Jump to content

Articles

Manage articles
Show all categories
  • tlw content
    Oh we needed that didn't we? Not just the points, but the performance. The statement. Klopp summed it up afterwards when he said "the boys showed who we really are". This was the team that ran away with the league last year. The team everyone is terrified of. Spurs just looked completely overawed and outmatched.
     
    Yet despite how comfortable it was I couldn't enjoy it until it was over. It was an emotional roller coaster and I couldn’t relax until probably two or three minutes into the allotted five minutes of stoppage time at the end. Only then did I feel completely safe. Not so much from Spurs, as they didn’t worry me much all night. The threat was from Martin Atkinson and VAR, but when we reached the closing minutes the game was beyond them. 
     
    What a turbulent night though. It was just one thing after another, highs and lows, joy and frustration. Injustice and misfortune. And it started about one minute into the game when Sadio missed an absolutely fucking sitter. That was hard to take in light of the recent goal drought. I was fuming to be honest as it was just a terrible attempt. It was hesitant though and he clearly overthought it, which is what happens in bad runs like this. Normally he just buries that without even thinking.
     
    So that already had my stress levels up and the game had barely even started. Seconds later it got much worse as Son was putting the ball in the net at the there end. I didn’t see the initial offside as I was still dwelling on Sadio’s miss and wasn’t even watching the TV. I looked up and saw Son running clear, so a VAR check wasn’t even on my radar initially. I thought we’d gone a goal down because of Sadio’s fucking awful miss, and I wasn’t taking that very well.
     
    Then there was the glimmer of hope when they said there was a VAR check. I saw the replay and it was obviously close. So initially I’m fearing the worst as from what I can recall every close one of those has gone against us other than one at Chelsea last season. There might have been one more too, but as a general rule when it’s close they find a way to make it go against us. 
     
    When they started drawing the lines it was obvious that it was going to be offside because it was about 6-8 inches off, which is too big a gap for them to ‘fudge it’ as we’ve seen them do before. By that I mean when it’s anything from six inches or under, they can manipulate it however they want. They’ll start the line higher up on the defenders shoulder or further back on the attackers foot etc
     
    On the really close offsides it comes down to whatever the VAR wants to make it look like. I’m 100% convinced about that because we’ve seen it, specifically on the two ones at Goodison that went against us. Honestly, it’s fucking easy for the to do it. You move one line a couple of inches past the cut off point on a player’s arm, and the other one goes a couple of inches to the wrong side of a toe and Bonb’s yer uncle.
     
    So I’m thankful that Son was far enough offside that they had absolutely no choice but to disallow it, because we’ll never know the damage that goal may have done to us. I said before the game that the one thing we have to do is score first, because Spurs can’t chase a game but they can protect a lead and counter attack as well as anyone. That’s what Mourinho lives for.
     
    So that goal being ruled out was huge, especially going so soon after we squandered such a great chance. But what VAR giveth it also taketh away, or something. The goal we had ruled out n the second half was fucking outrageous I thought, and I was convinced we would go on to lose the game because of it. Thankfully we didn’t because the lads didn’t let it affect them the way I let it affect me. I’ll get to that later though.
     
    The point is, the game was just a melting pot of emotions for me and it was a much tougher watch than it should have been. If I were to watch the ninety minutes again now, knowing the outcome, it would be great fun because the performance was fucking brilliant. It’s the best we’ve played away from home in a long time.
     
    I sensed before kick off we had a big performance coming. It sounds daft, but as soon as I saw Hendo and Milner in the warm up and just the general body language and determination that seemed to be exuding from all of the players, I fancied us. Of course if Son is a few more inches the other way then my good feeling about the game goes up in smoke, but for once we caught a break and the great thing is we took advantage of it.
     
    I thought we were brilliant in both halves. The second was more convincing but that was in no small part to Spurs losing Kane at half time. I know we lost Matip too, but Spurs these days are basically Kane, Son and a bunch of stiffs. Kane is not only the main goal threat, he’s also the main supply line too. He might be a cunt but he’s a world class one, and when he went off Spurs offered virtually nothing.
     
    I give our lads a lot of credit for that too, but the point I’m trying to make here is I thought our first half performance was a lot better than it was given credit for. It’s easy to say that because we got the goal just before half time, but if we’d have gone in at 0-0 I’d have felt aggrieved because I thought we deserved to be ahead.
     
    It just felt like we were bossing it and unlike a lot of games recently, there was an undercurrent of menace in our attacking play. It didn’t always lead to chances but it always felt to me like we could unlock them at any moment because we just looked more like us.
     
    Sadio had that sitter early on that he missed and he was also twice denied by Lloris. The big difference in this game to recent weeks was that Firmino was running things and Salah and Mané were actually linking up with eachother. It was like old times. Those three chances Sadio had were created by Mo (twice) and Bobby. Finally they looked like a unit again rather than a bunch of individuals. The two passes from Mo to create those openings were brilliant.
     
    Sadio was having a weird night. He was our most dangerous player but he seemed to be fighting against himself most of the night. Standing on the ball, tripping over, missing chances. But he always looked like he’d be the one to make it happen because he was relentless and Spurs couldn’t deal with it.
     
    It was his spin in behind to collect a Henderson pass that finally ended the barren spell. They said on commentary it was eight hours without a league goal or something, which is staggering. You wonder how that’s even possible, but hopefully it was a freak occurrence that we don’t ever see again.
     
    Sadio’s low cross was somehow missed by Lloris and gleefully tapped in on the line by Firmino and we went into the break a goal to the good. Of course at the point we didn’t know that we were about to lose Matip. Not surprising, but the timing couldn’t have been worse with Fabinho also missing.
     
    You know what though, for all the justified talk about our defensive issues I looked at that Spurs backline and couldn’t believe how weak it looked. A back three of Rodon, Dier and Davies? Sorry, but that’s shit that is. They had Sanchez and Alderweireld on the bench, so how come they’re playing those three? I saw someone on Twitter jokingly suggest a swap deal with Origi and Alderweireld. It would actually make sense for both parties to do that as a loan swap until the end of the season. Spurs need a striker, we need a defender, and both players need playing time ahead of the Euros.
     
    So big Nat came on at half time while Spurs also made a couple of changes as Kane was unable to shake off injuries to both ankles and Aurier was unable to shake off the issue of being shite. Kane has glass ankles and seems to miss a couple of months of every season because of it. He hurt one ankle when it got stuck under Matip's arm as they fell to the ground.
     
    That was unfortunate. When he hurt the other ankle though that was just poetic justice. He was doing that shithouse move of his where he looks to see where the defender is and then backs in trying to win a free-kick. It's dangerous and he's almost injured a few opponents doing it. This time he injured himself because instead of jumping for the ball Hendo continued moving and wasn't there when Kane jumped into him. Kane landed awkwardly and twisted his ankle. Shame.
     
    So Aurier and Kane went off and Lamela and someone else came on. Genuinely can’t remember who. Winks maybe? I think it was, but to be honest I don’t remember even seeing him so it might not have been. I didn't see Lamela either, I just remember the commentator mentioning that he was coming on. Other than the goal Spurs were a virtual non-entity in the second half.
     
    The way the second half started was mental. Spurs were all over the place after the substitutions. It was frantic and we nearly scored within seconds. Bobby almost got in only for his shot to be blocked, but he did well to cut it back for Mo who did everything right in creating space for his shot but he couldn’t keep it down.  
     
    We didn’t have to wait long for another chance though. Sadio brilliantly spun away from Doherty and sent a low shot towards the far corner. Lloris parried but only as far as Trent who lashed it into the bottom corner. Interesting to see how high up the pitch he was, not just in that moment but for much of the game. One of the big problems against United was that Rashford would just hang about in the space Trent was leaving, and you’d have thought Spurs would have been looking to do similar with Son. Maybe they were, but it didn’t work. 
     
    Why that would be the case is for someone who knows more than I do to explain. The obvious solution people would call for is for Trent to not bomb on as much, but he's such a key part of our attack that it's counter productive asking him to curtail those instincts. If anything he was charging forward even more, yet we never got caught out down that side at all because of it. 
     
    I’d guess that we did a better job ‘protecting our attacks’ and of making sure we didn’t give the ball away cheaply, as that’s when problems start. It’s when you lose it needlessly and unexpectedly that you get caught because the full backs aren't anticipating it and get stranded. That rarely happened in this game though.
     
    We were also helped by switching Thiago and Wijnaldum. That strengthened us in two positions because it allowed Thiago a bit more attacking freedom and we benefitted from Gini’s tactical discipline, mobility and absolutely ridiculous ability to not let anyone take the ball off him. This was one of those monstrous games from him when he was constantly shielding the ball, holding people off and spinning out of trouble. The second half was a Gini masterclass.
     
    I do wonder just what the fuck Spurs were trying to do though. As great as Bobby was in this game, even I could see that it was because he had space to operate in. He was just dropping off, picking up the ball and turning with it time and again. With Spurs playing a back three, Dier didn’t seem to want to follow Bobby in case he left the gap in the middle for the diagonal run that Sadio and Mo both love. And because they only had two in midfield they were outnumbered in there and Hojbjerg couldn’t sit on Bobby.
     
    So what happened was Firmino just ran the game. Virtually everything we did went through him and Spurs never did anything to address the problem. I found it baffling because the one thing Mourinho does better than anyone is nullify the opposition’s strength. So many teams have kept Bobby quiet over the past year or so but this was 2018 Bobby. Great to see. I loved 2018 Bobby, he was amazing.
     
    Anyway, at 2-0 it was looking great as Spurs seemed rattled and ripe for a hammering. Then out of nothing they pulled one back. It was a fucking fluke too. Don’t give me any of that ‘great strike’ nonsense. It wasn’t. Not unless you want to call half of my driver shots great. He sliced the arse off that shot but because he was aiming at the left side of the fairway he just about managed to keep it out of the rough on the right hand side.
     
    I’m deadly serious. That was a fluke. It was an awful strike and not what he intended. No-one tries to hit their shot like that, it just happens when you hit across the ball due to poor technique. He’s trying to put his foot through a ball that’s rolling across his body, and he slices it. If the net hadn't got in the way that ball would have ended up in the East End.
     
    So that annoyed the fuck out of me as we got really unlucky on that. He did have far too much room on the edge of the box though so that’s something we could look at. Generally though, 99 times out of 100 the ball doesn't end up where it did.
     
    Then came the disallowed goal. What a goal it was too. Lovely counter attack, Bobby holding it up and finding Thiago. Thiago playing it left to Mané. Mané playing it back into the box, Thiago stepping over it and letting it roll to Mo. And Mo lashing in the finish. I celebrated that more than I’ve celebrated any goal in ages. A combination of VAR and not being able to go the game has taken that moment away now, but I was giving it the beans on this one.
     
    So I completely lost my shit when it was disallowed. Shouting and swearing at the telly (earning me disapproving scowls from the wife, a shocked look from my daughter and sending both dogs running for cover) and then eventually leaving the room so I could punch something without them seeing (the first thing that caught my eye was the fridge, so I gave that a dig). I’m still fuming about it even though it didn’t ultimately cost us. It’s not the point. It might have done. On another day it would have. Shit, on previous days this kind of bollocks has screwed us and I’m sick of it.
     
    As soon as they showed the replay I knew the goal would be disallowed. Not because I thought it was the right decision, but because there was enough in it to allow them to do what they wanted. When Fat Jon Moss told that turd Atkinson to go and look it was then a formality. Any time there’s 'just enough' in an incident for them to be able to screw us over, that’s what they’ll do. 
     
    The ball hit Bobby’s arm and that was all the justification thy needed. Forget context, that’s all they wanted. A reason to disallow the goal. You know how I know this? Because they weren’t looking for anything else. It’s exactly like the Virgil Pickford thing. The only thought in their heads is can they give the decision against us. Nothing else is even on their radar. That’s why Pickford’s assault was ‘forgotten’ and it’s why Spurs actually got the fucking free-kick here. VAR can't give the free-kick, but that didn't matter because they didn't make the decision, they just told Atkinson to take a look. He did, and he gave Spurs a free-kick. The twat. 
     
    The rules state that unless the attacking player scores or plays the decisive pass, then an unintentional handball can’t be punished by VAR. So assuming the officials know the laws of the game (not always the case) the only way to interpret this is they have given that as a deliberate handball by Bobby. It’s not deliberate though, he wants to control it with his chest but he’s got a big fucking dope hanging all over him and knocking the ball away from him with his arm. That’s the only reason it hits Bobby on the arm, otherwise he controls on his chest.
     
    So although it’s a massive stretch to say that was deliberate they can argue their corner on the basis that it’s a subjective decision, but it’s a complete farce that Dier was allowed to have two hands on Bobby’s shoulders, fouling him, and then knock the ball away with his forearm. There’s two fouls by Dier before Firmino even touches the ball. Both of those were completely ignored and Spurs were awarded the free-kick. And fuck all will be said. Yet again.
     
    Honestly, they can get to fuck with this shit. No-one is now going to convince me that foul play isn’t happening here. It’s happening too often now. I keep saying it but the numbers tell the story. You can’t look at this on the basis of each individual incident because there’s almost always enough of a grey area to say “I can see why it’s given”. It’s the ratio for and against that tells the true story here.
     
    If that’s Harry Kane instead of Bobby, that goal is given. If that’s City or United, the goal is given. You’re not going to convince me otherwise because I’ve seen enough now to have made my mind up. Any chance to go against us is gleefully taken. I keep saying, looking at each incident in isolation tells you nothing because even with this one you can say “I can see why they gave it”. The sheer weight of these ‘subjective’ decisions that have gone against us is dodgy as fuck.
     
    And as I said earlier, I was convinced at that moment we’d lose. Against a more dangerous opponent maybe we would have, but Spurs just didn’t look like they had any idea how to put us under any kind of pressure, even with Phillips at the back and on a yellow card. He stood up well and did everything we needed him to. Other than being done for pace by Calum Wilson he’s been largely flawless when he’s played. Ideally you only want him playing sparingly but that’s not a luxury we have now.
     
    We’re going to need big Nat quite often now by the looks of it. Hopefully he can continue to be solid, but if he isn’t I hope that no-one gets on his case over it as this situation is not his fault. He’ll try his best and if he isn’t up to the job then the blame lies at the door of the money men who haven’t given Klopp what he needs in this desperate situation.
     
    They’ve tried wrapping Matip up in cotton wool by only playing him once a week but it isn’t going to work. It reduces the risk, sure, but it’s not going to prevent him getting hurt as we saw in this game. We got 45 brilliant minutes out of him and then off he went. When did the injury happen? He wasn’t limping, was he? Did he turn his ankle walking down the fucking tunnel? 
     
    It’s infuriating because as I keep saying, he’s the best centre back in the league not named Virgil. He’s so good but it doesn’t really matter now does it? We can’t count on him and having him as one of the four options hurts us because for half the season we’re down to three. And one of those is Gomez, who also seems to have rotten luck and misses a few months every season.
     
    Availability is a massive thing and we’ve got too many players who aren’t reliable on that front. Matip heads the list but Keita, Gomez, Shaq and Ox are not far behind. Of course injuries happen, but they seem to happen to these lads far more than they do to most of the others.
     
    Saying we need another centre back before the window closes is just stating the obvious. I don’t know how anyone could possibly dispute it. It needs to happen and we can’t be too choosy, because we need another body or even two, for depth as much as anything. It’s fine if you want argue that Henderson and Fabinho can play there, or you pair one of those with one of Williams or Phillips. What happens if one or more of them picks up an injury or suspension though? They were our depth, our emergency cover, but what happens when the emergency cover isn’t there?
     
    Honestly, our situation is so dire currently that I would have taken both Sokratis and Mustafi until the end of the season. The squad would look much healthier with both of them in it, despite their obvious limitations, but we passed on Sokaratis and don’t seem to be arsed about Mustafi. That’s fine, as long as there’s someone else coming in. There fucking better be. 
     
    But anyway, while I was still seething from that disallowed goal Trent whipped in a stunning ball and Sadio lashed it in to make it 3-1. “DISALLOW THAT, YER CHEATING BASTARDS”. Then a brief moment of panic in case they somehow found a reason to do just that. It’s just shit isn’t it? Goal celebrations are just a thing of the past now. The first thing I’m thinking is “will there be a check on this?”. Thankfully there wasn’t.
     
    Rodon made a mess of dealing with it but that was such a great ball and it was also a sharp finish. Sadio didn’t think about it, he just instinctively lashed it in. Easier to do that when we’ve scored a couple and everyone is feeling lighter now that the goal burden has been lifted.
     
    After that we focussed more on controlling the game rather than pushing forward for more goals. We kept it well, made smart decisions and restricted Spurs to virtually nothing. They sent on Bale and he did fuck all. He looks like a spent force now doesn’t he? His biggest asset was that frightening pace and strength he had. He could play as well, don’t get me wrong, but the speed and power was what separated him from most mere mortals. That’s gone now by the looks of it.
     
    The closing stages was mostly about Gini getting the ball and challenging Spurs players to try and take it off him. They couldn’t, he just made them look like mugs. The only threat to us was Atkinson but we did a good job of restricting his influence on the game and in the end it was a comfortable win.
     
    The three points were desperately need so I feel good about that. But it wasn’t just the points we needed, was it? We needed to see a performance, something to suggest we’ve come through that awful run and are ready to have a right good go at it again. We defo saw that and the performance was much more significant than the result I think.
     
    The leadership of Henderson and Milner was massive and it looked like the front three finally realised that they’re much stronger as a group than they are individually. It was that teamwork, understanding and enjoyment of playing together that made them great. Somewhere along the line it’s like they forgot that, but maybe now having had to do some soul searching we’ll see more of this and less of what we’ve seen from them for much of this season.
     
    This win and performance, coupled with some results going our way this week for the first time in ages, has definitely lifted the mood now and given us something to look forward to again. The centre back issue is definitely a dark cloud over everything but if we play like this every week it won’t matter who we have at the back because no-one will have the balls to try and attack us anyway.
     
    West Ham are up next and although they’re flying high it’s a game we should win if we play anywhere near this level. Fabinho won’t be back so that means Hendo and Phillips again. The midfield may also need tweaking because do we really want Milner playing his third game in seven days? Last time he did that he pulled a hammy. So bring in Jones or Shaq for him and otherwise it’s same again.
     
    We’ve taken a step back towards where we want to be and the chance is there now to beat West Ham and Brighton and see where that leaves us before we go into the crunch period of games against City, Leicester and the Blueshite. I feel as though a corner has been turned and I’m far less worried about any opposition (other than City) than I am about the officiating. I think we’ll be fine now performance wise, but it won’t always translate to results because of this ongoing situation with referees.
     
    Star man was really difficult as everyone played well and some were immense. Trent got it on BT which was fine with me. He was back to his best. It could just as easily have gone to Bobby, Milner, Gini or Hendo. Any one of them would have been deserving but I’ll lean towards Milner because it just felt like in the last couple of games he’s helped to bring back the intensity to our game. The others were all brilliant though and I wouldn’t argue against any of those.
     
    Quick word on Thiago. He was alright and got better the longer it went on. His tackling always looks like it's going to get him in trouble though doesn't it? I like him much more as an 8 than a 6 so far but it depends on the opposition and who is alongside him in the middle. For now I'd defo be using Gini in front of the centre backs because they need all the protection we can give them.
     
     
    Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip (Phillips), Henderson, Robertson; Wijnaldum, Thiago (Jones), Milner; Salah, Firmino (Origi), Mané:
  • Liverpool ended a five game winless streak with an impressive 3-1 victory over Tottenham on Thursday evening.
     
    The Reds had only scored one goal in their last five league games and had been held scoreless in their last four fixtures.
     
    Their superb 68 game unbeaten home record was ended last week by Burnley while they were defeated by bitter rivals Man United in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
     
    While that loss was naturally galling, a patch of blue sky emerged in the fact that they looking better in attack with Mo Salah looking exceptionally impressive.
     
    With the Red Devils, Leicester and Everton all dropping points during this midweek round, it was a golden opportunity for the Redmen to make up some lost ground.
     
    And do that they did in a fine and composed performance with goals to Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sadio Mane as they picked up just their third win on the road from 10 games this season.
     
    As has become custom, the win did not come without some setbacks with Joel Matip once again picking up a injury believed to be an ankle ligament issue.
     
    He was replaced at half time by Nathaniel Phillips who did a very solid job alongside Jordan Henderson to see the game out.
     
    While Fabinho did not take his place in the heart of the defence after ‘feeling something’ in training and the decision was made not to risk the Brazilian.
     
    Jurgen Klopp was a happy man after the victory which sees the Reds climb up to fourth place and explained what was the difference between this game and their recent performance.
     
    “Obviously the decisions in the last moments. We just kept going, we had a big, big chance very early with wonderful play and Sadio in a really good position missed the chance. 
     
    "I think pretty much the next situation, if I’m right, was the goal Tottenham ‘scored’ – that was the moment when you think, ‘Oh, here we go again!’ But then it was offside, it didn’t count, and the boys just played a really good game.
     
    “We made great runs, scored obviously the first goal in a perfect moment pretty much, scored the goal [and] could go into half-time in the dressing room. We got aware of the struggle of Joel Matip with his ankle, so no chance to play on, so then we tried to tell the boys that it would make sense to do a couple of things again. 
     
    "They put a proper shift in. It was a brave performance in a game against a counter-attacking monster, which they are, and that makes it even more special. For tonight, it was really good.
     
    A day barely goes by without Klopp being asked whether he will dip into the transfer market to look for options with Matip seemingly set for another stint on the sidelines.
     
    Once again the German kept his cards close to his chest.
     

     
    “You can imagine that we think about everything, of course. We thought the whole time, we think the whole time, it’s about doing the right thing. I’m not picky or whatever… but we need to find the right player. 
     
    "We have players still. Not a lot, to be honest, in the defence line it is incredible what’s happening there, it’s really incredible. But that’s it.”
     
    The other main narrative regarding Liverpool during this poor run of form has been  to use the many assets of Thiago in the best way.
     
    Klopp said that the Spaniard has had a exceptionally difficult start to live at his new club but he is getting better game by game.
     
    "Today we played a slightly different position, worked together with Millie and Gini on [the] six really well. That was a proper, proper performance. I know Thiago can be much better than tonight, but it was just an important step for all of us. 
     
    “The situation with Thiago was not easy: he came to Liverpool late, then ill, then injured, then playing immediately in a very decisive position. We thought for tonight it might make sense to play him slightly higher on the pitch.
     
    The last word goes to the manager on how he would unwind after a victory.
     
    “In an away game it’s the only moment where we have a beer. I don’t remember the last time I had a beer on the bus after an away game.”
     
     
     
     
     
     
  • Not exactly surprising was it? Even when we’re in a good run we never get anything at Old Trafford so this result was entirely predictable. We played pretty well for the most part, better than we usually do here anyway, but it wasn’t enough because we made too many mistakes.
     
    For some inexplicable reason I felt good about our chances when I woke up on Sunday. I’ve been on such a massive downer of late and my faith in the team (specifically the forwards) has been shaken to it’s core, yet I had a feeling we’d do well in this one. 
     
    I don’t know why that was but I suspect it’s probably because it was the cup, which meant less pressure, and that expectations were pretty low and that also means less pressure. United were expected to win this because they’re top of the table and our form has been awful since the turn of the year. So in some ways this was a free hit for us.
     
    Even when I saw the team I thought we might come through the tie, although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried about Rashford up against young Rhys Williams. Sadio not starting also weakened us but the flip side to that is it’s good being able to call on someone like that from the bench when the game becomes more stretched.
     
    So all in all I still felt quite hopeful. And the way we started the game was great. We were on the front foot, positive and we looked more like us.
     
    We had a chance in the first minute when some nice play got Trent in down the side and his low cross was scrambled away. Great start, something to build on, and we did build on it. We even managed to finally score a goal when Bobby’s brilliant through ball was superbly finished by Mo. At fucking last.
     
    I actually thought we were superb right up until the moment they scored. After that we definitely lost some confidence for a while. It was a shitty goal to concede but the warning signs had been there. It was obvious what United were doing and I thought it was naive that we allowed it to continue without fixing it.
     
    When our full backs went forward they just left Rashford and Greenwood upfield in the space they vacated. Every single time. And when they got the ball back they found those two early and they were able to get a run at Williams or Fabinho. It was just to easy for them. 
     
    Greenwood had already broke clear once only to greedily try and score himself when he had two players available for cutbacks. Williams did a good job there in blocking off the angle for the cutback to Van Der Beek but Greenwood only ever really looked like he wanted to score himself, and he was never beating Alisson from that angle. That said, it was a warning that we never heeded.
     
    Their goal was just far too easy. We lost the ball on the edge of their box when Pogba made a sliding challenge and won the ball. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem but too often in this game we were just wide open.
     
    We’re usually pretty good at ‘protecting our attacks’ but when you take Henderson and Fabinho out of the midfield it probably shouldn’t be too surprising that we’re more vulnerable as they’re as good as anybody out there at that side of the game. 
     
    I also think maybe the lack of goals has become such a mental thing that maybe the midfield were over-committing in attack and not thinking about preventing the counter attack. Milner spent more time in the opposition box in this game than Wijnaldum has all season for example.
     
    We didn’t just get caught once, it looked like it was going to happen virtually every time we lost possession. And while it’s easy to point the finger at Williams for this I don’t see it as being his fault at all. The second goal was a mistake, that’s on him, but how wide open we looked to counter attacks was not his fault. He was the victim of that crime, not the perpetrator.
     
    That equaliser just looked like a really shit goal to concede though, especially as we were 1-0 up at the time. If you’re trailing you can concede like that as everyone piles forward looking to get back into the game but we were 1-0 up and in control, so to concede on the break like that was a sickener. It was Arsenal like in fact.
     
    Rashford did well but I don’t think Milner covered himself in glory trying to cut out the pass. He could have been further over and closer to Greenwood maybe, or he could have not committed to trying to head it away and instead just concentrated on staying between Greenwood and the goal. 
     
    Unfortunately the pass was just close enough for him to think he could get his head on it. He couldn’t, and Greenwood lashed a shot into the bottom corner. That seemed to really knock us for six and for the rest of the half they looked more dangerous.
     
    It always felt like they were one pass away from getting in behind us and the game was really on a knife edge for us. Rashford got away from Williams just before half time after the kid dived in needlessly thinking he could win the ball. Criticise him if you like but 19 year old defenders do things like this. It’s completely normal.
     
    That equaliser just sucked the air out of our balloon and you could visibly see we weren’t the same side for the rest of the half. Then we went 2-1 down early in the second half with another really bad goal. Thiago didn’t win it midfield (a feature of this game) and the loose ball broke to Cavani. As they tried to do all day (and most of the time failed) he looked to release Rashford early.
     
    Williams was in position to cut it out but he misjudged it and could only get a little touch on it to send Rashford clear. There was no way he wasn’t scoring there. That’s the position he always wants to be in and Alisson had no chance.
     
    I thought it might have been offside but given the way they’ve completely fucked up that law I expect they’d have given it anyway and claimed that because Williams touched the ball while trying to intercept it, that ‘reset the phase’ or whatever bollocks they want to use to justify favouring certain teams.
     
    Williams should be cutting that out though so that mistake is on him. It wasn’t inexperience, that was just an error, but I’ll say it again, young centre backs make mistakes. That’s why you never see them playing for the top clubs. They need to make their mistakes somewhere else (either on loan or in a difference position) because when you make a mistake at centre back there’s only the goalkeeper who can help you out.
     
    Do you think Van Dijk or Matip weren’t making mistakes like that at 19? Or Alan Hansen? Because they were. It goes with the territory and this is why Klopp would rather weaken his midfield by playing Henderson at the back than select a kid who has done well but just isn’t ready. It isn’t fair to Rhys or to the other players for that matter.
     
    It’s not really fair to him either that we just play exactly the same way as we would if Matip had been back there. He’s thrown in there and expected to play like an experienced international defender. He didn’t have anyone babysitting him (he even had a midfield player as a partner) and he wasn’t given any kind of protection. Everyone just played as though we had Matip or Gomez back there and not a young kid who was in over his head.
     
    I just feel bad for Williams and I hope he doesn’t let this ruin his confidence. This is not his fault and he shouldn’t be scapegoated for this loss. Playing centre back for Liverpool is a lot more difficult than it is playing centre back for anyone else in this league. Only Man City compares really, and now I’m not even sure about that because their tactics are now much more ‘centre back friendly’ than they were and they don’t have deal with as many one v ones as they did previously.
     
    Our lads though? It’s fucking hard. Because the full backs are so high up that when the opposition has pace and can play on the break, it’s a huge test, particularly if the midfielders aren’t protecting as they should. Rhys got very little help from Trent or Gini (who was playing on that side of the midfield three).
     
    Williams could be in Burnley’s back four and look great because he’s got a full back on his outside that never moves out of position, a bank of four midfielders sat in front and the only thing behind him is the 18 yard box and a goalkeeper.
     
    Playing for us? You’re on the halfway line most of the time with only Fabinho to help and when you turn around there’s acres of green grass behind and you can find yourself in a foot race with opponents who are quicker than you. It’s really pretty fucking scandalous that he’s been put in this situation. He was playing non-league football last season remember.
     
    There’s a lot to like about the kid. His passing is really crisp, he’s good in the air and he seems to have a fantastic mentality. I actually think overall he’s been outstanding this season all things considered. He’s done as well as, or actually much better, than could have been expected. 
     
    The mistakes he’s made in games haven’t caused him to go to pieces and he seems to have the ability to keep his head up and that’s a good sign for the future. He’ll need a short memory and it would be a good idea to avoid social media. Hopefully he’s getting good advice on that.
     
    The lack of pace is a concern but I’d be interested to know if he was any slower than Matip. I doubt there’s too much in it, but experience makes such a difference in positioning and decision making. Williams doesn’t have that and frankly won’t have it for several more years. Again, not his fault. This is why 19 year olds don’t play centre back for top clubs.
     
    Anyway, at 2-1 I thought we were done and for a while we looked like we were. At one stage I was worried we were going to lose all idea of shape and get torn apart on the break as we got desperate and tried to force an equaliser. It didn’t look like we had much left to offer but then something changed.
     
    I don’t know exactly what the trigger was but I think it might have been Firmino. He gave the ball away dreadfully and then something just seemed to snap as he went chasing off to win it back. He did win it, and then he did it again. And for the next few minutes the whole team was more energised and we began to look dangerous again.
     
    Milner put one over the bar on the stretch and he was becoming more and more influential now. The equaliser came when we pressed them and eventually forced a sloppy pass from Cavani that Milner intercepted. He played it to Bobby and then continued his run into the box. Bobby squared it to him but Milner cleverly let it run for Mo who scuffed a shot that went through the legs of the keeper. De Gea would defo have saved that but thankfully he wasn’t playing.
     
    That was the bit of luck we haven’t had in weeks. Were things finally turning around for us?
     
    *Narrator’s voice.
     
    No, they weren’t.
     
    I really thought we had them now and we had chances to win it. Sadio had come on and we were on top. Trent had a shot saved and Mo missed two good really good openings. Then they were given a soft free-kick on the edge of the box and the rest was entirely predictable.
     
    I’m not complaining about Pawson’s decision to award a free-kick. I don’t think it was a foul but it was one of those that could have gone either way and Cavani just used his experience to win that. Sometimes you’d get that, other times you wouldn’t. It’s typical of how things are going for us and how things are going for them. 
     
    Portuguese Gylffi took the free kick and put it in the far bottom corner. Maybe Alisson could have done better but to me the real issue was Thiago crouching down and allowing it to go over his head. Nice one lad. Way to take one for the team. 
     
    He’s been massively underwhelming to this point. I don’t think he’s playing badly and he’s done lots of things to show just how special he is. But he hasn’t helped the team at all. Not his fault, he’s got to get used to how we play and he’s probably still trying to find top form and fitness after being sidelined for months by that Everton shithouse.
     
    It’s just really frustrating that we thought he was going to really give us something a bit different against deep lying teams, but he just hasn’t. I don’t like him in the number six role for two reasons. I think it restricts his creativity and he’s also not the most mobile.
     
    There was a moment late on when he had to chase back after Pogba and it was seriously alarming to me. He couldn’t run. His legs had gone and his head was wobbling all over the place. He looked like one of those marathon runners who get to the home straight and they’re completely fucked, but they don’t want any help getting over the line so they just kind of wobble their way to the finish.
     
    Thiago and Henderson with Fabinho operating behind them is pretty mouth watering to me, but we aren’t going to see that until next season because FSG think it’s ok for us to rip out our midfield to patch up the defence.
     
    It’s so hard at the moment but it’s like I said after Burnley. My thoughts now are mostly that I feel bad for Klopp and the players. They need help, both in the transfer market and from the fans. They’re getting neither. They’re completely on their own. The second part of that is unavoidable. The first is something that is within the control of the club but they seemingly just won’t do anything about it. 
     
    Klopp has to try and take the positives from this just to keep the player’s heads up. There were positives even if it doesn’t really feel that way after yet another shitty result. 
     
    We were much better going forward even if it did come at a cost at the other end. Mo scored twice but should have had at least three and probably four. The first finish was sumptuous, the second one was shite but he got lucky, and there were two others he could have done better with. 
     
    So that’s a good thing as at least we created clear openings. It felt as though Firmino created every one of those (he defo created three of them) so that’s good too. It was a real mixed bag from him because in between those moments of quality he was generally shite.
     
    It’s sod’s law that when we finally remember how to score we forget how to defend. We conceded as many in this one game as we had in the previous five games of this shitty run. So frustrating, but when you are forced to field an inexperienced kid in the most important position on the pitch (not including goalkeeper) then this is the risk you run, especially against a side who thrive on counter attacks and who have the most in form forward in the country playing in direct opposition to the kid.
     
    Williams was thrown in at the deep end into a fixture he ordinarily wouldn’t have been anywhere near, but you can’t blame Klopp for picking him as what choice did he have? Literally his only option was choosing between Williams or Phillips, and neither is ideal. 
     
    I’d have gone with Phillips because he’s got four years more experience and to me that’s vital at centre back. But I don’t see them every day in training and Williams is probably considerably better. That’s why he was picked.
     
    The real problem here is the club not backing Klopp in his recommendations on who we can bring in. He’s made recommendations, we know this because he told us last week. We also know he can’t make the decision on whether we can buy anyone because he told us that too.
     
    So, we were knocked out of the FA Cup because we had to play an inexperienced kid at the heart of the defence. With Matip or Gomez in this team we don’t lose this game. I’m not even mentioning Virgil because we didn’t need the world’s best defender in order to win this game. We just needed someone who is ready for this level of football and we didn’t have it.
     
    So yeah, we’re out of this competition because the owners wouldn’t back the manager. You can argue we’re out of the title race for the same reason (for me there’s far more to it than that, but it is a factor) and unless Virgil makes an all time record recovery for an ACL injury we can forget about the Champions League too. And I don’t want him coming back that quickly because history shows that players who come back sooner than nine months from that injury usually suffer all kinds of other problems in their first year back. 
     
    Klopp is having to wrap Matip in cotton wool but that won’t make a difference anyway. We’ll get another game or two out of him before he picks up another knock, and we don’t even have Hendo to plug in there at the moment either. 
     
    Against Spurs we’ll have Matip available to partner Fabinho, but if Hendo isn’t back in midfield then I don’t like our chances. I don’t actually like our chances regardless if I’m honest, because there’s a tried and tested way of getting results against us this season and we’re about to come up against the fucking king of that way of playing.
     
    Spurs will sit in and use Kane and Son. They tried that not so long ago at Anfield and almost stole an undeserved point. We were a much different animal back then than we are currently though. I’m dreading Thursday if I’m being truly honest.
     
    Star man could (should?) have been Milner but I'm going with Salah, not least because I've been so critical of him recently. So credit where it's due. It wasn’t his best all around game but he usually does fuck all against these so two goals and another couple of near misses is massive progress. More of the same on Thursday please Mo. 
     
     
    Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Williams, Fabinho, Robertson; Thiago (Shaqiri), Wijnaldum (Mané), Milner; Salah, Firmino (Origi), Jones:
  • Saturday Jan 16:
     
    Reports today that Gini has turned down our contract offer. Seems pretty certain he’s going now. I’m not happy about it and I can’t understand the logic at all. Why are we allowing him to walk away for nothing rather than give him the kind of salary that he’s earned?
     
    Maybe I’m over simplifying it but giving him a four year contract and then selling him in two years still has to be better financially than allowing him to walk away for fuck all now? Especially as we’ll need to buy a replacement. Unless they’re under the illusion that Naby fucking Keita is finally going to come good? Please God don’t let them be under that illusion.
     
    I hear the arguments as to why we shouldn’t give him what he wants, but look at it this way. Imagine the state we’d have been in this season if he’d left last summer, which he would have done if Barca had any money. We’re in a bad enough state as it is, but without Gini? *shudders*
     
    So we don’t pay him because he’s 30 soon and we let him leave for nothing. Then what? We’ve got fuck all money to go out and buy a replacement because whatever cash we do have will be needed on another centre half and probably another forward. How are we replacing him?
     
    Klopp and Edwards have earned our trust with how they’ve handled things over the last few years, but this feels different, not least because I suspect if Klopp had the choice he’d want Gini to stay. I don’t like this at all, it concerns me greatly but we have no choice but to just hope they know what they’re doing.
     
    Sunday Jan 17:
     
    L 0 Man United 0. Shite. At least part of it was. A lot of it was fine, good even. But when there’s nothing at the end of it then it doesn’t really count for much. We had all of the ball and they had the clearest chances. It shouldn’t be that way but this is us at the moment. 
     
    West Brom, Newcastle, Southampton, they all had hardly any of the ball but they all hd good chances. And it’s not the chances we’ve given up that concerns me as it’s not easy to go through a game against PL opposition and restrict them to no clear chances, unless you’re playing us, so I’m not concerned that Pogba and Fernandez had clear chances. I’m just completely dispirited that we didn’t have any of our own.
     
    Actually that’s not strictly true. We had chances but they didn’t look like clear ones because the finishing was fucking risible. What was Firmino doing? He was all over the place today. Usually you have to put a gun to his head to get him to take a shot as he always wants to pass. Today he had a glorious situation where he could have rolled Robbo in and instead he shot. Badly.
     
    His choice of pass was abysmal too. It’s like he’s lost the capacity to make any right decisions. Then you’ve got Sadio, who looks great until he gets in the box. And Mo, who’s just been fucking woeful since his angry two goal cameo at Palace after he’d been dropped for that interview with AS.
     
    I’m depressed. There’s fuck all to do except watch the footy and that’s just too stressful now. There’s no enjoyment in this at all. Just a helplessness that the lads are struggling and need us and there’s nothing we can do for them. 
     
    Today brought that home more than anything. This should have been our moment to lord it over United. We’ve waited years for this. Decades in fact. All the shit they’ve thrown our way and now that we’re finally back on our perch we can’t stick it to them because the stadiums are empty. I know there are more important things going on in the world and people are dying. That doesn’t really make this any less distressing though.
     
    By the time we’re back in the ground the moment to celebrate and revel in it will have long gone and there’s now the possibility that it might be United taking the title from us. What kind of sick fucking joke is this? 
     
    If we have to relinquish the title then it better be to City, because if it’s to anyone else that’s going to be the bitterest of pills to swallow. 
     
    And the officiating today was a fucking disgrace. Blowing up six seconds early because Mané was clean through? You’re never going to convince me that wasn’t a deliberate act to ensure we didn’t score. I don’t know why Tierney didn’t want us to score, I just know he clearly didn’t because that was just not a normal thing to do.
     
    Not that we’ll say anything about it. We’re the biggest pushovers in football. You can do what you like to LFC because the only people who’ll say anything are the fans. Look at the lack of free-kicks Salah gets. He isn’t in the top 100 most fouled players this season and I saw something today saying that last season he wasn’t in the top 300 and actually ranked 16th on his own team!! 15 of our players were fouled more than Salah? Fuck off.
     
    Why has no-one mentioned this? I don’t understand. I don’t know why Klopp has never had those stats quoted to him and asked for his thoughts about it. I don’t understand why it hasn’t been written about. I mean Christ, the Athletic can churn out 10,000 words on a new security guard farting at Melwood but they haven’t done an in depth piece on this? What am I missing here?
     
    Monday Jan 18:
     
    Speaking of Mo, he’s angling for a new contract. Any time a player uses the expression “I want to stay but its in the club’s hands” you know it’s about money. He wants a new contract. That’s why he pulled that shit with the Spanish press the other week. He’s got two and a half years left on his contract hasn’t he? And he’s the highest paid player at the club (along with Virg and presumably Thiago).
     
    You know, I think I’d rather burn down Anfield than give him a new contract with a pay rise, especially when Gini is on fucking buttons and they won’t pay him. I’m not saying I wouldn’t give Mo a new deal at some point in the future (actually I probably am saying that) but why the hell would we do it now? And why is he saying this shit now, after the shit performances he’s been putting in.
     
    Here’s a thought Mo, how about next time you face Luke Shaw you actually go past him at least once, or maybe even try and get a shot on target. Then maybe you can talk about wanting a pay rise. Until then, fuck off. Score some goals, stop bitching, start linking up with your team-mates again instead of obsessing about personal milestones, and maybe then you might be worth a new deal. You’re already overpaid though, so you can forget about getting any more dough.
     
    Honestly, I’m getting fucking sick of his antics. The covid thing, the bitching about Trent being captain, the weird interview with the Spanish press and now this. He’s been shite for weeks and we’ve gone from first to fourth and he’s talking about wanting a new deal? The fucking balls on him. We never get anything like this from Sadio, or Bobby for that matter. It’s always Mo. The little diva. 
     
    Tuesday Jan 19:
     
    Guess what, West Ham are two points behind us now. Can you believe that shit? It’s just hard to comprehend what’s happened here. We’ve only lost two games all season but we’re on the verge of being overtaken by Everton and we’ve got Moyes breathing his cheesy dog breath down our neck. 
     
    We’re four points behind Leicester now too. You remember Leicester, right? That team we fucking spanked everywhere not so long ago. Yeah, well that team that we’re clearly better than are now four points ahead of us after beating Chelsea. I’m fuming that we’ve somehow allowed this to happen. To go from where we were the other week after scoring seven at Palace to being where we are now is incomprehensible.
     
    Wednesday Jan 20:
     
    Still fuck all happening with regards to a new centre back. It’s a difficult one in some regards, I get that. The obvious thing to say is “bring forward whatever deal you had planned for the summer and pay a bit extra if need be” but it’s not that simple. Firstly, how do we know they actually plan to buy anyone next summer? By the time the next window comes around we’ll be £200m down in match day revenue.
     
    Other teams are spending due to borrowing against future earnings. We could do that too. I’d go as far as to say that we should do. In fact, I’d even go as far as to say it’s negligent not to. But they aren’t going to do that. If we don’t sign a centre back it will be because they don’t want to spend any money right now but it could also be that the player we want isn’t available and we know Klopp is prepared to wait.
     
    I just think that desperate times call for desperate measures as I’d be amazed if Klopp wasn’t willing to think short term for once. Sitting back and waiting for Van Dijk when you had Lovren, Gomez, Matip and Klavan was a risk, but it was a calculated one. You still had four experienced international centre backs to choose from while you waited. 
     
    Waiting for the ‘right’ target when you’re using your two best midfield players at the back because you quite literally have nobody else is not a calculated risk. You know what it is? It’s writing off a title defence that’s what.
     
    Not making a defensive signing this month is tantamount to giving up. I’m not expecting us to go and break the bank for Koulibaly or the Ajax lad. But honestly, how difficult is it to find someone (even on loan) who is a better option for us than Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams (bless the pair of them)?
     
    They’ve had since October to figure this out. We knew Virg and Joe weren’t coming back and we all knew Matip would miss more games than he plays (and that’s exactly how it turned out). Yet here we are, more than halfway through the month and nothing has happened. As I say, negligent. 
     
    I mean fucking hell, I know it’s not ideal but Arsenal have released Sokratis. The second he left their training ground there should have been a taxi waiting to bring him up here. Sure, he’s slow, but are you honestly telling me he wouldn’t be a significant upgrade on Williams and Phillips and give us more flexibility between now and the end of the season? Fucking get him in if you can’t find anyone else.
     
    All those soundbites about “ we won’t defend the title, we’ll attack it” look pretty fucking hollow now. I suppose they were half right, because we’re defo not defending it at this moment are we?
     
    Thursday Jan 21:
     
    See? L 0 Burnley 1. The title is gone and so has the player’s confidence. It’s so tough to watch right now. Everything is so laboured when we reach the box. Up until then it’s all good. But we get in the final third and it’s like they’ve forgotten how to play football. That said, we did not fucking deserve that late kick in the balls with the penalty. 
     
    We played well enough to win this game but nothing is falling for us and we’re not capable of forcing a change of luck. The finishing isn’t good but we’ve had about 80 shots in the last five games and have only one goal to show for it. Against Palace we scored seven goals from not too many more attempts than that. 
     
    What’s happening to us now is a statistical anomaly and three points from the last 15 is a total freak occurrence based on the balance of play in those games. Unfortunately it has sapped all the confidence from the lads and they look pretty dejected right now. Klopp does too, although he’s been through this before in his last season at Dortmund (freak results when they were playing well enough to win games) and he eventually turned it around. 
     
    He’ll do it again but by the time we’re back on track it will be too late. We’ll always look back on these five games (possibly more if it continues) as being catastrophic and the spell that cost us the title. It’s pretty devastating how quickly it’s turned to shit. We were top a few weeks ago and everyone thought we would run away with it. I just feel throughly dejected about it all as it wasn’t meant to be like this.
     
    Friday Jan 22: 
     
    Klopp’s press conference sees him re-iterate that he doesn’t have the final say on buying players. He never has done. He can say what he wants, he can make recommendations, but he can’t write the cheques. We knew that anyway so this isn’t new. It is the closest to expressing dissent that we’re ever likely to see him get though. 
     
    He must be fed up of constantly being asked why he isn’t signing anyone when he wants it as much as we do. If not bringing anyone in was his call then fine (as it often has been in the past), but it isn’t and he therefore doesn’t want to take the heat on that. We now know that he wants to bring someone in and that he’s made recommendations as to who it should be. We also know he’s fully understanding of the situation and won’t be demanding we splash out £50m on someone who will be on the bench when the other three are available. So he’s not going to be making unreasonable requests as it’s not his way. 
     
    He’s given so much to FSG and he’s raised the value and the profile of their investment massively without them having to bankroll it. He’s done it on a shoestring, so now they need to fucking help him out by doing whatever it takes. FFP rules have been relaxed due to Covid so there is flexibility to do something. Time is running out, and to be honest even if we brought someone in now I’d still be seething about it not happening sooner.
     
    I’m not someone who constantly bashes FSG over signings, in fact I hardly ever do it, but this is unacceptable. What other club in the league would do nothing after losing every senior centre back they had on the books and had to dismantle their midfield to plug the gaps? Honestly, I don’t think there is any other club in the league who would act like this. None.
     
    FSG have form for it though with the Red Sox. They won a World Series recently but did nothing to strengthen the team and the season after they were shite. We’ve got more problems right now than the lack of centre backs, but at least by addressing that one is shows they give a fuck. They don’t though, not really. They might give a fuck if it costs us a top four spot, which is a distinct possibility right now.
     
    Meanwhile, Rafa has agreed a severance package and is leaving China after a distinctly underwhelming spell over there. I’m sure it wasn’t his fault though. It never is. It’ll be the board. Promising him a wok but bringing him chop sticks.
     
     
    …. and that was the week that was
  • Initially I wasn’t going to write this as 1) I didn’t feel like I could face it, and 2) I didn’t think anyone would want to read it. The latter may still be true but having had time to sleep on it I actually wanted to get this done and getting my thoughts out there instead of having them rattling around my head will probably help me process all this.
     
    I feel differently today to how I felt last night and indeed how I’ve felt for weeks. I’d even go as far as to say I feel better. Not because I’m more encouraged about anything (if anything it’s the opposite) but because the emotions have changed.
     
    I still feel sad but I’m not distraught about it in the way I have been of late. Every result has been a hammer blow because all I can think of is how damaging it’s going to be to our title defence. As of now, I’ve written the title off and that acceptance and resignation is almost cathartic in a way.
     
    What’s left is just sadness and a sense of resentment about how this shit we’re going through is completely unfair. I’m no longer angry at anyone (other than the constant stream of officials screwing us over) and the main thing I’m feeling today is sympathy for Klopp and the players. I just feel bad for them. Even the front three who I’ve been hammering lately. 
     
    I was angry but what’s the point being angry at them? They’re trying their best. It’s not working, but you can see they’re doing all they can and they just can’t catch a break. Not just the front three either, it seems like everyone is suffering.
     
    Everything is going against them. From little things to big things, literally nothing is falling for them at the moment. I could mention yet more decisions going against us and I will do, but for now I’ll leave that and concentrate on football stuff.
     
    It really is the finest of margins right now. Sure, you can say we weren’t good enough but in this particular game I don’t think that’s true. We’ve been shite in a lot of games this season but this wasn’t that. It wasn’t great by any means but we’ve won games playing far, far worse than this. We just needed one chance to go in, one ball to fall kindly for us in the box, the keeper to let one through his legs. Something. Anything.
     
    The problem is that when you’re in a run like this you need some luck and we’re getting none. “You make your own luck” they say. Nah, not really. You get luck when things are running for you and you get none when they aren’t. On another day Origi’s shot is an inch lower and we go on to win comfortably. Or the rebound from Pope doesn’t land perfectly by his own foot so he can hack it away from Sadio on the line. I could go on, because it’s just fine margins.
     
    Everything we hit against Palace went in and since then it’s done everything but. Sure, we’ve not played well, but it’s also true that fuck all has gone our way. Not one thing. Nothing. 
     
    I don’t tend to put much stock in those XG numbers but those who do would tell you that statistically what has happened in the last five games is a complete freak occurrence. To have come away with only one goal from the chances created is a huge anomaly, but that’s what happens when things conspire against you.
     
    I looked at the players in the second half of this game and you could visibly see they were almost broken. The lack of goals and the bad run of results and everything else around it looks to have destroyed their confidence. To then lose this game to a late, soft penalty, they must feel like the whole world is against them right now. Because it is.
     
    Of course there are a lot of things they could be doing better and need to be doing better. The performance wasn’t great but it was mostly alright. It’s not right in the final third, that much is clear, but we still did enough and forced enough openings to have won this game nine times out of ten. But it was clear that the one game out of ten would come now, because it never rains but it fucking pours.
     
    Klopp’s team selection was interesting to say the least. I don’t know why he left out Bobby and Mo. It might have been a kick up the arse because they’ve been shite. It might have been a case of just doing something different to throw Burnley a curveball. It could have been a pre-planned thing based on the sports science info they have. Maybe it’s all of the above.
     
    I had no problem with it though. Well, I didn’t when I thought it would be Shaq in the front three and Ox in midfield. When I saw it was the other way around my heart sank. I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, and I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, but OX IS FUCKING SHITE IN A FRONT THREE.
     
    How many times do we need to see this exact performance from him before Klopp finally accepts that it doesn’t work? Never has and never will. He’s absolutely useless on the wing. It’s like having ten men. He’s not been great in midfield of late either but at least he has prior form for doing well there. He’s never been any good on the wing though.
     
    If I’m Minamino I’m wondering what the fucking point of being here is now. Playing second fiddle to Salah, Firmino and Mané is one thing (add Jota in there too), and I could even accept being overlooked for Origi in certain situations, but if I’m Taki sat there watching Ox being the invisible man then I’m onto my agent this morning and saying “I made a terrible mistake, get me out of here”.
     
    Not that I’m saying he’s good enough. He’s shown nothing to suggest he is. What he has shown is that he’s a better option up front than Ox, which is admittedly not saying much.
     
    So yeah, I didn’t like that tactical choice but in terms of dropping Bobby and Mo, I was on board with that as I think it was necessary. And this might be an unpopular opinion but I thought Origi played quite well and shouldn’t have been brought off.
     
    I know he missed that great chance but I’ll get to that in a sec. He looked lively and he wanted to get shots in whenever he could. He had two efforts that went straight at Pope but at least they were efforts and he was positive. 
     
    It’s just such a shame that he didn’t take the gift that was presented to him by Ben Mee just before half time. Burnley don’t make mistakes like that usually. You have to work for everything you get against them but this was the bit of luck we needed. At least it looked like it was.
     
    But what Lady Luck giveth, she can also taketh away. And she did. The cunt. You can say that Origi has to score and I agree. That’s a chance you have to take, especially in our current predicament. He didn’t take it, but fuck me he couldn’t have gone any closer than that.
     
    He was literally one inch away from the most emphatic finish you’ll see all season. He didn’t bottle it - that was the finish of someone who absolutely believed he was going to score. Maybe if he’d been more hesitant he’d have got lucky and seen it squirm through the keepers legs or something, but he wasn’t hesitant and he approached it like a man thinking “fucking pick this one out”. Problem was he just struck it too hard and too high. 
     
    It hit the bar and bounced on the wrong side of the line from our point of view. As I say, an inch lower and it’s a spectacular one that rattles in off the underside of the bar. Instead it was just another kick in the balls and further added to the weight already on everyone’s shoulders.
     
    Be honest, when that didn’t go in you thought “we’re not scoring here tonight yet again” didn’t you? I know I did. And it probably went through the minds of some of the players too.
     
    Two years ago everything Divock touched turned to gold. Now it just turns to shit. This was his liveliest performance in ages though and like I say, I wouldn’t have taken him off, certainly not for Firmino anyway. 
     
    If Divock buries that chance everything is different. We needed that to go in but it didn’t. We got a bit tetchy after that and it all kicked off at half time with Klopp chasing Dyche down the tunnel screaming at him. It was all caused by a nothing incident right on the half time whistle.
     
    Fabinho went to challenge for a goal-kick but the whistle went so he was pulling out when Barnes barged into him. Fabinho had a little kick out as did Barnes at the exact same time. It was nothing really, but it ended up sparking a flare up that a few other players got involved in. Matip had one of his weird flappy arms meltdowns and Robbo got involved with Brady, while Klopp ran down the tunnel screaming at Dyche and then came back out to see what was going on.
     
    Mike Dean booked Fabinho, which was utterly bewildering because if he’d seen Fabinho kick out then he had to see Barnes do likewise, as it was a simultaneous thing. VAR checked it for violent conduct and a possible red card. I don’t know the protocol here and from what I understand they can’t overturn yellow cards, but surely they could have said to Dean to take a look because it’s either a yellow for both or it’s no action on either.
     
    Of course, a yellow for Barnes would have meant an early bath as he’d already been cautioned. Can't be doing anything that might help Liverpool out, eh?
     
    So we ended up with Fabinho being booked for fuck all. That might be costly when he picks up a fifth yellow and ends up with a ban. But this is how it is this season. There is unquestionably something going on, although at least Mo was finally given a free-kick after he came on. Dean obviously didn’t get the memo there. Expect a slap on the wrists for that, although he might have redeemed himself with the penalty decision.
     
    We did plenty of things right in this game but the finishing wasn’t as sharp as it needed to be and we had no luck whatsoever. Of course I’m not blind to the fact that a lot of it was fucking garbage too.
     
    Klopp continues to bemoan the decision making and he’s not wrong. It might not be the decisions that are obvious to us though. By that I mean what if it’s not always the player on the ball making the wrong decision? What if it’s the runner who isn’t going where he’s supposed to be? A lot of what is going wrong won’t be apparent to us as we’re not privy to the patterns of play they work on in training.
     
    What I’m thinking here though is that Trent hasn’t suddenly forgot how to cross a ball. Neither has Robbo. But so many of their crosses are being cut out by defenders. Some of that will be poor delivery into a packed box, but what if it’s the forwards not being where they are supposed to? Combine that with midfielders who rarely if ever get into the penalty area (why isn't Gini doing it? He's great at it), and you’re basically looking at scenarios where Trent and Robbo are trying to find three forwards in a box containing at least eight opposition players.
     
    I have a big problem with the aimless floated crosses into the box we keep seeing. Robbo doesn’t do this much but Trent is guilty of it and so are the likes of Shaq and Hendo. They’re always looking for that diagonal to Robbo or Sadio but it’s an almost impossible ball when the opposition is waiting on it.
     
    Then you have Sadio and Mo often doing similar, dinking the ball in when there’s no space to drop it over anybody’s heads. All of this is shit and not what we should be doing, but it comes from desperation that the things we are supposed to be doing just isn’t working.
     
    Trent was poor in this game but he wasn’t anywhere near as bad as is being made out to be. As I say, some of those crosses were shite, but there were loads when he put it in low into a good area but the forwards were all either stood still or just not in positions to create space for themselves.
     
    Klopp seemed to hint at this himself afterwards and says it’s on him to make sure they understand what they’re supposed to do, because currently they aren’t doing it.
     
    We still had plenty of openings though, particularly in the second half. Trent had a low shot saved, Bobby had one cleared off the line and Mo was denied by Pope at the near post when everyone thought he'd go to the far. Sadio put one over the bar as well. We just needed one of them to go in and although it's partly our own fault as the finishing needs to be sharper, as I keep saying we just need a break. 
     
    As sterile as we've been in attack lately I do think one win will change things around. Not to the extent that we'll start scoring four and five every game, but it just gets the monkey off everyone's back and things might start to feel a bit more normal again. Right now nothing is normal, the tension is there for all to see and it's effecting everybody when they get to the final third. 
     
    We're battling everything at the moment. Ourselves, the opposition and the officials. Mike Dean annoyed me but it’s not specifically because of the penalty. It’s the old ‘death by a thousand cuts’ thing that we’re seeing more and more of. The little decisions that stop the flow of the game and allow the opponent to regroup and get a breather. The phantom free-kicks we keep conceding. Allowing the opposition to time waste as much as they like.
     
    Ashley Barnes backs into defenders and knocks them off balance when they’re in the air. Everyone knows this. I’m not knocking him for it, I actually have a lot of respect for how he’s maximised his talent and made a good career for himself. Ashley Barnes isn’t the problem.
     
    The problem is that despite everyone knowing how he plays and that referees usually punish him for this (hence him being second only to Hoijberg in the foul count), when he comes up against Liverpool suddenly it’s different and Matip and Fabinho find themselves conceding free-kicks even though they’re the ones being fouled. There were two or three absolutely clear ones where Barnes just backed in and wasn’t even looking at the ball. Dean knew what Barnes was up to but gave him the free-kick anyway.
     
    Then there’s the penalty. I have mixed views on this because Fabinho clearly fouled Barnes before he got into the box. Maybe without that foul he gets there a split second earlier and scores?
     
    The ‘foul’ that the penalty was awarded for though, hmmm, that’s contentious. Yeah you can give a penalty for that without there being a huge uproar, but was that really a foul? And given that Barnes had got his shot away and missed, any contact with Alisson that came after is incidental, surely?
     
    When there’s a penalty appeal against us it’s given almost every time. When it’s at the other end, it isn’t. There’s nothing ‘subjective’ about this. I mean fucking hell, Burnley are known for NEVER getting penalties. It was nailed on that the one time they'd get one it would be against us.
     
    Bottom line is Burnley got a penalty because Barnes had a shot off target and then collided with a Liverpool player. The collision was instigated by Barnes, who left the leg in to ensure contact, but that part is subjective. The rest of it is black and white. He had a shot, missed the target and then he ended up on the floor. The ball was virtually in the stands behind the goal by the time he ran into Alisson.
     
    This wasn't like the pen we conceded at Brighton when Gross lifted it over Kelleher and went down. That ball was still in play and Gross can argue that he would have got there and scored if he didn't collide with the keeper. Barnes can't say that. He missed his chance.
     
    So why is that a pen when the exact same thing happened to Mané at the other end and wasn’t given? Sadio met a cutback from Mo and shot over the bar before he was clattered by a defender. How is that any different? It’s only different because when it’s a goalkeeper for some reason it’s not judged in the same way as when a defender does it, and because when it’s Liverpool it isn’t judged the same way.
     
    Funny thing though, I seem to remember Rashford being given one for pretty much the same thing that happened to Sadio. We play by a different set of rules though. 
     
    VAR isn’t going to overturn the pen because they’ll hide behind the ‘clear and obvious’. I’m nowhere near as enraged by this as I have been with other decisions though because if Dean hadn’t given the penalty then it was a free-kick on the edge of the box and a red card for Fabinho. I haven’t checked, but Fabinho may still have had hold of him in the box so that may have been a penalty anyway. So yeah this decision doesn’t rankle in the same way others do.
     
    It was a sledge hammer to the balls though. Conceding wasn’t even an after thought at that stage as Burnley had done virtually nothing. We went from wondering if we could snatch a late winner to get us back in the race to all of a sudden facing a defeat and the end of the record unbeaten home run. 
     
    I don’t think anyone expected us to equalise, least of all the players who clearly had no belief whatsoever now. The way they played the final few minutes and stoppage time was pitiful really. As the clock ticked past 90 minutes we had the ball with Alisson. Then Fabinho and Matip started passing sideways to each other as they advanced up to halfway.  It took about 30-45 seconds for them to do that. 
     
    Continuing to play your football is one thing, but not when time is ticking away and 'your' football hasn’t yielded a goal in four fucking games! I’m not saying they should have launched it into the box, but you can’t be taking that much time to reach the halfway line. 
     
    After Burnley scored there was no urgency, no belief, no confidence, they were just feeling sorry for themselves. I don’t even blame them. It’s completely understandable at this point. Trent passing the ball straight out of play when Robbo was only ten yards away from him summed it up.
     
    I know not everyone does, but I care that that the unbeaten home run has gone because we are living through history with this. It’s the best home run we’ve ever had and we may never see it again. So I’m sad that the record is gone and I’m irked that it went to someone as shit as Burnley. In the grand scheme of things though we’ve got more important worries right now.
     
    It’s hard to process how things could have gone this bad this quick. The signs have been there in fairness as for 12 months our form has been patchy. No-one could have seen this five game run of results coming though. It’s just a shit time for us now, which stinks because we didn’t even get to properly enjoy the great time.
     
    I’ll tell you what it feels like. It feels like we defied the football gods by winning the league and ever since they’ve been like “think you can go against us do you? Well have some of this, yer bastards”.
     
    We won 26 of 27 games last year to basically wrap up the title by February. A big fuck you to the football gods who had taken great pleasure in fucking us over in title races. Then what happened? A global pandemic hits that initially threatened to stop us winning the title at all. But footy resumed and we got to finally end the 30 year wait. But the football gods were like “well you might have won it, but you’re not going to enjoy it”.
     
    No celebrations and no parade was bad enough but that was the tip of the iceberg. After decades of having opposing fans take the piss and revel in our title drought we’ve been denied the chance to stick it to them and enjoy our achievement because we still aren’t allowed in stadiums, It's almost a year now. And even when a small amount of us were allowed back - briefly - there were no away fans in there anyway.
     
    But the football gods weren’t finished there. No. It’s been open season on us. Not a week seems to go by without us getting shafted by refereeing decisions, both big and small, while we’ve also lost our two centre halves and had to do without both of our summer signings for large chunks of the season too (admittedly the Jota one was self inflicted, but even so).
     
    Empty stadiums has been a massive leveller. For some teams it hasn’t hampered them at all, it may have even helped. Us though? It’s killed us. Our game is all about energy and emotion and feeding off the buzz generated by an atmosphere. 
     
    That’s hurt us but it’s even more apparent now because this is exactly the kind of scenario when Klopp would be calling for the crowd to help the team through this bad spell. I can picture him on the touchline whipping everyone up because Robbo won a tackle or a throw in. I can hear the roar of the crowd in response to it. It’s incredibly frustrating. Football without fans is fucking shit. 
     
    The team desperately needs the fans right now but we can’t help them. There’s nothing we can do and they have to play themselves out of this funk on their own. I feel for them right now. They’ve given us so much but they appear to have hit a wall. I’ve been getting angry and frustrated with them but I’m over that now. They deserve better than me being pissed off with them (even though I put most of that down to the frustration and helplessness of lockdown).
     
    There’s no magic formula to fix this. You can talk of system changes or tactical switches all you like but this is now purely a mental thing. Nothing more. Everything is normal until we reach the box and then the mental block kicks in and the lack of confidence comes to the fore.
     
    Taking extra touches, not making the right runs, playing passes too late or too early, reluctance to shoot, shooting when it’s not the best options, it’s all of that and virtually all of it is in the heads of the players. It’s not physical and it’s not about ability. It’s poor form that in most cases can be attributed to a lack of confidence and general stress about the recent results and lack of goals.
     
    The pressure of being Champions and wanting to defend it so we can have a proper celebration when fans are allowed back in has been suffocating. It’s sucked the fun out of it all, for us as fans and for them as players. We’re miserable watching and players look like they’re thoroughly fucking depressed by it all. Last night they looked completely defeated, not just by the result but by the overall situation.
     
    The title has gone. We’ve blown it with this five game spell. Yeah the gap isn’t that big and if we were playing well now after recovering from a bad start you’d still think we could catch those above us. That’s not the case. The gap is more likely to increase rather than decrease. We’re in free fall and the title should really be the last thing we’re thinking of now.
     
    Forgetting about the title might actually relieve a lot of the pressure. At the moment every game we fail to win feels like a catastrophe and it seems to be weighing everyone down. If I’m Klopp I’m telling the lads to forget everything that has happened these last few weeks and to not worry about where we are and what it means for our season. Just forget all of it, relax and play without the pressure. Have some fun again.
     
    Maybe we go on a winning run and get back into the race, but if we don’t then so be it. Let’s just get back to playing our football again and see where it takes us. The Champions League is still there to be won if we can regain our mojo but don’t try and sell me on the FA Cup as some kind of consolation prize. It isn’t. 
     
    It’s like spending three years with Pamela Anderson and then she runs off with the fella up the road who you can’t stand. Then Rebel Wilson shows up at your house wearing nothing but a cheeky smile and your mates are like “I know she’s not Pam but beggars can’t be choosers”. 
     
    I want to beat United on Sunday but not because I see the FA Cup as a chance to ‘save the season’. Fuck that. I want to win because we need to get back on track and because it’s THEM. Don’t expect me to embrace Rebel Wilson when I’m pining for Pam.
     
    I don’t see us winning on Sunday though. As deflating as this defeat was I worry that we haven’t hit rock bottom yet. Not when I look at the games we have coming up. Let’s hope I’m wrong.
     
    Star man is Matip, for the floppy armed strop as much as anything else.
     
     
    Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Fabinho, Robertson; Thiago, Wijnaldum, Shaqiri (Minamino); Oxlade-Chamberlain (Salah), Origi (Firmino), Mané:
  • Our lives have been very different these past few months. To eliminate the boredom, depression, and worries that we have been dragging behind us all this time, we need to change our routines. If you are a Liverpool fan, there are some things that can surely help you get rid of the boredom.
     
    Starting with re-watching the team’s matches to betting on slots at a no wagering requirements casino, to playing games that feature your favourite players – there are many things to keep you happy in these rough times. Here are some great ideas. 
     
    Liverpool Fans Can Try Slots
     
    One of the best sources of entertainment in these dull days is online gambling. The advantages of casino have increased in the past couple of months. Some great games for Liverpool fans are:
     
    LFC Stars  
    Liverpool Football Club is a licensed slot game by the club itself. All those fans who have been watching the Reds in action can now play this slot machine from the comfort of their home. Thanks to casino mobile payments, they can deposit and withdraw instantly while spinning the reels featuring their favourite players. This game was released in 2016 and features 3 reels and 5 paylines. It’s created by Realistic Games and it’s a jackpot slot machine. 
     
    Football Fans  
    Playtech’s Football Fans is a very popular slot these days. It features 20 paylines and 5 reels. This is a customizable video slot that allows for small and big deposits. It has a high RTP of 97% and a range of bonus features such as free spins and instant cash prizes. 
     
    Football Glory  
    Football Glory is a slot from Yggdrasil with a maximum payout of 4,000x your stake. It has 25 paylines and 5 reels and is playable from only 25p per spin. You can spin its reels from every device and enjoy a rewarding gameplay featuring your favourite sport. 
     
    Making Bets
     
    Slot machines aren’t the only thing that can keep you busy and entertained during the lockdown. You can also visit a licensed casino site and bet on various table games and card games. Since you’re fan of sports, you can visit sports books and place wagers on different teams and different sports. 
     
    When you’re making bets, make sure that you pick a safe site to do this on. Pay attention to things like licensing, reputation, game range, as well as banking options. To make your withdrawals fast, choose a site that offers fast options. For example, the Playojo withdrawal times can be only hours if you pick casino methods like e-wallets. 
     
    Enjoying Video Games
     
    Video games are sure to make your time more entertaining during the lockdown. Here are some excellent video games for Liverpool fans:
     
    Liverpool: The Computer Game  
    This is an association football video game that was released back in 1990 with several new versions following its initial release. The game was developed by Arc Development and published by GrandSlam Entertainment. 
     
    Club Football: Liverpool FC 2005 (PS2)  
    Do you own a PlayStation? If you do, you can play a real game of football from your own home. This is an excellent game that allows you to act as a player and join an actual team. 
     
    Conclusion
     
    Have you found something to do in the lockdown? If you are bored out of your mind and miss some social life, try doing things that interest you. These are some excellent ideas to fill the time of Liverpool fans. 
  • Another shitty week. I don’t even know if you’ll bother reading this because it’s just been relentless levels of frustration and misery. Footy is shite when the Reds aren’t winning and the last few weeks have been a nightmare. I won’t blame any of you for skipping this because if I could have skipped writing it I would have.
     
    I’m finding it hard to even get my head around some of this. Everton being in position to go above us when they’re quite clearly shit is really difficult for my brain to process, but it’s not just that.  We’re now behind a Leicester side that we completely outclassed what only seems like a few weeks ago.
     
    It was men against boys that day and if you’d asked Brendan or any of Leicester’s players if they had a chance of being above us by the end of January even they would have said “no way”. Yet here we are, looking up at Leicester and United and City and wondering just how the fuck we got here. 
     
    Well we got here because we can’t fucking score, that’s why. And now I’m having to sit here, watching MOTD, seeing goals fly in and points being picked up and I’m just feeling completely frustrated and pissed off. 
     
    Pissed off with these other teams and their fancy ways like putting the ball in the net and winning games. Fuckin’ show offs. 
     
    Pissed off with the completely inept officiating I’m seeing in virtually every single game. 
     
    Pissed off with the suits who made changes to rules that didn’t need changing which has now only exacerbated the issue of incompetent match officials.
     
    And pissed off with our front three for all going shit at the same time and for not playing for and with each other. But enough of them, I’m sick of talking about them lately so I’m going to say no more about the Reds in this and just focus on all these other cunts.
     
    Starting with Leicester, who went second after a win over Southampton. Undeserved, not because of how they played but because no team with an away kit like that Southampton one ever deserves to lose. Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. Give them a Champions League place for next season so they can show it off in all its glory. Actually don’t, we might be needing that fourth spot unless things pick up.
     
    Maddison has run into a rich vein of form of late and he put Leicester in front with a good run and powerful finish. The move started when Ndidi blatantly pulled back Diallo to win the ball but it wasn’t given. Fucking refs again.
     
    Southampton pushed hard for an equaliser and Armstrong hit the bar. Leicester had chances too and eventually Barnes wrapped it up with a breakaway with the last kick of the game.
     
    Chelsea ended their losing streak with a win at Craven Cottage but it was far from convincing. Mount got the only goal of the game late on but Fulham played a big chunk of the game with only ten men and still looked quite comfortable.
     
    Mitrovic must be really stinking it up if he can’t get a game ahead of that Cavaliero jabroni though. He’s awful. He wasted Fulham’s best chance of the first half when he completely missed his kick and the ball hit his standing leg and looped wide. It was such a great move too and it ended with that. The right back who played him the ball was fucking disgusted, and rightly so.
     
    Soon after Fulham were a man down when Robinson flew in recklessly over the ball and caught Azpilicueta. Clear red that one. Mount eventually broke the deadlock and then in stoppage time Timo Walcott should have wrapped it up when he went clean through only to shoot well wide. Someone needs to tell him he didn’t sign for us because he’s playing like he’s part of our front three.
     
    Staying with Chelsea, you probably missed this but Thiago Silva’s missus was throwing shade at Robbo on Tik Tok. Incredible scenes. Robbo posted a clip where he skinned Jorginho at Anfield and this soft cow went wading in with "Chilwell is better than u dude you even lost to Southampton."
     
    Where to even begin with that. It’s embarrassing beyond belief and I had to triple check to make sure it wasn’t fake news. “You even lost to Southampton” when Chelsea have been losing to every cunt lately. You just can't argue with stupid can you? Thiago Silva needs to keep her in check as she’s made him look a tit there.
     
    Brighton beat Leeds 1-0. Deservedly so, they were the better side and Leeds seem to have hit a bit of a wall since the turn of the year.
     
    You know who I can’t stand? Neil Maupay. I don’t like his face and he seems like a bad knobhead. He’s a diving cunt too. He went down when he was clean through, which normally makes you think “he must have been fouled because there was no need to go down”. Then you see the replay and realise that rather than try to score when he’s one v one with the keeper, he chose to dive because he thinks he has more chance of scoring from the spot. What a loser.
     
    Unfortunately as we know, the saying 'cheats never prosper' is horseshit. They do, all the fucking time, and Maupay got the only goal of this game from two yards out. Everyone else did the work for him but he ran off celebrating on his own. Yes, I know players have been told they can’t celebrate together, but this cunt would have done that regardless. Because he’s a selfish cunt.
     
    It was an unusually quiet afternoon for my boy Bamford, who is probably smarting as I am this week after all the criticism Jon Bon Jovi is getting due to some ropey cover versions he’s done of late. I’m not here to defend those performances, I didn’t even watch them. Why would I? I have no interest in hearing JBJ singing someone else’s songs. 
     
    In fact, it winds me up that he does it at all. It’s like Adrianna said to me when we saw them play at Anfield and they covered a Beatles song; “I want to hear them play their songs, not someone else’s”. Exactly. I've never been prouder of her than I was at that moment.
     
    It baffles me why the world’s greatest songwriter would choose to sing someone else’s songs. He’s getting ripped for butchering them but all I’ll say is that if Tiger Woods was playing golf using a pool cue, he wouldn’t be Tiger Woods, would he?  
     
    Meanwhile, I see West Ham have let Haller go to Ajax. Don’t really see the sense in that unless it’s just to save on his wages. Sure, Antonio is back now but for how long? He’s so injury prone he may as well be one of our centre backs. He broke the deadlock on his return with a close range finish against Burnley. 
     
    That was the only goal of the game, which will have been a surprise to nobody, but I’m saying nothing about Burnley’s lack of goals as it will only end up making me look a twat and you’ll all blame me when we lose 3-0 to them later.
     
    West Brom beat Wolves in the Black Country derby. Wolves have been massively disappointing this season. They can’t just put it down to losing Jiminez either as they were doing shit even when he was playing. 
     
    Nuno has changed from his tried and trusted 3-5-2 system and it’s not worked well. I don’t know why he did it but it might have been to try and maximise the talents of Adama Traore (you'll note the absence of the 'my boy' prefix). It hasn’t worked. Traore has been a flop this season and he’s making me look like a twat after I hyped him up so much last year. Add him to the ever growing list of things I’m pissed off with.
     
    Seems I was wrong about him. He’s got ridiculous attributes that should have elevated him to world class levels but for whatever reason he’s just treading water. He seems more concerned about fancy hairstyles and oiling himself up before games than he does about y'know, being a great footy player.
     
    West Brom’s opener came from the penalty spot after Traore had lost the ball trying to dribble through three players near the edge of his own box. In fairness, that’s what he’s good at and he almost got away. If he had they’d have been in great shape but instead he was tackled and a few passes later Robinson was caught on the foot by Boli and Michael Oliver pointed to the spot.
     
    It was outside the box though. It’s clear that the contact is a few inches past the line so I don’t understand how VAR didn’t overturn that. As I said though, virtually every game is marred by bullshit decisions.
     
    Boli was on a one man crusade to make up for it after that and he went close to equalising with an acrobatic back heel that went just wide. Another Boli back heel created the equaliser for Fabio Silva. Quality finish that, I love the way he used his body to block off the defender before he put the ball in the corner.
     
    Adama then burst into life and blew past a couple of defenders to win a corner. I remember when Gabby Agbonlahor would do shit like that before he went fat, and I’d often wonder if he shouted “meep meep” like the Road Runner when he ran past people. I defo would if I had that kind of pace. Anyway, Adama’s run reminded me of that.
     
    From the corner, Boli equalised and Wolves led 2-1 at the break. Then they collapsed. Ajayi headed the equaliser early in the second half and then Coady conceded a pen after tangling with Robinson. Pereira converted for the second time and West Brom had a lead that they would hold onto for a huge three points.
     
    Coady was hooked soon after giving away that pen and that will have been a killer blow to a man of his ego. Nowhere near as good as he thinks he is but in his defence I’ve been saying for ages he’d get exposed in a back four so it’s hardly his fault that his manager has set him up to fail.
     
    Nuno isn’t all that is he? I’m starting to think he gets so much praise because he’s such a sound fella. I’ve defo allowed that to cloud my judgement of him. He’s one of the good guys and I like him a lot, but so far his attempts to re-invent Wolves from a counter attacking 3-5-2 side into a more progressive team that needs to take the step to the next level have been pretty disastrous. 
     
    I just don’t know what’s going on with refs now though. Fabio Silva was booked for an outrageously pathetic late dive. Fair enough, except how many times this season have we seen players dive, win a penalty, have it overturned because it’s a dive, but not get booked? There’s absolutely zero consistency to any of it.
     
    Another thing I noticed. Saiss gave away a free-kick and then just booted the ball into the stands in frustration. That’s an automatic yellow card, right? It isn’t down to the ref’s discretion, they don’t have a choice. Oliver did fuck all though. Bet you anything you like though the next time someone does it he’ll get his card out, and that’s the frustrating thing. These cunts are a law unto themselves at times, yet on other occasions they’ll be utter jobsworths and they’ll play the “I have no choice, it’s the rules” card. Pricks.
     
    Speaking of pricks, Aurier put Spurs ahead at Bramall Lane and every player joined in the celebrations, completely ignoring the warnings. Then again, Spurs have form for it don’t they? Mourinho had his players training in the park during the first lockdown so they clearly don’t give a fuck.
     
    A typical Kane goal made it 2-0 and that was game over because although there was a chance the Blades could score one, there’s no way they were getting two. When was the last time they scored twice?
     
    ....I’ve just checked and they’ve only managed it once all season, a game in which they lost 3-2 against the Mancs.
     
    They did get one against Spurs, when McGoldrick head home from a left wing cross, but Ndombele improvised superbly to make it 3-1 with an outrageous lob as he ran away from goal. Quality that.
     
    City put four past Palace. I have nothing further to add as I’m boycotting any games that involving manc teams winning. When they don’t win, you’ll hear from me. When they do, I have no comment. Life’s hard enough at the moment without watching these fucking twats.
     
    Monday night now and a routine home win for Arsenal over sorry Newcastle. Everyone is beating the Geordies lately, even Sheffield United. Well, almost everyone is beating them. *grinds teeth*
     
    Two from Aubamayeng and one from Saka gave the Gunners the points as they continue to climb the table. Beating the shite teams will do that. Not beating them will get you in danger of being overtaken by Everton.
     
    City won in midweek against Villa thanks to a scandalous offside goal and a penalty for handball that we could only fucking dream of being given. 
     
    I could go on and on about this and how fucking stupid the offside rule is and how I hope the pricks who keep fucking with the offside law all die horrible painful deaths, but what’s the point? They’ll change this rule again because of this but the damage is done from Villa’s point of view, not to mention those of us directly affected by City’s results.
     
    Everyone who saw that goal knows it should never have been given but they’ll try to justify it by hiding behind the rule book and talking bollocks about second phases of play etc but it’s nonsense. 
     
    I hear that Peter Walton cunt tried to defend the decision. He’s a fucking joke that fella. He’s not as bad as Dermot Gallagher, but he’s still a snivelling little bootlicker. If they’d given that offside he’d have said it’s an obvious one and there’s no question about it being right.
     
    They got that wrong because they’ve interpreted the rule incorrectly. The way the law is explained allows some room for misinterpretation but that’s where common sense comes in. I’d be willing to bet that if you showed that goal to the cunts who amended the offside rule and said “is this what you meant?” they’d be like, “no, that’s defo offside”.
     
    Dean Smith was sent off for calling David Coote a clown and for asking why Fat Jon Moss didn’t check the screen. Personally I’d say he should be given a fair play award for not killing the shit cunts. If you're a manager how are you expected to just take decisions like that on the chin? I'd have 100% punched Jon Moss in his fat fucking face.
     
    This is not the game I love anymore. It’s a fucking shitshow where decisions are now so egregious I don’t know if it’s down to incompetence or cheating. It’s impossible to tell anymore as some of what it happening just can’t be explained. It just feels dodgy.
     
    It’s dawned on me now that I actually hate football. I love the Reds, but I hate football and what is now is. The Premier League anyway. The game itself lower down the pyramid is still a great sport but at the top end it’s becoming unwatchable. I mean fucking hell, I’m getting angry watching decisions in games I don’t have a stake in. 
     
    What do I care about Wolves and West Brom for example? I don’t, but I’m still getting wound up by the officiating. So many games are being ruined by it now and VAR has made the problem 100 times worse because instead of solving these problems it just adds to them.
     
    But anyway, I’ll get on with it and move on to the next game, one that saw Leicester going to the top of the table briefly before the Mancs overtook them.
     
    Ndidi’s first goal of the season set them on their way to a 2-0 win over Chelsea. Chelsea were awarded a penalty when Evans brought down Pulisic, but VAR said it was outside the box, which it was. Don’t really see how this was any different to the one Boli conceded though.
     
    Maddison doubled Leicester's lead and they had plenty of chances to inflict further misery on Fat Frank, who must now be seeing Guus Hiddink or Avram Grant shaped shadows around every corner. Of course he blamed his players for “being sluggish and not wanting it enough”. When Roman fucks him off there’s defo a career as a Tory MP waiting for him.
     
    It took Fulham only five minutes to do what we never looked like doing in 90 on Sunday. They took the lead against United through Lookman, who is doing a reverse Adama and making me look bad by looking like a really good player after I said he was shit.
     
    That was as good as it got for Fulham who ended up losing 2-1. I haven’t watched any of it other than the Lookman goal so I’ll swiftly move on and try to forget it ever happened. Not easy when you see the league table though. Cunts.
     
    West Ham beat West Brom and got to within two points of us. No, you didn’t read that wrong. West Ham, WEST FUCKING HAM, are two points behind us as we prepare to face Burnley tonight. 
     
    Bowen chested the Hammers into the lead but Pereira fired in a low shot to level it not long after. Antonio volleyed in the winner but it probably wasn’t deserved as neither team were much good.
     
    By the way, can I just say that I hate Sammy Lee now? I’m not proud of it and I wish I didn’t, but I can’t help it. Can’t stand looking at him. I no longer see him as ‘Little Sammy’ who bounced around for us in the 80s and then used to make the tea and put the cones out for various managers. Now he’s just the annoying, sycophantic little ‘Robin’ to Allardyce’s odious ‘Fatman’. Fuck him. 
     
    My boy Snodgrass is a Baggie now but he wasn’t allowed to play in this game as it was part of the deal made with West Ham. Funny that, considering you’re not allowed to do that anymore. Allardyce said they couldn’t have signed him unless they agreed to it, so surely something needs to be done about this. I won’t hold my breath.
     
    A points deduction for West Ham to put some more distance between us would be nice. Did I actually just type that? Fuck me, is this what it’s come to?
  • Can Jürgen Klopp and his currently injury plagued side make a serious title challenge as we hurtle towards the business end of the season? The bookies still think so.
     
    Liverpool, Leicester, City, United and maybe even Spurs. At the turn of the New Year it looks to be anyone's title. It's so tight at the top that a draw at home to current league leaders Manchester United and two dropped points has seen Liverpool slip to three points off the pace and fourth place. 
     
    Stalemate can't separate old rivals
     
    There were questions hoping to be answered for many Liverpool fans at the weekend when Klopp's side went up against the old foe at Anfield. A solid first half should've seen Liverpool go comfortably ahead and demanding of a response, but it wasn't to be. 
     
    Chances weren't finished, yet a number of slick passing movements and ease on the ball against an in form but indeterminate United side will have many fans encouraged in uncertain times.
     
    It's true United had the better chances in the second half and a draw was probably a fair result at the end of the day but it left no party on the Anfield pitch satisfied.
     
    City take their chances
     
    Pep Guardiola's Manchester City were certainly encouraged by proceedings, stomping to a late evening 4-0 demolition of Crystal Palace, and moving ever closer to clinching top spot with their remaining game in hand. 
     
    The bookmakers had City pinned as favourites to lift the title this season, almost before the Reds had even seen last season's Premier League trophy aloft. Having weathered a difficult period with their own injury woes, it looks to be turning around. 
     
    It's led a number of those who've already backed Liverpool to win the title to rush to cash out with a wide range of instant withdrawal betting sites offering quick and effective cash outs and withdrawals as the odds are starting to shift - but not all is lost.
     
    Can Klopp reinvigorate a war weary side?
     
    The answer is yes. Much is currently being made in the media of a three game league goal drought in the league but Klopp was quick to downplay the importance of current form in front of goal. Just as everything seemed to go in against Palace, "that's just football', he stated. 
     
    Positives can be taken away from the match against United with all three first choice forward men still fit, and a patchwork defence done proud by tight performances of midfield men Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
     
    Klopp has built a side that have experienced the tough travails of working their way up to the top. Although they have become accustomed winners over the last couple of seasons, the senior personalities in the dressing room will certainly not take it for granted. 
     
    A fixture against a Burnley side well drilled at the back will prove a stern test of Liverpool's resurgence in attack, followed by a visit to London to match up against title hopefuls Tottenham.
     
    Liverpool are currently being backed by most bookies at around 7/2 as second favourites to reclaim their title, currently the highest price so far this season. Expect the odds to shorten considerably if they go on a blistering run of form as is certainly due. 
  • With Liverpool failing to win any of their last four Premier League outings, they are no longer straddling their usual top spot of the table and with such a downturn in form, many are asking questions about the current ability of such a talented group of players.
     
    Much of the focus this season has been placed upon Liverpool’s lack of available defensive personnel and the litany of combinations that Jurgen Klopp has had to use, on both domestic and continental fronts.
     
    However, with the defending league champions having only scored one goal in their last four matches, it is perhaps the line of attack that now needs questioning and although nobody can doubt their footballing aptitude, there are questions regarding their sharpness.
     
    The triumvirate of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have caused torment for opposition defences in the past two seasons and with manager Klopp seemingly unwilling to rotate, signs of burnout are seemingly becoming more evident.
     
    Signs that perhaps could have been avoided, if the man in charge of the Merseyside machine placed more trust in the fringe members of his squad, members such as Belgian Divock Origi and Swiss star Xherdan Shaqiri. 
     
    With Origi and Shaqiri kicking their heels on the substitutes bench, Liverpool’s attacking trio have been given little respite this season and although the arrival of Diogo Jota from Wolves eased their burden slightly, there is a sense that Klopp still has his favourites when it comes to team selection.
     
    Then again, when it comes to favourites and the former Borussia Dortmund manager, this is an accusation that can be levelled across the whole team and with in-game replacements being few and far between, this seems to be only adding to the problem regarding fatigue.
     
    With the German being so vocal in the desire to be granted the ability to make five Premier League subs, there is a feeling of bewilderment at present. A feeling generated, by his steadfast refusal to make any of three substitutions that he is already permitted.
     
     
    If their maximum allocation is not being used with anything resembling regularity, then it is exceedingly difficult to make a case for even more and this is where both Liverpool and Manchester City’s managerial pleas fall on deaf ears.
     
    While although enough votes have been garnered to block such an amendment, you get the feeling that this push for change will not go away soon and with player welfare continually at the fore, this summer’s European Championship may also feel the brunt of it. 
     
    Of course, that is of no real concern to Liverpool’s head steward, especially as none of this front three will be called into tournament duty. However, the likes of captain Jordan Henderson and Andy Robertson will certainly want to arrive at the competition as fresh as possible.
     
    With so much football being crammed in to such a short amount of time, any player who is called up for international duty in June and then must represent their country after such a busy season, may be all but running on fumes.
     
    While it is these fears of player burnout which will be of concern to Gareth Southgate, as the England manager is constantly keeping an assessment on the Liverpool stars that he will hope to call upon.
     
    While because the issue of fatigue is so prevalent at present, it could have a bearing on the tournament odds and with sportsbook websites already taking a flurry of bets on who will be the eventual winner, it only needs an injury to alter the odds dramatically.
     
    Of course, when it comes to odds and who will be champions of England come May, Liverpool no longer find themselves favourites and with burnout being such a prevalent factor in this, one wonders if this team can find a much-needed ignition spark.
     
    In fairness, they have not necessarily been playing bad as such, its more that they haven’t been performing to the levels that everyone knows that they are capable of and although it is good news for the rest of the division, it is bad news for the Anfield outfit.
     
    Ultimately, players do not become bad overnight, degradation is more of a gradual process and after hitting such heady heights over the past two years, are we now seeing Liverpool’s collective engines run out of steam?
  • I suppose we should be grateful we didn’t lose. We could have. Probably should have. They had the two best chances of the game even if we had most of the ball.
     
    It was just a continuation of what we’ve seen over the past four games. West Brom, Newcastle, Southampton and now this. Very little difference as far as I can see. Klopp says differently and I'm sure there were things he seen that I didn't. Goals and chances were not among them though, I know that much.
     
    I’m struggling with it. Not being able to go the game is really having an effect on me now. I hate this. It’s not enjoyable at all and it’s not just because we’re shite at the moment. Not having fans in the stadium is hurting us more than anyone and this game brought it home to me more than ever before.
     
    The lads are in a bad run of form and you can see their confidence is at rock bottom. They need us. This is exactly the kind of occasion when the fans would normally get them through it. A packed Anfield, giving the team that extra push and boost of confidence to go and get the result.
     
    They badly need us right now but there’s nothing we can do for them. They’re on their own. We just have to sit and watch on telly as a team that blitzed the league last season somehow finds itself not only behind both Manchester clubs and Leicester, but could quite easily be below fucking Everton if they win their game in hand.
     
    It’s hard to process it and I don't know how we got here so quickly. This shouldn’t be happening but it is and unless the players come to terms with it and sort this shit out, things are going to get worse. 
     
    I stressed all week about this game and I had absolutely no belief that we’d win it. Usually that’s a good thing. Any time I’d doubted this team they’d responded. The wins over the likes of Leicester, Spurs, Wolves etc this season were a big ‘fuck you, we've still got it’ to the doubters. This was different though. I knew it was going to be.
     
    I had no confidence at all because of a) how we’ve been playing and b) because it clearly wasn’t just a case of us having a couple of bad games and knowing we’d just click back into gear. The game for that to happen was Southampton last week and it didn’t. That was a red flag and hinted at deeper problems.
     
    We’d drawn with West Brom and Newcastle and ordinarily there’d have been a response to that. That’s what this team has done consistently these past few years. That response didn’t come though. We lost.  So there was absolutely nothing to suggest we’d get it right against United, especially with no fans there to will a result and performance from the players.
     
    That’s why I say we should be grateful that at least we didn’t get beat. I half expected we would, so avoiding the loss is a small crumb of comfort to cling to, especially as the incredible unbeaten home record was extended for another game. It’s the only thing we can take from this really. 
     
    What else is there? Nothing. It was the same old shit we’ve seen for probably half the games under lockdown. Loads of possession, hardly any chances and the opposition actually having the clearer opportunities. Rinse and repeat. This seems to be who we are this season. We’re a completely different team in an empty stadium.
     
    I don’t know how we get out of this either. That’s the most depressing thing. The fans aren’t back any time soon and neither are the centre backs, which in turn weakens the midfield, impacts the balance of the whole team and has rendered us virtually impotent on attacking set plays. 
     
    But the big thing, once again, was the lack of potency up front. We’re about as threatening as Sheffield United these days. That forward line is staler than a loaf of bread that’s been sat in the sun for six months. Opponents know how to stop them and, quite frankly, it isn’t even that difficult for them anymore. 
     
    It’s depressing. I’ve got the biggest downer on that front three right now, so much so that I’d gladly sell two of them in the summer and rebuild it. I’m pissed off at Mo for that interview he did and for bitching about Trent being captain. He’s been dogshit ever since.
     
    I’m pissed off at Bobby for only having about half a dozen good games in 12 months. I thought he was back in form but then he plays like this. Shite. Minamino should probably start the next game but he’s not the answer. I'd pick him just to let Firmino know he needs to step the fuck up. I’m not as pissed off at Sadio, it’s more guilt by association in his case. Can’t moan about the other two and give him a free ride as he’s not scoring either. It's all of them.
     
    I’m not handling this well and I know that I’m over reacting due to circumstances. It’s hard not to though. I’d be more rational about it if I was actually going to the games and felt like I was a part of it all. But I'm not. We're stuck in this fucking living nightmare where we can’t do anything other than sit at home doing fuck all, waiting for the next match to come around because there's nothing else going on.
     
    I used to hate going the supermarket but now it’s the highlight of the day as at least it gets me out of the house. The only distraction from all this shit is the football, and frankly the football fucking sucks. Even when we win it’s not the same. Instead of being a welcome distraction, something to lift the gloom, it’s making things worse and it’s turning me into an irrational, entitled, spoilt cunt who is lashing out at players who have given us some of the best moments of our lifetimes. 
     
    Like I say, I know it’s irrational but I’m floundering here. For years we had shit thrown at us by rival fans. “Have you ever seen he scousers win the league?” “You’re not famous anymore” “He slipped on his fucking arse” and so on. 
     
    Then when we finally end the curse not only do we not get to celebrate it, but we don’t get to rub everyone’s noses in it. This should have been our day. The opportunity to pay United's fans back for all the years of shit they've given us. Back on our perch, letting them know it. Instead we're sat at home, helpless, our moment of vindication stolen away.
     
    It’s not fair. We went through so much shit over the years and we earned that right to stick it to everyone. But we can’t, and by the time stadiums are full again it’s looking like we won’t even be Champions anymore unless we get our shit together fairly sharpish. 
     
    Even worse, the likelihood is that one of the Manc teams will be taking it off us. It’s almost like we didn’t even win it. Of course we did win it and everyone knows it, but it’s like the tree falling down in the forest. Does it make a sound if no-one can hear it? That’s us with this title.
     
    So all of these things are making me completely irrational about it and it’s turned me into the kind of fan I’ve always frowned upon. For example, I’m starting to actively dislike Salah and - to a lesser extent because he keeps a lower profile - Firmino. I dislike myself even more for feeling that way though, so at least I’m aware that I’m being a twat even if I can't change it.
     
    The one thing I will never do is take to social media to lay into them. Doing it in these reports is one thing. It’s my job, you’re paying to read my take on things so I’ll do that honestly and from the heart. Venting on twitter is another thing entirely. Ordinarily I hate that but I also understand that not everyone has the luxury of expressing their frustrations in a match report on their own website. So currently I don't blame anyone for expressing their frustrations however they can (just don't be tagging players in when you do, coz that makes you a cunt).
     
    Nothing is going our way and it’s also becoming really difficult not to start throwing conspiracy theories around about the officiating. I’m not blind to the failings of our team currently and I’m not looking for excuses. It’s possible to point out the bullshit officiating without using it as a crutch. 
     
    We didn’t beat United because we didn’t create anywhere near enough chances. I know that, I’m not in denial about it. The officiating was terrible once again though. Paul Tierney was fucking woeful. He kept his bias under the radar by not giving them a penalty (not that he had an opportunity even if he wanted to) but some of the things he did were dodgy as fuck.
     
    Blowing the half time whistle six seconds early when Mané looked like he might be clean through. What’s that about? That never happens, so why now? I don’t want to sound like a Blue banging on about Clive Thomas, but that incident told me all I needed to know about this ref and his intentions. Blatant cheating. Ask yourself this, would he have done the same thing if it was Rashford going clear?
     
    And what’s with the offside thing? The lino wasn’t putting his flag up when United attacked but as soon as we got it back he signalled for offside and then Tierney inexplicably blew the whistle when we had the ball. At least twice that stopped us as we tried to mount a counter attack. Why would you not play the advantage? It’s bizarre. No flag until they lose the ball and then you blow the whistle??
     
    The free kick count was once again well distorted too. Every week we have 75% possession but somehow concede twice as many free-kicks as we’re awarded. I don’t know how this can happen and it’s high time Klopp pointed it out, or if he wants to be clever about it, has a journalist point it out at a press conference and then he can act surprised and say he doesn’t know the answer. Get it out there, let these cunts know we’re onto them.
     
    I’m fully aware of the problems we have ourselves and I’m not blaming the officials for our front three being shite. But I see things like that early whistle from Tierney and can’t help wonder what the fuck is going on. As I said the other week, it’s like there’s an unofficial handicap system to keep the league interesting.
     
    Let’s hope the penny drops and they realise we don’t need a handicap as we aren’t the team that won 26 of the first 27 games last season. It’d be nice if we had a level playing field for once. It’s hard enough when we’re playing like this, but when we’re up against the officials every week too what chance do we have?
     
    Officiating bias aside, there’s clearly something wrong with this team and I don’t know how it can be fixed. I don’t know if Klopp does either, which is a lot more worrying. He spoke after Southampton about having all this time to prepare and play 11v11 in training to figure it out. Not sure what they did in those sessions because this basically looked pretty much the same as Southampton (and Newcastle for that matter) to me. 
     
    One goal in four games is fucking disgusting for a team that has as much possession in the opposition half as we do. It’s understandable if you’re Sheffield United or Burnley, who spend most games on the back foot defending their own box and whose forwards feed on scraps. We spend 80% of every game in the opposition half, usually with the ball (except when we play City), yet our forwards are doing absolutely fuck all with it.
     
    I’ve said this before, quite a lot in fact, but yeah, I blame the front three for pretty much all that is going wrong right now. Other than the scandalous officiating, they’re the big problem as far as I can see. There are other things you can point to but to me they’re all just a trickle down effect from the front three being fucking shit and playing like strangers.
     
    It’s more a collective failing than an individual one. By that I mean it’s not a case of saying “drop one of them and we’ll be fine”. Firstly, with Jota still out injured there is no-one worth bringing in anyway. Secondly, it’s not really an individual issue. It’s easy to single out Bobby as more often than not he’s been a problem, but it’s not just him. Its the three as a unit.
     
    Mo has loads of games where he does fuck all and even Sadio isn’t doing much at the moment. But it’s not really about their individual performances, it’s their collective ones. As a combination, they’re fucking crap now. Sorry, but they are. One of them might score, occasionally two of them might, but those are individual moments. The link up between them, the understanding they used to have, the dazzling interplay, the fun, the chemistry… where is it??
     
    Watching them is making me miserable now. Honestly, when the clock hit the hour mark in this game I was absolutely certain we weren’t scoring and the only thing to be determined was whether we would get done on the break or hold out for a 0-0. I knew we weren’t scoring. Even Stevie Wonder could see it.
     
    In fact, Stevie Wonder would have given us more of a goal threat. United had Mo under absolute, total control from first minute to last. They know how to defend him. I know he got that breakaway goal last year, but every time he plays these he does absolutely fuck all and whoever is marking him (be it Luke Shaw or Ashley Young) looks like prime Maldini.
     
    He worked hard. He didn’t hide. There was nothing wrong with his application. He just offered fuck all. The one chance he had he fucked up by taking ten touches instead of two. The only other opportunity he had was in the first half when instead of going on the outside onto his left foot, he cut in, ran into traffic and was fortunate the ball fell to Bobby (who predictably scuffed his shot straight at De Gea).
     
    Sadio didn’t do anything either. He’s in a rut. He still has the odd flash of something where he’ll skin his marker and get to the line, but usually he pulls it back straight to a defender. I cut him more slack than the other two because - and this might just be me playing favourites - at least he gives me some hope that he might do something. 
     
    I don’t have that with Bobby or Mo. When they get the ball I just expect them to give it away and they usually do. Bobby with crap passing and Mo running down blind alleys. Sadio hasn’t fallen quite as far as the others, but he’s not himself either.
     
    If you want to tell me I’m wrong and that he’s as guilty as the other two, I won’t argue with you. It’s not a hill I’m prepared to die on as all three of them are letting us down currently, and as I say it’s more of a collective issue than an individual one. 
     
    It’s doing my head in. We’re playing without all of our centre halves but we aren’t conceding many goals because lads are filling in admirably. Fabinho has been amazing back there and Hendo is capable of doing a good job. I’m not too worried about the defence, despite the absentees. 
     
    I am worried that it has weakened our midfield and I also think the lack of threat from corners is hurting us more than anyone seems to be mentioning. Virg was good for half a dozen goals a season, not to mention how his presence leads to chances for others. 
     
    But by and large we’re defending well and the loss of Van Dijk hasn’t been as significant as most predicted it would be, at least defensively. 
     
    I’ve seen it suggested that we can’t defend as high without Van Dijk and Gomez, and that maybe the full backs aren’t attacking as much because they don’t want to leave us exposed. This is being used as an explanation for the massive drop off in our attacking play, but I just don’t see it. I feel that’s just letting the forwards off the hook and looking for reasons to explain their shitness.
     
    We aren’t defending deeper. We’re still on the halfway line virtually all the time so nothing has changed there. Neither Phillips nor Williams are being selected for that very reason. And to my naked eye at least, the full backs are still going forward the same as they always do. Robbo definitely. Trent’s role has changed this season but Klopp told us that even before the injuries the Virg and Gomez.
     
    We miss Virgil’s long passing from the back and his presence on attacking set plays, but in terms of the attacking side of the game that’s the only difference I see. 
     
    The loss of Jota has fucked us massively. Having to rely on “that much vaunted front three” (© every BT Sport pundit) without any other alternative is killing us. Put it this way, when I watch us there doesn’t seem to be too much difference to how we usually play. Until we get in the final third that is, when it all turns to shit. The rest of our game is pretty good. 
     
    We control possession, we push teams back, we move the ball around well. Then we get to the final third and nothing happens. Much is being made of the full backs not producing as they were, but why is that? It could be that they’ve lost the ability to cross. Or it could be that the forwards aren’t getting on the end of anything. I know which one is more plausible to me.
     
    Watching us at the moment is horrible. I’m sat there constantly saying “oh fuck off Bobby” “what the hell is that Mo??” “the fucking state of that Trent” etc and I hate myself for it. I’m becoming the kind of fan I’ve always loathed. The moaning cunt ripping on players all the time. 
     
    I don’t rip on Sadio as much, probably because he’s my favourite of the three but possibly because he’s just not as frustrating as the other two. But it’s just hard work sitting through these games and watching us fire more blanks than Boycey. It wouldn’t be like this is we were still going the game. But this lockdown is making it all unbearable really. 
     
    This game really brought that home to me. All week I’d been dreading it and the day of the game was awful. I just had this feeling of impending doom from when I woke up until the final whistle went. I had no confidence, only trepidation and dread. 
     
    I know for a 100% fact that I wouldn’t have been like that if I knew I was headed to a packed Anfield to watch. I’d have been full of confidence that we’d win the game and although there’s no way to prove this, I’m certain we would have won it. 
     
    This is just shit though. No fans, bent refs, no Virgil, both manc teams at the top of the league and the fucking blueshite about to go above us too. Where are the null and void cunts now, when we actually need them?
     
    I’ve said virtually nothing about the game because what is there to say? It was the same old story. We did well right up until we reached the box and then it generally stalled. On the odd occasion it didn’t and we forced an opening, Firmino’s shit finishing put paid to it. 
     
    He blasted one wildly off target when he could have rolled Robbo clean through. He put another one weakly at De Gea and he had a third chance disappointingly blocked by Lindelof.
     
    And other than that I don’t think we created anything in the first half despite completely dominating the game. After the break we weren’t as good. We still had most of the ball but other than a Thiago shot from 25 yards and a piss poor effort from Mo I can’t remember us doing anything. Robbo wasted a couple of really good situations too, although he did put in a beautiful ball that Bobby somehow failed to convert.
     
    At the other end we needed Alisson to make two important saves and we needed Fabinho to show his quality on a couple of occasions. First when he got back to block a Fernandez shot, and then when he did a great job staying with Rashford and dispossessing him when it looked like they were going to do us on the break.
     
    0-0 was a fair result overall. United aren’t that good and it sticks in the throat that we never looked like beating them. They’re better than West Brom and Newcastle though and we never looked like beating them either, so it’s hardly surprising.
     
    The bottom line for me right now is that I just don’t have any belief in our front three. I expect them to be better than they are currently but the days of them striking fear into everyone we play are long gone and won’t be returning. It needs breaking up and come the summer. In the short term, the sooner Jota is back the happier I’ll be.
     
    So we’re now fourth, potentially fifth (if, God forbid, Everton win). We’re three points behind United and most likely to be four behind City soon, and I’m not handling it well. I heard Hendo talking about there being a lot of positives to take from this and I also heard Klopp praising the performance. I don’t see it. What positives? We can’t fucking score!! 
     
    You can see what we’re going to do before we even do it. It’s so fucking predictable and there’s virtually nothing that looks ‘off the cuff’ anymore. I’m hoping it’s just a confidence thing and it will only take one game to get going again, but it just feels like it’s a more serious problem.
     
    It’s Burnley next and as much as I’d like to say we’ll get back on track with a few goals, I’d be lying if I said I was confident about it. I think we’ll win but I wouldn’t be betting on it and I expect it to be a tense, scrappy one. That’s probably what we’ll need. You don’t tend to get out of these runs with a massive scoreline, it’s usually a tense, battling 1-0 or a 2-1. 
     
    Burnley will be looking at how we’re playing and licking their chops. They’ll sit in, make it difficult, double up on Salah and Mané, force us to sling crosses into a packed box and hope to take advantage of any set-pieces they get. 
     
    Our options for change are limited. You can see that when you look at the bench in this game. Shaq being in the starting line up greatly reduces the impact we can have from the bench. He started well but faded before he was replaced by Jones. I’d have preferred Shaq coming on for the last twenty other than going off for them. 
     
    Probably should have started Milner in hindsight, although I did like the positivity of picking Shaq. I wouldn’t be starting him against Burnley though as we need his ability to change a game from the bench. We have no-one else who can do that.
     
    We surely need to make some changes though as this isn’t working. Nat Phillips would be one of the first names on my team sheet for Burnley as it’s an opponent that plays to his strengths. He’s not getting ran past by Wood or Barnes and he’ll be up for the aerial duel. He might even give us a threat from set-pieces too. 
     
    But most importantly of all, him being back there frees up Hendo to go back in midfield. And if Matip is fit (long shot, I know) I’d be tempted to get Fabinho back in the middle too, just to see if that gets us firing again.
     
    There’s a lot of games left for us to get back on track and under normal circumstances I’d still be hopeful (confident even) that we could go on a title winning run of form. These aren’t normal circumstances though and not having fans in the stadiums has completely fucked our title defence, which frankly is becoming an embarrassment at this point.
     
    Sorry if I’ve made you feel even worse about things! My glass isn’t half empty, it’s bone dry and in a thousand pieces, shattered on the floor after being hit by an errant Firmino shot.
     
    Star man is Fabinho with honourable mentions to Alisson and Hendo. Thiago too I guess. He did some good things but his influence waned the longer it went on.
     
     
     
    Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Henderson, Robertson; Thiago, Wijnaldum (Milner), Shaqiri (Jones); Salah, Firmino (Origi), Mané:
  • Sunday Jan 10:
     
    No fairytale upset for Marine, who got stuffed by a Spurs side that rarely got out of third gear. There’s no shame in it, Marine were severely outgunned and the Spurs team was packed with internationals, even if they did leave out Kane and Son. 
     
    Didn’t help that Marine’s centre forward seemed more concerned with picking arguments than trying to play football. Turns out he’s an Arsenal fan, which explains a lot. Dave Raven was playing too. He’s beaten Spurs before in a cup competition of course. What a night that was. It doesn’t feel like that long ago but it was. 15 years or something. I seem to recall that I had to listen to that on the radio as it wasn’t on telly, which makes it seem like a bygone age. Most of the kids who played that night are long retired, but Ravo is still going. Just. 
     
    It’s great that Marine made a few quid out of this as the clubs lower down the pyramid must really be suffering without fans. There’s no TV or sponsorship deals to keep them going and there’s seemingly no end in sight with this fucking Covid thing. I’m amazed loads of clubs haven’t gone under already. At least Marine will be safe for a while.
     
    They got 300k for this apparently which is great for them. The other clubs in their division haven’t been so lucky though and I don’t see how most teams are going to be able to survive this. Same with loads of small businesses. It’s a fucking nightmare.
     
    Shout out to the Red who was there watching with his arm around a cardboard cut out of Klopp. BT were showing it constantly and it caused Everton twitter to lose their minds. Good job that man, nicely done.
     
    Meanwhile, Michael Oliver has done an interview and admits he should have sent Pickford off. He says he was going to give a penalty providing there was no offside, but they got pre-occupied with whether it was offside and therefore forgot to check for a red card. 
     
    Sorry, not buying it. You’re the best ref in the country, you don’t just ‘forget’ about a challenge like that, especially when you see Van Dijk having to go off.
     
    I could understand one official doing that, but for both Oliver and Coote to do it is criminal. Not to mention the lino who had a better view than anyone, and the 4th official who could have mentioned it in the headset. Inexcusable and I’ll never, ever, get over what happened that day. The anger will be with me until my last breath. My last words might even reference it.
     
    The worst thing Oliver said though was that “none of the players even appealed for a red card”. What the fuck does that have to do with anything? Not that I believe him anyway. Someone will definitely have said something to him about how bad the tackle was. But just because they weren’t surrounding him waving cards he’s using that as an excuse. Shithouse.
     
    What it does show you though is that being sporting and worrying about fair play gets you fucking nowhere. He’s more or less said that if our players had harassed him into a sending off he’d have done it. Cheats and twats prosper in this game, and it makes what we’ve done these last few years all the more remarkable because we haven’t compromised Klopp’s sense of fair play to do it.
     
    It’s getting us fucking nowhere now though and I’d be telling the lads to ramp up the cunt factor massively and start letting refs know that we’re no longer going to accept being shat on by them. Starting on Sunday. 
     
    On a lighter note, Sheffield United won their first game of the season today, in the cup, and they used five subs! The funniest part was the club tweeting out that it was Wilder’s 100th win, and someone replied saying “how long have you had that one saved in drafts?”. It’s a good question, as their last win must have been in, what? May or June? Fucking hell that’s bad.
     
    Monday Jan 11:
     
    Hahahaha United away in the cup. Of course it is. And City got fucking Cheltenham. Only shock is they didn’t get Chorley. Its funny really when you think about it. Klopp always has the ‘no respect for the FA Cup’ thing thrown at him but we always get Premier League opponents which means that any rotation is more likely to get punished. 
     
    City are seen as the bastions of FA Cup integrity but it’s fucking easy to look like you’re taking it seriously when the list of opponents you’ve been drawn against (so not counting finals) in this competition since 2017 is Burnley, Cardiff, Wigan, Rotherham, Burnley, Newport, Swansea, Brighton, Port Vale, Fulham, Sheffield Wed, Newcastle, Birmingham and Cheltenham.
     
    It’s not fixed but it’s utterly ridiculous. I mean what must the odds be on them never getting anyone good even though they go all the way to the final every year? And then there’s us, the flip side of that coin. I’ve long since stopped caring about the FA Cup but I really, really didn’t want United at Old Trafford. 
     
    United at Anfield, fine, whatever. Bring it on. But we’re fucking shit at Old Trafford. Even when we have a much, much better team than them, we go there and shit the bed. Without fail. So yeah, I didn’t want this and frankly I’m not looking forward to it one bit. I really wanted Everton because we owe them cunts massively and I reckon our lads would be salivating at the idea of getting revenge on them for Virg and Thiago.
     
    Tuesday Jan 12:
     
    Wins for United, who go above us, and Everton, who despite clearly being shit are somehow ONE POINT behind us. I’m close to freaking out here, not gonna lie. Them being one point behind us is just impossible for my brain to compute. I can’t wrap my head around what is happening. This was meant to be our time. Our period of dominance. It still might be, but fuck me this isn’t how it was meant to go.
     
    I’m angry at lots of different things right now. Angry at United for the incredible levels of help they’re getting, both from lady luck and the match officials. 
     
    Angry at Everton for the wrecking ball they smashed our season with at Goodison and for having the temerity to get within a point of us when really the difference between us and them over a season should be a minimum of 30 points. Because they’re shit.
     
    Angry at refs and VAR for the way we’ve been repeatedly shafted all season.
     
    Angry at that dirty cunt who ate a bat and made Covid a thing (if that’s what happened, I still have my doubts), which has wrecked our day to day lives, killed hundreds of thousands of people and absolutely fucking ruined the moment we’d waited 30 years for and has continued to fuck with everything since. 
     
    Angry at the Tories for making a terrible situation a hundred times worse with their incompetence, chronyism and profiteering.
     
    And angry with the players for not beating West Brom and Newcastle. The other setbacks we’ve had I can rationalise and accept. Not beating those two fucking bums though, especially when you see what everyone else is doing to them (Sheffield United beat Newcastle tonight), I struggle to process that.
     
    I feel awful about being mad at a group of players who have given us so much and I know it’s bad, spoilt brat, entitled wanker behaviour. I said last year that if we won the league I wouldn’t give a fuck what happened this season and I keep telling myself that. 
     
    It’s hard though isn’t it? Because we didn’t get to enjoy winning it, we aren’t getting to enjoy letting everyone know we’re the Champions because we aren’t in the ground, and by the time we all get back in fuck knows what the state of play is going to be. I’m in a panic about it now. I was sure we’d just go out and win it again and we’d be celebrating two titles by the time we get back in. 
     
    Klopp had said we’ll have a big party when all the fans are back in, but that’s not happening as the moment has passed now. If we don’t win it this year no-one is going to want to celebrate winning it last year, surely? Kind of like having a tribute to GH in six months time. The moment has gone. Just like the title celebration. You can’t recreate that and I hope we don’t try.
     
    So yeah, we have to win it again to be able to celebrate properly and the way it’s gone the last few weeks has shaken me. If it was Man City streaking away from us I could probably make peace with that but I wasn’t factoring in the possibility that somehow United would be back in the equation. And that Everton, FUCKING EVERTON, would be right on our tail. 
     
    Everton are an irritation rather than a threat, but we’ve opened the door for both manc teams now and we don’t look anything like our normal selves. I’m not handling this well at all and I’m absolutely dreading Sunday. Thats probably a good thing because when I’m concerned we usually play great. It’s when I’m cocky that we come unstuck.
     
    Wednesday Jan 13:
     
    Solskjaer is being a right cocky cunt lately. I’ve avoided it as much s possible but I’m aware of him saying "this is the best time to play Liverpool" (fucking pin that on the dressing room wall) and smugly responding to Klopp’s comment about penalties with a sarcastic reference to Rafa’s ‘facts rant’ which we all know wasn’t a rant at all, but a measured statement outlining the bias towards United.
     
    Klopp hasn’t even done that, even though he probably should. Well, not specifically mentioning United, but he defo needs to address those stats I mentioned last week about the lack of free-kicks we’re getting and the staggering VAR calls against us. Twice as many as anyone else.
     
    This needs to be highlighted, especially given who we play next. Turn the heat up on those fucking refs. Shine a spotlight on them and say “I dare you to shaft us again when everyone is looking for it”. They still might, but generally they’re shithouses who don’t want the aggro. Thats why they’ve gone right off the reservation since fans were locked out.
     
    Meanwhile, City only beat Brighton 1-0. This is who they are now. They’ve gone from being a side that would snot the likes of Brighton by six or seven, to this possession obsessed, defensively structured boring cunts. And it’s officially now a major worry, because it’s working. 
     
    They’re nowhere near as good as they were, but neither are we. And this new version of City, while sacrificing a lot of what the old one was good at,  has eliminated the main weakness they had, which was how wide open they’d be at the back when they lost the ball. This season can eat a big bag of dicks.
     
    Thursday Jan 14:
     
    So apparently players celebrating goals together is now the root of all evil and the reason Covid is spreading throughout the game. I’ll confidently say that not a single case of Covid has been caused by players celebrating a goal together. So this is fucking bullshit and it’s just about deflecting attention away from the government. 
     
    Same shit they pulled a few months ago when Tefal head Hancock called for Premier League footballers to ‘do their bit’. Be careful what you wish for, you twat. Marcus Rashford is now making their lives a fucking misery by calling them out on their broken promises about feeding kids. Not quite the ‘doing their bit’ that Hancock wanted.
     
    He’s been so clever about it too, not making it about Labour v Conservative and not giving anyone the opportunity to accuse him of being political. He’s kept it about the kids and he’s kept the moral high ground throughout. He’s got them reeling. Johnson is even having to speak to him on the phone and having to explain himself. It’s great. I don’t give a fuck who he plays for, what he’s done is fucking boss. 
     
    Still hope we kick fuck out of him on Sunday and make sure he doesn’t get a sniff. Fat chance of that though, not with Paul Tierney in charge. A ref who has given United five pens in his last ten games refereeing them. He’s never given us a pen. Ever.
     
    There’s nothing dodgy going on though. Mark Clattenburg says so. Well, not anymore. He admitted there was when Ferguson had them all running scared. He’s finally revealed what we all knew anyway, that refs favoured United for years. But he says that’s not happening now, at least not as much. Get to fuck. It’s happening even more now, which is even worse because there’s no excuse for it anymore.
     
    Back then Ferguson had them petrified and the players would chase them around the pitch. But they were also the best team in the country and they’d get a lot of pens because they were in the box more than anyone else. The best teams usually get the benefit of the doubt (which makes what’s happening to us this year even more scandalous) and to some degree United earned that back in the day. How the fuck are they still getting all these fucking decisions now though when they aren’t that good?
     
    More should be being made of what Clattenberg said today but he’s admitted that refs favoured United under Ferguson. Just to ram home the point, when Ferguson left, ‘Clatts’ gave us three pens in one game at Old Trafford and sent a United player off! 
     
    Rafa got laughed out of town when he said it but no-one will come out now and say “Sorry Rafa, seems you were right after all”.
     
    All those titles they won need a fucking asterisk after them. Funnily enough, I saw a clip today on twitter from an Arsenal fan, referencing what he said was the clearest case of bent refereeing in the history of English football. It was when United ended Arsenal’s unbeaten run. I remember it well. At the time I thought the fix was in and when you see that clip I saw today, fucking hell, it’s even more blatant than I remembered it at the time. 
     
    Mike Riley 100% fixed that game so United won (or perhaps so Arsenal lost). There isn’t a doubt in my mind. And now the baby bird faced baldy bastard is in charge of refereeing. No wonder it’s such a fucking mess. The little fucking weedy cunt. Can’t stand even looking at him, the bad dweeb.
     
    Friday Jan 15:
     
    Matip is back in training and therefore has a decent chance of playing Sunday. It’s a risk bringing someone in after only two sessions but what choice do we have really? He has to play, providing he doesn’t have any reaction today or tomorrow.
     
    There’s no Naby though, in case anyone’s arsed. You’re not? No, me either. I wouldn’t want him anywhere near a game as big as this anyway. I thought Klopp’s comments on it today though were enlightening. The last couple of injuries he’s had have been a result of coming back too soon (no doubt influenced by the lack of midfielders we had available at the time), so now they’re basically just shutting him down until he’s 100%.
     
    The team picks itself if Matip plays. It’s tricky if he doesn’t because it probably means Hendo in defence and then a choice between Milner, Jones, Ox and Shaq in the midfield. 
     
    On paper I prefer Ox but based on how he’s played lately I’d struggle to justify that. Jones has been hit and miss too, and Shaq is probably a much better impact sub than starter. So Milner is the best option, but if he plays then Gini has to have one of those games when he’s given license to get in the box and make things happen. He’s done that often in the big games so hopefully we see that again. 
     
    Klopp was great today addressing the Covid goal celebration issue and passionately pointing out how Liverpool have handled it all and taken every precaution. None of our players have caught it when they’ve been in our bubble. It’s always been when they’ve left it for family reasons or international duty, and when one of them has had it they haven’t spread it to the rest because they’re regularly tested and they distance as much as possible in between the sessions.
     
    There is an argument to be had about players not celebrating together but it’s purely about the visuals of it and about setting an example. But even that is bollocks really. Anyone who ignores social distancing on the grounds of seeing Firmino hugging Mané or Hendo piling on top of everyone yelling in their faces is going to do it regardless.
     
    Klopp’s finest moment today was definitely when he was asked about us not getting penalties and he referenced that absolute pantomime on Sky called ‘Ref Watch’ where Dermot Gallagher comes out every week and tells us why the ref was absolutely right, no matter how badly wrong he got it. Klopp said scathingly “I don’t know him, I think he’s called Mr Dermot”. Hahahaha that’s boss that. Mr Dermot!!
     
    That’s it for now, I’ll see you on the other side.
     
     
    and that was the week that was….
×
×
  • Create New...