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Featured: That was the week that was (Jul 28 - Aug 3 2020)


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Tuesday Jul 28:

 

Done my back in so spent a couple of hours lying in bed watching interviews on LFCTV. Some great content on there, most of it relating to the title win. Here’s a few observations.

 

Ox - He’s always a great interview as he’s such a positive, likeable lad. He seems to be close to everyone as you always see him messing about and having a laugh with different lads, regardless of nationality. You can tell that all of the lads get on well and there’s a good atmosphere in the group, but Ox seems to be one that relates well to everybody.

 

Lovren - Top fella, his interview was great. He doesn’t shy away from the fact he had his bad moments here and doesn’t seem in the slightest bit resentful of some of the shit he got for fans during those bad times (and during the good times too, for that matter!). He never complained about not being in the side and seemed quite philosophical about much of it being down to being fit at the right time. 

 

He didn’t play much these last couple of seasons (some will say that’s why we’ve been so successful) but like everyone else he feels like he played his part. This is something that shines through with all of the players and it clearly comes from Klopp drumming it into everyone that they are important regardless of whether they are on the pitch or not.

 

Lallana - Similar to Lovren in that you can tell he feels like he earned his medal even though he hardly played. We’ve heard a lot recently about how the key to our consistency is the high level of training and that Lallana has been as important to that as anyone. Perhaps even more so considering he wasn’t playing yet he still trained as hard as anyone and set a great example to the rest of the squad.

 

I’ve seen people scoffing at that suggestion and dismissing the part played by those who didn’t play much, and maybe in the past I’d have felt the same way. It’s almost like a sympathy vote, just a little pat on the head to those who didn’t play. Just being nice by saying “Yeah of course you played your part too”.

 

Now though I actually believe that 100%. I absolutely feel that Andy Lonergan deserves a medal for example. What we’ve seen these last couple of years is unprecedented and too many people now (whether it’s Klopp, Ljinders or the players) are putting this success and consistency down to how we train. How can anyone disagree with that? It’s obvious that what we see on the pitch is only possible because of what they do at Melwood.

 

And everyone talks glowingly about the tone set by Lallana and how much of a help he’s been to the rest of the squad. So yeah, he deserves his medal because he earned it. Klopp’s description of him as “100% a Liverpool Legend” is not a view that will be shared by many as I think maybe his definition of the word ‘legend’ is somewhat different to how most of us see it, but I completely understand where he’s coming from.

 

The interview with Lallana was brilliant really moving. You’d need to have a heart of stone to not be touched by that *coughs* Mum *coughs*. Of all the players we’ve had in my lifetime, Lallana is one I have enjoyed watching the most. In fact I loved watching him even before we bought him. That’s not me saying he’s one of the best players I’ve seen, so put your pitch forks away (especially you, Mum). What I mean is I’ve always loved watching him as technically he is absolutely brilliant. 

 

Whereas people always mocked the Cruyff turns (or “stupid twirly whirly things” as my Mum always described them), I just saw the balance and grace and how easily he could manipulate the ball with either foot. I’m not trying to tell you he’s been a great player for us and overall his career here ended up being disappointing (mainly because of injuries). But I loved watching him play. 

 

It was the same with Mike Marsh back in the day. He was another player I loved to watch even if he would never be seen as a great player. Marshy was technically brilliant and I remember Souness once saying that if you watched the lads in training you’d think Marsh was by far the best player we had. It doesn’t always translate into games but I’ve always liked players like that. I’m like Brendan I guess, got a keen eye for the “wonderful technicians”. In fact, even my childhood hero Paul Walsh probably comes into that category. I always admired the way he played, with the skill, the balance, the grace. Plus Walshy obviously had boss hair as well, which is always important.

 

It’s just a real shame the way things turned out for Lallana with the injuries, because from the moment Klopp came in and made him part of a midfield three he looked like a perfect fit. That season when we got back into the top four he was one of our most important players. Then the injuries came and by the time he eventually got over them he’d fallen way down the pecking order.

 

Something to bear in mind though is the success we’ve had this season is not just a result of this season’s work. It’s part of a journey that started when Klopp arrived and set us on the right path. Lallana played an important role in the early part of that journey and that’s why Klopp has such a lot of respect and affection for him and it’s why his medal is well deserved.

 

Meanwhile, more details emerge from City’s CAS hearing. They had nine lawyers working the case and the panel of three judges consisted of one handpicked by them, one handpicked by UEFA and a third who was recommended by City and - astonishingly - UEFA went along with it. 

 

It’s so easy to rig things like this. Sammy the Bull Gravano got John Gotti off charges three times by bribery and intimidation of witnesses and jurors etc, so if Sammy can do it then Abu Dhabi with all their wealth, power and influence can do this shit in their sleep. City seem like they’re untouchable, but so did Gotti until he rubbed Gravano up the wrong way.

 

 

This is just a teaser, click to view the full article

 

Please note that the Week that Was is only available to website subscribers. Subscriptions cost just £2 a month (you need to register first) and can be purchased here. 

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2 hours ago, Arnaud said:

Great diary, Dave. You’re the best writer ever about Liverpool, better than Paul Scholes maybe, but hair is over rated, see Zidane for instance. Hope your back is getting better. 

I’d say your on thin ice there pal - you could be looking at a ban if your not careful 

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The Scholes stuff drove me mad for years but it’s honestly pointless getting wound up by it.  You can’t expect idiotic muppets to understand any of it and realise they’re being brainwashed by the narrative or they’re anti-scouse knobheads trolling everyone by reinforcing it and know exactly what they’re doing.

 

It wasn’t even an argument/question when they both played because it would have been that laughable.  Scholes had a couple of years at the end of his career playing deep and it’s all developed from there.  You’ve now got people like Neville and Lineker saying England should have played him there with Gerrard and Lampard in front of him.  Its mind boggling.  It’s as you said they can’t let us have anything.  The mancs got all the trophies for 20 odd years but they still can’t just accept that Gerrard was better than their midfielders. It’s embarrassing.

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Scholes was 23 nearly 24 before he was 1st choice ahead of Nicky Butt in the Manchester United midfield. At 26 Ferguson bought Veron and pushed him out to the left. 

Liverpool players raced about the things Joe Cole could do in training. So fucking what. Paul Scholes was a good midfielder who could pass the ball. He couldn't run, couldn't tackle and wasn't as good as Alonso, never mind Gerrard. 

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1 hour ago, Paul said:

I want my co-author credit on the Mbappé take. I’m consulting my brief right now. 
 

*Shouts*
 

“Aws!!!”

Sorry Paul. You'll just have to learn to live with his unattributed reflections as I have over the years. 

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You're condoning Virgil's antics? Yeah it's defo an age thing then.

 

I feel like you might be the only person out there who gets as wound up by the Scholes nonsense as I do.

 

Bet you read my ranting about it and found yourself shouting "FIRE!" with every line.

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8 hours ago, dave u said:

You're condoning Virgil's antics? Yeah it's defo an age thing then.

 

I feel like you might be the only person out there who gets as wound up by the Scholes nonsense as I do.

 

Bet you read my ranting about it and found yourself shouting "FIRE!" with every line.

 

He's just tweeted it again so i reckon you'll want him sold by the end of the summer. 

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I hadn’t watched it until today but they will almost definitely have been given some sort of script.  All the players are either saying fire or emoji-ing it.  The whole Nike or Nike(eee) thing is definitely scripted.  Nike athletes get told to call it Nike(eeee) and this was a definite unofficial polite request to the fans I think.

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Defo not a request to fans as they obviously know scousers aren't playing ball with that. That's why they asked Curtis and had him answer with the scouse pronunciation.

 

The second promo they did ended with a scouse nan scoffing at "nikeeee" and saying "it's nikkkkke".

 

They know they aren't going to stop it so I think they're just rolling with it now.

 

On a separate note, did you all see LeBron rocking up the Lakers game wearing the new shirt?

 

I saw that photo and all I could say was "FIRE!!".

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55 minutes ago, dave u said:

Defo not a request to fans as they obviously know scousers aren't playing ball with that. That's why they asked Curtis and had him answer with the scouse pronunciation.

 

The second promo they did ended with a scouse nan scoffing at "nikeeee" and saying "it's nikkkkke".

 

They know they aren't going to stop it so I think they're just rolling with it now.

 

On a separate note, did you all see LeBron rocking up the Lakers game wearing the new shirt?

 

I saw that photo and all I could say was "FIRE!!".

I didn’t get as far as Curtis bit to be honest.  It looked like Lebron had the cheaper kit on the minge bag.  To be fair they might have just ran out of material trying to make a shirt that fitted him.

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I long for the old times when a good writer would write an article and not use the same phrase twice, never mind four times. It never used to happen 'back in the day'

 

The list of things not worth getting wound up about is growing, and will only ever get longer. Don't let Virgil's youthful enthusiasm for 'down with the kids' expressions get to you. He's allowed have his little foibles for the magnificent player that he is. That shouldn't be thought of in the same tone as Scholes or Mancheater*City and their bloodstained owners.

 

*Not a typo

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13 hours ago, dave u said:

Defo not a request to fans as they obviously know scousers aren't playing ball with that. That's why they asked Curtis and had him answer with the scouse pronunciation.

 

The second promo they did ended with a scouse nan scoffing at "nikeeee" and saying "it's nikkkkke".

 

They know they aren't going to stop it so I think they're just rolling with it now.

 

On a separate note, did you all see LeBron rocking up the Lakers game wearing the new shirt?

 

I saw that photo and all I could say was "FIRE!!".


Shame on you. 

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