.
     
    At this point, most people already concluded that the encounter was over and the return leg at Anfield was merely a formality. Many pundits even expected Liverpool to also lose the return leg. They had reason to believe so, considering that Liverpool were without Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino.
     
    However, the events that happened six days later at Anfield would go on to shock even the most experienced of Liverpool supporters. The fairytale started with Divock Origi scoring within the first seven minutes of the game. Despite the early goal, Liverpool struggled to break down a resolute Barcelona defence. It took a masterstroke from Jurgen Klopp to change the outcome of the game. Georginio Wijnaldum was brought on for the injured Andrew Robertson, with James Milner switching to left back. Within nine minutes of coming on the field, Wijnaldum made it 2-0 in favour of Liverpool. He went on to score a second goal (Liverpool’s third) and Origi made it 4-0 in the 79th minute.
    The Draw Against AC on May 25, 2005
    This match may not be as popular with the younger generation of Liverpool fans as the Barcelona win, but for anyone who witnessed it at the time the “Miracle of Istanbul” was indeed a miracle. Liverpool had already beat fierce opponents like Chelsea and Juventus en route to the final. AC Milan had the likes of Crespo, Seedorf, Cafu, Maldini. It was not long before a goal from Maldini and a brace from Crespo showed the difference in quality.
     
    However, the half time chants of "You’ll never walk alone,” despite the scoreline did the trick. Goals from Steven Gerrard and Vladamir Smicer reduced the deficit to 3-2. Xabi Alonso scored from the rebound of his penalty to draw Liverpool level on 3-3. Liverpool went on to edge out Milan in a penalty shootout. Liverpool fans looking to bet on their team can find the best odds here.
    FA Cup Win over Arsenal on May 12, 2001
    In this final, it was Michael Owen who single-handedly won the trophy for Liverpool. Arsenal waited late to do damage through Freddie Ljungberg’s 74th-minute goal. However, Michael Owen showed his class with two goals in the final seven minutes of the game. The first goal showed how much Owen could utilise very little space inside the penalty box. The second was a burst of pace and a well-rounded finish.
     
    This is one of the few finals where Liverpool took the trophy without Steven Gerrard being the hero despite being on the team. However, it was Michael Owen’s year as he went on to lift the Ballon D’Or trophy following an amazing season with Liverpool. This win was special because Liverpool had to rally for a win within the final minutes of the game.
  • All founding members of the Super League from England have backed down over the idea to break away and form a European Super League, but the same can’t be said for the two biggest clubs in Spain. 
     
    Indeed, the Spanish giants haven’t been as swayed by public opinion as their English counterparts were and continue to plot a way forward for a closed shop at the top of European football. 
     
    At the heart of this continued desire to get a breakaway league off the ground is Real Madrid's president, Florentino Perez. That won’t come as any surprise given that the 74-year-old was the proposed chairman of the Super League and the one with arguably the most to gain.
     
    In fact, these last few weeks have been extraordinary when you consider how Perez has refused to let the idea go despite facing a wave of international condemnation. Remarkably, Perez seems too busy to enjoy Real Madrid’s current European adventure, where they're at just 5/1 in the latest Champions League winner odds to win their 14th trophy. Instead, he's putting all his energy into finding a way to resurrect the dead in the water Super League.
     
    This is naturally bad news for Liverpool as it means the saga will rumble on and continue to drag the club’s name through the mud. But one does wonder how committed the various owners are to their current climbdown stance, and if they’re merely waiting to launch this idea in another form sooner rather than later. 
     
    After all, The Athletic very recently reported that Liverpool co-owner John W Henry believes radical change is needed in football and that, eventually, it will come. This is a markedly different tone to the one that Henry adopted during an apology video following mass protests at the club.
     
     
     
    Yes, you can say that Perez is delusional and in his own world, but on this evidence, there is reason to believe that behind the scenes, there may be more appetite for a new league than it currently seems. The founding members of the ill-advised Super League know how much debt the Spanish clubs are in and would have surely realised that they would cling onto a financial payday that would save their clubs. Barcelona in particular has mounting debts of €1.2 billion that need repaying in the very near future. 
     
     
     
    In essence, these clubs have been sleepwalking into financial calamity and the only way out is through the creation of a Super League of sorts where the top clubs can get a bigger slice of the TV revenue pie. It would be naive to think that John W Henry doesn’t know that. Perhaps the Americans and others are hiding behind the desperation of Barcelona and Real Madrid as they wait to see how they can manoeuvre another attempt at a breakaway league. 
     
    Indeed, the lack of condemnation from the other founding members with regards to Perez’s unwavering commitment to the Super League is an ominous, telling sign.
  • Harry Wilson still has hopes of having a career at Liverpool but is well aware that it will be a tough ask.
     
    The Welsh international has spent the large majority of this season on loan at Cardiff City and on Saturday producing an outstanding individual performance scoring a hat-trick in the Bluebirds 4-0 victory against Birmingham.
     
    The 24 year-old has only made two senior appearances for the Reds, and made his first start at the beginning of this campaign against Arsenal in the League Cup where he unfortunately missed a key penalty in the shootout after the game was tied 0-0 after 90 minutes.
     
    With this current loan spell being the fifth in his senior career, Wilson would love to finally make a impact at Liverpool and feels that he can add a unique element to the squad.
     
    But he also knows as that he is at the point of time in his career where he has to find a permanent home.
     
    Wilson spoke in the aftermath of his outstanding performance (per the Echo via Wales Online).
     

     
    “Obviously it’s always been my aim to get into the Liverpool team and play for the club I’ve been at since I was eight.
     
    "But you know the quality Liverpool have got, the famous front three. I feel I’m good enough to be in that squad. I’d like to think I could go in there and add something different.
     
    “I always been confident in my ability and, playing with the players in that team, I feel it would help me with my game. But that’s out of my hands.
     
    The upcoming European Championships presents itself as an ideal opportunity for Wilson to showcase his talents and it is something that he is determined to make the most of.
     
    "I’m fully focused on finishing the season with Cardiff and playing at the Euros with Wales.
     
    “I’m determined to have a good tournament there and, if it’s not with Liverpool, I’m determined to get a move.
     
    "I feel I deserve to play at the highest level I can.”
     
    Wilson feels that his all-round game has developed this season where he has registered 11 assists to go along with seven goals with his only disappointment that Cardiff will miss out on the playoffs.
     
    “I've really enjoyed it. As long as I'm playing I'm happy.
     
    "I've had to adapt my game because the way we've played here has been different to what I'm used to.
     
    "But it was up to me to adapt my game and make sure I can help the team.
     
    “My assists have been better than previous years. Although maybe my goals haven't been as much, I've helped the team in different ways.
     
    "My off-the-ball work has definitely got better throughout the season.
     
    “Obviously disappointing that before the international break we were in a fantastic position to go and charge for the play-offs. But since then the results haven't been as good as what we've wanted.
     
    "But the season as a whole, especially the second half, we have played some good stuff at times.”
     
    Wilson said there had been in contact with Liverpool throughout the season but his focus has naturally been on Cardiff .
     
    Now that the season is virtually done, he can look ahead to future possibilities.
     
    “There is always dialogue between the two clubs and myself and Liverpool, but when I am here I am fully focused on Cardiff.
     
    "They are the team I am here for and want to do well for and give my all for.
     
    “Once the season is finished I will speak to Liverpool. I will always want to go back and play for them.
     
    “But if that's not going to be the case then I am hoping that after my performances in the summer I'll be able to get the move I feel I deserve."
     
     
  • Saturday Apr 24:
     
    L 1 Newcastle 1. What the fuck are they doing? If this game was a one off you’d look at it and wonder just how on earth that happened. I’d be feeling sorry for the players and saying just how unlucky it was. It’s not unlucky though is it? The same shit has been happening for months. Not so much the bottling it when defending a lead (that’s a new thing as we haven’t often had leads to defend) but this fucking woeful play in the final third has been killing us all season. Terrible finishing and generally just making bad decisions in good situations.
     
    I don’t know what the answer is but there’s no way we can come back next season with the same front three (plus Jota). I’m like a broken record here but someone has to go as it needs breaking up. In an ideal world we’d keep all of them, bring in someone boss and let them all fight it out, but this is an FSG world and that’s obviously not an option. Someone has to go to free up the wages / fee to get someone else in. 
     
    I know one thing though. Watching them isn’t fun anymore. They don’t even look like they enjoy playing with each other and haven’t done for some time. Even last year the drop off from them was obvious. They either no longer trust each other or they’re sick of each other. 
     
    Mo is the only one playing with any freedom and confidence. I would have said Jota too but he was fucking horrendous today. Like really, really bad. He didn’t train on Thursday but Klopp said yesterday “No, Diogo is fine”, so maybe there’s something personal going on there we don’t know about. The point is, he gets a free pass for being mostly ace this season. Sadio and Bobby though, fucking hell.
     
    We should have been out of sight long before the closing stages but even so, there’s no excuse for the way they shit down their own legs there. They were let off the hook by VAR (for once) but didn’t take advantage of that let off and fucked it up anyway. This is one of the many reasons I could never be a manager as if I was Klopp I’d have just gone postal on them after that. In fact, I’d have gone the full Phil Brown and just locked the dressing room and not even let them in. Get changed in the fucking corridor, knobheads. 

    Sunday Apr 25:
     
    Ok so it now looks like the ESL had consulted with Boris Johnson a few days before the announcement and been given his support. He is alleged to have met with Ed Woodward and given the green light to it, only to then give it the old “we won’t stand for this, football belongs to the people” spiel when he saw the reaction to it.
     
    So now people are up in arms about it, but why? If you are surprised by this then you haven’t been paying attention. This is how rich people operate. And to Johnson everything is all just a game anyway. He lies through his teeth, he cheats, he takes whatever shortcuts are necessary to achieve what he wants. The outrage about this baffles me. There is not a single person who voted for him that didn’t know he was a colossal cunt. So don’t be getting all upset about his antics now. *points at Leicester fans*.
     
    This Konate talk is rumbling on, to the point now where it feels like we’re almost entering ‘formality’ territory. I’m underwhelmed because Leipzig are the only defence in the last three months to make our forwards look dangerous, and because his injury record is right up there with Matip and Gomez. Imagine signing another defender who has missed 45 games in the last two seasons. The fuck are we doing here? He may well be an upgrade on Kabak but not when he’s in the fucking treatment room listening to Big Bird and his fun facts.

    Monday Apr 26:
     
    Crazy old Perez over at Real is issuing threats. "I don't need to explain what a binding contract is, but effectively the clubs cannot leave," he told Spanish newspaper AS. "Some of them, due to pressure, have said they're leaving. But this project, or one very similar, will move forward and I hope very soon." He’s fucking mental. The only backing he has now is from Barca and Juve.
     
    He also said this "What you have to do is recover the fans, the young people. And for that you have to change. If UEFA wants to do it with the project he said the other day, well, honestly, I neither understood it nor do I think it is a good solution. In addition, they want to start in 2024, and we will see what teams resist.”
     
    He’s right with that. You know how to get young people back into the game though? Firstly, fuck VAR off. Secondly, cheaper ticket prices. Do that and there’s no reason why today’s kids won’t grow up to love footy in the way we did. It’s not going to happen though, and if he thinks a “Super League” will capture their attention he’s even more crazy than we all think. It might grab their attention for a few weeks, but they’ll be back on their xboxes in no time when their parents tell them “sorry kid, tickets are just too expensive”.
     
    Former Echo reporter Phil McNulty has upset the LFC Twitter fam today by pointing out the lack of assists from Thiago. It was a bit of an uneducated criticism as he isn’t the player who plays the pass to make the goal. It’s much like Xabi back in the day. You don't judge those players on assists just like you don't judge full backs on how many goals they score. Thiago (like Alonso before him) is meant to be the one playing the pass that leads to the assist. He hasn’t done that either though has he?
     
    McNulty picked the wrong battle there. He should have just said Thiago has been a massive flop and left it at that, because he has been. And chances are most of those who would rail against that suggestion are the same ones who told everyone how amazing he was going to be when we were linked with him. I don't even blame Thiago for him being a flop. He's doing his thing, but his thing doesn't blend with our thing. Not yet anyway. I haven't completely given up.
     
    You know who else took a lot of heat for criticising Thiago? Didi Hamann. Granted, his credibility is virtually non-existent these days after him defending Thatcher and coming out with various other hot takes that made him look daft, but he said this about Thiago back in January...
     
    ‘He slows things down and doesn’t really play the way Liverpool play’, he said. "Liverpool in the past have had hard-working midfielders, they were not as skilful as Thiago, but they have the ball to Mane and Salah early. 
     
    ‘If you get the ball early on the wing, and theses guys can run at players they are very hard to stop. I just feel with Thiago, everyone was raving about him coming to Liverpool, he’s hardly played. He came on against Chelsea and had the most passes in the second half, against a Chelsea team that was down to 10 men. He came on against Newcastle in the last 25 minutes, Newcastle were dead on their feet, everyone was raving about how good he is.
     
    ‘I can tell you, he’s a good player, a skilful player. But there was never a time in Munich where people said, ‘oh he’s the first on the teamsheet’. So I’d be very cautious when it comes to Thiago. And the other thing is, as other people alluded to earlier, he plays a different style of football. He likes to be in possession. Liverpool were always good when they weren’t in possession, won it and played quickly forward. 
     
    ‘He’s not that type of player, so it will be very interesting when he does play more often now how it’s going to change the dynamics of the team.’
     
    Of course, back in August when we signed him he had said…. "Jurgen Klopp has more workhorses in his midfield with Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Naby Keita. He could use an intricate technical player like Thiago well. You could still get a very good three or four years out of him. Thiago isn’t someone who relies on his pace. He’s smart. He uses the ball well. Teams come to Anfield and just try to frustrate them and that’s likely to get worse next season.
     
    "Thiago has huge quality in terms of unlocking defences. He could be very useful. I think if there’s one area of this team that Liverpool can improve, it’s probably the midfield."
     
    So there is that.
     
    Tuesday Apr 27: 
     
    Little discussion in the WhatsApp group today about transfers and what we’re likely to spend. It was interesting because one of the lads mentioned something that I’d been thinking too. It’s probably fanciful nonsense and won’t happen, but I’ve got a sneaky little feeling that FSG might hand Jurgen a load more cash this summer than people are expecting. 
     
    They recently sold a stake in the club for £500m or so wasn’t it? That’s not all going in the transfer kitty of course, but there is money they can dip into and given the amount of making up they need to do (to the fans, but also to Jurgen) is it possible that they’ll loosen the purse strings for once and let him go a bit wild? It was something we discussed and I half jokingly threw in the name of Mbappe just to get Paul going really as he’s been banging that drum for years. 
     
    It was in danger of actually proving to be a positive chat for the first time in about six months until one of the lads brought it all back down to the depths of misery by saying “Mbappe is too full of himself to sign for a team not in the Champions League”. I’m not completely sure that is the case but it still snapped me out of my delusion instantly. I’m still in the midst that anyone would want to sign for Kloppo’s Reds, but maybe that’s not true now because we won’t be in the CL. 
     
    It depends how it’s perceived. Is this just a Covid caused blip that can be dismissed, or are we back where we were three or four years ago, not in a situation where the absolute best players would join us? I’d like to think it’s the former but hypothetically if I were Mbappe or Haaland and I was choosing between Bayern, Real, City, Chelsea, United, Barca and us, I’m probably not coming to Anfield, whereas a year ago it was a no brainer.
     
    So I’d be amazed if we signed a massive name ahead of any of our rivals but I do think John Henry is going to allow Klopp to go out and get who he feels he needs and money is not going to be the restricting factor it has been. I'm probably being naive so you can save this and then mock me when we sign Romain Seiss on a free, hail fit again Joel Matip as ‘like a new signing’ and do a deal for Pedro Neto that sees us paying Wolves £5m now and then the rest of the fee in £1m instalments for the next 25 years.

    Wednesday Apr 28:
     
    The club accounts are out. None of this makes any sense to me, even when it’s explained by people who know what they’re talking about. We posted a loss of £46m which is apparently not too bad as 11 PL teams posted losses of over £50m for the year. Man City lost £125m, but if they were posting their proper accounts they’d be losing at least that much every season and then some. So if they’re declaring a loss of £125m imagine how much they actually are losing, the cheating cunts. Lower wage bill than us, apparently.
     
    You know who else is losing money hand over fist? High Horse FC. Those bastions of moral integrity are spending all kinds of money they don’t have. £140m losses in one year? They lost a fuckload the year before as well, and their wages are 89% of their turnover, which is really bad. They’ll carry on spending though because they’ve got Moshiri acting as a front for a dodgy Russian. One day they’ll go under, hopefully. I absolutely mean that too. Fuck them.

    Seen some stuff put out by the club’s social media today that I just didn’t react well to. Let me first say that there was nothing wrong with it and the social media team are just doing their job. The problem isn’t what they put out, it’s how I reacted to it. And my reaction is purely because we’ve been so fucking shit. 
     
    So what am I on about? Just the standard ‘inside training’ content they put out. Completely harmless, inoffensive stuff that loads of people probably love. Hell, I love it too, when we’re winning.
     
    But today I saw a clip of Sadio sidestepping Robbo and smashing a shot in with his left foot. I also saw another clip of Thiago doing a lovely little flick in the rondos. You know it made me feel? The same way I feel when I see stuff like that begging up Arsenal players. Like when their fans were creaming themselves over that Pepe jabroni almost running past Virgil. 
     
    Thiago doing that little flick just made me annoyed that he’s done absolutely fuck all on the pitch for us get that excited about. Sadio scoring that goal just made me annoyed that it’s about six fucking months since he did it in a meaningful situation. The club social media team buzzing off it just irks the shit out of me.
     
    As I say, it’s not their fault and this is my problem, not theirs. I just hate shit like this when the team is fucking crap. Just reeks of Arsenal to me. Any time I see Arsenal players even celebrating a goal I just fill up with resentment and think “what the fuck have you got to celebrate, you fucking losers”. 
     
    It’s getting that way with our lads now, which isn’t fair as they have actually won the biggest prizes out there. They’ve turned into Arsenal this season though and it’s galling.
     
    Meanwhile, it was Ewing Oil v WestStar tonight. Barnes-Wentworth were in the other semi last night facing Real Madrid. It’s so fucked up when Real Madrid are… I can’t say the good guys as that would stick in the throat too much… the lesser of four evils.

    Thursday Apr 29:
     
    United warmed up for the weekend by putting six past Roma in the Europa League. Sunday is going to be shit, isn't it? You can just feel it coming.
     
    Sander Berge is linked with us today. I like him, good player. Not good enough for what we need though, and any chance of Sheffield United maybe doing us a good deal have surely been scuppered by us pulling their pants down on Brewster. There's no way we're shelling out for him as well as Bissouma, so maybe he's a fallback option if Brighton's demands are too high? I'm dead set against us signing Berge though, simply because the Kop will just bust out the old Paddy Berger song for him because they're lazy bastards these days. That's Paddy's song though. It's bad enough they used it for Sturridge.
     
    Just catching up with the 18s game last weekend. They scored six again and it could have been 12. The firepower in that side is as good as anything we’ve had at this level in recent years. Woltman, Musialowski, Gordon and Balagizi is a right handful for any team in this age group. Woltman has nine in his four or something mad like that. They aren’t even missing Layton Stewart. 
     
    They’ve got Arsenal in the Youth Cup tomorrow night. Such a shame Gordon can’t play in that competition. I might start doing match reports from these lads instead of the first team you know. They’re much more fun to watch as the forwards can actually finish. 
     
    Friday Apr 30:
     
    See? They beat Arsenal 3-1 at Anfield. There was no Gordon but the other three ran riot. Woltman scored the opener, Norris got the second from the spot and the latest solo effort from Musialowski put them 3-0 up before Koumetio gave away a penalty for an Arsenal consolation. They’re great to watch and must have a great chance of winning it now, especially as City are out. 
     
    We’ve got Ipswich next, while in the other semi final it’s Villa v West Brom. Villa’s results so far in this competition have been 4-3, 3-0, 9-0 and 6-1 so if we get them it could end up looking like a rugby score. Can't wait actually. It's the only game of football left this season that I'm actually looking forward to watching.
     
    Seriously thinking about swerving Sunday you know. I can't think of any good reason to watch that live. If we win I'll be happy and I can watch the replay of it the next day. Not watching it 'live' won't take the shine off it, as there's not going to be much 'shine' regardless of what happens as this whole season has just been so fucking miserable that a win at Old Trafford changes very little.
     
    A defeat would just make it all the more depressing though so hopefully the lads will put in a performance there for once. I'm not expecting it though.
     
     
    …and that was the week that was…..
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