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  1. Can we just go back in time eight days and have a redo of everything? What heady days they were. Top of the league with eight games left and looking forward to a European Final in Dublin. Then it all fucking collapsed around us. It’s not over and it would be overstating it to say we need a miracle, but we’ve really put ourselves in a shitty spot now. This is what happens when you keep conceding first though. Eventually it catches up with you. Our chickens finally came home to roost. Everyone has been saying it all season. You can’t keep giving teams a goal start and expect to win every time. Even teams like Palace, who hardly ever win games. They’re dangerous if you allow them to be, and boy did we allow them to be. They played really well in the first half and we were lucky it was only a one goal deficit. We were considerably better in the second half and could/should easily have won the game given the chances we had. The performance was laboured and we were far from free flowing, but we did enough to win the game and if two of those chances go in then this game feels an awful lot like Brighton, Sheffield United, Fulham or any of those other close ones we’ve won at home. Those chances didn’t go in though and the reaction has been somewhat visceral. Finger pointing at specific players (mostly the forwards and Dom), talk of how they’re not good enough and that the new guy needs to replace his forward line. I mean, I get it, but it’s really not that simple. Our five forwards have scored 82 goals this season. The midfield has transformed us from the jaded, slow mess we were for most of last season into a team that got to mid-march still chasing a quadruple. As a team we’ve got, I’m not sure exactly, I think 130 goals or so. Up until 8 days ago things were going swimmingly but three games have completely torpedoed everything and we’re all lashing out wildly, particularly at the forwards, with some justification even though I think our front five have more than the forwards of Arsenal and City. Despite the goals though we all know this is not a clinical, ruthless team. The opposite in fact. We score loads because we create loads, and the forwards are responsible for creating a lot of the chances they waste. Replace them with clinical, hardly ever miss forwards (if there even is such a thing, as even the likes of Haaland and Son miss shitloads of chances too) and you might not be creating anywhere near as much. So it’s a conundrum in that sense. The wastefulness against United cost us badly and we had to be much better in front of goal that day than we were. Against Palace I thought for the most part it was clearly just a case of it being one of those days where we were just never going to score, probably because everyone was just a little too tense and not relaxed. The only miss I had a real problem with was the Jones one. That’s just awful. The other ones were just the kind of frustrating thing that happens on days when it’s not going for you.
    18 points
  2. I had to go to a funeral with about 20 to go in the game. It was for a young man, 40ish, who took his own life, 4 weeks after his partner passed away from cancer. He left behind a 7 year old daughter and a heartbroken mother and father (I used to play football with him). There was a Liverpool picture on his coffin. It put some perspective on this for me.
    17 points
  3. The easy thing to say here is that the damage was done in the first leg. Obviously it was, but that’s not what I want to hear today as I feel like it’s excusing the clueless, lifeless and gutless second half we saw here. This tie was not over after last week. It certainly wasn’t over when we pulled a goal back within seven minutes and I don’t think any of us thought it was over when we went in at half time with a one goal lead, primed for a second half charge. So to just say now “yeah the damage was done last week” feels like it’s excusing the inexcusable. We had a chance to still turn this around and had we got a second goal Atalanta would probably have folded under the pressure. So that second half was inexcusable, because I don’t think we even mustered a serious shot did we? Atalanta out-thought us and they out-fought us, and their defence and goalkeeper have probably not had an easier 45 minutes all season because of the job their midfield and forwards did in stopping us playing. They were terrific, I’m taking nothing away from them. Fully deserved winners and they did an absolute number on us in both games. That said, we made it incredibly easy for them last night because that was one of the least intelligent halves of football I have ever seen from any Liverpool side. Ever. We can talk about the poor form and lack of quality too if you like, but the thing that was jumping out at me in that second half was that this team is utterly reliant on having Klopp and Lijnders hold their hand through games and solve problems for them, and when they don’t have that they can look utterly lost. I’ve been saying it for a while now, usually because they’re shite in the first half and only start playing when Klopp tells them what to do at half time. There’s nobody on the pitch capable of sorting these problems. That second half has shaken me far more than anything else I’ve seen from us all season. Far worse than the United debacles or the loss to Palace. Worse than last Thursday at Anfield too, which you could maybe *maybe* put down to an off night caused by Atalanta’s unusual tactics that we’re not used to facing. We knew exactly what we were facing this time though and in the first half we clearly had a plan to try and cause them different types of problems than we did last week. The movement was fluid, players were popping up in areas we’re not used to seeing them and although it wasn’t great, you could see we were trying to do something different. It was alright and it felt like we were building up some momentum ahead of a second half push.
    16 points
  4. I know in theory it's better for us if they'd stayed in but you can't help but enjoy those cheating cunts going out.
    15 points
  5. Monday Apr 8: “Amorim has verbally agreed to join us”, say a load of twitter bluffers. “No he hasn’t, the Reds are still doing their due diligence” say the LFC reporters. I know who I believe, and it’s not the likes of that Pletigoal jabroni from Sky Germany, who two weeks ago said Alonso was joining Bayern. It probably is Amorim, it feels inevitable now, but it won’t be finalised as up until a couple of weeks ago we were still in talks with Alonso. Sporting are going for the title, he won’t be finalising anything with us for a little while. He’s probably said he’s interested and now his agent will be dealing with most of the talks while he gets on with winning a title, while Klopp tries to do the same with us. I like Amorim’s chances better at this point, but at least we don’t play United again so there’s that. Everton get another points deduction, although it’s beginning to feel like the determining factor in what punishment they get is “what’s the most we can hit them with without it relegating them?”. Two points for a second offence is a fucking joke. It was bad enough they got four points back from their initial penalty, but this just sends out an awful message. Break the rules and get punished. Cry about it and we’ll reduce the punishment even though there are zero grounds to do so. Break them again and we’ll give you an even smaller punishment. I’m so sick of Everton fucking crying about this shit and how it’s PL Corruption, it’s the Sly Six trying to keep them down, it’s Covid, it’s the war on Ukraine…. No, it’s none of that shit. It’s that Kenwright sold your club to a dodgy as fuck Russian who wasn’t allowed to own the club, so he put his accountant up as a frontman and you all lapped it up thinking you were oh so clever and would be the next Chelsea or Man City. He ploughed in a load of dodgy money, illegally, and although he didn’t cover his tracks very well (those artificially inflated sponsorships paid for by Usmanov were straight out of the Man City playbook) none of you cared because you were splashing the cash, buying the Liver Birds and acting like you were going to be relevant again. But the players you bought were fucking shit and massively overpriced, the managers you hired were shite, then sacked and needed to be paid off and then the dodgy money tap was turned off when Usmanov got sanctioned. Yet still you bought players when knowing you’d be in breach of the rules. These are the facts. You cheated, blatantly, and this is nobody’s fault except the people who were running Everton. Who really should be in jail for what they’ve done to the club. If Evertonians were targeting their anger at those people I’d be supporting them. Instead they’re blaming everyone else and crying about how unfair it all is. They should be thanking the PL for going easy on them. Finally today, Serge Aurier has launched a bizarre but amusing attack on Zinchenko. The Ukrainian had said that if he was called up to defend his country and fight the Russians he would do. He also said he was going to go over and fight but his family talked him out of it. Leaving aside the fact that Ukraine probably don’t trust him to defend anything, it does feel like he’s full of shit. I’m not judging him for not fighting, as I wouldn’t either if I were him. He just seems to talk a lot more than Mudryk and Mykolenko for example, and Aurier has had enough, saying 'Stop your cinema and go there right now [to Ukraine]. A real volunteer doesn't need anyone to call him up.' I’m a little conflicted here as I agree with Aurier, but I also think it’s one of those things a lot of people will have thought but we all know better than to go public with it, especially when you’re a fellow footballer. Seems like a dick move, but it did make me laugh and I think he’s got a point. Imagine Zinchenko in the war. They’d send him to defend a specific location and you’d find him everywhere else but there, and in the end they’d have to call in that big Polish lad Kiwior to take over from him.
    15 points
  6. Fuck off you cheating fucking cunts. Yes, they miss out on two more games but the name of Manchester City should not adorn the European cup. That name sullies a great competition. Fuck off you cunts.
    14 points
  7. Work-rate. Incisiveness. Nous. I don't ask for much. This is how it's gonna be. Build from the ground up. How do we treat this one? We made a right pig's ear of the first leg, making any potential progress in the Europa League the most unlikeliest of scenarios. Defend like we have been, and it's done. Attack like we have been, and it's done. So tightening up and sharpening up are key if we are to stage another European miracle. We've been 3-0 down at half time to some Italians before. Atalanta have been on the fringes of a Champions League place in Serie A all season, but though they are well-organised and pose an attacking threat, we made them look like cultured European heavyweights at times last week. It's not always thus. Our last visit to Bergamo, in November 2020, showcased us at our dominant and ruthless best. Diogo was a new addition to our attack, and he underlined just how much of a goal threat he can provide. He's such an unusual player and that in almost every aspect of attacking play, he doesn't seem to pass the eye test as elite level. And yet he is deceptively strong in the air, has a turn of pace, can dribble his way past defenders with no little skill, can pick out players in a better scoring position, and has a precision to his finishing that belies what often looks like a scruffy shooting technique. And he works his bollocks off. He bagged himself a hat-trick that night. His first came when an inch-perfect through ball by Trent allowed him to shrug off his marker and dink the keeper. His second came soon afterwards when Joe found him just inside the box on the left. He brought the ball down and cut inside the defender before firing low and hard inside the near post. We were flying, especially on the counter. Into the second half, and Mo got in on the act. It came from an Atalanta corner which we cleared. Curtis hammered the ball away into Mo's path, still in our own half, and he simply bombed forward, steadied himself, cut inside the defender and curled the ball into the far corner. You know what he's going to do, the defenders know what he's going to do, but back then they still had no answer for it. Sadio got the goal of the night when he was played in via another inch-perfect through ball. The keeper came flying out to narrow the angle, but Sadio dinked the ball over him and into the net anyway. Again, we've seen Sadio do that on many an occasion. There was still time for Sadio to pick out Diogo's run beyond a beleaguered Atalanta back line. The Portuguese rounded the keeper and rolled the ball into an empty net. 5-0 and we could have had more. However, for most of the last 10 minutes, we either switched off completely or Atalanta found another gear all of a sudden. They created some great chances and were unfortunate that Ali and/or the woodwork came to our rescue. I think we carried that sloppiness into the home fixture. It's hard to know if Atalanta will look to settle the tie early, or play to keep things cagey, hoping that we remain both porous on the counter and profligate in attack. As unlikely as a turnaround is, we have to go for it, and use the game as the first step towards righting the wrongs of the past month or so. I know we need to keep something back for the league (not least because we travel to Fulham and Everton over the next week), but that becomes a bigger challenge if we go into the final stages of the league campaign displaying the same frailties of recent weeks. Being out of Europe and fucking it up in the league would be such a dampener on Jurgen's farewell tour. Try everything we can to stay in Europe, and use it to re-energise the rest of the season. The start of the match in particular needs to be managed far better. Complacency, stupidity and zero hunger have no place at Liverpool FC. Maximum motivation, concentration, attitude and application from first minute to last. Make the semi finals and write another chapter in this club's storied history in European competition. Get it done!
    13 points
  8. Tell me, could you possibly be the same Liverpool Gladstone Trotter who, in 1992, fell down the cellar of Spartak Moscow, and received one hundred pounds compensation? I can’t remember that far back sir. Well, let’s try a more recent case then. Could you be the same Liverpool Gladstone Trotter who, in 1995, fell down the cellar of Brondby, and received a two hundred and twenty five pound out of court settlement? Me mind’s a blank! Maybe you were the same Liverpool Gladstone Trotter who, in 1997, fell down the cellar of Racing Strasbourg? How about Celta Vigo, or does Sporting Braga, ring a bell? Whilst we haven’t been more down holes than Tony Jacklin, boy have we made some huge fuck ups in the UEFA Cup/Europa League over the years. I actually researched the litany of exits listed above to make sure they were in the right order and it just made me shudder. And so, the cup match reporter returns for another outing – join me, Dan Thomas, as I try to pick apart the latest UEFA Cup/Europa League fiasco. I have been very dismissive of this competition over the course of the season, and I stand by everything I’ve said. The Europa League is laden with nothing teams as well as 5 or 6 really good ones. We have gotten to the quarter finals without even needing to go into first gear, we’ve been in neutral in fact. And the first time we’ve drawn a good team, we’ve got our arses handed to us on a silver platter. Assuming that is the last European action we see at Anfield under Klopp, it’s a grim way to end it. A really unfitting way for this glorious period to come to an end, drifting away into nothing. I have this down as being one of the worst performances during Jurgen’s time at the club. It’s definitely the most costly. Yes, I know it’s just five years since one of the greatest footballing miracles of all time when the mighty Barcelona were overwhelmed by a raucous Anfield. But this team is not that one – we will go to Bergamo next week, and we might win on the night. Will we go through? Not a chance for me – we simply aren’t playing well enough. Thursday night was a result in the post, a result that has been coming after a string of performances where we were just asking for it. Atalanta played the game perfectly – they contained us with ease after 20 minutes, quietened the crowd down from a quiet whisper to total silence and it’s comfortably their best result in European football. Fair play to them – they man marked us into nothing and got men forward when they had the ball. Gasperini is an experienced manager who knew exactly what he was going to set up to do and his team played it to perfection. They stitched us up a treat. Us on the other hand…. This would be a very brief match report if I used some suitable adjectives – and I have plenty in mind. However, let’s deep dive. Firstly, the atmosphere was dreadful. I wholeheartedly blame the owners for this. I think a second price rise in 12 months is crass, insensitive and reprehensible and has been communicated awfully. You’re already getting your two extra Champions League games next season – there’s your increase in revenue. Get in the sea. And anyone who is saying “it’s only £x” or “give me your ticket then” you can also get in the sea. The cost of living has not come down, bills haven’t come down, going to the match isn’t something we need to go up in price in addition to everything else. And to announce this after that scandalous United result and before a home quarter final. Some real thinking, that. Boneheads. The atmosphere was flat before the game and during it and it’s of no surprise. The club have to own that. I do also think there was some complacency from fans as well – it didn’t feel like a quarter final at any point. It frankly had the feel of a group game when you’ve already qualified with a game to spare. Flat, passionless, barely above a whisper for the majority of the game. We were just awful from start to finish. We were lucky to not go behind inside of three minutes when Kelleher made a great save with his face. I thought it was a foul on Elliott personally but it wouldn’t have been overturned had they scored. Kelleher did all he could – make himself as big as possible, use his body as a goalkeeping glove, and kept it out with his grid. It was another slow start, the same as the Sheffield United game when we could have been behind inside of 5 minutes. It is a pattern, it badly needs addressing, and we will not achieve the heights we can until this absolute plague has been cut right out. We did actually recover from that terrible start, apart from Kostas who had his worst game for the club – possibly the worst game of his entire career in fact. He was so bad he could have been substituted at half time twice – once to get brought on and once to get taken straight off. He was wretched. Again though, it was final ball and decision making that let us down. Gakpo, who I thought was our best player by a mile in the first half, was lively on that left hand side and he could have put Elliott in but didn’t get his head up. Now that I am thinking and looking back, we actually created a few chances at 0-0. Nunez went through and inexplicably stuck it wide. I haven’t seen it back (and I never will) but did he kick the ball onto his own foot or something? It went well, well wide and I was expecting a lovely little clip over the keeper into the net a la Brentford. And from that moment, we barely created a better chance. This is just who Darwin is unfortunately – you don’t know what you’re going to get and this match was one of those days where nothing went right. Elliott did hit the bar and post with a great effort cutting in from the right, really unlucky and it did start to feel like we were building up a head of steam. And then bam, behind. We lost possession far too easily, Atalanta countered quickly and Scamacca’s shot squirmed through Kelleher and in answer to the age old thing, yes “Alisson saves that.” The manner of the goal was frustrating as much as it was concerning – they cut through us way too easily. We nearly went further behind after Kelleher gave the ball away too easily but he atoned for it with a good save as the impressive Koopmeiers closed in on goal. We got to the break and the word “ragged” was being thrown around at half time as well as “disrespectful” and “arrogant.” The sentiment around me was that we should have gone full strength to try and finish the game off and then make changes. Whilst we rotated, I had the team that we put out as capable of winning the match. But we played so poorly the whole thing has spectacularly backfired. You could in theory have made 11 changes at half time. Well, 10, no situation can be saved by bringing Adrian on. As it turns out, it was Tsimikas, Jones and Elliott were the ones who were taken off. Tsimikas was the worst player on the pitch by a mile, Jones has not looked sharp since returning from injury and I think Elliott was a bit unlucky to be honest. But with Salah on the pitch we’ll make at least 5 or 6 chances for him to miss, right? Wrong! We did start the second half well and were pressing for an equaliser. We should have had it as well but Nunez lifted it over the bar. Again. Very frustrating because that puts us right back in it and Atalanta don’t have experience of Anfield on the up with the Reds pursuing a winner. I think we’d have rolled them over. We then got sucker punched. We weren’t building up a head of steam don’t get me wrong, but we were definitely on the front foot and then Atalanta broke down the right, De Ketelaere just stayed onside and swung an absolute peach of a ball across. All Scamacca had to do was guide it with his foot – Kelleher was flat footed and had no chance. Tidy finish, great ball in. 2-0 and getting towards famous European night in the second leg territory. It also caused all of the Atalanta fans in the Upper Kenny to celebrate and cause the usual trouble. I have no idea why that happens but it does in every European home game. It just ends with a load of stewards standing around their fans. But I digress. As that goal went in, Darwin went off. I have no idea if that was pre-planned or what, but bringing Nunez off when you need a goal is not what I’d be doing. As frustrating as his finishing can be, he looks like he is going to make something happen at all times. Diaz came on and played with plenty of endeavour but there was just nothing in and around him. It was such a flat performance we were lucky to end up with 0. Salah was unlucky though, his shot forced the keeper into a good save. We then had the ignominy of a Dejan Lovren moment. The SHOOOOOOOOT dickheads in the crowd got their way as the ball fell to Joe Gomez outside the box. Instead of trying to lift the ball back into the packed box, Gomez decided to blaze it into the Kop. Yet again, playing Joe Gomez’ Shooting Challenge. May I suggest a cross into the box? You have selected POWER DRIVE! Ball is in THE KOP. Would you like to play again? You have selected NO. That just summed the game up, it was a terrible decision when much better options were available. That’s the story of our last month really, since that FA Cup game. We are wasting chance after chance, or not creating a chance because of making a terrible decision. It’s going to kill us if we don’t sort it. Not that I am blaming Joe Gomez for that. I will blame the knobheads in the crowd shouting SHOOOOOOOOOOT though. At 2-0 down in the first leg, you’ve always got a chance. Given the absolute state of how we played, I’d have been happy to take 2-0 and get back to Bergamo still in the tie. It briefly looked like we’d go back at 2-1 but Salah just went too soon – and I don’t think he needed to. He did look just off as the ball went in and I spotted the flag right away – a long time before several people around me did. Jota came on with 15 minutes left and the first thing he did was win a free kick on the edge of the box. But the reality of the situation is that we were putting way too much expectation on someone coming back from months out injured. The fact he’s back for the run in is a bonus full stop as I was worried he was gone for the season. Atlanta should have scored a third before they did, with Koopmeiers firing a good chance across the goal and someone missed a great chance with a header. But it didn’t matter in the end, they were rewarded for the way they set up and the way they played with a third. Ederson (not the dipshit with the neck tattoo) was afforded way too much time to shoot, and Kelleher could only parry the ball into the path of Pasalic who gleefully tapped in. Game over. Tie over? Almost certainly. As the third went in, commence Operation Anfield Exodus. And I don’t blame anyone – but that is as big a mass exit as I’ve seen and as far as the performance goes it was well deserved. It was an absolute shambles – we had the chances for it to be 3-0 the other way but didn’t take them, we shipped a couple of awful goals and it is just a terrible way for Jurgen to sign off in European football at Anfield. You could not rule out us going out there pissed off, fired up and winning 5-0. We’ve done exactly that in the last 3 years. But for me, we’re not playing well enough, we have key players out of form at the exact wrong time and we will end up going out. Star man? The full time whistle. But our “best” player on the night was arguably Gakpo and that is up for discussion because he fell off a cliff second half. Team: Kelleher; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas (Robertson); Endo (Jota), Jones (Szoboszlai), Mac Allister; Elliott (Salah), Nunez (Diaz), Gakpo: View full article
    13 points
  9. People need to stop with the ifs, buts and maybes - City may or may not win the league, they may or may not have a better chance if they go out tonight. But fuck me, I don't want them picking up another European Cup. Get them out!
    11 points
  10. Apple Podcasts giving a transcript these days. @Paul outburst captured perfectly.
    11 points
  11. Doesn't help our league chances but always nice to see those cheating cunts lose, especially in the champions league.
    10 points
  12. Dave's talk of this all being part of the narrative is a lovely idea. If this was a Hollywood movie this would definitely be the part where everything looks bleak and hopeless for the protagonists. In the movie Klopp and the players would at about this point learn some important life lesson which would help them finish the movie triumphant.. There would be a joyful final scene in which they paraded the premier league trophy through the streets of Liverpool in front of millions of happy fans and then one final still of Klopp rising his fist in triumph to the crowd (with maybe a brief cut scene to chief antagonist Pep Guardiola miserably watching the scenes on TV at City's training ground and then turning his fury on Howard Webb who stands quivering in front of his desk, demanding to know how Webb's PGMOL gimps allowed this to happen). Unfortunately, as we've seen before, the Premier League doesn't seem to do happy Hollywood endings. The only lessons ever learned are bleak ones. The bad guys always win and never face any consequences for their actions. This all just seems to be shaping up to be another really shitty ending in which, even if we somehow sort ourselves out again and win all our remaining games, City just mechanically tick off win after win while friendly officials step in to help out if things are ever in danger of getting a bit dicey for them Football is really shit sometimes. Thanks for the pod. I feel pretty much the same. Not angry, just disappointed. This hasn't happened through lack of effort or desire, but the pressure has definitely got to most of the players. Sometimes strengths become weaknesses if not used wisely, and passion and desire just seem to have turned into desperation in the past week for this club.
    10 points
  13. I'm not sure what Robbo has said wrong here, basically saying the players made the crowd anxious "I'm not sure. The crowd were anxious today, and rightly so the way we were passing the ball, giving it away and giving chances. Maybe we reacted to that. Maybe players who aren't as experienced at being in a title race. Some of the shithouse calls, are a bit well, shithouse. We've ran out of steam, and players are tired. It happens.
    10 points
  14. Urgh. What a sickening weekend. Literally in my case, I missed the Palace game after being up all night spewing and shitting. I maybe could have made the game but I was worried about shitting myself. Maybe some of the players should have been as cautious as me and stayed away too. It wasn’t just our players shitting all over themselves though, Arsenal’s did too. I’ll get to them in a bit. The early game on Saturday saw Spurs get their pants pulled down at Newcastle. 4-0 flattered them in the end, they were woeful and their high line got utterly dismantled. It amazes me this doesn’t happen to them all the time, Same with Villa. I watch them defend and think they should concede three, four, five a game yet they hardly ever do. They could have actually scored first in this game which might have seen it go in a completely different direction. The stands at St James’ Park are really fucking high but the fans at the back of the Gallowgate still had to take cover from Timo Werner’s volley. The German Stuart Barlow. I’ll take all of this back if he helps them beat City, but the more likely scenario is that we let him sink us at Anfield. The first goal is pathetic. Spurs looked like they were dealing with the counter but then Udogie meekly lost out to Gordon and then van de Ven just fell over and allowed Isak to score. The second goal is even worse. Romero’s blind pack pass went straight to Gordon, who cut inside and once again van de Ven just inexplicably fell over and allowed him to score. Van de Ven looked like he was playing in his bare feet on an ice rink as he couldn’t stand up. Goal number three is him again, this time he’s trying to play offside against Isak. In the Newcastle half!! Isak ran clear and finished with ease, as he tends to do in those situations. He doesn’t miss many. Goal number four was a Schar header from a corner. Spurs have fucked fourth now haven’t they? Especially when you look at their fixture list. We need the pricks to be up for it when they play City but at this rate they’ll have nothing to play for then. And if Arsenal are still in the title race then we can forget about Spurs doing anything against City as they’ll be rolling out the red carpet for Guardiola. Not that we even have any right to complain, we can’t help ourselves so it’s bit rich to moaning about others potentially not helping us.
    9 points
  15. Ha ha. I’m convinced Ancellotti doesn’t do anything, just wanders around looking mafia like.
    9 points
  16. I think we should prioritise every single game until the end of the season.
    9 points
  17. She is saying that people have been on the streets calling for opposition to the Israeli oppression of Palestinians. And if people want to see this on a global scale, then they can expect to see more incidents like the one at Sydney Mall. It's clearly dangerous racist scaremongering.
    9 points
  18. Just listened to this with my lunch (cheese sarnie and a yoghurt in case anyone is interested) and to reiterate a point I made after the Arsenal pod back in February, I appreciate the podcast more after a defeat than a win, and I feel pretty certain I'm not the only one. As a Red, you've got so many bad thoughts/emotions swirling through your body and you want to know if others feel the same and how they're coping/rationalising the pain - in part you get that through talking with you mates and in part you get that from listening to three fellas you don't know try and make sense of it all between themselves, and that always helps - so please Dave and the lads, always do post-defeat pods even if, quite understandably, you're not in the mood to do so. Also, please always litter than with fuming rants about Pep Guardiola - well in Paul! Onto the team itself - I 100% agree that what we've seen in the past two games has been a collective mental breakdown, in part brought on by the natural stress of being in a title race but also in part brought by the pressure of knowing this is the last chance to be champions under Klopp. We've felt it as fans pretty much ever since the manager made his announcement that he was leaving and it's now got to the players, and the trigger for that was most definitely the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford last week. I was in the away end and it really struck me hard how gutted the players looked at the final whistle. Diaz collapsed onto the turf while others stood around looking like they'd just seen their dog been hit by a car - a mixture of shock and despair which immediately told me something had gone in their heads. They clearly recognised not beating United was a big opportunity blown and that carried into Thursday which, in turn, carried into Sunday. I'm simply not having anyone say these players don't care - if anything they care too much, and that's the problem; they've tensed up under the pressure of winning this title for Klopp which has led to anxiety and ultimately a total failure to do the basic fundamentals - pass, press, cross, shoot - correctly. Saying that, there's also their utterly infuriating knack of starting games slowing and conceding the first goal, which, really, has been a problem ever since the tail-end of the 2021-22 season and for which the manager and coaching staff have to take a large share of the blame. I'm sure they prepare the team for every game but for too long now there has been a failure in that preparation, whether that be in training, or how the players are told to rest and recuperate, or in the final message they get before going onto the pitch - who knows, but something has definitely not been right for too long now. Equally, I agree with those who say the players have to take responsibility for their own performances and make sure they're 'on it' from the start of all games. All in all what we've seen for the best part of two years now in regards to how we start games has not been good enough and it needs to change. In regards to the title - yes, we're still in this and there could well be more twist and turns but personally I think yesterday was it for us. As said by the lads on the pod; once you get behind Man City in a title race, and especially at this stage of the season, it's near impossible to catch them. We've seen how this movie ends twice and the trilogy is upon us, sadly. Simply no way, given the team's physical as well as mental shape, that we're winning our remaining six games, which is what we'd need to do to stand any chance of being champions. Like Dave, I see Fulham on Sunday as a massive banana skin, and even if we don't slip up then we will somewhere else. Praying to God it's not Goodison. All in all, this is such a sad state of affairs to find ourselves in. Like Chris said on the post-Atalanta pod - everything changed when Klopp made his announcement, and while the reasons for that were understandable, that doesn't stop me/others wishing he had not said anything and simply walked in the summer. That would have meant no sudden dropping of mood, no distracting chat about who replaces him (and subsequent, further despair when Alonso ruled himself out of the running) and no rising anxiety, in the stands and on the pitch, which led to Anfield being an utterly rotten place to be yesterday. My worst day there since the Gerrard-slip game almost exactly 10 years ago. I'm gutted and, like Paul, massively pissed off with seeing the cheats prosper again. They've stolen glory for us and they're fans barely give a fuck about any of it. It's disgusting and, well, sad.
    9 points
  19. Not angry. No lack of effort but it was all just a bridge too far. The fact that we couldn’t play through a determined but limited and hardworking midfield shows our limitations. We’d have won that game in the first half of the season. Of our big chances, I think Nunez and Mo did all they could have for theirs. Jota should have had more composure and of course Jones had to score. The players who haven’t been rested or injured have looked goosed, especially Macca, and the players coming back from injury aren’t ready yet. Some of the bile directed at Jones and Trent on here has been embarrassing. Jones made mistakes but he was the only one of our midfielders pressing or getting into threatening areas. Klopp has deserved better than this. The injury to Jota at Brentford and Mo at Afcon have been massive turning points. We’ve been left to rely on Nunez and Diaz who just aren’t that reliable. We are where we might optimistically have expected to be at the start of the season, but to go from a 2-point lead to a 3-point deficit in a week and also effectively go out of Europe is heartbreaking. The only good point that Carragher made was about this being similar to the way Arsenal faded last year. I get people wanting to vent and I was furious last week and on Thursday, but I think the squad deserve better than abuse. We’ve seen all season teams playing week above theirselves against us, and we saw it again today with block after block, and no ricochets falling for us. The only thing we might have done differently over the last few weeks (in terms of approach, not individual errors) is play the kids a bit more, but that’s hindsight really. A horrible end to a season that will live long in the memory.
    9 points
  20. I dreamt we score seven today, the main problem with the dream is that I played in midfield and provided most of the assists.
    9 points
  21. ‘We are treating more adults than ever in NHS mental health’ Yeah, unpick that and ask why? Years of struggle, stigma and demonisation through you and the compliant media. Reducing ‘illness’ to an homogeneous whole so you can posture on a ‘hard work pays off’ platform while you benefit more than anyone from ‘benefits’ of government largess. Tax loopholes, write downs, front end investment, all ‘benefits’ this government doesn’t seem to have a problem with and they cost far, far, far fucking more than some broken people whose lives are utterly fucking miserable due to policies, actions and words of you and your fucking ilk, you rancid, vapid, vicious, little shit imp. Fuck off.
    8 points
  22. Fuck you city !!! VID-20231219-WA0028.mp4.220c08e94eac3270f3c079f415b69cb2.mp4
    8 points
  23. I'm sorry Ruben but I haven't got the legs anymore.
    8 points
  24. Player reviews from Stamford Bridge, taken from the Toffeetalk Forum.Pickford - He made some saves to keep the score as low as it was but what he did with that pass was embarrassing. Coleman - Got absolutely destroyed for 45 minutes. Which makes it hilarious that he was only subbed due to injury. Tarkowski - Absolutely loved the jug-eared bastard needlessly get himself booked to try and make up for being shit. Honestly, I felt much better after it. Branthwaite - Returned to form last week then regressed to below even where he was at pre-Burnley. He was given the run around by the quick football on display from Chelsea. Plenty of learning to do for him. Mykolenko - The final member of the non-defending defence. Probably the least shit of the lot but shit nonetheless. Young - I've never played golf before but I'm more than willing to invest in an expensive set of golf clubs and then use Ashley f***ing Young as a golf ball and smash him all over the place. Brought in for his experience? Experience of what? Being shit? We have enough shit in this squad to be very experienced without him. Onana - WHAT. DOES. HE. DO?!!!!!!!!! Garner - Contributed massively the big f***ing empty space that was our midfield. Actually, call the f***ing scientists because we have discovered dark matter. It is Everton's midfield, ladies and gentleman - we know it's there, we just can't f***ing find it. McNeil - Probably the best player on the pitch during the good start to the game we had, then he disappeared somewhere else that wasn't Stamford Bridge. Doucoure - An absolute passenger. Again. We can't afford a passenger anywhere tbh but particularly not in such an integral position. He's offering absolutely nothing so he's got to be dropped. Beto - For absolute fucks sake, someone teach him the bastard offside rule. I'm sick to f***ing death with him standing 2 yards offside and then looking all gormless when he's flagged as if he can't understand why. If Dom isn't fit on Sunday I still wouldn't play this joker and would sooner see Chermiti given an opportunity even though I don't think he's ready. His first touch is absolutely appalling and his second touch is an attack for the opposition.
    8 points
  25. Imagine being the GCHQ operative that draws that straw. "We're taking you off the Libyan sleeper cell Terry, we need you to read this Countdown girl thread. We're getting pings for Hitler and the IRA."
    8 points
  26. Shouts for Neil Warnock on GOT. End of days stuff. My sides hurt from laughing.
    8 points
  27. I've just got the one. I call him Tiny. He's my newt.
    8 points
  28. The thing that is always the hardest for me is just reading the list of names and ages. We lost a mate there, I was 19, he was 20, I was just luckier than him, getting there 10 mins or so earlier - another mate who I was with on the same day has also passed away since, he was never the same again and lost his life to drink. I look through the list and see how many people who died who were around our age. We hadn't started our lives, they never got to have them. This wasn't a few unfortunate old people caught up in something a bit out of hand, these were people in the peak of life, destroyed for nothing more than football fans being thought of as a sub-human.
    8 points
  29. it was ‘words, actions and behaviour's’. Like, for example, using an event, attributing it to ‘Islamic extremism’ and falsely, and dangerously, trying to conflate that event with the peaceful marches attended by hundreds of thousands if not millions of people from all faiths religions and background with false quotes about a ‘call for global intifada’, as a false forewarning about the dangers of these peaceful marches. Horrible, dangerous racist.
    8 points
  30. Mrs HL started making her own sourdough a couple of weeks ago. This is the second loaf of a twin batch baked today.
    8 points
  31. One of the easiest tastiest veggie scrans around this one. Halloumi cut in half, smeared with crunchy chilli oil/sauce wrapped in tinfoil. Bung it on a roasting tray surrounded by small spuds, sliced onion, mushrooms, toms, and courgette tossed in salt n pepper and a teaspoon of oil. Bake in oven for 30 minutes.
    8 points
  32. It’s a shame but they just ran out of steam in the end, some of Klopp’s obvious tactical weaknesses and a few unfortunately timed injuries, did for them. That said, I thought we were finished after last season and he’s turned it around brilliantly, in the main. To go from 5th to comfortable top 4 again and a trophy, exceeded my expectations - I expected a battle for top 4 that we can just nick with a fair wind, like the end of season Middlesbrough game in his first full term - I felt something like coming again. I never expected a title race and like all of us I went along with it until the last week but we really didn’t have enough - as good as the Endo lad has been, City have Rodri, Arsenal have Rice - it’s the absolute foundation and bedrock of the best sides. Of course the obligatory internet/tellyclapper provincial bantz merchants will be having a ball online but to get the Club a Champions League restart is hugely important, for the new fella and financially. He was miles better than expected, Klopp. Gave us some amazing memories and moments and was almost perfect. He changed the club from a museum - that mad season under Rodgers aside - to pure excitement with a good dose of excellence thrown in. He had his faults off the ball and in defence of course but I’ll always be truly grateful. I’m 46 and those five years of 2016-2021 will be the best football I’ll ever see and that was because of him.
    8 points
  33. And are you a nonce attracted to the site by the picture of lifetime fan's stepson?
    7 points
  34. Ziti’s Art Of Football War.
    7 points
  35. Mancs singing a song written and performed by Scousers. Absolute melts.
    7 points
  36. Do we each have to condemn the Holocaust and more importantly Toxteth O’Grady before we can post anything else, because Rico says so? Peak internet, this. For the record, Hitler, I’m not a fan. Not a great role model for the kids.
    7 points
  37. 7 points
  38. This conflates Jews with Israel. The fact that Israel gets a free pass on a lot is linked to nothing more than geopolitical strategy, not victim status. An ally in the region, largely due to being in opposition to Iran, much like Saudi Arabia. They may as well be black Quakers. Asking why a group have been discriminated against, and aiming the spotlight at the group themselves. Well, just transpose that with, for instance, anti-Irish sentiment, and perhaps you'll see why that's a troubling viewpoint.
    7 points
  39. This Netflix series is gonna be boss. Jurgen eating cornflakes out of the Worthington Cup, Salah walking around topless and Nunez spending three hours in a revolving door.
    7 points
  40. I am getting fed up of seeing Mo and Darwin grinning away after missing chances.
    7 points
  41. Tell me, could you possibly be the same Liverpool Gladstone Trotter who, in 1992, fell down the cellar of Spartak Moscow, and received one hundred pounds compensation? I can’t remember that far back sir. Well, let’s try a more recent case then. Could you be the same Liverpool Gladstone Trotter who, in 1995, fell down the cellar of Brondby, and received a two hundred and twenty five pound out of court settlement? Me mind’s a blank! Maybe you were the same Liverpool Gladstone Trotter who, in 1997, fell down the cellar of Racing Strasbourg? How about Celta Vigo, or does Sporting Braga, ring a bell? Whilst we haven’t been more down holes than Tony Jacklin, boy have we made some huge fuck ups in the UEFA Cup/Europa League over the years. I actually researched the litany of exits listed above to make sure they were in the right order and it just made me shudder. And so, the cup match reporter returns for another outing – join me, Dan Thomas, as I try to pick apart the latest UEFA Cup/Europa League fiasco. I have been very dismissive of this competition over the course of the season, and I stand by everything I’ve said. The Europa League is laden with nothing teams as well as 5 or 6 really good ones. We have gotten to the quarter finals without even needing to go into first gear, we’ve been in neutral in fact. And the first time we’ve drawn a good team, we’ve got our arses handed to us on a silver platter. Assuming that is the last European action we see at Anfield under Klopp, it’s a grim way to end it. A really unfitting way for this glorious period to come to an end, drifting away into nothing. I have this down as being one of the worst performances during Jurgen’s time at the club. It’s definitely the most costly. Yes, I know it’s just five years since one of the greatest footballing miracles of all time when the mighty Barcelona were overwhelmed by a raucous Anfield. But this team is not that one – we will go to Bergamo next week, and we might win on the night. Will we go through? Not a chance for me – we simply aren’t playing well enough. Thursday night was a result in the post, a result that has been coming after a string of performances where we were just asking for it. Atalanta played the game perfectly – they contained us with ease after 20 minutes, quietened the crowd down from a quiet whisper to total silence and it’s comfortably their best result in European football. Fair play to them – they man marked us into nothing and got men forward when they had the ball. Gasperini is an experienced manager who knew exactly what he was going to set up to do and his team played it to perfection. They stitched us up a treat. Us on the other hand…. This would be a very brief match report if I used some suitable adjectives – and I have plenty in mind. However, let’s deep dive. Firstly, the atmosphere was dreadful. I wholeheartedly blame the owners for this. I think a second price rise in 12 months is crass, insensitive and reprehensible and has been communicated awfully. You’re already getting your two extra Champions League games next season – there’s your increase in revenue. Get in the sea. And anyone who is saying “it’s only £x” or “give me your ticket then” you can also get in the sea. The cost of living has not come down, bills haven’t come down, going to the match isn’t something we need to go up in price in addition to everything else. And to announce this after that scandalous United result and before a home quarter final. Some real thinking, that. Boneheads. The atmosphere was flat before the game and during it and it’s of no surprise. The club have to own that. I do also think there was some complacency from fans as well – it didn’t feel like a quarter final at any point. It frankly had the feel of a group game when you’ve already qualified with a game to spare. Flat, passionless, barely above a whisper for the majority of the game. We were just awful from start to finish. We were lucky to not go behind inside of three minutes when Kelleher made a great save with his face. I thought it was a foul on Elliott personally but it wouldn’t have been overturned had they scored. Kelleher did all he could – make himself as big as possible, use his body as a goalkeeping glove, and kept it out with his grid. It was another slow start, the same as the Sheffield United game when we could have been behind inside of 5 minutes. It is a pattern, it badly needs addressing, and we will not achieve the heights we can until this absolute plague has been cut right out. We did actually recover from that terrible start, apart from Kostas who had his worst game for the club – possibly the worst game of his entire career in fact. He was so bad he could have been substituted at half time twice – once to get brought on and once to get taken straight off. He was wretched. Again though, it was final ball and decision making that let us down. Gakpo, who I thought was our best player by a mile in the first half, was lively on that left hand side and he could have put Elliott in but didn’t get his head up. Now that I am thinking and looking back, we actually created a few chances at 0-0. Nunez went through and inexplicably stuck it wide. I haven’t seen it back (and I never will) but did he kick the ball onto his own foot or something? It went well, well wide and I was expecting a lovely little clip over the keeper into the net a la Brentford. And from that moment, we barely created a better chance. This is just who Darwin is unfortunately – you don’t know what you’re going to get and this match was one of those days where nothing went right. Elliott did hit the bar and post with a great effort cutting in from the right, really unlucky and it did start to feel like we were building up a head of steam. And then bam, behind. We lost possession far too easily, Atalanta countered quickly and Scamacca’s shot squirmed through Kelleher and in answer to the age old thing, yes “Alisson saves that.” The manner of the goal was frustrating as much as it was concerning – they cut through us way too easily. We nearly went further behind after Kelleher gave the ball away too easily but he atoned for it with a good save as the impressive Koopmeiers closed in on goal. We got to the break and the word “ragged” was being thrown around at half time as well as “disrespectful” and “arrogant.” The sentiment around me was that we should have gone full strength to try and finish the game off and then make changes. Whilst we rotated, I had the team that we put out as capable of winning the match. But we played so poorly the whole thing has spectacularly backfired. You could in theory have made 11 changes at half time. Well, 10, no situation can be saved by bringing Adrian on. As it turns out, it was Tsimikas, Jones and Elliott were the ones who were taken off. Tsimikas was the worst player on the pitch by a mile, Jones has not looked sharp since returning from injury and I think Elliott was a bit unlucky to be honest. But with Salah on the pitch we’ll make at least 5 or 6 chances for him to miss, right? Wrong! We did start the second half well and were pressing for an equaliser. We should have had it as well but Nunez lifted it over the bar. Again. Very frustrating because that puts us right back in it and Atalanta don’t have experience of Anfield on the up with the Reds pursuing a winner. I think we’d have rolled them over. We then got sucker punched. We weren’t building up a head of steam don’t get me wrong, but we were definitely on the front foot and then Atalanta broke down the right, De Ketelaere just stayed onside and swung an absolute peach of a ball across. All Scamacca had to do was guide it with his foot – Kelleher was flat footed and had no chance. Tidy finish, great ball in. 2-0 and getting towards famous European night in the second leg territory. It also caused all of the Atalanta fans in the Upper Kenny to celebrate and cause the usual trouble. I have no idea why that happens but it does in every European home game. It just ends with a load of stewards standing around their fans. But I digress. As that goal went in, Darwin went off. I have no idea if that was pre-planned or what, but bringing Nunez off when you need a goal is not what I’d be doing. As frustrating as his finishing can be, he looks like he is going to make something happen at all times. Diaz came on and played with plenty of endeavour but there was just nothing in and around him. It was such a flat performance we were lucky to end up with 0. Salah was unlucky though, his shot forced the keeper into a good save. We then had the ignominy of a Dejan Lovren moment. The SHOOOOOOOOT dickheads in the crowd got their way as the ball fell to Joe Gomez outside the box. Instead of trying to lift the ball back into the packed box, Gomez decided to blaze it into the Kop. Yet again, playing Joe Gomez’ Shooting Challenge. May I suggest a cross into the box? You have selected POWER DRIVE! Ball is in THE KOP. Would you like to play again? You have selected NO. That just summed the game up, it was a terrible decision when much better options were available. That’s the story of our last month really, since that FA Cup game. We are wasting chance after chance, or not creating a chance because of making a terrible decision. It’s going to kill us if we don’t sort it. Not that I am blaming Joe Gomez for that. I will blame the knobheads in the crowd shouting SHOOOOOOOOOOT though. At 2-0 down in the first leg, you’ve always got a chance. Given the absolute state of how we played, I’d have been happy to take 2-0 and get back to Bergamo still in the tie. It briefly looked like we’d go back at 2-1 but Salah just went too soon – and I don’t think he needed to. He did look just off as the ball went in and I spotted the flag right away – a long time before several people around me did. Jota came on with 15 minutes left and the first thing he did was win a free kick on the edge of the box. But the reality of the situation is that we were putting way too much expectation on someone coming back from months out injured. The fact he’s back for the run in is a bonus full stop as I was worried he was gone for the season. Atlanta should have scored a third before they did, with Koopmeiers firing a good chance across the goal and someone missed a great chance with a header. But it didn’t matter in the end, they were rewarded for the way they set up and the way they played with a third. Ederson (not the dipshit with the neck tattoo) was afforded way too much time to shoot, and Kelleher could only parry the ball into the path of Pasalic who gleefully tapped in. Game over. Tie over? Almost certainly. As the third went in, commence Operation Anfield Exodus. And I don’t blame anyone – but that is as big a mass exit as I’ve seen and as far as the performance goes it was well deserved. It was an absolute shambles – we had the chances for it to be 3-0 the other way but didn’t take them, we shipped a couple of awful goals and it is just a terrible way for Jurgen to sign off in European football at Anfield. You could not rule out us going out there pissed off, fired up and winning 5-0. We’ve done exactly that in the last 3 years. But for me, we’re not playing well enough, we have key players out of form at the exact wrong time and we will end up going out. Star man? The full time whistle. But our “best” player on the night was arguably Gakpo and that is up for discussion because he fell off a cliff second half. Team: Kelleher; Gomez, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas (Robertson); Endo (Jota), Jones (Szoboszlai), Mac Allister; Elliott (Salah), Nunez (Diaz), Gakpo:
    7 points
  42. Khamenei've a go if you think you're hard enough.
    7 points



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