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  1. I can’t really think of an intro for this. I don’t know where I’ll end up going in this report either as there’s so much to cover and my mind is racing off in all kinds of different directions. I’ll start with Klopp’s assertion that it’s his most special final. It’s not mine, that is always going to be Istanbul, but I think this might be second you know. Doesn’t matter that it’s the League Cup and not one of the bigger prizes. It’s all about context and when you factor in everything that ultimately led to this victory, and how it made us all feel, this is right up there when it comes to the level of achievement. So much was against us going into the game, and then so much went against us during the game. Yet not only did we grab the late winner to spare everyone the agony of penalties, we did it by completely out playing Chelsea in extra time despite arguably only having one of our first choice eleven on the field. It’s kind of fitting that he scored the goal I guess, as he put the team on his back and was not going to allow us to come away from Wembley without that cup. I may as well talk about Virgil now. There’s not going to be much structure to this, I’m just going to write down whatever comes into my head so it’s not going to be in much of an order. I’m just going to type and see what comes out. So I’ll deal with Virgil first. Usually I wait until the end to say who the star man is but I’ll say it now; it’s the captain. Others were equally as impressive, but what Van Dijk did here is what the greats in other sports do. He was Michael Jordan in the NBA Finals. Patrick Mahomes in a Superbowl. What makes this more impressive is that unlike Jordan and Mahomes, he’s not really supposed to be the one “winning” games. His job is more about stopping us from losing it. He did both though. Defensively imperious, but also went up the other end and settled the game. Twice. Only one of them counted, but we know what he did even if the record books won’t show it. We’ve had the Gerrard Final and the Owen Final, but now we’ve got the Van Dijk Final. Not that it was a one man show by any means, but the big man captained a team that started without at least nine regular starting players and ended without several more, and he led them to an unlikely victory through sheer force of will. I very rarely go into games expecting anything other than a win. Even when the odds are against us I usually find a way to talk myself into it. At half time when we were 3-0 down to Milan I was having a piss and telling everyone in the bogs that we were still in it and just needed to get the next goal. I hadn’t given up hope when we needed to beat Barcelona by four goals. I usually always see a pathway to us winning. But fucking hell I had a massive dark cloud over me in the build up to this game. The uncertainty over Darwin and Mo was like a massive weight on my shoulders, it was all I could think about on Sunday morning. Prior to that I’d been ok because I assumed one or both would make it. Maybe Dom too. But when they ruled out it hit me hard. Suddenly little things started to become big things. Chelsea had lost five straight finals, which should actually be cause for optimism. But the air of misery I had over me just had me thinking “well that run is going to come to an end sooner or later, so probably today”. I was also stressing out because we’d played Luton in midweek with most of the line up that would be starting this, while Chelsea had a full week to prepare for us. Wembley is a notoriously draining pitch and now we’d been robbed of much of our pace. With Dom, Darwin and Mo we’d absolutely fucking destroy Chelsea like we did a few weeks ago. I haven’t mentioned Jota there purely because he’s out for a while and there was never any chance of him making this game, but we had hope that the others would make it. When they didn’t, it was just a massive blow. And because we spanked them a few weeks ago I was worried we were going to see a Crystal Palace situation when we beat them 9-0 and then lost to them in the cup later in the season. All of these negative thoughts were flooding my head. I was unloading all of it in the group chat, much to the annoyance of some of the lads who just aren’t used to me being like that. I couldn’t help it, I was dreading the game and was convinced we’d lose. I expected a great effort, I didn’t think we’d be shite, but I thought we probably wouldn’t have enough and we’d run out of gas. By the time kick off arrived I’d done an about face and felt confident that we’d win. Why? It sounds mad, but the thing that snapped me out of it was just watching Virgil in the tunnel and then when he was leading the lads out. He just had this look. A smirk, a look of complete and utter confidence like “I’ve got this lads”. Not just him either, the whole team seemed relaxed despite all of the absentees. On the flip side, I thought Chelsea’s players looked nervous as fuck.
    48 points
  2. That performance exceeded anything I expected, but the result didn’t. I actually thought we’d win the game but I didn’t think we’d completely dominate them for the entire second half. That was something wasn’t it? Fucking hell. We should have won, we deserved to win, but we didn’t win. Partly because of our finishing and partly because earlier in the season City’s chairman paid a few refs to go over and do some side gigs in the U.A.E. and since they came back they’ve given some of the worst decisions imaginable to help City out. Oliver is the main culprit but don’t forget that Darren England was over there taking the oil money before he did what he did in the Spurs game. Oliver though, in his first game after his little jaunt to the Middle East he failed to send Kovacic off against Arsenal. A week or two later he was VAR in the Manchester derby and invented a penalty from nothing to give City the lead in a game that was close up to that point. We’ve not seen a penalty given like that before or since. Now we are continually told there’s a “high bar” and VAR won’t intervene on penalties. The bar wasn’t very high for Oliver at Old Trafford though eh? And then he ignores that one at the end of this game. Could be because he knows what side his bread is buttered or it might just be that he took the coward’s way out. A lot of refs would have bottled that decision, not necessarily because they’re “pro City” but because it’s the 98th minute of the biggest game in world football right now, and they don’t want to be the ones who decide the game so late. We might have got that in the 75th minute. Maybe. Probably not. But defo not with the last kick of the game. Alan Pardew was on the radio after the game and actually said “it’s probably a penalty but I’m glad it wasn’t given because a game like that shouldn’t end that way”. As ludicrous as it sounds, he’s not going to be alone in that fucked up view. Had we been 1-0 down the feeling would be different. Pardew for one would be singing a different tune, because a draw would have felt like the right outcome for neutrals and they'd have felt cheated by not getting the penalty. When it's us being cheated out of a win it's like "meh". That’s why I think both Oliver and the VAR (Attwell) bottled it. Had we been 1-0 down I bet that would have been given, if not by Oliver then by Attwell. At 1-1 though the easy thing to do it ignore it and blow for full time as soon as possible. So that’s what they did. I’ll say no more about that because there’s really nothing to say. It’s 100% a penalty. Not one of those subjective calls where you can argue it either way. I know there are people trying to argue it, but it’s a penalty. End of story. If people want to argue that it wasn’t given because it was so late in a tied game, I’ll agree. It doesn’t excuse the decision, but it explains it. If they try to argue that it’s not a foul then sorry, that’s utter bollocks. Everyone knows that’s a foul and if they’re trying to argue otherwise they need to stop and ask themselves why. They’re either biased, or they’re trying too hard to be impartial. It’s a pen. Right, with that out of the way let me get on with the game. Just wow. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Klopp happier or more excited after a game than he was doing his post match stuff here. The LFCTV interview in particular, he was absolutely beaming and was singling out loads of different players, looking straight into the camera and saying things like “wow” or “oh my god”. He was so thrilled with the performance it masked any disappointment he might have had with the result. He didn’t even get mad about the penalty and was very calm about it all, mainly because his over-riding emotion was pride in his team. I get that and I feel that way too. Except I am mad about the non-penalty and I am disappointed we didn’t win. Actually disappointment is way too strong a word, I don’t feel that. I just really wish we’d won because I think a performance like that deserved three points. If I was feeling disappointed I’d probably be picking players out and saying “he should have done this” and “he needed to do that”. That’s not how I feel though, I have no disappointment in any player and I’m not digging anyone out for missed chances. They gave us absolutely everything and produced one of the best halves of football you'll see. As great as we’ve been under Klopp, we’ve never been able to do that to City.
    38 points
  3. And we thought last week was dramatic. This team, fucking hell. It wasn’t a good performance, the lads just didn’t have it but they dug deep and found a way. That’s what Champions do. It’s hard not to draw parallels with the Villa game in the title winning season, but it’s too early to know if it will have the same significance. Teams who win titles usually have moments like this one that they look back on as being pivotal though. Hopefully this is ours. For so long it was looking like it wasn’t going to happen, yet because of the faith I have in these players I wasn’t panicking and even going into stoppage time I thought we’d win. It wasn’t until around 95 minutes or so that I gave up and had resigned myself to us ending the weekend in 3rd spot. It’s ironic that the moment I had given up was the moment that Forest are kicking off about and saying it decided the game. May as well get all that out of the way first. The game was in the balance and Forest looked just as likely to get a winner as we did in extra time. They had carried a threat on the counter attack all day and the more we pushed forward looking for the winner, the more space we left for them. They had the ball in our final third and time was running out. It was around the time they had that corner that I lost hope. In fact, it was the moment when play was stopped for the Konate head injury. Forest had already been wasting time (more on that in a bit) and Hudson-Odoi had been in possession when play stopped. I expected a brief delay while Ibou was sorted and then I assumed Forest would keep it in the corner and that would be that. The stream I was watching on buffered at that point and when it came back on we had the ball in the Forest half. So I didn’t know what had happened there until afterwards. Then a minute or so later we scored and all hell broke loose. On the final whistle the Forest staff were going mad (their assistant manager was red carded) and even the owner was on the pitch kicking off. The big fat fuck even waddled down the tunnel chasing after Paul Tierney. Imagine John Henry doing that shit. Add some more points to their impending deduction, the crying pricks. The commentators explained that they were furious that they didn’t get the ball back after Ibou’s head injury and at that moment I could understand why they’d be pissed off. I would be too. It made no sense why Tierney gave us the ball back, and even know I’m still not entirely what should have happened. I do know that Tierney had done virtually the same thing at the other end though.
    34 points
  4. I wonder how many more players we need to lose before it actually becomes a problem? You can make a convincing argument that only two of the eleven that thrashed Luton would make it into Klopp’s preferred line up when he has a full squad to choose from. That doesn’t mean these lads are ‘reserves’ as it’s very much a squad game these days, but Alisson, Trent, Konate, Robertson, Jones, Szoboszlai, Nunez, Salah and Jota are all probably starting if they’re available. They weren’t available though (or in the case of Konate and Robbo they were being rested for the weekend) and yet I thought that starting eleven still looked good. Not great, and you wouldn’t want to be playing that eleven every week, but it’s a sign of how strong the squad is that we can be without all of those players (I haven’t even mentioned Thiago, Bajcetic or Doak either) and still field a line up that didn’t have any glaring weaknesses. Going into the game I was a little concerned simply because Luton never get battered and they’re in every game they play. If they lose, it’s usually by the odd goal and they normally score. If they scored in this one, would we have the firepower to get the win? That was the worry I had, but even though we went in at the break a goal down that worry had gone based on how the first half went. I couldn’t believe how open it was. Right from the first couple of minutes we were getting in behind them and it’s not at all what I expected. I thought Luton would be deep and compact and force us to try and play through them, but they seemed to just go man for man all over the park and although we went in a goal down, it felt like a game we should have been leading by two or three. It started early on. We’d already forced a couple corners in the first minute or two and then Diaz ran clean through from a ball over the top by Kelleher. I’m not sure how Luton allowed that as it’s the kind of chance you’d never expect to get against a side at the bottom, because they usually play a deep low block and won’t allow anything in behind. Yet Kelleher plays a ball over their high line and Diaz runs clear. He should score, it’s an easy chance really. One of the easiest chance you can get when running through on goal as it’s a bouncing ball and the keeper is coming out. Knocking it over him and getting it up and down is so easy and I couldn’t understand what Diaz was even thinking. He hesitated and as soon as he did that the chance was gone. I’ve watched it back and I think the problem is his first touch didn’t get it out of his feet and he never really got his body in position to just lob the ball over the keeper. And once he hesitated, that was that.
    30 points
  5. Took the kids to that yesterday. Lad's third final and daughters first. What a game for your first final. She's already planning Dublin now. Thoughts on the game. The ref! I've seen some badly reffed games over the years and that was up there with them. Free kick every time their players fell to the floor but not a thing when we were getting hacked all over the place. Only just seen the reason for the disallowed goal. If that's a reason to disallow a goal then you may as well abolish corners and free kicks as it's like a wrestling match every time and yet it very rarely results in anything. Only it seems when they are looking for something to rule a goal out. Some immense performances, the goalie, Endo, Virgil, Harvey. Diaz. Second half of extra time and I just thought some of them are not going to get through this. Diaz was gone, the effort he put in was unbelievable. All the kids as well. Wow. However, if you want to see what makes the club special just look at the difference between the fans. When Chelsea did sing, which was rare, you could barely hear a thing. Whereas our lot never stopped. And that's where I think this game was won. Second half of extra time, Oley Oley Oley. Something special happened. It started off as normal but you could just feel it growing. You could sense the crowd realised the players needed it. I'm an old sod now and vary rarely sing at the game but absolutely everyone got swept up in it. Couldn't help but join in and you could see a change on the pitch. It honestly felt liked we'd told the lads it was ours to win and they reacted. At the same time Chelsea looked like they realised it was futile trying to stop it. That was when I felt it was ours. Football in general has been worse in the past few years. VAR, the money, the cheating and it is easy to get disillusioned with it but yesterday was like a throwback to what it should be about. Let's go and win the rest now.
    25 points
  6. Monday Mar 11: Kyle Walker is doing the media rounds today for some reason or other, and for some reason Sky are asking him for his thoughts on the ref's performance yesterday. Of course he was effusive in his praise of Michael Oliver (or “Mike” to his friends such as dirtbag Kyle) because he showed great “character” to not be swayed by Anfield yesterday. This isn’t normal and I can’t believe Sky are putting shit like this out. What’s going on? I feel like we’re in a footy equivalent of a Black Mirror episode. This is even worse than someone slagging a referee off, as the next time he’s involved in a contentious incident and Oliver is the ref, this interview is going to do him a lot of good I reckon. PGMOL needs a massive shake up and I don't mean with the refs on the pitch, as their job gets harder by the week because of the "protocols" they have to adhere to. What needs looking at is how VAR is implemented and how it seems to exist for the purpose of backing up the on field decision rather than getting to the right outcome. Yesterday is a prime example really. Oliver doesn't give the pen and Attwell is coming out with complete horseshit to try and validate the decision. Foot not in an unnaturally high position apparently. So studs up into a players chest is normal then? Fuck off. You didn't want to tell Oliver he was wrong, that's why you let it go. We all know it. The technology is there but they don't use it properly. It's used to rule out goals for the most stupid of reasons (Solanke had one disallowed this weekend for a laughable 'handball' for example) and not used when it would be really useful. They need to work together to get the right outcome, but there's ego involved here. VAR rarely wants to tell the ref on the pitch he's wrong and the refs on the pitch don't seem to ever ask for help. It shouldn't be there to tell the ref he's made a mistake, it should be there for the ref to get a proper look at it and decide for himself what the decision should be. What should have happened yesterday is Oliver should have said "could that have been a foul, should I take a look?" and VAR should have said "yeah have another look and then make your decision". But that doesn't happen because of the protocols they have. All this 'clear and obvious' bullshit. If PGMOL aren't going to use the technology to help themselves then they need it taking out of their hands. Maybe like the NFL where the coach can challenge a decision and have it reviewed. But it can't be reviewed by the ref on the pitch as there's too much ego involved with some of them. Oliver for instance. He's not going to take kindly to a manager challenging his decisions and is likely to dig in even further. He doesn't even like his own colleagues questioning him when they've got access to angles he hasn't. Richard Keys (I know, I know) claims Oliver has told his colleague to never send him to the screen. The last time it happened was September 2022 and he stuck with his original decision. Keys reckons he's been told that Oliver was furious about that and at the next refs meeting told them to never send him to the screen again. Could be bollocks of course, Keys isn't the most reliable of witnesses after all, but he does have contacts within PGMOL and his claims have not been dismissed (not yet anyway, and he's been saying it for a while). All I know is Attwell's explanation for why VAR wasn't recommending a review was absolute nonsense. If there is even a shred of truth in what Keys is saying, then this cunt needs reigning in. A ref on the field gets one look at an incident and its therefore a really tough job. So it’s the absolute height of arrogance to refuse the help and advice of colleagues who have access to different angles, replays and slo motion footage. Oliver is either the most egotistical ref to have ever lived or he wants to influence results without the interference of colleagues correcting his wrong calls. Either way, it needs looking into.
    23 points
  7. Monday Feb 26: Still basking in the glow of yesterday. The content that comes out after these wins is always brilliant and this is no different. All the footage of Darwin being mental, from numerous angles, the goal celebrations put to the Rocky music, the image of Klopp fist pumping the fans with a crestfallen Caicedo sat on the pitch looking on, the kids celebrating together with the big photo of them all, Klopp’s dad dancing to Dua Lipa, Diaz’s actual dad dancing, the video of the best Allez Allez Allez ever that spurred the team on, Neville savaging Chelsea with that “billion dollar blue bottle jobs” just because he was pissed off we’d won…. there’s just so much to digest. Imagine being us. Meanwhile, the PL bottled it and gave Everton four points back. On what grounds? Because of how much they’ve cried? What a load of bollocks this is. The punishment was the very least they deserved given the offences. They had been allowed to write off a load of shit they should never have been able to write off (all the Covid losses for one thing) but they cried and screamed "corruption" and the PL have shit themselves. It's a joke. Not as much of a joke as them doing nothing to stop City from just carrying on regardless, but it's still a joke. Everton still have another charge which might see them docked more points, and Forest will probably get done as well. THIS SEASON. Whatever happens to City won't be this season. It won’t be until God knows when, by which time they might have added another tainted title to the collection and ruined yet another PL season. If they win it and then get punished next season, what fucking good does that do us or Arsenal? I understand how complex it is and that it will take time, but the more I think about it the more I don’t understand why they don’t just do them in blocks of five charges, starting this season. These cunts need the book throwing at them to the extent that whatever punishment they get causes them to fall down the leagues, lose all of their best players and see Abu Dhabi pull out of there because of the bad PR they’re getting. I want that club ruined and for them to never win anything again. And not even that would make up for the memories they’ve robbed us and others of. Meanwhile, "Go and win it for them, young King". The new “eight worst words in the English language” perhaps? Tony Bellew tweeted that yesterday when Danns came on and as you can imagine it caused quite the stir with the Blues. Neil Danns is his best mate so he's known Jayden since he was a little kid, but "go and win it for them" was never going to go down well. He knew that but said it anyway, because in his words Jayden is “family” but now they're mad at him and his ‘top blue’ status is being questioned. There's never a dull moment with the Blues is there?
    23 points
  8. I don’t think any of us seen this coming. The team was much stronger than expected and the scoreline was way more emphatic too. I thought we’d see a much changed team and I didn’t particularly care about the result, because if it had gone wrong we still had next week’s second leg to turn things around. Instead we got pretty much the strongest line up Klopp could have picked, with the one exception of Quansah starting ahead of Van Dijk. The logical assumption there was that we’d see a repeat of last week in the FA Cup, with Konate and Virgil doing a half each. For whatever reason Klopp didn’t do that and now we need to wait until Sunday to see just how fucked up a decision that was. If Ibou doesn’t make that game then it’s all on Jurgen’s shoulders. It isn’t being wise after the event either. He doesn’t play twice a week, we know this. He needs protecting, which we saw last week against Southampton. Why the fuck would you take that risk with City coming to town three days later? Just so reckless. Look, if Konate had been hurt by a tackle or picked up a head injury, that would be different. You can’t legislate for that and you can’t pick your team worrying about things like that. Muscle injuries are different. We all know about Konate’s hamstrings, so seeing him go off a minute after the break because he felt something was infuriating. It’s the one negative on an otherwise perfect night for us. The performance was ok but it probably didn’t warrant the result we got. The scoreline flattered us because they caused us a lot of problems and we needed Kelleher performing heroics, especially in the first half. They were getting in down our left hand side almost at will, but equally we looked like we could score any time we went forward.
    22 points
  9. I don’t think I’ve ever felt uncomfortable about us battering a team before but when the fourth goal went in and we hadn’t even reached the 15 minute mark, I was squirming a little bit. It just felt awkward. Like that video when Michael Owen was blasting volleys past a 12 year old keeper. I felt a bit sorry for Sparta but I was also annoyed with them too. It’s hard enough playing against us without doing the stupid shit they kept doing. It was the same last week too. How many of the goals we scored over both legs came from us winning the ball from them when they tried to play out from the back? At least four, probably more. Yet they kept doing it and we kept punishing them. It was uncomfortable and if we’d continued to play at full intensity we might have scored 20. I’m not even joking. Of course we were never going to do that because it would have been stupid. After that blistering start we dropped down to third gear and stayed there. Except Harvey, who came on at half time as was in sixth gear for the entire second half while everyone else was cruising along. I’m not going to say we shouldn’t be in the Europa League as we’re there for a reason, but it’s almost unfair to the other teams in it because we’re a Champions League calibre team and if we were in that competition we’d have a great chance of winning it. At this time of year we’re usually playing Porto, Barcelona, Inter etc so teams like Sparta are always going to be overmatched, especially when Klopp is putting out such strong line ups. In an ideal world I think most fans would have wanted every first teamer rested for this, but it just doesn’t work like that as managers tend to not operate that way. Klopp certainly doesn’t. There have been times when I think that’s cost us needlessly (Jota a couple o years ago in a dead rubber, Konate last week) but when I saw the line up I didn’t see too many surprises. I actually think given the scoreline from the first leg, Klopp was able to treat this almost like a kind of 11v 11 training match. We didn’t need to be flat out but it was a good session and an ideal tune up for the weekend. Players who needed a rest got it, players who needed minutes got them, everyone played well and the attacking five all got goals. Just what we needed.
    21 points
  10. I’ll start at Goodison and the hilarious scenes that saw the Blues concede twice in stoppage time to lose to David Moyes. Then as their disgruntled fans were leaving the stadium they heard the news of Darwin’s winner at Forest. We often say “Imagine being us”, but another way of looking at it is... imagine being them!! Kinell. They were awarded a first half penalty when Everton old boy Zouma handled in the box. It is a pen, no doubt about it, but I’ve seen more blatant ones not given this season so it’s always a little irritating when VAR gets involved in these. The Odegaard one at Anfield was way worse, but having said that Everton had not been given a single penalty all season prior to this, so I can’t begrudge them it. Especially as Beto missed anyway. He’d have been the last player on the pitch I’d have had taking it. Pickford should be their penalty taker. The Blues always looked the more likely to score though and eventually they did when Garner whipped in a cross and Beto arched those giraffe like neck muscles to head into the corner. McNeil missed a great chance to double their lead but was denied by Areola, and that proved to be costly as Zouma produced a brilliant header into the top corner from a Ward-Prowse corner to tie things up. Always enjoy Everton conceding from a corner as that’s their thing. Like beating Rio Flair with a figure four leg lock. Hold on, did I just compare Everton to Ric Flair? Kinell, that’s worse than my Villa / West Ham take. I’ll rephrase it. It’s like doing the stink face on Rikishi. The Blues had an effort cleared off the line (from a corner, of course) and then the game turned own its head in stoppage time. First, Soucek chested down a ball at the back of the box and although there didn’t look to be any immediate danger, he did remarkably well to adjust his body and then lash it into the far corner with the outside of his right foot. Brilliant goal. Alvarez rubbed salt in the wounds when he finished off a late counter attack to give Moyes a sweet victory at his old stomping ground. It was daylight robbery to be honest, even I can say that Everton played well and deserved to win. They didn’t though and that’s no wins in ten for them now. The PL have given them more points than they’ve won themselves in that period. Maybe they should be thanking them instead of crying about it, the cheating fucks.
    21 points
  11. The Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association are amazing.
    21 points
  12. Long time lurker, first time poster. Have been fortunate enough to see many, many trophies, but I'm with the boss... that one was different. Have never been as proud of a win. Kids, leadership from the seniors, rising above the injuries and the officials - fucking immense.
    21 points
  13. Monday Mar 4: The fallout from “drop ball gate” continues. Batshit mental this is. Tierney is demoted for this weekend. Never seen such a massive over-reaction to a nothing decision. Its genuinely on the same level as a ref giving a throw in the wrong way or giving a goal-kick instead of a corner. Yet every report you see or hear talks of our “controversial win”. It’s only controversial because their fat cunt owner chased after the ref, and because the same fat cunt owner is paying a former high profile ref to cause shit on their behalf. Fuck Nottingham Forest, the massive cry babies. The media are culpable here too. It’s incredible how much coverage they’ve given this. It comes to something when I’m actually applauding Gary Neville and saying “finally someone talking sense”. MOTD set the tone on this and others followed. Their ‘analysis’ of it was a joke. What about that Ryan Yates knobhead though. Have a look at this garbage he came out with. "The referee told me: 'That's the rule, they get the ball.' I honestly don't know how that is possible. We were in the ascendancy. We had a corner. There was just a coming together and we were going to put another ball into the box. Then, suddenly, while we're switched off, they're allowed to get the ball to the other end of the pitch and put us under pressure. It's strange, very strange." “We were in the ascendancy”. Mate, you had a fucking corner that you took an age to take because you were praying for the full time whistle. You’re a fucking yard dog Championship player and you’ll be back there soon enough, especially if you all “switch off” in stoppage time of a tied game just because a decision went against you in the opponents box. Did you wonder how it was possible when Tierney gave you the ball back earlier in the game after you were hit in the head with it? Soft cunt.
    20 points
  14. My daughter had amate round to watch the game. They're over 18, but still had to mind manners etc. Virge scores on 118 mins. "TRY TO CHALK THAT ONE OFF, YOU CUNTS!"
    20 points
  15. Work-rate. Incisiveness. Nous. I don't ask for much. This is how it's gonna be. Build from the ground up. Note the kick-off time. The game that the media are claiming will decide the destiny of the league title, the UK general election, Trump V Biden, the Six Nations, and whatever overhyped boxing match is coming up. While the coaching staff and players will be wanting to prepare for and treat a game at Anfield against City as just another game, it's almost impossible not to think that the outcome will set the tone for the remainder of the season. City barely have any injuries anyway, the likes of Rodri never seem to get injured (or suspended), they're in that post New Year mode where they put together a run of wins, any talk about their off-field transgressions dies a death outside of LFC-friendly platforms, and the line-up of officials will shortly be due an all-expenses-paid jolly to referee a friendly in the UAE in the coming weeks. Last season's corresponding fixture was a month before the World Cup break. Jurgen created a bit of a stir by having us sit back more and soak up pressure rather than apply our usual pressing game on them. The first half was a game of very few chances, with by far the best being a Haaland (aka Blobfish) header straight to Ali when unmarked at the back post. In the second, we had the best chance so far when Mo raced through, only to see Ederson (aka Drunk Banksy Exhibit) get the faintest of touches to his effort, which of course the officials gave as a goal kick. To be fair to them, in real time it did look as though Mo had missed the target. City thought they'd taken the lead when Foden (aka Council Estate Scrote) fired in off Joe on the line from the angle after Blobfish had wiped out Ali when trying to latch onto a through-ball from De Bruyne (aka Prince Harry). Ali and the defenders protested with Professional Game Manchester-based Officials Limited's representative Taylor (aka Bald Manc Bastard) for a foul on the keeper, but VAR were telling him to have a look at something else. Blobfish had also fouled Fab in the lead-up to the goal. Bald Manc Bastard went to the screen and ruled the goal out. Guardiola (aka Bald Weirdo) went mental, not quite "Twiiiiiice!" territory, but he was clearly peeved that Bald Manc Bastard had failed to stick to the script. Following that unexpected reprieve, Mo played an exquisite cross with the outside of his foot to the unmarked Diogo at the back past. Perhaps seeing Drunk Banksy Exhibit rushing out, he hurried his chance and headed it wide. Then we got the two big moments in the game. Prince Harry uncharacteristically overhit a simple free kick into the arms of Ali. Ali looked up, assessed his options, and saw Mo up against Cancelo (aka How Did I End Up At Barca?) in the City half. Everyone else was still in our half. It was a great goal kick, but even better was Mo's first touch. Honestly, to kill a high dropping ball stone dead, fend off the attentions of HDIEUAB, spin his man and get his sprint on in one movement was just about the most outrageous bit of skill I've seen by a Liverpool player for impact. The only other instance to immediately come to mind is Suarez against the Geordies when he raced onto a long pass, controlled the ball with his shoulder on the run, touched it past the keeper with a deft feint, and rolled it into the net with the outside of his foot. That one was almost exactly a decade earlier! Mo raced through and this time Drunk Banksy Exhibit could do nothing to stop it. Another amazing goal for Mo against that lot. In David Coleman speak, "One Nil!" The next talking point was yet another example of Mo not getting a free kick for the most blatant of fouls right in front of the linesman. Linesmen at that end struggle to see stuff that happens right in front of them. Remember when Bosingwa (aka Monobrow) came charging in and jammed his studs into Yossi's back by the corner flag? Chelsea got either a throw-in or free kick after that one! Anyway, this time it was Bernardo Silva (aka Casa De Merda Português) who wrestled Mo to the ground, tried to elbow him, and then backheeled him when the ref's back was turned. The officials let play go on. Mo was furious but Jurgen was absolutely incensed, letting the linesman have both barrels. Bald Manc Bastard decided that was red-card worthy and sent Jurgen off. How often do we see officials ignore what initiated a scuffle or verbal tirade, and just deal with the retaliatory action? They always cover their own backs too. Remember when Robbo was elbowed by linesman Hatzidakis (aka Roid Of The Rovers), with the immediate narrative being peddled that the Scot had manhandled the lino? Anyway, the game practically fizzled out after Jurgen was sent to the stands, and we had 3 very welcome points. Despite what I wrote about City earlier, it's not like we don't pose a serious threat to them. We have shown time and again that we can nail them. As I write, I'm not sure where we are on the injury front following the Sparta game, but I'm hoping we have much more in the way of availability than in recent weeks. We can build a welcome 4-point gap between the sides with a victory, which will also keep us at the top of the table when league action resumes following the international break. We have the Sparta return leg followed by the trip to the Red Mancs in the FA Cup to come, and the Sparta games affords Jurgen a chance to rest a number of players, particularly the ones that have pulled double duty over the past few weeks. I am expecting maximum motivation, concentration, attitude and application for this one from first minute to last. 3 points please. Get it done!
    19 points
  16. As photos go….. My two favourite ever Liverpool employees
    19 points
  17. I’ll kick things off at Old Trafford where the Mancs lost in comical fashion to Fulham. United had five wins in a row and were unbeaten in 2024 going into this. Some had been fooled by that and were thinking they were turning things around. Shit, Gary Neville was even predicting they’d beat Spurs and Villa to a top four spot. It never ceases to amaze me how people can allow themselves to be so influenced by results and completely ignore what they see with their own eyes. Klopp always talks about how important the performances are in terms of knowing where you are at as a team. If we win and play shit, he’ll say so and he’ll say that we need to be better next time because that won’t get the job done. You can play shite and win, or play really well and lose. As a coach he takes more from the latter because he knows that playing well will yield much better results over a period of time. United’s record in 2024 looks really good, providing you haven’t seen them play. No team in the league has a bigger disparity between performances and results than they do. Even when they win they look shit. Only Sheffield United have given up more shots on goal than these fucking bums. Some of their fans get all chesty when they’ve won a few but the knowledgable ones surely knew a result like this one was in the post. I wasn’t at all surprised Fulham beat them, but the manner of it wasn’t something I’d have expected. Once United got their spawny late equaliser I expected them to get another, so that 87th minute Fulham winner was funny as fuck, especially as Brighton were equalising against Everton at virtually the same moment. I say this a lot so I should be used to it, but it’s always jarring to me any time I see a United line up as it’s always so shit looking. They’ve got absolutely nothing there in terms of top talent and they’re not well coached either. They’re complete dogshit and it’s a miracle they’re so high in the table. They had Lindelof at left back, some kid I’d never heard of on the wing and Rashford is now back at centre forward because the one player they have who does look decent is now injured and will miss the Manc derby this weekend. They had virtually no chance of getting anything at City even when Hojland was available, but without him forget it. That lazy arse Rashford with his four goals all season strutting around like his shit don’t stink. He’s a fucking disgrace him. I heard loads of school kids in Manchester are refusing their free school dinners because they don’t want to be associated with the bone idle bastard. Fulham were all over them in the first half and Iwobi was running them ragged. Imagine being run ragged by Iwobi. Kinell. I like that Muniz up front for Fulham. He’s proving to be a decent replacement for Mitrovic now and I don’t think they’re missing him any more. Maguire should have been sent off for a first half lunge but his name isn’t Curtis Jones so he escaped with a yellow card. Bassey blasted Fulham ahead from a corner and at this point in the MOTD highlights United hadn’t actually had a single chance. They were in the Fulham box once when they had a corner, but Fulham broke on them and nearly scored. That was the only time we’d seen them in the Fulham half. Eventually with 10 minutes to go they got a corner and Maguire headed over. That sparked a little bit of pressure and Maguire equalised with a rebound after Leno spilled a shot by Fernandes. United poured forward looking for a winner and left the back door open for Traore to break on them and find Iwobi who fired into the bottom corner past a static Onana. Fulham have been trolling United on social media ever since and Ten Hag has been crying about something they put on Tik Tok taking the piss out of Fernandes faking injury. He also had a go at Carra over his MNF analysis, even though it was absolutely bang on. Baldy is proper rattled now. They’re going to get killed at City this weekend.
    18 points
  18. For the second time this season Man City were unable to beat Chelsea. The last time they met was 4-4 but this wasn’t as dramatic. Chelsea probably should have won as they took City to the cleaners on the counter attack several times but only made it pay once, when Sterling send Walker for the Manchester Evening News and curled one in against his former club. He sort of celebrated but also sort of didn’t. The gaps in behind City were begging to be exploited and Sterling and Jackson got in behind regularly, with Palmer pulling the strings behind them. He was fucking ridiculous and it’s genuinely hard to comprehend why City would let him go. I know I’ve referenced this before, but seriously, what’s gone on there? Local lad, came through the Academy, is clearly fucking brilliant but they sold him to a fellow “Sly Six” club. It has to be some kind of FFP dodge as you just don’t do that. It’d be like us suddenly deciding to sell Curtis to Spurs. It’s weird. Anyway, he was the best player on the pitch but he was booed by City fans. They booed James Milner though so that says it all. Sterling almost made it 2-0 but was denied by the boot of Ederson. Had that gone in City were not coming back and it was the pivotal moment in the game. City had created some good chances but the blowfish was uncharacteristically wasteful. Not for the first time this season Rodri came to their rescue when he equalised with seven minutes left. Thankfully they didn’t spawn a late winner, despite them trying to cry in a penalty appeal when a loose ball landed on the hand of Colwill. Never a pen in a million years. Chelsea were good value for the point but City took in the good grace we’ve come to expect. Guardiola throwing wobblers on the touchline at every decision they didn’t get and then Rodri going on TV afterwards to complain about the ref and VAR giving “so many” big decisions against them. Then that petulant cunt Haaland shoved the camera away at the end. The camera man should have fucking launched the camera into his stupid bloated fucking face, the cheeky ugly cunt. Absolute fucking cunts. Entitled cunts. So used to getting their own way they convince themselves they should get every decision and when they don’t they stamp their oil soaked cheating feet. I despise everything about these cunts. A million times more than I’ve ever hated United. Guardiola is somehow an even bigger cunt than Ferguson ever was, as impossible as that would have been to believe at one point. What were they kicking off about after this? The absolute nonsense penalty shout against Colwill and an even worse shout when Walker fouled Sterling and tried to claim a penalty for himself. That was one of the most egregious bits of cheating I’ve seen all season. Not so much that he tried to buy the penalty by initiating contact, but the way they all reacted when Andy Madley wasn’t fooled and correctly gave the free-kick to Chelsea. They’re the fucking worst. I hate every single one of them. Every player. The manager. Every coach. Every cunt in the press office. The owners. The board. The tea lady. The kit man. The bus driver. The sad cunt DJ who introduces the players to the couple of dozen forty something single mums hanging around hoping Kyle Walker might ask if he can sniff their knickers…. basically everyone and everything connected with them. The worst thing to ever happen to football in this country. CUNTS.
    18 points
  19. Massive win, potential banana skin avoided and we extended our lead over City by two points. That’s the good news. The bad news is we may have lost two key players for the foreseeable future, but we have to cross our fingers and hope for the best on that. This was a great win and while maybe the scoreline flattered us a little, it was a comfortable, deserved win in a fixture that has given us problems in recent years. I think we were assisted by how shit they were at the back but I also think we spotted things in their game that we could exploit, and we did. It wasn’t a co-incidence how we created so many chances by knocking the ball forward early and turning them around, or the way we countered them on their set-pieces. That was a big weakness of theirs and we exploited it. It was quite strange to see really. In open play they had a compact shape, five across the back, three sat in front and Maupay dropping off to get turned and start counter attacks. It was tough to break down, as we thought they would be. But then they’d get a set-piece and turn into Keegan’s Newcastle, throwing everyone forward and having all of their players in our final third. They started well and although I didn’t think we were playing badly, they were the better side in the early stages. They were quite slick on the counter attack and had a few chances. One counter attack they had ended with a Toney shot that Kelleher saved comfortably, but it was lovely football. Konate did well to put Toney off in the end but that was proper incisive stuff from them. Toney had another chance that he dragged wide after being found by Maupay, and those two were really lively early on. I felt as though we were looking decent enough though and had some good situations ourselves. Unfortunately we lost one of our better players when Curtis went down after an innocuous looking challenge. It’s a good tackle by their lad and it’s not reckless or overly physical, Curtis just landed awkwardly. He was in agony and it’s a big worry.
    18 points
  20. We’re going to score in the last minute of injury time.
    17 points
  21. 16 points
  22. Last time I wrote: "The front five are now up to 57 for the season and will go close to 100. The team is up to 84 and will go through the 100 barrier sometime in late-February, early-March and could hit 130 or more by the end of the season. We’ve done this before and not got the rewards we deserved in terms of trophies, so there are no guarantees, but with those numbers, we are going to be in contention – and the supporters likely on valium – for the rest of Klopp’s reign." Well, I had to get something right after the injury jinx I ‘cursed’ the squad with on the pod! I wrote that just after the Norwich game on the 28th of January and since then, things have gone great, in the main, the sole blot on the Reds’ copybook being that off-day against Arsenal. The front five have moved on to 67 – not bad adding 10 goals between them in the space of a month, given the injuries in that area. All of those goals came in the League too, with Darwin and Diaz really stepping up. We are looking at a game every three of four days from here on in, so getting four out of those front five back to fitness will be more vital than ever. If Diogo manages to get back on his feet for the final games, all the better. However, that doesn’t seem too likely at the moment. We managed to hit the 100 mark on February the 21st, against Luton. Harvey doing the business in his 100th game for the Club. We still look to be on course for somewhere around 130, time will tell. Whatever, we’ve got one trophy in the bag and as stated above, with those kind of numbers, we’ll always have a chance of contending. The Arsenal defeat seemed to knock the stuffing out of a good few Reds. I wasn’t that bothered: they were very good on the day, we were terrible, it happens. It hasn’t happened a lot this season – we’ve had two or three stand-out below-par to downright poor performances, Wolves in the first-half, Luton away, Sheffield United away spring to mind. Yet, we still came away with seven points out of nine against those. The only thing that mattered after that Arsenal defeat was the reaction to it. And to that end, the Reds have come up trumps. Nine points out nine, 11 goals for, three against. Not forgetting the 4-1 demolition of Chelsea before the Arsenal game! We’ve scored three or more in a League game 13 times this season (out of 26 played). That’s extraordinary, all the more so as we have done it while looking solid at the back, with the second-best defensive record in the League. This is largely down to Virgil. One of the things we all said we needed was for him to be back to his imperious best this season. He has stepped into the role of captain admirably – Paul referenced his leadership on the Cup Final pod. That leadership has been off the field as much as it has been on it. Off it, he’s been an example, accompanying the youngsters and representing the Club really well in the media. On it, he’s been colossal, back to his commanding best. I think two things in particular stand out for me this season with Virgil. The way he took his punishment on the chin after the Newcastle game, served his extra game ban and was commanding all winter. And the way he took the blame for the second goal conceded against Arsenal, came back and inspired us to a win against Luton, helping to turn Anfield rabid and then a few days later leading us to Cup glory. He’s not a one-man band though and all of them have been heroes this season – Ibou’s physicality is off the charts, Joe Gomez has gone above and beyond the call of duty, Andy has come back with fire in his belly, Kostas is so vital to us in terms of the spirit he brings to the whole ‘project’ and the young lads have seized their opportunity with both hands, whether in the League or in the Cups. ‘If we go all the way in the FA Cup and the Europa League, there is a maximum of 29 games remaining. I know, only 29 more games – at best – with Jürgen at the helm… The intensity will really ramp up in February and March. Three League games, the League Cup final and an FA Cup 5th round tie before our very own version of March Madness with – take a deep breath – four League games, a possible FA Cup quarter-final, a two-legged Europa League tie and, as if that wasn’t enough, an international break. It’s exhausting even thinking about it. We are well-equipped though, given the depth of the squad and its freshness which is down to the rotation referenced earlier and really good in-game management.’ We are now down to a maximum of 23 games remaining – the end is nigh, as witnessed by Jürgen going to all sides of the Ground for the fist pumps. He even acknowledged the Main Stand, for goodness’ sake! The rearranged Luton game meant that we actually played four League games in February. March was always going to be crazy and even more so now, given the scale of the injury crisis. It’s all about managing on a game-to-game basis and trying to get bodies back. That the injury crisis hasn’t damaged us that much is down to a combination of fight, composure, maturity, desire. If you take the end of December as the start of the crisis (not to mention Mo’s and Endo’s absences), we have come through more than unscathed. We’ve advanced to the 5th round of the FA Cup, won six out of seven in the League and won ANOTHER trophy under Jürgen. Oh, did you think I was forgetting? Sunday, at Wembley, was the epitome of what we have become under Jürgen Norbert Klopp. What he has instilled in this team, this backroom team, this communion with the supporters is intangible. It was best typified by him believing – genuinely – on the night of the loss to Madrid in Kiev that we would be back a year on. And we were. And the year after that we won the Title. Against all odds, against the greatest cheating enterprise in the history of English football, we have gone toe to toe. Never backed down. A bounce or two of the ball away from epoch-defining moments. Almost 1000 goals. More than ‘a never-say-die’ attitude, it’s a ‘fuck-you-all’ attitude. We are here, come what may. In fact, the more adverse the conditions, they better we like it. Alisson out. Caoimhin impersonates him. £500m-worth of footballers on crutches, we’ve got Joe Gomez, Conor Bradley, Jarell Quansah, Bobby Clark, James McConnell and Jayden Danns to come in and star. There have been bigger victories in the Club’s history, there’ll be bigger ones to come, hopefully, but few, if any, will equal Sunday’s. The manager was bursting with pride. So were Reds everywhere. Soak it up for the next couple of months, because soon we’re going to have to sing, ‘I’m so glad That Jürgen was a Red’. John Brennan View full article
    16 points
  23. FAO of any scab mouth breathers reading this. 1. Danilo rugby tackled Danns to the floor on one of our corners and no penalty was given. 2. As such, nobody was getting a penalty for a minor shirt tug. 3. 8 minutes is a MINIMUM of injury time. The clue is how they announce it’s a minimum. 4. Dominguez pissed about getting off the pitch, and then walked to the dugout once he was off. Wasted time, seen by the officials. 5. Danilo kicked the ball away in injury time, was booked for time wasting, which led to further added time. 5. We took all of your shitty poverty chanting and shoved it up your little scab arseholes. You got what you deserved. And if you happen to be relegated by two points I’ll laugh my fucking head off. 6. Write that in your inevitable letter to the PL/ PGMOL.
    16 points
  24. Monday Feb 19: Klopp said something to the press on Friday in amongst all the Alonso stuff that I thought was a little odd. I didn't include it last week because there wasn't really anything to say about it, it was probably nothing. It was about Mbappe and the quote was 'Obviously, I'm not involved in that, but I can tell you I'd be surprised if all the top clubs were,' Klopp said. 'The top clubs I know, for most of them it will be tricky. Wages, signing-on fee.' The reason I thought it was odd is because the market will set the price. If Mbappe is a free agent he has to sign for someone and if nobody is willing to pay him what he's on at PSG then he has to either sign a new deal there or take the best offer out there. I expected him to rule us out, but why was he talking about how tricky it will be for the other big clubs? Then over the weekend I saw a report that Mbappe's people met with City before the announcement was made that he was leaving PSG. Is Klopp putting this out there so people will question how the fuck City can afford it, especially when they already have Haaland on close to a million quid a week (most of it off the books of course). You can bet your life's savings that meeting with Mbappe centred around some sort of ambassadorial role in Abu Dhabi while he makes 200k a week from City. The media are so culpable in this shit though. They'll report that City are the only English club that can afford him but they won't tell you how they can afford it. A club with no world wide fanbase to speak of, that has empty seats every home game (despite the books showing that they are selling out), that is already paying incredible amounts of money to its players, yet they can match what PSG have been paying Mbappe. And fucking nobody in the media says its dodgy because "they've got rich owners". Here's the thing though; it doesn't matter how rich your owners are. That's got nothing to do with how much a club is allowed to spend. Jeff Bezos could buy Luton Town but they wouldn't be able to sign Mbappe and pay him £1m a week, so how come no-one questions how City can afford it? You don't need to see the books to know they're cheating, you just have to look at the players and manager they have and the fact that they are able to attract and keep them when they aren't a big club. It's cheating in plain sight and it's still happening now despite the narrative that they've somehow now "gone legit". I don't think Mbappe is going there but that isn't the point. The fact it's even seen as normal for them to be in there offends me greatly. He's going to Real Madrid though, it's an open secret and Konate even mentioned it on Saturday when he was asked about it. He just laughed and said "everyone knows where he's going". Nike probably won't be happy about him joining an adidas team though.... Speaking of dumb, I see Gary Neville is now saying United will finish top four. Interesting that, he must think either us or Arsenal are dropping out because it was only a few weeks back he was telling us that Spurs were going to challenge City for the title. Honestly, this tit is king of the terrible takes yet is still seen as a serious pundit. Actually that's unfair, he's not the king, he's the prince of the terrible takes. That dope Rio is the king. Neville is wrong so often though I might start keeping track of all the stuff he says just for a laugh. You'd think he'd have learned to hold back after embarrassing himself last summer saying Klopp would happily take United's midfield over the new one he'd assembled. Soft get. Meanwhile, reports in Portugal suggest Jota will miss two months but he will be back before the end of the season. It isn't confirmed but it seemed quite reliable. Mixed feelings if this is true. It's good that his season isn't over but fucking hell, he's going to miss some of our most important games and it's proper shit for him and us as he's been in great form. I don't really see it as us having a front three anymore, we've got five and when we have all of them and we're able to use all five to rotate and make substitutions, we look damn near unbeatable as few teams can live with that firepower. As long as Nunez isn't injured we've still got four and that's good, but we're down to the bare bones in midfield at the moment. Trent, Dom, Thiago, Stef and Curtis all out, leaving us with just Endo, Macca, Grav and Harvey. I think McConnell is going to feature over the next week or so because we can't keep putting the same lads out there every game.
    16 points
  25. Monday Feb 12: Reports today say Postecoglu won't be joining us at the end of the season. In other news, I can confirm that I won't be taking up a membership at Augusta National. Seriously, how the fuck is he even being linked with the job? Because he's a fan? So are all of you reading this and you won't be getting the job either. Ok, I'm being flippant as he's clearly got something about him, but that's not anywhere near enough to be qualified for this job. If we appointed him I'd be fucking livid. I don't care for that guy. I've been watching loads of tactical analysis videos of Alonso's Leverkusen and I'm all in on this. I was even before I'd seen all the tactical stuff, but that was based on the fact he's Xabi Alonso, he's top of the Bundesliga and he's taken a team from 2nd bottom to being unbeaten in all comps this season. I knew very little about how he'd done it. Now that I've seen what he's actually doing, fucking hell. It's proper high end, ahead of the game shit. He's not unbeaten because he's got the best players, it's because he's got the best tactics and motivational skills. Some of his key players were free transfers like Xhaka and Grimaldo. He's got another lad who was at Southampton and Burnley and pulled up no trees. He hasn't done this by buying boss players, he's done it by coaching. There was another team that took it to Bayern Munich in similar fashion in recent times. You might be familiar with their manager.... This is the biggest no brainer decision any club could ever make. Don't overthink it, this is just so obvious. Of course there's risk involved and none of us can know how it would turn out, but there's risk with any appointment as there are never any guarantees. You just have to make the decision that gives you the best chance of success, that's all you can do. And if it doesn't work, there's no regrets because you made what was the best decision you could have made at that time with all of the information available to you. It's almost like the NFL draft in some ways. The Bears have the number one pick this year and there are a lot of arguments going on about what they should do. There's a quarterback available who is being touted as a generational talent and half the teams in the league would kill to get him. He might turn out to be a flop, but if you don't take him you'll always be kicking yourself in case he becomes what the experts are saying he could be. We're in that unique situation this summer. We've basically got the number one pick in the draft as we're in a position where we can choose ANY manager we want (nobody is turning down this job, it's the most attractive available job in the world other than maybe Real Madrid, but I just don't see Xabi wanting to join them over us at this point in his career). Alonso is the clear stand out star of the draft, yet you've got people suggesting we pass on him and take De Zerbi, the Sporting fella or even Eddie fucking Howe (ok, that was Agbonlahor who said that so it doesn't count). If we took anybody else other than Alonso the risk would be much bigger than giving it to him and it's a decision we might live to regret forever. Like when the Bears traded up to draft Mitch Trubisky instead of Patrick Mahomes. It takes years to recover from mistakes like that.
    16 points
  26. I'm taking my girl to her first match tonight. Here she is last night in my.old.shirt from 92.
    15 points
  27. Work-rate. Incisiveness. Nous. I don't ask for much. This is how it's gonna be. Build from the ground up. And so the first cup final of the season, and it's up against a familiar foe. Despite the league disparity between the 2 sides, I'd imagine the bookies have Chelsea as slight favourites purely down to our crippling injury list. When our players and coaches talk about the togetherness of our squad, I don't think they mean the togetherness in the physio's room! Chelsea have struggled for consistency ever since the Russian gangster was booted out in the aftermath of his country's invasion of Ukraine, and that is despite the ridiculous money they've been allowed to spend on transfers and contracts under their new owners. They'd taken advantage of a loophole (since closed) that enabled them to amortise transfer fees over the length of longer-than-usual contracts, while still booking player sales as straight profit. Any fees they agree for new signings going forward would have to be spread over a maximum of 5 years, even if the contract offered to the player is longer than that. Such an approach needs all the players signed to hit the ground running, as there is a huge risk of players doing a Bogarde and sitting on a lucrative contract if things aren't going well. Going back to the pre-game build-up, Chelsea currently have more options than us available to change things up. Given the possibility of another stalemate followed by penalties, it's easy to see why that gives them an advantage over us. The two sides met in this fixture 2 years ago, and it was the strangest of 0-0s as both goals led a charmed life. Mendy and Queef were making saves that they shouldn't have been, and both sides were spurning chances aplenty. For us, Joel thought he'd broken the deadlock in normal time when a free-kick into the box was headed across goal by an unmarked Sadio at the back post. Big Bird rose inside the six yard box to plant a header into the net. Our celebrations were curtailed when referee Attwell was summoned to the VAR monitor. The most minor of infringements by Virg on Reece James, preventing the Chelsea man from getting back to challenge Sadio, was deemed sufficiently bad enough to rule the goal out. It's exactly the kind of infringement on our players that goes unpunished time and time again, and our players generally do not make a meal of any contact (unlike some who repeatedly cheat and get the rewards). Chelsea had the ball in the net twice in extra time, through Lukaku and Havertz, but both were flagged offside by the alert linesmen. Penalties it was, then, and Tuchel decided Kepa was a better bet than Mendy to come out on top in the shootout. Bear in mind that Mendy was in goal earlier that month when Sadio's Senegal beat Mo's Egypt in a shootout at the AFCON final. Also bear in mind that Kepa was in goal 3 years earlier against City in the final, and was going to be replaced by Caballero for the same reason. Kepa insisted on staying on, leading to some comical scenes as his coach Sarri had a meltdown on the sidelines. In the 2022 shootout, each side's 10 outfield players found the net. Some very comfortably, others with inches to spare, and one or two where the keepers might have felt they could have done better having got a hand to it. So it was now the turn of the keepers. Both converted. Queef confidently dispatched his by sending Kepa the wrong way. Kepa's went between the posts but over the crossbar. Which would be OK if he was Jonny Wilkinson, but he wasn't. We'd won the cup, and it was the first leg of an unprecedented quadruple attempt. As I mentioned before, Jurgen goes into this one short of options. Thiago, Baj and Big Bird were already long-term absentees. Diogo will be missing for the next couple of months. Curtis is out. Trent and Dom are supposedly close but neither has yet re-joined training yet so are unlikely to be available. Mo and Darwin are the big question marks having missed the Luton game. Jurgen has been pretty evasive other than saying it's an unwelcome problem. What with Trent and Dom having suffered relapses of the injuries that previously kept them out, is Mo's hamstring still an issue? What exactly is up with Darwin? These are problems I'd rather we did not have, but I believe Jurgen when he says that as long as we have an eleven to put out there, we will do our utmost to win. The stand-ins this season have done a remarkable job which is a big reason why we again find ourselves in the mix for another quadruple attempt. We still have the tools to hurt Chelsea. We definitely need to make sure motivation, concentration, attitude and application are absolutely bang-on from first minute to last. Motivation is never an issue leading up to cup finals. Thinking clearly and applying yourselves correctly to both maintain ascendancy and withstand pressure are what counts. Let's go for that trophy please, and put a 10 under it on the Champion's Wall. Get it done!
    15 points
  28. Told you. Winner last minute of injury time. Fuck you scabs.
    15 points
  29. Three goals, another clean sheet and the kids step up. A perfect evening’s work then. Yes, it is I, Dan Thomas, to regale you with the tales of a midweek win in the FA Cup 5th round. Instead of a cup goalkeeper, Dave has cup match report writers! It wasn’t as straightforward as the scoreline suggests but we’ll come to that. This result stands squarely on the shoulders of Liverpool’s Academy. It feels like we could have at least two breakout kids to step up into the first team in Bobby Clark and Jayden Danns, and James McConnell isn’t that far behind either if not an equal in the conversation. The Academy is in the best place it has been for a long, long time. And yet, this match report felt like it could be significantly different at one point given that Southampton started really quickly. Everything about our start was slow, even fans arriving late en masse. Apparently there were bad problems with the ticketing system – I was straight in but from what I was told, the Southampton game was not appearing in people’s wallets and it wasn’t just a few people, it was causing bedlam outside the ground come kickoff time. Luckily I’d gone in early because Paul Natton’s bladder is not as capacious as it once was. Anyway, back to the football – Southampton made a lot of changes, 8 in fact, and rotated heavily for this game. I think they would have done that no matter what team we put out because the reality is for them, and for Norwich in the previous round, the FA Cup is a distraction. Getting back into the Premier League is their priority and having lost 3 of their last 5 in the league they were always going to look at giving key players a rest. For us, that was more or less the strongest team we could put out given the frankly ridiculous situation we have with injuries and we lost two more at Wembley. The team we put out was stronger than I expected, I was surprised that van Dijk started. I genuinely thought we might go with Quansah being the experienced centre half. Because the reality is that he has now played enough football to warrant the tag of first team player. Kostas starting made sense (even if his performance didn’t) and Gomez at holding midfield was…. unexpected. It wasn’t the greatest performance from a holding midfielder you’ll ever see but it wasn’t the worst either. It just goes to show you can put Joe Gomez wherever you need him to and he will get the job done. However, the first 15 minutes were not a good watch. Southampton absolutely battered us quite honestly; they were ahead practically straight away but Mara slightly mistimed his run and the flag went up. Nice finish but we were carved open far too easily. That was only a taster of what was to come though. The visitors sensed a chance against a very youthful reds team and piled forward. Joe Aribo in midfield was running the show and he took control of a loose ball, played in Sulemana on the wide left only for his low shot to hit the post. With an inexperienced midfield on the park it was no surprise that we were losing every 50/50 but that’s what was happening. Southampton hoovered up every loose ball and played some nice football. I was very critical of Norwich in the last round for trying to pass their way around a front three of Diaz, Nunez and Jota but Southampton played around at the back and into midfield very nicely. As the half wore on, we got wise to it and almost nicked the ball a few times but for the first half an hour we struggled to get on the ball. Kelleher made a couple of sharp saves, including a really good one from Mara. That came from McConnell being dispossessed. Van Dijk played a simple ball to the midfielder and he tried to turn – he was simply muscled off the ball and Mara’s low shot was really well saved by Kelleher. I’ve been critical of him this season but last night and at Wembley, he showcased how good a goalkeeper he actually is. From the subsequent corner, Rothwell jinked into the box from a second ball (a theme all night with second balls) and placed his shot just wide. It honestly felt like a Southampton goal was an inevitability. It took us 15 minutes to have a shot of any kind, when all the dickheads in the crowd shouted SHOOOOOT and Joe Gomez did – it only just landed in the lower tier. We just couldn’t wrestle control of the game. Ultimately it was that midfield battleground and Clark and McConnell were simply getting overpowered physically. Technically, they both showed nice touches but that’s where Southampton were getting their joy – winning the ball and looking early for either flank but especially Sulemana on the left, who was direct and tricky. He went on a run and went in between both Bradley and Quansah before hitting his shot straight at Kelleher. It was a good run but some real naivety and inexperience from our lads to let him go in between him. At least boot him if he gets through you both, eh lads? After that the game settled down and we started to get into it a bit more. When we had possession we were tidy with it and worked some nice overlaps and forced a few corners. We took the sting out of the game, calmed it down and looked a much better team as a result. Gomez grew into his role and won the ball back nicely a few times – our biggest threat always looked like it was going to come from Bradley though. Elliott had a shot tipped wide and we suddenly went in front and what a moment for Lewis Koumas. Shout out to Bobby Clark here because he injected himself into the game at the perfect time, driving in from the left and fizzing in a ball to Koumas, who jinked himself into a shooting position. It hit the defender on the calf and flew into the bottom corner. The ground properly erupted – relief and ecstasy, because who doesn’t like a debut goal? Serious business for Koumas who was understandably delighted – chalk one up to the Academy. One thing that I liked about this goal was that the superfan mouth on a stick sat behind me missed the goal. You know the sort – loudly complaining about the atmosphere and people not singing. He was so much a better fan than everyone else that he went down for a half time burst and missed the goal. He is also so much a better fan than everyone else that he left about 30 seconds before the 3rd goal. Glorious. It reminds me of that time I was watching Premier League Darts at the Echo Arena and a gang of young lads behind me were pissed up and kept spilling beer down our backs. My mate told them in no uncertain terms that if it happened again he’d use them as a dart and they apologised and went downstairs to let the situation calm down and of course, replace the drinks they’d just spilled. As they were downstairs, they missed a 9 Darter. Exquisite. Gakpo should have immediately doubled the lead but he tried to clip a shot and missed the target. I initially thought the goalkeeper had saved it but looking at replays, he just missed. Poor from him – as the experienced forward on the pitch I was looking for a lot more from him to be honest. The game just passed him by for long spells which seems to happen too often. We nearly had a chance to nick another one just before half time as our press caught Southampton out with their extravagant passing around the back but the ball just ricocheted away from Clark – had he been able to take it in, we had runners left and right. Half time and some relief. I don’t know what Kostas’ problem was, but he played like he had his boots on the wrong feet and as above, Gakpo needed to do more and lead the line. The kids had all done great. Van Dijk came off, Konaté came on and we should have extended our lead but Gakpo scuffed a very presentable chance wide in keeping with his evening. Should have done better, should have been 2-0 but instead, Southampton lived on. Credit to them, they kept going and should have been level after a lovely ball in behind saw Sulemana hit a shot at the back post straight at Kelleher. With any composure at all, he’d have scored. They had another great chance from a corner when a flick on saw two unmarked at the back post but Charles lashed it into the side netting. It was a quite incredible miss and it was actually their last chance. The game got into a pattern where we were in control and Southampton never got close again. We’d brought Danns on before that miss for the hard working, but tiring Koumas and MacAllister soon followed. It’s no coincidence to me that he comes on and we find another level and possession was much tidier and progressive. McConnell played well but MacAllister stepped it up a level. It was another FA Cup moment befitting of a Hollywood blockbuster TM as Jayden Danns scored his first goal for the club, and to be honest it feels like it could be the first of many. Smallbone (the best named player on the pitch) gave the ball away and Elliott swooped onto it and ran into space. He played a perfect ball through for Danns and for an 18 year old kid that finish is just ridiculous. He showed a certain Dutch international how to finish with calmness and composure as he lifted the ball over the goalkeeper. Game over. We nearly extended that lead as Gakpo lead a counter attack and ran with it from pretty much the edge of his own box. He held off three attempted fouls from that Smallbone jabroni and ran to just outside their box and fizzed a shot just over. That’s what I want to see more of from Gakpo – be direct, back yourself and get a shot away. I still have question marks over what he is and what his role should be for us, but he is clearly a gifted footballer. I just wanted to see more from him last night, this was good though. The game was capped off nicely just before the end as Bradley’s shot was saved and Danns swept in the rebound. Again, it is very promising for an 18 year old lad to know where to stand to get to the ball first – but he was switched on, he had ground to cover and reacted quicker than anyone to poke it home. I thought that was possibly Bradley’s weakest game for us, certainly defensively, but he always carries a threat going forward. In the end it was easy, but we could have got a kicking there had Southampton taken their chances. Thankfully they didn’t, and we can “look forward” to a “mouthwatering” quarter final at Old Trafford. Star Man – It has to be Danns, but shout out to Kelleher as well because without him, we could have been in serious trouble before we even got a foothold in the game. Team: Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Van Dijk (Konate), Tsimikas; Gomez, McConnell (Mac Allister), Clark; Elliott (Nyoni), Gakpo (Gordon), Koumas (Danns): View full article
    15 points
  30. She's not the first person to see him and think "I'm in here. I'm definitely going to score."
    15 points
  31. Ken Clarke, Stuart Broad, Lee Westwood, Joe Dempsie, Samir Patel, Sheriff of Nottingham, Guy of Gisbourne, Robin Hood, Sherwood Forest, Sherwood’s Sauces, Victoria Embankment Public Toilets, Forest’s Letter Writing Cunts, Creator Supreme - your boys took a hell of a beating! A HELL of a beating!
    14 points
  32. Will Ferrell, Matthew McConaughey, Owen Wilson, Lil Wayne, Bill Clinton, Michael Caine, Guy Ritchie, Jeremy Clarkson, Geri Haliwell, Suggs, David Baddiel, Russell Grant, Ben Chodewell, Astrid Wett’s Sweaty Flaps, Captain Willard’s Hellspawn, Todd Boehly’s Blood Pressure Monitor, Royalist Fuckers, Creator Supreme - your boys took a hell of a beating! A HELL of a beating! By kids.
    14 points
  33. VID-20231219-WA0028.mp4.220c08e94eac3270f3c079f415b69cb2.mp4
    13 points
  34. 13 points



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