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  1. 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
  2. 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
  3. What an absolute sickener. It’s an all timer for me that, just because of who it was, how it happened, and the fact that it was all so fucking unnecessary. We’ve lost here in the cup to a couple of late goals before and it hurts like fuck, but when that happened they were better than us and it would have been a great effort for us to have beaten them. It hurts but it’s understandable. That’s not how it is now. They’re shite, we should never be losing to them and I don’t feel any better about it today than I did yesterday. I'm still fuming. That said, having been able to sleep on it and collect some thoughts, I can compartmentalise this to some extent. With the dust having settled on it, I’m not that arsed we’re out of the FA Cup. I’d have loved to have won it, obviously, but going out of the cup in itself isn’t bothering me today. I can easily find a positive in that because not having to play in the semi final means the Fulham game takes place at the weekend and does not need to be crammed in somewhere late in the season when we’re already going to be overstretched. We still don’t have a date for the Everton game unless I’ve missed that. So does going out of the FA Cup help us when it comes to the league? To a degree, yes it does. Is the league more important? Fuck yes is it. I’d like to still be in the cup but it’s the manner of the loss and who we lost to that hurts today, not the fact that we’re out of the FA Cup. There’s a reason quadruples don’t happen and it’s not because no team is good enough to do it. It’s because competing on four fronts takes a monumental effort and you need a huge amount of luck. Trying for four actually makes it harder to win any because the mental and physical toll on a squad is huge late in the season. And when you’ve got as many players missing as we’ve had (and still have) then it’s even more unlikely. So yeah, I can make my peace with no longer being in the FA Cup quite easily. The thing I can’t make my peace with is losing to them. They aren’t a serious football team. They do things that proper football teams just don’t do. Honestly, look at the number of screenshots doing the rounds showing countless instances of how much space we had. We don’t get that kind of room to play against anybody. Maybe that’s how they’re as high as sixth, they just lull you into a false sense of security by being utterly fucking inept tactically. They’re the worst Manchester United side I’ve ever seen. If we’d been beaten by Fulham or Palace or someone of that ilk I’d be over it already. It wasn’t Fulham or Palace though. It was a shite team with cunt fans who spent all afternoon chanting about Hillsborough. We can’t do anything about that (the FA have put out a statement saying it’s not acceptable though, so I’m sure that will ensure it doesn’t happen again), but the players can. They need to fight that battle for us by inflicting misery on those cunts. Instead they gave those Hillsborough mocking lowlifes the best memory they’ve had in a decade. Nice one lads, thanks for that. Good job. *slow hand clap* We beat these cunts 7-0 a year ago. Seven fucking nil. They somehow escaped from Anfield with a 0-0 draw this season but we should have been going there and spanking them and - I don’t say this lightly because they’ve been incredible and I love them - but for once the players let us down. I don’t mean in effort as they gave absolutely everything, they always do. I mean in execution, in focus. I mean in just making the right fucking decisions. You just can’t not win this game. Can’t happen. Not acceptable. Not the way the game played out. Look, if we just hadn’t been at it and they’d played well, then of course we can lose to them. Shit as they are, it can happen. We almost lost at Luton and needed a last minute equaliser to spare our blushes. You can have an off day and when that happens you can lose. This wasn’t that though. We didn’t have an off day, we dominated the game. But you have to beat them and make your superiority count, and instead we thought 2-1 would be enough.
    30 points
  4. 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.
    28 points
  5. 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?
    24 points
  6. Monday Mar 18: Trying to avoid the fallout from yesterday as I’m still angry and gutted about it. As I said in the match report, I’ve made peace with being out of the cup, as winning everything was always going to be a tall order and this was bottom of the wish list for most of us. It’s getting beat by them that stings, and specifically the manner of it. It’s not so much about us losing that way, it’s about them winning that way and the joy it brought them. Their joy bothers me far more than our disappointment. I fucking hate the idea that they went home happy, those tragedy chanting cunts didn’t deserve a happy ending but we gave it to them anyway. That’s probably the best moment they’ve had since Ferguson left you know. I just hope they think it’s some kind of turning point, because it absolutely isn’t, they’re still shit. As for us, we better fucking learn from this and put it right in three weeks, because honestly I’ll struggle to forgive these players if they fuck up Klopp’s farewell by failing to beat these losers three times. I know that sounds melodramatic, but that’s how I feel. Failing to beat them in a few weeks, combined with the other two results, would effectively cost us two trophies and ruin Klopp’s happy ending, because quite frankly, fuck the Europa League. If we win the league then the Europa will be the cherry on the top of that, but without the league then sorry, winning the Europa is going to mean fuck all in the grand scheme of things. So yeah, in three weeks they better fucking go there and win as it will take a lot of forgiving if they don’t. A little bit of good news today as Egypt haven’t called up Mo and good ol’ Bielsa has given Darwin time off too. He’s a good egg him. Would have been nice if we’d been able to get a few more players out of it too (Diaz, Macca, Endo and Robbo especially), but Darwin and Mo getting some time off and then spending the week training here with us is helpful, so I’ll take that small win. Elsewhere today, Forest have been docked four points. We knew it was coming, the only question was whether it would be more than that. Four isn’t bad, they should be quite pleased with that I think. Everton will get at least that I assume, so basically the four points they got back will be taken off them again. Some rumours that Chelsea will get an even bigger one than Everton’s initial 10 point one. What’s the point though? Doesn’t matter, they’re not in contention for Europe and won’t go down, so essentially there’s no punishment for them cheating really is there? You could take 20 points off them and they’d be fine. Even if it’s next season (which actually, when I think about it, it will be) I don’t see much changing. Not gonna be top four, not gonna be bottom four. Somewhere in the middle so the deduction won’t mean anything. Still funny though I suppose. The U21s beat City, which initially had me thinking was quite an impressive result. We tend to struggle against them at the Academy levels so this felt like a feather in the cap, only it turns out that City are second bottom of a 26 team table and are proper shit at u21 level. They’ve only won two of 17 games this season. I’m not actually sure how that’s possible as they’re always really good at u18 level and have loads of kids in their first team squad. How can their u21 stink? I’ve just had a look and they are second in the u18 league this season (we’re third, miles behind them) so what happens to their players between the ages of 18 and 21? They sell them to Burnley for vastly inflated fees, probably. Anyway, Kone-Doherty and Rhys Williams got the goals in a 2-0 win. Isaak Mabaya made his return from injury too. He’s been out for ages, to the point where I’d forgotten about him completely. Shame, as he’d have almost certainly had a chance in the first team by now. You know who else I’d forgotten about? Oakley Cannonier. Where the fuck has he been all season? He’s fallen behind Koumas and Danns now through no fault of his own. Injuries really can make or break a career for young lads. Get one at the wrong time and it can fuck everything up. I fear for Kaide Gordon now, he’s fallen behind and it’s a long road back, and even Ben Doak as he’s missed so much football this season where he could have really established himself. Now he’ll have to prove himself all over again to a new manager, who might not play a system that suits or who might not be big on promoting youth when he’s trying to prove himself at a new club. You get an injury at the wrong time as a kid, it can absolutely change the course of your career drastically.
    23 points
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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.
    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. 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
  12. 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
  13. We’re going to score in the last minute of injury time.
    17 points
  14. I'll add that if he does prefer Bayern then he's not the man for us anyway because he'd be taking the easy option and that would tell me he's not the man I thought he was. This job is perfect for someone with the ambition and balls to want to take it on. If Xabi doesn't take it this summer, he should never be offered it again.
    16 points
  15. Short one this week as there were only four games and none of the big boys were playing. Unless you count Spurs in that, which nobody does. Some weird goings on at Burnley v Brentford. The home side took the lead early on from the spot after Reguilon had fouled Vitinho. The ref didn’t give it initially, even though it was blatant. No idea who the ref was as I’ve never seen him before. Maybe that’s why Paul Tierney was happy to send him to the screen to show him the error of his ways. So he then gives the pen, but also sends Reguilon off. What am I missing here, how is that a red card? I thought they scrapped the whole ‘double jeopardy’ thing? Does it only count on keepers? If so, that’s fucking stupid. That punishment does not fit the crime. It’s a clumsy foul but not deliberate and since when are red cards being given for standard penalty calls? Gross wasn't sent off for fouling Szoboszlai in the box and that was worse than this. And why is it different for keepers compared to defenders? Ederson wiped out Nunez last week and got a yellow. Now that was fair because I don’t think Darwin is reaching that ball and getting a shot away, but the point is that even if it was an area where he would have had an empty net it is no longer a red card. Actually, the Jota one against Newcastle is a better example. A penalty is given against the keeper and Jota had an open goal, but that’s not a red card. So why the fuck is Reguilon getting sent off when the Burnley lad still has to beat the keeper? As I say, am I missing something here, because this seems wrong. So the decision was apparently right, but the rule is shit. Anyway, Bruun Larsen buried the pen and Brentford were now having to play almost an entire game with only ten men. No wonder Burnley were able to finally win a game. Mind you, bombing James Trafford to the bench helped too. He’s been dropping clangers all season and Kompany finally ditched him in mid-March. Still, at least he was able to help City maintain some sort of pretence about trying to comply with FFP. Bulb headed cunt. Some moustachio'd cat named Muric took his place and was almost embarrassed by O’Shea who played a blind backpass that the keeper needed to scramble across and clear off the line. Burnley have been doing this kind of shit all season. Absolute clown show back there, trying to play like Man City with Championship level players. They do play some decent stuff though and Fofana should have scored after a nice move, but he somehow put it miles wide from three yards out with an open goal. Look at the goal he scored last week and then look at this. Some serious Darwin vibes about it. He did find the net in the second half with a nice finish, seconds after Vitinho had made a goal saving tackle to deny Lewis Potter on the break. That kind of thing is a proper back breaker, Brentford thought they were about to get back level and then just like that it’s 2-0. Brentford pulled one back through Ajer as a VAR check was taking place for two penalty appeals Brentford had. Tough game for the officials this because every time there was a corner the penalty area resembled a Royal Rumble. Usually that’s because of Brentford, who are one of the worst in the league for holding on set-pieces. This was mostly Burnley though, who got away with fucking murder. I don’t blame them though, unless you’re playing Man City then the refs are not calling these no matter how blatant they are so why wouldn’t you do it? May as well if they aren’t going to call them. Brentford had an equaliser ruled out right at the death when Toney was adjudged to have fouled the keeper. Yeah, he did foul him, correct decision even though I’d have died laughing if that one had counted against Kompany. Never mind, he’ll be back in the Championship soon enough and we can forget he exists again. Brentford are quite close to that relegation battle too and they’re on a terrible run, but I just don’t see them being in any trouble, especially now my boy Mbuemo is back alongside my boy Toney and my other boy Maupay.
    16 points
  16. 16 points
  17. 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
  18. 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
  19. I'm taking my girl to her first match tonight. Here she is last night in my.old.shirt from 92.
    15 points
  20. Told you. Winner last minute of injury time. Fuck you scabs.
    15 points
  21. 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
  22. Arsenal have been bitching about refs all season which really fucking winds me up as it’s not like they’ve suffered much, although I wouldn’t say they’ve benefited much either. In terms of the top three and officiating, you’ve City at one end of the scale, us at the other and Arsenal are somewhere in the middle. Yet their fans were some of the most vocal on twitter last week (they always are) after the drop ball nonsense at Forest, but this week they weren’t happy when people rightly pointed out that their winning goalscorer against Brentford should not have even been on the pitch when he scored. As great as last week’s win at Forest felt for us, and will have been a massive kick in the nuts for City and Arsenal, this week we were the ones getting kicked in the nuts as Arsenal got that contentious late winner against Brentford when it looked like they were going to drop points. There was nowhere near the same furore as there was about the drop ball nonsense though. Maybe if Brentford hired Uriah Rennie or Paul Durkin to bitch about it afterwards we'd have seen a bit more fuss made of it. Arsenal went in front and no doubt their fans were expecting another landslide. After all, these are the smug, smelling themselves wankers that had #prayforbrentford trending on Twitter before the game. It’s happening before all of their games now. They just make me cringe so much that my toes are permanently curled these days. Everything about Arsenal is getting on my tits now, from that God awful "North London forever" anthem they've just adopted this season to the bad try hard celebrations of Arteta and the players and pretty much everything else in between. There’s a lot of annoying faces in that team too... Ramsdale, Ben Shite, Gabriel, Saliba, Martinelli, Saka, Odegaard, Trossard, Jesus, Zinchenko… all massively annoying faces. Arsenal were so busy enjoying the smell of their own farts after Rice headed them in front that they forgot that it was only 1-0 and that Brentford aren’t really a side you want to fuck with. They certainly aren’t the soft touches that Burnley and Sheffield United are, so Brentford fought back. Ably assisted by Diet Pickford in goal it should be said. There’s a reason Arteta doesn’t like picking him and Ramsdale himself gave it away in an interview he did when he said he needs to get involved with the crowd during games because he gets bored and can’t concentrate otherwise. Not even David James had that bad of an attention span. So Ramsdale fucked up to let Brentford get back into it through Wissa, but he made a couple of saves in the second half so that’s all fine apparently and it showed what great character he has. Yeah, I think they should play him in every game now, let him prove just how great his “character” is. My boy Toney almost scored the goal of the season with a brilliant first time left foot half volley that was inches away from going over the despairing dive of Ramsdale, but he just got his fingers to it to keep it out. Brentford had other chances too and the second half was edgy as fuck for Arsenal. They were getting desperate and every time the ball went in the box an Arsenal player would hit the deck wanting a pen. Some of them were iffy and could have been given, but not the one from Havertz that should have seen him booked for cheating. It was obviously a dive, the ref knew immediately which is why he waved away the penalty appeal. He bottled out of giving him a second yellow card though and VAR can’t get involved unless it’s to overturn a penalty decision and then tell the ref it’s a dive and to produce a card. All these stupid fucking protocols they have just get in the way of them making the right decision. Attwell wouldn’t send Oliver to the screen at Anfield and they hide behind the “high bar for overturns” bollocks. There’s also been strong rumours that Oliver has given his colleagues strict instructions to not send him to the screen. Either way, this kind of shit just keeps stopping the officials from getting big decisions right. I’m not particularly arsed about the Havertz thing, this kind of shit happens all the time and Brentford had chances to win it and they had chances to stop Arsenal winning it. In the grand scheme of fucked up decisions this is low on the list. The thing that does annoy me is how little was made of it in relation to the shite we had to endure last week. Ultimately though three points is three points and it doesn’t matter that they were lucky and left it late. One way of looking at it is that they found a way. That’s what we’d say if it was us. Its not the first time they’ve done it either, so I don’t blame Arsenal fans for thinking like that. It’s not how I see it though. I see a team that was battered some shit teams lately and had people going over the top about how impressive they are and how they might win all of their remaining games. Scraping past Brentford at home and failing to beat Porto over 210 minutes tells me they will drop points. They’ve got tough games, so they’re dropping some points, I’m not concerned about that. My concern is only what we do. Ultimately it comes down to this. There’s 10 games left and we need to get more points in those ten games than Arsenal, and we need to ensure that City don't get more than us. Can we do that? Of course we can. Over the course of the season so far we’ve done it as the only reason, THE ONLY REASON, Arsenal are ahead of us on goal difference is because of PGMOL fucking us in games against Spurs, Arsenal and City.
    14 points
  23. 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
  24. VID-20231219-WA0028.mp4.220c08e94eac3270f3c079f415b69cb2.mp4
    13 points
  25. Work-rate. Incisiveness. Nous. I don't ask for much. This is how it's gonna be. Build from the ground up. Back on the Europa League grind. Finishing top of our group meant that we had a bye from the Round of 32, which saw the Europa League group runners-up face the teams that had finished 3rd in the Champions League groups. One of those was not Sevilla thankfully. They are the only team in Europe that actively wants to finish 3rd in their Champions League group and drop down. They have an extraordinary record in this competition, which qualifies them for the elite competition each time, only for them to do very little in it. Anyway, I digress. We've only faced Sparta Prague once before, and that was in the Round of 32 stage of this competition in 2010/11. We had new owners in the boardroom and Kenny was now in charge, and we'd recently sold Torres and signed Suarez (who was cup-tied) and Carroll (who was injured). Ngog was playing up front as he'd been a regular starter in Europe that season, and we had the likes of Cole, Jovanovic and Coady on the bench. Kenny's record in Europe wasn't great as a manager. He never got the opportunity in his first spell with us, the entirety of which coincided with our European ban. Blackburn's first foray in Europe in 1994 resulted in a tame early exit from the UEFA Cup (he wasn't their manager when they played in the Champions League, and Le Saux and Batty got into a scrap). With Newcastle, the highlight was a home win over Barcelona in 1997 which featured a hat-trick from Asprilla. They finished 3rd in their Champions League group, ahead of Van Gaal's Barcelona. With the way our season had been going, it was no surprise that the game against Sparta was a drab goalless draw. Sparta had former West Ham defender Tomas Repka back in the side as captain. There is nothing noteworthy about the game other than this gif/meme, and even he had to come off after little over half an hour thanks to yet another injury: Incidentally, the final in 2010/11 would also take place at the Aviva in Dublin, which is where we hope to be come May. Note the kick-off time for this match. Like all our European travels this season, it's an early kick-off. I know nothing about the current Sparta Prague team other than they finished behind Rangers in the group stage, and beat Galatasaray in the Round of 32. For us, it will again be a needs-must situation. Earlier in the season, the fringe players and youngsters were given a run out with the big names making sporadic appearances, usually from the bench. Jurgen has had to turn to the youngsters in recent weeks, and also the likes of Danns and Koumas due to the catalogue of injuries, so we have a lot of players approaching the 'red line' the sports science guys are so fond of mentioning. This is one of those games where you still look to apply yourselves and try to get the result but without needing to get out of second or third gear, and also hope not to pick up injuries. I think he will want the likes of Darwin, Dom and Mo on the bench and will look to give them a run-out ahead of the league game against the oil cheats at the weekend. The balance has been a problem on our European travels this season. Whatever the line-up, I expect maximum motivation, concentration, attitude and application from first minute to last. We have an opportunity to bring home a significant advantage ahead of the second leg next week, so let's take it. Get it done!
    13 points
  26. VID-20231219-WA0028.mp4.220c08e94eac3270f3c079f415b69cb2.mp4
    13 points
  27. 12 points
  28. But, as always, we were the main course, with the usual amount of gutter scum opinions from our gutter scum neighbours. PITA Player Valuation: £60m Forum Supporter Yesterday at 12:08 AM New Add bookmark #80,751 And, of course, there will not be any trouble at the final. evo1878 Player Valuation: £5m Forum Supporter Yesterday at 1:31 AM New Add bookmark #80,753 yep imagining that carnage. Rangers conveniently blamed for all eternity. spectateur Player Valuation: £25m Yesterday at 9:56 AM New Add bookmark #80,758 They would be. Perfectly true. The klopp cult can do no wrong. Saint Domingo Player Valuation: £80m Yesterday at 9:00 PM Add bookmark #80,763 PEDs plus the usual luxury of drawing the weakest team left in the competition every round. At the same stage we got Fiorentina who made the final. BainesontoastNEW Player Valuation: £35m Yesterday at 9:14 PM Add bookmark #80,764 Hint hint. toffee82 Player Valuation: £25m Yesterday at 10:29 PM Add bookmark #80,766 What UEFA really want to say is that ticketless Liverpool fans will be a problem if Liverpool reach the final. Like Quote Reply Report Reactions:Yarrgh, BainesontoastNEW, wilfjacko and 1 other person Saint Domingo Player Valuation: £80m Yesterday at 11:08 PM Add bookmark #80,767 Be awkward when the media go to try their usual trick of blaming local youths and the foreign police and then realise the final is in Dublin and that sort of ridiculous xenophobic deflection tactic won’t work this time. Honestly, I can’t believe they actually wrote headlines about local youths, fans of other teams, French police it was Madrid fans as well, and UEFA’s admin processes, and all of English football media just absolutely lapped it up Make those tickets digital, and have the tear gas ready for these utter Neanderthals. And on the subject of a young lad who’s played in a cup final, won more cups, and has more winners medals than the entire Everton team…. Saint Domingo Player Valuation: £80m Yesterday at 11:20 PM Add bookmark #80,770 Will be lucky to have the same career as Jordan Ibe, Harry Wilson and Ben Woodburn, a load of other kids they hyped up and did absolutely nothing. Once the doper leaves these academy kids are all going to be starring on the next season of Welcome to Wrexham. In short, if you’re tempted to have any sympathy for these deadbeats over their points deductions, don’t. You should be treating them as something you stepped in that needs to be scraped off your shoe.
    12 points
  29. Pavel Nedvěd, Jan Koller,, Tomáš Rosický, Horst Siegl, Wilfried Bony, Narodni Galerie Praha, Náplavka Farmer's Market, Upír Dopiječ the Lonely Vampire, Cabbages. Frank Kafka’s Haunted Quill, Embedded Russian Spies, the Letenští sitting in sections D33-D36, Goulash, The Golem of Prague, Creator Supreme - your boys took a hell of a beating! A HELL of a beating!
    12 points
  30. Liverpool have scored more goals since 8 o'clock than Everton have scored since 3rd February. Just saying.
    12 points
  31. VID-20231219-WA0028.mp4.220c08e94eac3270f3c079f415b69cb2.mp4
    12 points
  32. Remember when Everton were paying Ancelotti £12m a year and giving him a £2.5m bonus for keeping them up?. He was the third highest paid manager in the league despite them never qualifying for Europe. No way would he have ever gone there if they had offered him the same amount that Brentford pay Thomas Frank or Wolves pay Gary O Neill. They've also paid his son a fortune for just putting a few cones out on a training pitch. They lashed £50m on Richy lar, £45m on Iwobi and £45m on Glyfi. They also paid Hamez £250k a week for less hours than someone on maternity leave. How are Burnley, Bournemouth, Leeds, Leicester, Brentford, Luton and Sheffield Utd supposed to compete with that?. How come Everton weren't arsed about corruption then?
    12 points
  33. But that isn’t the case. There are massive losses throughout the league. All FFP really is designed to do is limit the loss according to revenue. For financial health that isn’t the evil aim some make it out to be. The irony of the discussion about Villa and how they are being unfairly constrained by FFP is that they’d almost be certainly be worse off without it- without FFP Newcastle would’ve spent their almost infinite wealth and rocketed past them, likewise without FFP Chelsea or Man U who apparently are both on the limit would have no constraints. If it was just done according to actual owner wealth rather than revenue the likes of Villa would have no chance. Everyone wants everyone else constrained, and that’s why it got voted in. Yes, you can argue it locks in existing inequality…but you can also argue it prevents it from getting worse. Which is basically the argument that they can't get their heads around. They probably think the government will at some point let Usmanov do what he wants and spunk more of his money on them. But they are owned by someone who won't put any more money in and if sold they will be owned by some dodgy unambitious US chancers who never spend any of their own cash. At the moment they have no money so if ffp was abolished Chelsea, City, man Utd and Newcastle would just spend whatever they wanted. The only good thing for them is that FSG wouldn't bankroll any massive spending spree so at least we would be left behind which would make them happy. If FFP was abolished and Liverpool were taken over by an owner with unlimited funds their fans would want it reversed to stop Liverpool spending money. They only hate the rules now because Liverpool have been successful and they haven't while they have been in place. The Sly 6 is just Bitter Evertonian speak for Liverpool Football Club.
    12 points
  34. Imagine being from a city which helped break working class solidarity for a quick buck. And then in the following years sing about the unemployment you helped create for millions of others like it’s somehow not a result of your own back stabbing but some moral failing. What a bunch of cunts.
    12 points



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