Featured: That was the week that was (Mar 23 - 29 2019)

[tlw content]

 

Saturday Mar 23:

 

The legends game at Anfield went down a storm. A full house and a 3-2 win, with Gerrard scoring the decisive goal in front of the Kop. Gerrard could still play top flight football with his eyes closed. Not as the force he was, but he’s still better than three quarters of the midfielders currently in the Premier League. Fowler’s still got it too. Not fitness, obviously, but the finishing is still in a league of its own.

 

I didn’t go and didn't watch it live either, but I’ve seen the goals. My Dad watched it on LFCTV and the first thing he said was “some of those could still play now. Glen Johnson looked just like he did back when he was playing”. Yeah Dad, that’s because he only retired about three fucking weeks ago.

 

Meanwhile, Jose Mourinho (remember him?) continues with his Allardycian strategy of doing the rounds with various news outlets and rewriting history, while taking shots at those he sees as his competition (specifically Klopp and Pochettino). He’s even been on Keys and Gray doing this shit. It doesn't get any more Fat Sam than that..

 

Anyway, here’s his latest broadcast of behalf of the Little Portuguese Despot party. “I won titles everywhere I have been and I cannot run away from my mentality. Some coaches like to sell the idea of a philosophy, but you have to sell the philosophy after you win. If you win nothing what is the point? If your team plays very well, your team wins, so I don’t like these contradictions we have in football nowadays.” 

 

Ok, firstly his use of the word ‘titles’ is massively disingenuous. When most normal people think titles, they think league winners. He uses it to describe little trinkets like the league cup and charity shield.

 

Secondly, even after winning he never showed any hint of any philosophy other than “give me money to buy players in their late 20s so I can win NOW, and to hell with what happens after I’m done”. Actually that is his philosophy, so I stand corrected. What’s he going to say if Klopp wins something this year though? 

 

Hell, it’s almost enough for me to want Spurs to win something next year just so he can’t keep taking shots at Pochettino, who is a much superior manager than he is these days.

Sunday Mar 24:

 

Hilarious Instagram post from the Mig today taking the piss out of his rival Courtois, who got caught trying to play the ball with his feet and gifted Russia a goal last night. Mig posted a pic of himself passing a ball in training (with Courtois stood behind watching him) and captioned it with “Footwork”. Well played, Si. Well played. The real genius of this is he's regarded as being just about dopey enough to get away with saying it wasn't intentional.

 

Also on social media today, Mo posts a pic of himself on a beach, with “You will Never Walk Alone” carved into the sand in front of him. Is it weird that my first thought was “ah shit, this is gonna be thrown in our faces by everyone when he decides he wants out”. 

 

It’s hard to trust players these days when they’ll sign a new contract declaring their love for the club and then within weeks they’re either on strike and demanding a move to fucking Arsenal, or they’ve put their back out through the stress of the transfer window being open.

 

I don’t think Mo would pull any of that shit but I’m not certain that he wouldn’t. Same with Sadio, I couldn’t see him doing anything like that either but you just never know. I mean fucking hell, Virgil seems like a great fella and a stand up guy, but he went on strike at Southampton in an attempt to force through his move here. 

 

It’s the nature of the modern football beast. I don’t take it as personally as I used to though. I mean, I’ve got far more before with Torres than I have with Suarez and Coutinho, when really there are a lot of similarities between how all three behaved. 

 

I justify it to myself by saying it’s ok for me to resent Torres because he downed tools for the last 12 months he was here, but those tools he downed, he never actually picked them up again did he, even when he was back at Atletico? So maybe it was just a case of him being a shadow of the player he once was. I don’t like that he went to Chelsea either, so that plays a part in it.

 

Suarez has gone on to even greater heights since leaving, but he’s in a minority and the grass isn’t always greener. Look at Coutinho. There’s still talk that Barca want rid and he’s being linked with PSG (seems unrealistic given the sanctions likely to be imposed on them) and the Mancs (who will no doubt want to make a splash and spend a shit ton of money this summer).

 

Ordinarily you’d expect most ex Reds to have enough about them to say “I’m not playing for United” but Coutinho may not have many other suitors. He'd join United in a heartbeat I reckon.

 

I’d happily take him back, but not at the price it will cost to get him. I think if you injected Phil with truth serum and asked him if he wanted to come back here or stay where he is, his answer would be that he wants to come to back to Klopp, Bobby, Sadio and Mo. He probably won’t have that option available to him though. It’s a lot like when Owen wanted to come back from Madrid. We were interested but Newcastle were willing to pay a lot more than we were. It’ll be the same with the Mancs this summer I reckon.

 

Maybe Barcelona haven’t given up on him yet though. I mean how else can you explain today’s reports coming out of Spain that they want to sign Albert the Moron? A last ditch attempt to get Coutinho happy and enjoying his footy again? Maybe they should sign Lucas too.

 

 

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[Trumo]

I'm sure Solskjaer could just use Mourinho's old room at the Travel Tavern Lowry.

[Mudface]

Quote

This got me thinking. Imagine how pissed off Mignolet must have been in Kiev. I mean, he will have felt bad for Karius on a personal level, but he must have been thinking “we’d have fucking this if you hadn’t dropped me for that turd”.

Fair enough, but if he hadn't messed up so often, Karius wouldn't have got (another) chance.

[dave u]

10 hours ago, Mudface said:

Fair enough, but if he hadn't messed up so often, Karius wouldn't have got (another) chance.

He actually hadn't messed up that often (the howler at Arsenal did for him in the end, but it's not like he was doing it all the time). He is what he is. An above average keeper but not a difference maker (at least not in a positive sense!).

 

Taking a look at Karius to see if he was any better made sense and I'm not criticising the decision. My point was that Mignolet trained with him every day and knew he wasn't better, which is why he was pissed off then, as opposed to now when he's sat on the bench going 'yeah, fair enough I'm not as good as that guy".

 

Most of the time, players know the pecking order. The centre backs (even big Dejan!) all know Virgi is better than them, but they probably all think they're number two on the totem pole.

[StevieMax]

Good weekly round-up - though you did miss Gini talking about YNWA on the Premier League show:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/47736715

 

[dave u]

Gini is a beautiful looking man and a wonderful human being.

 

His musical taste is somewhat questionable though.

[index1000]

9 hours ago, dave u said:

Gini is a beautiful looking man and a wonderful human being.

 

His musical taste is somewhat questionable though.

Says the guy with front row seats for Bon Jovi

[dave u]

4 hours ago, index1000 said:

Says the guy with front row seats for Bon Jovi

Not true.

 

(The tickets were too expensive)