Featured: That was the week that was (Nov 9-15 2019)

[tlw content]

 

Saturday Nov 9:

 

Klopp pours cold water on the Mbappe rumours, or at least he tries to. “I don’t think there is a club in the world that can buy Kylian Mbappe from PSG, that is how it is. We cannot do it, it is as easy as that. OK, from a sporting point of view, there are not a lot of reasons to not sign him, what a player he is. But it is about the money of course. No chance. Absolutely no chance, sorry for killing that story!”

 

No chance right now, and possibly no chance next summer either. PSG don’t need the money so they don’t ned to see. But Mbappe is not spending his whole career in France and at some point in the next couple of years he will move, and it might be as a free agent. Ordinarily we wouldn’t be able to compete for a player like that, but Spain’s big two have issues and England is now the place to be. And what is the most attractive club in England right now? Us. 

 

Mbappe would want to come here, of that I’m pretty certain. So as Klopp says, it comes down to the money. And for me, that’s where Nike come in. They give him a massive sponsorship deal, we give him the same wages as our top players or even a bit more, and maybe a deal can be done. Nike are going to pushing our ‘brand’ all over the world, with LeBron and Serena Williams and all their other stars helping to promote it. Messi and Ronaldo aren’t going on forever and Mbappe looks like the heir apparent. If you’re Nike, why wouldn’t you want to get your big star at your flagship club? It’d be a license for them to print money, and to sweeten the deal for them maybe we hand over all image rights for him.

 

Look, I don’t know exactly how these things work, but I do know that if Nike think they can make more money from having Mbappe at Anfield then between all parties they could work something out. So in short, Jurgen can say whatever the hell he likes but he’s not killing my buzz on this. 

 

Meanwhile, the u18s were 6-0 down after 40 minutes to West Brom today. It ended 6-3 after they rallied, but fucking hell, Aston Villa’s first team must be licking their lips about that quarter final now. Some of these kids (Kometio, Cain, Clarkson, Norris I’d guess) will be involved in that because there is no other real alternative. 

 

The u18s seem to concede a shitload of goals but they score loads too. Their games are wildly entertaining, they’re like the first team pre-Virg. In fairness they’re usually a fair bit younger than their opposition as there are loads of 16 year olds in the squad. Conceding six in one half though, that’s not good.

 

West Brom’s 16 year old centre forward was dynamite though. He scored four and really looked the business. There has been some talk that we’ve got an interest in him and want to nab him before he signs pro terms with them. Makes sense from our point of view. The last time we did that was Bobby Duncan, and while that ended badly we actually made money on the deal. 

 

It might not be the smartest thing of the lad though. Jerome Sinclair came from West Brom too, and in hindsight his career might have turned out very differently if he’d where he was and broke into their first team instead of coming here and letting money influence his career path.

Sunday Nov 10:

 

L 3 City 1 Fair to say we’ve had worse days than this one! Great result, great performance, great atmosphere. This team just delivers relentlessly. I didn’t want to make any predictions prior to the game because it usually blows up in my face, but honestly, I’d have been genuinely amazed if we’d lost. I thought it was possibly that we might smash them everywhere and we almost did. 

 

We could have been up by four at half time, even though City played well. That’s the thing though. They’ll always play well because it’s impossible to restrict their possession and stop them creating chances. It just can’t be done because they’re so good with the ball. It’s a combination of great players and Guardiola’s unique style, but for all their lovely football they have weaknesses, and nobody can exploit those weaknesses better than us.

 

I thought this was a tactical masterclass by Klopp. We genuinely looked like scoring every single time we attacked them. Klopp knew where the spaces would be and he ensured we were able to exploit those spaces every time we won the ball back. It’s funny how Guardiola is seen as the tactical genius while Klopp is labelled as Mr Motivator. The truth is Klopp is just as good tactically as any manager out there.  

 

We’ve been saying for a while now how we’re in Man City’s heads. From top to bottom they seem obsessed with us (Kevin De Bruyne being the obvious exception, as he’s never got involved in any of that shit and is always complimentary). Guardiola seems to spend every waking moment worrying about us and to his credit he doesn’t pretend otherwise. He’s openly admitted it multiple times. 

 

It’s one of the few things I like about him actually. When he describes us as the best team in the world at the moment, he’s not lying. We’ve outperformed City over the last 12 months and when he says Anfield is the toughest place int he world to get a result, he’s not just blowing smoke up our arses, it’s the truth. So while a lot of people mocked him for saying this was one of the best performances he’s seen from his team, I get where he’s coming from. 

 

City played well today. Their finishing could have been better, but generally I’d assume they did everything their manager wanted. Here’s the thing though. We’re really, REALLY, fucking good. And our strengths match up beautifully with City’s weaknesses, which is why we looked like scoring every time we crossed the halfway line today.

 

If City play like that against virtually anybody else in the world, they win the game. Against us, it’s not enough. That’s why I think Guardiola was so complimentary of his team. All that being said, he’s a terrible loser and is the first one in football to point at the officials any time he doesn’t get his own way. 

 

His “TWIIIIICE” meltdown on the touchline was hilarious, but the way he make a tit out of Michael Oliver on the field at full time was not. I’m annoyed by that. Few people have a lower opinion of referees than me and there were a few things Oliver did today I didn’t like. But it’s fucking hard. The pressure in these games is massive and sometimes there are decisions that aren’t black and white. You can give a decision that will split opinion, but unless it’s an obvious mistake a ref shouldn’t be hammered for it. 

 

Oliver was probably an 8.5 out of 10 today. Maybe even a 9. Yet instead of receiving praise for his display all we’re hearing is this bullshit talk about City being screwed by the ref and VAR. Why? Because Egghead Pep threw a strop. His actions dictated the storyline. It should have been about Klopp’s tactical masterclass and an excellent refereeing display. Instead it’s all about Guardiola feeling like he’s been shafted by the officials.

 

Still, never mind eh. Nine points clear of them even though our fixtures have been much harder then theirs. Happy days.

 

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[frankie]

Spot on re the Man City PR, their constant whining and Sterling's non-apology apology.

Weirdly, now starting to like Roy Keane. Took a long, long time but he's winning me over!

[scudger99]

One of the best you've ever done Dave.  Top class, and absolutely on the money about City and Sterling in particular.

But what can you expect when the little cunt's manager behaves the way he did at Anfield ?  Leading by example, eh ?  All because they didn't get their own way, the snide in them comes out.  And don't kid yourself for a minute that Baldiola will admonish Sterling in any way in private.  They'll be sucking each other's dicks and consoling themselves about how they were robbed and Sterling was set up and had every right to react in that way.

If Sterling thinks he gets a raw deal from the Anfield crowd at the moment, that's Mary Poppins shit compared to what he can expect at his next appearance there.

I only hope there's no racist shit involved, most other things are fair game for that utter cunt now.  Have him throwing his arms in the air and squealing like a pig to the referee from the very first minute.

 

[Tj hooker]

Superb that absolutely spot on about Citeh and there fucking spin machine 

[Jimmy Hills Chin]

Nailed it with that. I’m absolutely certain that Sterling was laughing his cock off about the booing once he got on his own. 

[Lisa]

Yes, I totally agree, not once did he use the word sorry in his so called apology.  What really pisses me off, is how every report calls it a bust-up or spat.  It was an unprovoked assault and Joe is totally the innocent party, but the press are shifting the blame on anyone other than Sterling.  It makes me sick, especially seeing his grinning face at training. 

[dave u]

That's a good point. It is always described as a bust up, clash, spat or something similar when in actual fact it was no such thing as Gomez didn't retaliate, he was just assaulted.

 

It's staggering to me that no-one hammered him for the original statement, which not only wasn't an apology, but was more like a party political broadcast for the Raheem Party.

 

Look at me, I care so much. Look at me, I'm a big enough man to admit when my huge passion for the game got the better of me. Look at me, I've made up with Joe and we're all good now.

 

Get to fuck with that shit, you unrepentant, cocky little fucking gobshite.

[suzy]

Spot on about the sterling/Gomez stuff

[Jimmy Hills Chin]

45 minutes ago, dave u said:

That's a good point. It is always described as a bust up, clash, spat or something similar when in actual fact it was no such thing as Gomez didn't retaliate, he was just assaulted.

 

It's staggering to me that no-one hammered him for the original statement, which not only wasn't an apology, but was more like a party political broadcast for the Raheem Party.

 

Look at me, I care so much. Look at me, I'm a big enough man to admit when my huge passion for the game got the better of me. Look at me, I've made up with Joe and we're all good now.

 

Get to fuck with that shit, you unrepentant, cocky little fucking gobshite.

Neil Ruddock was banging on about how he likes to see that, it shows that he cares. No it doesn’t, it shows that he’s a petulant child who can’t handle it when things don’t go his way, much like the gobshite who manages him.

[Anubis]

Good stuff, Dave. Spot on about Sterling. Can’t believe anyone was surprised that there was some booing, given the way the media reporting of the incident had unfolded.

[jonnyp]

Sterling should be mindful that what comes around goes around.

 

Karma loves a comeuppance!

[dave u]

13 hours ago, Jimmy Hills Chin said:

Neil Ruddock was banging on about how he likes to see that, it shows that he cares. No it doesn’t, it shows that he’s a petulant child who can’t handle it when things don’t go his way, much like the gobshite who manages him.

 

I could buy into that if it was a bust up in the tunnel straight after the game. These things happen and always have. I could even buy into it if they had a clash in training and it spilled over because of bad feeling lingering from the game.

 

This is completely different. One player goes over, friendly and smiling, and tries to shake hands with someone who the last time they had seen eachother everything had been smoothed over. And that other player attacks him without provocation.

 

That doesn't show he cares, it shows he's a fucking wanker who was upset because people on twitter were mocking him for not getting the better of a bit of handbags with another player.

[scudger99]

Unprovoked assault that results in ABH is a P45 in almost every other line of employment.

[shouter]

Great stuff as usual Dave. People have defo forgot all that stuff he did with the bbc  and at the time it just stank as look at me I’m the victim here. The stuff that his agent got up to was as bad as anything that’s been seen in the game. Says everything you need to know about sterling that he’d be involved with him. Cunt of a man and cunt of an agent. BTW is he still involved with him?

[Arnaud]

Great report Dave, but the best way tu deal with this stuff is not to care too much. Don’t loose energy on that, move on, and let Sterling think and think again. He could waste so much energy and strength on that ! 

[RedSand]

Superb Dave. Thoroughly enjoyed that. 

Many highlights in that, but for some reason this had me cackling away 

"Staying with City (seems like the entire week has been about them, but there’s fuck all else happening so what can I do?),"

[rubble-rouser]

That Roy Keane thing was when he ‘woke up

Bobby Charlton’

[StevieMax]

On 16/11/2019 at 20:36, Anubis said:

Good stuff, Dave. Spot on about Sterling. Can’t believe anyone was surprised that there was some booing, given the way the media reporting of the incident had unfolded.

You have to bear in mind that Sterling is the Football Writers Player of the Year - and so the media are always going to spin it in such a way that doesn't put their judgement in a bad light.

[Bob]

Sterling owes an apology to Joe, Southgate and the other players in the squad. No one else.

 

im not a fan of his, but his statement didn’t have to apologise to anyone, did it?

[dave u]

If he wasn't going to apologise then he shouldn't have made any statement really, because what he actually put out there was appalling.

 

Alternatively, the statement could have said "I have apologised to Joe, Gareth and the rest of the squad for my unacceptable actions".

 

It didn't though, because he's a prick.

[RedHeadedRed]

A man completely unprovoked attacks another man doesn't apologize for the attack and ends up getting praised for his actions. That's what's happened here it's absolutely insane, that oil state are so good at spinning things in their favour a state that murders, rapes, kidnaps, imprisons human rights activists, uses slave labour and suppresses the truth, I suppose they have years of practice at it spinning something like this in their favour was easy.

[dave u]

Yeah that's why I didn't buy his "leave Joe alone, he did nothing wrong and this was all my fault" plea after the booing. That's what he should have been saying earlier in the week (minus the booing, as that obviously hadn't happened).

 

Convenient way to make him look like the big man.

[Spy Bee]

I've watched a couple of interviews with Roy Keane recently and I think he's fucking boss! He hates Ferguson and has no love for United. He's fucking hilarious!