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That’ll do. I thought Kloppo brought up an interesting point in the build up to the game when he said he had fed the narrative about our ‘poor form’ by talking too much immediately after games. The list of what he was saying was that often the performances had been better than he initially thought, but that he had fuelled it further by talking about how we can do things a lot better. I don’t entirely agree with him with regards to the quality of performances, but he’s probably right to downplay the negatives and talk up the positives as there's been a bit of a cloud over us of late that really shouldn't be there when you look at the results we've had. We're doing alright. We can do better, but it makes sense for Klopp to try to nip this negativity in the bud. So with that in mind, this was fine. We didn’t tear Fulham apart and score six or seven goals as we might have done when at our best, but we won. We kept a clean sheet, scored a couple of good goals and barring a couple of first half scares it was extremely comfortable. Until the blistering form returns this is exactly what is required. The goal difference is well gone already. We’re not clawing that back so the pressure is off in that sense. It doesn’t matter if City are winning 6-0 and we’re winning 1-0, just as long as we can match them point for point and stay on their coat-tails. That’s all we can do. Of course that will be a hell of a lot easier to do when we start dismantling teams as we can do, but for now it’s a case of just getting the job done. I’d also make the point that Fulham were actually pretty good. Far better than most teams that come to Anfield anyway. Their defence has been a train wreck all season but they ditched some of the clowns who have been costing them goals (Fosu-Mensah and that American centre half) and overall they did pretty well. I knew we’d win the game as soon as it kicked off though. Fulham had four attackers on the pitch and they were playing their usual style. They hadn’t come to sit back and try to stifle us, they were going to have a go. And going toe to toe with us was never going to end well for them. Fair play though, they gave us some anxious moments in the first half and can consider themselves unlucky to have been behind. Sessegnon missed a glorious chance when he took advantage of a lucky ricochet to go past Gomez and find himself with just Alisson to beat. He dragged his shot wide and he knew immediately how costly it might be. They had another couple of chances too, and also had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside decision. You can argue the case either way, which to me shows how tough that was for the linesman. That was virtually impossible to see with the naked eye, but the direction the players were moving in certainly makes it look more offside than it was. Fulham’s disappointment was doubled when the ball was in their net 14 seconds later. That was last season’s Liverpool that. We’ve not seen anywhere near enough of it this year but it was exhilarating stuff and the kind of goal we were scoring as a matter or routine last season. There's no finer sight in football than one of our lightning 'defence into attack' breaks. It all started with Van Dijk. He didn’t touch the ball but as soon as the goal had been ruled out he was yelling at Alisson to start a counter. The keeper did just that, finding Trent who then hit a brilliant ball down the line to set Mo clear. He never looked like missing did he? Great finish. I thought Mo looked sharper than he has all season. The swagger was back in his play, but I wonder how much of that was down to Fulham not surrounding him with three players as everybody else seems to be doing. We’ll find out over the next few games I suppose. The first half performance was patchy. Some good, some not so good. Part of the problem for me is the 4-2-3-1 system doesn’t seem to suit Bobby. I’ve said before that it feels to me that the system change is because Klopp doesn’t trust Shaqiri and (to a lesser extent perhaps) Fabinho in his usual 4-3-3. Shaqiri has to play because he’s our most creative player and the man who can provide the kind of passes that Salah and Mané thrive on. The logical thing to do would be to keep Mo on the right, Bobby as the nine and play Shaq as the ten, but Klopp so far doesn’t fancy that at all. I remember him once saying that the number ten has to be the hardest worker on the pitch, which would explain his use of Firmino there over Shaqiri. Defensively I can understand the logic, but the bottom half of the Premier League are generally garbage so would having Shaqiri in there really be that much of an issue? I dunno, I’m just thinking out loud. All I know is that Firmino has not looked comfortable in that role and at times doesn’t seem to know where to run. Normally he never stops moving, but there were times against Fulham where he looked a bit lost, as other players were in the space he’d normally be in. Maybe it just needs a bit of work on the training ground, but maybe that time would be better spent teaching Shaqiri how to play in the midfield three in the role Coutinho used to occupy occasionally? He has to be in the side somewhere, that much is obvious. There were three or four passes he played that were a fraction away from being perfect. I love how he plays. There’s a busyness and infectious enthusiasm about him every time he gets the ball. Any time he has the ball at his feet I’m expecting something to happen, because he can spot a pass and he can execute it. And how about that finish? He made that look far easier than it was, because the ball was in the air a long time and tat could have led to indecision. Initially I thought he might head it, but he kept his cool and just stroked it in the corner with that magic wand left foot of his. The cross from Robbo was great though, a fact recognised by the Kop who immediately chanted his name. Bit sly on Shaq, but as soon as someone comes up with a catchy song for him I can see that being this season’s equivalent to “Egyptian King” last year. At 2-0 we were safe but it was good to see the professionalism and determination to keep a clean sheet. That’s a point of pride for this team now, you can tell they don’t want to ever concede goals regardless of how many they might be ahead. It’s standing us in good stead this year, because if we were relying on being prolific at the other end we’d already be out of the title race. Some will argue we’re really in it anyway as City are looking unstoppable. We can’t control what they do, so as demoralising as it is seeing them just churn out easy win after easy win, there’s no point dwelling on that. We just have to take care of our own business and hope that eventually someone will be able to take points off them (personally I’m hoping it’s the Premier League and UEFA). Wolves held them to a draw so you never know. They won’t win every game between now and May so we have to make sure we’re in position to capitalise if and when they slip up. Star man is Andy Robbo who completely dominated that entire side of the field. I was thinking after the game, is there any Liverpool team from any era that Robbo wouldn’t get into? Certainly not in my lifetime (Steve Nicol could just switch to right back), but maybe he’d have his work cut out shifting Gerry Byrne from Shankly’s side. He’s fucking boss though. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho (Keita), Wijnaldum (Henderson); Shaqiri (Milner), Firmino, Mané; Salah:

Saturday Nov 3: Arsenal 1 L 1 Any time you avoid defeat at any of the ‘big six’ clubs you’ve done alright. Wins are fantastic but the onus is more on the home side to win these games, so a point away is never a bad thing, particularly when that opponent has been on a great run and is in good form. It’s weird then that so many of us were left disappointed, some with the result, some with the performance and some with both. It’s partly because City are so relentless that anything other than a win feels like it will prove costly, but for me personally it’s not so much the result that disappointed me, it was more how we played. Arsenal aren’t the wide open mess they have been in recent seasons by any means (they were decent I thought), but the way they play still seems tailor made for us to exploit. They leave space behind the full backs and they defend high up the pitch. I expect us to murder teams who play like that so when it doesn’t happen it’s frustrating. We had plenty of chances but most of them fell to Van Dijk and he didn’t take any of them. Milner took the one that came his way, but where were the front three? It’s doing my head in now, I keep expecting them to play like they did last season but it’s not happening. The defence were great and I didn’t have any real complaint about the Arsenal goal as it was just brilliant finishing from Lacazette. Fair play to him. Of course we were a little unlucky with Sadio’s ‘offside’ goal that was ruled out. Apparently that was onside, which shows you just how completely fucking stupid the law is these days. Bit galling that Cardiff’s goal last week stood but this one didn’t. Really don’t know why they over complicated offside, as it was fine as it was. Some pretty shocking clickbaiting after this from the Star and Express though. “Klopp aims dig at Van Dijk after Arsenal draw” said the Star, while the Express went even lower with “Klopp slams Van Dijk after Arsenal horror show - “I’d have scored three”. The actual quote was “I saw Virgil van Dijk after the game and he said ‘I should have had a hat-trick.’ I was not a good football player but I was good at heading and today I would have scored three.” Hardly slamming him is it? Twats. Sunday Nov 4: Chelsea and City both won but nothing could spoil my mood today. You may have seen it on twitter, but I’ll put a little meat on the bones of it here. My daughter, Adrianna, started playing footy four or five years ago and she’s been in defence since day one. Chris Kirkland coached the team for a while and he did try to get her to play in midfield and even up front, but it was a short lived experiment as the opposing half was like Kryptonite to her. She’s only interested in defending (which will stagger anyone who has ever played with me). There was one tournament they were in where everyone else in the squad had scored, including the keeper, and they were just hammering everyone. They were 5-0 up in the final so I told her to go up front and get a goal, and she shot me down, saying “no, we haven’t let a goal in all day and clean sheets mean more to me than goals”. I almost demanded a DNA test after that. How can any kid of mine think like that?? So anyway, a couple of years ago I told her I’d give her 50 quid if she scored. The problem was she didn’t want to go up for corners and leave the team light at the back, so she always stayed back. I told her to just get one of the other girls to stay back but she wouldn’t do it, until two weeks ago when she decided she was going up there. She went up for every corner that day but none cleared the near post (like watching the Reds a couple of years ago). Today though, the second corner of the day landed right in the middle of the six yard box where I’d told her to stand. Most of the girls in there just watched it (hardly anyone wants to head the ball in these games) but Adrianna is fearless and will stick her head on anything. She nodded it goalwards, over the keeper (who was taller than me) and it looped into the top corner. I had to do a double take, and so did she. It was only when all her mates went mad that she realised it had gone in. She comes running towards me and I’m thinking she’s gonna just do a Lallana with Klopp and jump into my arms, but as she reaches me she starts doing this: I just grabbed her and we shared a big hug, it was a really special moment that I’ll never forget. Cost me fifty quid but I’ve never been happier handing money over than I was today. They won 3-1, with one of her mates scoring the other two. She was on a pound a goal bonus and as she came off I told her “you need a better agent”. So yeah, I’ll worry about Man City another day, the pricks. Monday Nov 5: Like today. All that stuff I’m reading about their financial doping is just depressing. I mean, I knew that was going on, but actually seeing the details of it (and how it took a German website to expose them because the English media don’t give a shit) is maddening. It’s cheating, pure and simple. What they are doing is no different to Ben Johnson shooting himself full of steroids. Drug cheats get their medals taken away, and the same should happen to City. Any trophy they won through breaching FFP should be stripped. Whether that means handing it to the second placed team (which would mean United and us) or just removing it from the record books and having no winner is up to the authorities to decide, but there’s no way they should be credited with those titles and they should have points docked this season if there’s any evidence they’re still doing it. The problem is that UEFA and the PL probably feel powerless and are terrified of the legal implications if they take the appropriate action. So this is what should happen. The other clubs should all lodge a formal complaint about it. If the authorities have the backing of the rest of the clubs they can pretty much do whatever they like. Throw them out of the Champions League, ban them from participating for the next five years, and dock the cunts points in the Premier League. I mean, why isn’t this happening already? How come the likes of ourselves, Arsenal and Spurs aren’t all over this? All three clubs who’ve played by the rules and at times been unable to compete financially. United’s business practices are dodgy in an entirely different way, they’re at a disadvantage due to the Glazers rinsing them, and I’m not sure whether Chelsea are above board now or not, but all those clubs who are doing it within the rules should be kicking up the mother of all stinks about this. Tuesday Nov 6: Red Star 2 L 0 That was so bad. What’s going on? How come we’re so shit? Last year we destroyed anything in our path in Europe. We dropped points in the group games but it was usually stupid mistakes that undermined dominant performances. Now we’re just fucking garbage. We didn’t have a shot in Naples and this wasn’t much better. It won’t matter if we beat PSG in the next game but anyone who isn’t concerned by how we’re playing just can’t be paying attention. A lack of fluency was understandable in August but it’s November now and if anything we’re getting worse. I don’t agree with leaving Shaqiri at home either. We’re not playing well enough to have that luxury. So what if their fans hate him and would give him stick. That pitch was miles from the stands so all that talk of it being hostile and intimidating has been well overplayed I reckon. So what if there’s a bit of graffiti in the tunnel, big fucking deal. Our players have had to deal with far worse than that. It’s the fans who need to be worried as they didn’t have security escorting them everywhere. Not a place I’d want to go to, that’s for sure. Meanwhile, it’s day two of the City revelations and this time it’s something about how they managed to turn a £30m cost into a profit by setting up a dummy company dealing with ‘image rights’. This on its own should be enough for them to get fucking massive sanctions, let alone all the even worse shit we read about yesterday. Wednesday Nov 7: That Sterling penalty tonight was as bad as it gets. This is where VAR is needed because its hard for a ref in that situation. Who would have believed that a so called top player could just trip over the turf and fall over? You’d automatically just assume he must have been fouled so I feel bad for the ref as he looks like a dickhead now. Couple of things though. Firstly, yet again I find myself wondering what the point is in those dickheads behind the goal. The ref mightn’t have seen what happened but how did the other fella not? Secondly, Sterling should have come clean and admitted what happened. This isn’t your standard case of a player going over under a challenge or even deliberately diving to try and deceive the ref and win a pen. Sterling didn’t do anything wrong other than just trip himself up, but not admitting it is poor form. Guardiola admitted as much, but then brought up a completely irrelevant incident involving Milner in the CL last season. We’re still in his stupid fucking bald head. Prick. Still, at least this gives that German website another tale of Man City corruption to look into. First place they should start is the bank balance of that official behind the goal. Today’s story was something about Mancini being paid more money for being an ‘advisor’ to another team owned by Sheikh Mansour than he was getting for managing City. What a joke. Also tonight, Ronaldo scored against United and celebrated by flashing his abs. As Ronaldo as it gets that is. Juve got complacent and conceded twice in the last few minutes though, giving United an unlikely win and prompting Mourinho to give it the arl Hulk Hogan ear cupping to the home fans. Souness wasn’t impressed, claiming he could have caused a riot. Mick McCarthy was in the studio with him and his response was fucking boss. “Ya planted a flag in the middle of the pitch in Turkey” Not many would have pulled Souey up on his rampant hypocrisy because he’s such a scary bastard, but McCarthy doesn’t give a fuck. Thursday Nov 8: A report emerges that FSG are looking to sell. Yawn. FSG say it’s bollocks. How many times a year does this happen? Two or three at least. Usually because of some fucking blowhard leaking shit to the press even though he doesn’t even have the money to buy us even if FSG wanted to sell, which they don’t. Any time you read anything about FSG looking to sell, just disregard it as they aren’t going anywhere for some time yet. Meanwhile, the club unveil a bust of John Houlding outside Anfield and it’s fucking boss. There should be more of this type of thing. Paisley, Moran, Fagan, Kenny, Digger, Rushy, Stevie and others should all have statues or busts outside the ground. Hell, they should be selling mini ones in the shop. I’d defo buy a couple. Some talk around social media and various sites that we’re not playing well because we’re missing Buvac. I’m not prepared to completely dismiss that possibility, but I don’t really see how Buvac not being here plays a part in Salah and Bobby hitting passes directly to the last defender. Friday Nov 9: Klopp says people expect us to play like Man City. Nope, I’ve never once looked at us and compared us to City. I’m not jealous of how they play and we don’t have to take a back seat to anybody in terms of style. I don’t want us to play like City, I want us to play like us, and for most of this season we haven’t. Meanwhile, Sevilla are rumoured to be interested in bringing Moreno back. Must have some Brazilians who need entertaining. That was the week that was….