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Thats a great result. My dad passed away on kick off so hopefully hes beaming now.

Sorry to hear this. My Dad passed in October and he always phoned me at the final whistle. Today I was thinking Dad would have said ‘well that was good wasn’t it’.

A 4-4 draw with the worst team in the league? Of course; how else would you end a looney tunes season like this one? From very early on – maybe even half time at Fulham – I had it pegged as one we wouldn’t look back on with too much fondness. I know I’m not Mr Optimism at the best of times, like. How poor it often was may have come as a shock to the system, but there were signs immediately. Losing Sadio was already big, really big. You had hopes there’d be a proper replacement, but once Nunez began to struggle that bubble got popped a bit. Tiredness after an immense effort during the preceding, fabulous year was bound to be exacerbated by a shorter summer. That winter World Cup screwed everyone, but especially a Liverpool squad that had given everything and really needed time to recuperate properly. The flies began to drop. Diaz, Jota, Fabinho and Thiago were still there but in shadow form only, while we never could rely on Keita anyway. There were occasional smiles, Bournemouth at home and Rangers in Europe. It was all sparsely rationed. By the time we could sign someone else, Gakpo was in but was always going to take a while to settle -especially with everyone else already playing poorly. This was when Klopp started to annoy a few. With huge credit in the bank, that mattered little, but if you’re picking a midfield three, they have to be quality, and ready to run miles. God bless Henderson and Milner, but they no longer came up to scratch and others couldn’t be trusted, but he spent 100m on forwards and expected everyone to go wild on Carvalho, Elliott and Jones. Which some did, obviously, because belieeeeve etc. Curtis did look decent near the end, but with younger players some fans can never rein in their enthusiasm. They always see Fowler, not Ojo. Opponents finally got round to doing some homework on Trent, his defending almost coming apart at the seams. A debate about where he could end up playing has always simmered, once doused by Klopp claiming he’d thump anyone who criticised the lad, but near the end of the season (too late) a role was found to maximise his considerable gifts and minimise his defects. Games we lost to Leeds, Bournemouth, Brentford but especially Forest gave off whiffs of complacency, in addition to the reduced press through tiredness. That’s when top four was squandered. Other teams gave us their all, and it often came as a shock to us having sailed through previous seasons like we merely had to turn up. A rude awakening. Mo signed his contract, hitting absurdly high personal targets without ever seeming his old invincible self. Reduced appearances for Firmino meant he had to work out new partnerships, new stratagems, often unsuccessfully. He reminded me a bit of the John Wark season, when he scored loads, but the team never really gelled. Not sure what to make of his tweet about the Champions League; “come and get me” or “here y’are say this, the fans’ll love it”, who can say? We got draws in the cups that were too tough to overcome, maybe the Real pasting was a shock but nothing else was. Nunez may come good, but Klopp went public on his language skills, hinting at someone who already thinks he can just move back to the continent if this gig doesn’t work out. Half the time he was like Rosenthal, someone who could have a phase of hitting everything on the sweet spot without convincing you it was all on purpose. The chaos theory soon palled. He just isn’t clinical enough. Yet, he said hopefully… The highlight was probably 7-0 against Them, but while it might be an itchy scar they’ll scratch occasionally, they’ve had the better year and still have room to improve. Watching them in the Champions League instead of us is going to hurt. If Chelsea and Spurs hadn’t made an absolute show of themselves, our season might’ve been even worse. Spending tons of money didn’t seem to work for Chelsea, but that doesn’t mean FSG can wash their hands of the improvements needed here. That late run may convince them that not much needs fixing. They’re wrong. Their Miracle Man needs help, lots of it. The rebuild begins now. Like many I’ve been pathetically grateful for the brilliant seasons we’ve recently witnessed. A stumble was expected, and fifth hardly qualifies as a let-down except by dizzying comparison. The standards Klopp set are what makes the social media screech all the louder. Tough, but that’s how it is in the big leagues. I thought there’d be a couple of years before we had to worry about Newcastle, but they’re ahead of schedule and the huge spending hasn’t even started. What? The Premier League will block that? Yeah, right. Lijnders said we had to be perfect. I have no problem with that. Who wants to be successful by throwing so much mud some is bound to stick? What’s the bloody point? City have already injected an air of apathy into English football; Newcastle could be its final nail. Klopp’s Liverpool is back in the Europa League, where it all began. Who’s up for the fight, what funds he’ll receive, whether his magic touch on transfers can be kept up. That’s what we’ll be discussing for the next few months. We oldies can say we’ve seen it all before, and though it may take longer there’s never been a time in modern football when Liverpool Football Club were dead and buried. There may come a point when all hope seems lost, but that’s always when they surprise us and disappoint everyone else. Yes, too many players are leaving and all of them for free. There were few moans about the likes of Shaqiri, Minamino or even Divock going, but there was cash for them and modern football chews through footballers like a hungry shark, spits out the bones and is never satisfied. FSG’s public claim of looking for investment gave off the impression they may have had enough of fighting a lost cause against City. It’s what would replace them that worries me the most. ---------------------------------------------------------- Or doesn’t. Barring miracles, this is the last time I’ll ever write about football. The paper’s gone quiet on me for a while, and I can take a hint eventually. I’ve had over 30 years of writing about the Reds, whether it was for Through the Wind & Rain or the Irish Examiner or a brief spell at ESPN thanks to Dave Usher. I’m not the go-getter type. Anything I ever did landed in my lap, from a casual remark in the dole office about fanzines way back in 1989, putting me on a course I couldn’t have veered off if I’d wanted to. The Examiner read my stuff on a website I didn’t even set up for myself, beginning an extra 20 years of writing about the (now only occasionally) mighty Reds. And not just humiliating puff pieces either; I got to say pretty much what I wanted. It was a bit stolid at ESPN, but still critical and not swearing was a small price to pay, even for someone with borderline Tourette’s. My last year produced a lot of silence from the paper, but the industry is going through tough times in the digital age and how I lasted this long remains a miracle. The ESPN gig ended abruptly too, but the bottom line is I got paid to give opinions that I was handing out for free all those years ago. Lucky doesn’t even begin to describe it. How it’s ended is a bit chicken/egg; was my increasing disgruntlement with the modern game seeping into my writing with undetected lethargy, or was a lack of columns making me care less and less? A bit of both. I was also getting oddly angry with people who complain all the time. That was a weird position to take, so much so that people often ask me if my Twitter account’s been hacked! Well, wonder no longer. Money’s a bit tight, which is my own stupid fault, but I’ve a great partner and family so no worries just yet. I thought I’d be doing this through to retirement, but sadly not. I won’t become one of those fund-me meffs, but if you see me on Lord Street with a plazzy cup, say hello. There are many people I have to thank for how long I’ve been doing this. The friends who sold and wrote for the fanzine, Colm O’Connor at the Examiner, Dave for getting me onto ESPN, but the people who were actually bothered about what I had to say meant the most to me. As a lifelong rule, I never think I’m up to much and can’t understand anyone who thought otherwise. That doesn’t make me any less grateful for everyone who read my interminable blatherings and got something out of them. Thanks for everything, and Up the Reds. Always. Steven View full article

Thank you. He had dementia and had significantly deteriorated in the last few weeks. It stripped him of his personality, communication and mobility. An utterly evil disease. He gave a slight smile last night when we told him liverpool where top. The family were around him when he passed.

What a wild ride that was. I went through the full range of emotions during this 90 minutes, from thinking our season was going to be even worse than last year to wondering if this was our “Villa Park moment” and whether we might just shock everyone and win the league! It was mental. I went from wanting to strangle Klopp to wanting to kiss him. I went from demanding for Trent to be subbed to screaming “fucking go ‘ed lad” when he took the ball to the corner flag, won a throw in and let out a visceral yell up to the away fans stuck up in the rafters. The only thing that was consistent is the love and unwavering faith I have in my boy Darwin. This is surely the springboard for him to unleash hell on the league now. What a fucking devastating cameo that was. I’ll get to that though, oh yes you know I will. There’s loads to unpack first though. What a mental first half. We actually started the game well I thought. The first few minutes were really good. We settled quickly, played some good stuff and the pressing was great. That part of our game was good all day I thought, it wasn’t easy for Newcastle to play through us even when we only had ten men. Five minutes in though it got wild when the referee decided he was going to make it all about him. I do think there’s a bit of blame to go around though and it’s as much on Howard Webb as any of the refs. He’s the egotistical prick who has decided he wants refs to fully embrace their inner traffic warden. All of this “refs need to be shown respect” is a bit rich isn’t it? I mean in theory I completely agree, mainly because of how it affects the game at grass roots level. But half of these jumped up little wankers at Premier League level just don’t deserve respect. They deserve a fucking slap. Eventually someone will give it to them too. I worry that one day Kloppo is going to snap and choke slam Tierney. I wouldn’t even blame him if he did, because there’s only so much of this shit you can tolerate. It gets worse every season and all VAR has done is exposed the bias that many of us suspected was there for decades (not specifically an LFC related comment that, more of a general observation). At least previously they could hide behind the “we only get one look at it, mistakes are going to happen”. That’s gone out of the window now, they’re still doing whatever they like even when they’ve got replays. John Brooks of course is the ref who Klopp stupidly celebrated in front of last season and pulled his hamstring in the process. That got him a touchline ban and we’ve been getting fucked by refs ever since. The double standards from Brooks in this game was there for all to see. Joelinton and Guimares were given free rein to foul as much as they liked. So many potential counter attacks of ours were halted by fouls and Brooks just let it happen. For those two to come out of this game with no yellow card between them shows you just where Brooks’ head was at. He laid down a marker early. I’d say Trent was both lucky and unlucky with how things went in that mad sixth minute of the game. His yellow card is a fucking disgrace. Firstly, I find it hard to believe how any referee could miss the blatant shove in the back by Gordon. It’s one of those rare incidents where literally everybody in the ground can clearly see what has happened and it’s as clear a foul as you’ll ever see. There’s no room for interpretation there, and it doesn’t fall under that “letting more physical stuff go to keep the game flowing”. This ain’t that. Both the linesman and fourth official saw it and told Klopp it was a foul. How didn’t Brooks see it? He must have. He certainly saw Trent’s little throw of the ball though didn’t he? Not giving a free-kick for that shove is genuinely incredible. Then he books Trent for throwing the ball back on the pitch. It’s almost like he was daring Klopp to do something. This happened right in front of him. Co-incidence? Nah. He knew what he was doing. Sending a message to Klopp again. Reminding him who has the power. “Celebrate in my face? See what happens.” Loads of people are justifying that yellow under this new ‘hard line’ stance on dissent. Fuck right off. He threw the ball back onto the pitch, he didn’t boot it into the stands. Was it dissent? A little, but it’s fuck all really and any ref handing out a yellow for that five minutes into a game is asking for trouble. You know what makes it worse? I didn’t get onto this at the time but I’ve watched the game back and about 20 seconds after Trent was booked, Gordon commits another foul which Brooks blew for, and Gordon then kicked the ball away to stop us taking the free-kick!! Trent and Dom brought it to the ref’s attention but he wasn’t interested. Honestly, how the fuck can he justify that? You book Trent but not Gordon. Why? What’s the difference? You’re either making a stand on this or you aren’t. We saw Mac Allister booked at Chelsea for asking for a yellow card when he was cynically brought down by Gallagher. Instead, he got booked and Gallagher didn’t. Yet when Trent put out an arm and caught Gordon we had half the Newcastle team and all of their bench charging to the ref demanding he send Trent off and Joelinton was waving an imaginary card. No punishment though. None for Trippier either who ran the full width of the pitch to demand a booking. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t blame him at all as he’s the captain so he’s the one who should be doing it and even though I think that’s acceptable, I don’t make the rules and I thought this kind of thing wasn’t ok anymore? That gobshite assistant manager went running from the bench to demand a card, and he’d done the same thing when Trent threw the ball away. Klopp told him to sit down and he shushed Klopp. How’d that turn out for you, you arrogant bellend? I only wish that photoshopped image of Klopp shushing him later on had been real. He’s not even meant to be in the technical area but the orange cunt sets up camp in there every game and for some reason it’s allowed. Are they joint managers like Evans and Houllier? He sure acts like it, and Beheddie Howe is such a snivelling little dweeb he does nothing about it. The entire league hates Tindall and rightly so. What a fucking scumbag. That being said, what the hell is Trent thinking putting his arm out like that, a minute after he’d been booked? You know Gordon is going to ground if you so much as breathe on him, and while it was a dive by him the fact remains that Trent deliberately made a move towards him and put his arm out and shoved him. I don’t even have a problem with Gordon going to ground there. He’d have been stupid not to and I’d expect any of our lads to do the same in that situation. If Trent had been given a second yellow, the blame would be is, not Gordon’s. It was stupid beyond belief and I can’t get my head around it. Trent is the most intelligent lad in the entire squad by all accounts. He’s not some thick fucker, yet he did THAT? The ref bottled it and such was the lack of control he had at that point he managed to piss everybody off. He could easily have sent Trent off but he knew if he did the spotlight would be on him for the ridiculous first yellow so he took the easy way out. Anyway, at this point I’m losing my shit at Trent and demanding that Klopp subs him. Gomez was sent out to warm up and I didn’t see any way Trent was staying on that field. He’d need to play 85 minutes plus stoppages without committing a single foul, because the next one would defo see him off. Even if he could do that why would you leave your right back out there knowing he basically can’t make a tackle, and he’s facing the biggest diver in the league? I know he’s an important player but he had to be subbed for me. Whatsmore, as the half wore on it was clear that his head was up his arse as his passing was way off. As each minute passed by with no substitution, the rage was building in me. Then he took his eye off the ball and allowed that rat Gordon to run through and score. I didn’t know who I was more pissed off with, Trent or Klopp. The mistake is on Trent but he shouldn’t have still been on the field by that point so I was mostly mad at Klopp I think. What the fuck was he thinking? Then we had the Virgil sending off as things completely unravelled for us. I don’t think it’s a red card (yellow for me) but I don’t feel massively aggrieved as I’d accept that it could be given either way. 60/40 in favour of no red card for me. It’s definitely not a stonewall sending off and I tend to agree with Carragher about it not being a goalscoring opportunity. If Van Dijk doesn’t make that challenge what happens? He runs alongside him, Isak is going away from goal and there is no clear goalscoring opportunity. Isak didn’t get the chance to create a clear goalscoring opportunity and without that challenge I don’t think he’s in on goal. So it isn’t a black and white decision, it’s a subjective call and there’ll be arguments about it. I don’t think it should be a red card but it’s not a hill I’m willing to die on. Virgil got the ball but he clipped Isak just before he got it. You know what struck me about this? We needed several replays to be sure of what happened, yet eagle eyed Brooks saw it immediately and had no doubt it was a red card. Great eyesight there for someone who couldn’t see that clear shove by Gordon. Look, it’s a foul (even though it needed a super slo mo from a certain angle to show it) but I just think the punishment does not fit the crime. It’s like a judge giving someone a custodial sentence for speeding just because he can. Most of the time it’s a fine and points, but instead he’s gone with the maximum penalty. It isn’t a wrong decision as he’s entitled to make it, but you’ll never convince me it isn’t harsh. Nevertheless, what it brings home once again is that Virgil just isn’t who he was anymore. He’d never have made that challenge in his pomp. If you disagree, show me when he did something like that and maybe I’ll reconsider. The only time I ever remember him doing anything reckless was a challenge he made against Napoli when he got a yellow card and it could potentially have been a red. He might be in trouble for his reaction to the red card too. He didn’t leave the field immediately which is ok because you have to wait for VAR now to confirm the decision. But he spent that time berating the referee. That’s not ok. I’m not going to condemn him for that though because these refs are out of control these days with the game changing bullshit decisions. I’m not saying this decision is one of them by the way, but from Virgil’s point of view he might see it that way and besides, this is just one of many contentious calls that have gone against us over a period of time and I just think they’re all getting pissed off with it now. I know how angry I’m getting with these fucking dickheads spoiling games every week (not just ours, the entire Premier League is a farce thanks to these arrogant clowns) and while the players have a responsibility to behave in a certain way, I completely get how they’d lose it in the heat of the moment. I was annoyed at Virgil at the time, but I”m not now. I don’t think his reaction was based on this one decision, I just reckon all of the players are becoming so pissed off about what’s happening every week that he just exploded. The other thing to consider here is that Virgil is the captain. That means he’s the one who is allowed to talk to the ref, and anyone who thinks Hendo or Gerrard wouldn’t have been giving Brooks a fucking earful has a short memory. I understand why he reacted like that and I’m fine with it. Imagine if Suarez was still here having to deal with this bullshit. He’d be on a manslaughter charge by now I reckon. Virgil also yelled at the fourth official “don’t touch me” as he headed down the tunnel. Again, I’m not holding any of that against him, but the FA might and I wouldn’t be shocked if the ban was increased. I wouldn’t object to it either, just as long as it’s the same for everybody. I won’t hold my breath on that though. Virgil has an impeccable disciplinary record though so that might go in his favour. We’ll see. Anyway, after that incident I’m even more adamant that Trent needs to go, because we’re down to ten already and he’s one foul away from us being down two players. Incredibly, Klopp left him out there. Instead he subbed Diaz, which infuriated me even further. He’d been our most dangerous player up to that point and looked really sharp. He’d also scored in both our previous games and he works his arse off so it’s not like he’d be a passenger. To me the obvious thing to do was sub Trent, put Gomez to right back and drop Endo in alongside Joel. Gakpo could drop into midfield with Macca and Dom, and then leave Diaz and Mo to do the attacking. Now let me stress that the only reason I’m saying that is because of Trent’s precarious situation. I wouldn’t have subbed him based on his poor performance, I’d let him play through that. This was a no brainer to me though, it was just too big a risk for me to leave him out there, but Klopp did it and it paid off. He’ll say it’s the right decision and the fact we won the game and Trent avoided further trouble does vindicate it. I would argue that he got lucky and he should have taken Trent off. Next time it may not go so well. However, for all the bewilderment I had at his management of the first half, I have to say that Klopp’s handling of the second half, the way he set the team up and the changes he made as the half wore on, it was impeccable. That second half was an absolute masterclass in how to deal with the difficult situation we found ourselves in. I didn’t think we had that in us. Sure, we had a little bit of luck at the right times. Almiron hit the post and Barnes wasted a great chance when he failed to square it to Wilson for a tap in, but by and large we weren’t really troubled much. The plan will have been to get to 75 minutes without conceding again, and if we hadn’t nicked anything ourselves by that point, then we throw everything at them for the last 15. And that’s exactly what we did. Apparently Allison made more saves in this game than he has in any other since he arrived here. That shocked me as I can only remember him having to make one proper save (a stunning effort to tip Almiron’s first half rocket onto the bar). The rest must have all been routine as I can’t recall any of them. That save from Almiron was a game changer though because if it had gone to 2-0 we weren’t coming back from that and it may have gotten a whole lot worse. The first spark of attacking threat we posed came after Jota had been introduced. He was really lively and made a big difference. We’d been focusing solely on keeping it at 1-0 and we’d barely been near the Newcastle goal, but suddenly Jota gave us a bit of thrust and energy. He played Mo in for a chance but Botman got over well to block just as Mo was pulling the trigger. That little moment of danger set nerves jangling around St James’ and showed that we weren’t out of it. Then Darwin was unleashed on them. Almost immediately he nearly went through onto a great ball by Elliott. Neville kept going on about what a bad touch it was but it really wasn’t. Had he taken that ball out of the sky and knocked it into his own stride to set up a shot, we’d have all been saying what an incredible touch it was. He didn’t produce an incredible touch but that’s because it was really difficult. His touch allowed the defenders to get back and clear the danger, but that little moment again caused ripples around St James. Newcastle should have gone right up the other end and scored but Barnes made a mess of it and the rest is history. A couple of minutes later Trent threaded a ball up to Mo, he knocked it round the corner for Jota and he tried to release Darwin. Botman looked to have it under control but it bounced off him and Nunez pounced, taking one touch to set himself before smashing it it across goal in off the far post. Stunning finish, absolutely emphatic. The celebration matched it. Proper South American emotions and a quality knee slide. Love it. When that went in it changed everything. The entire game had been a miserable experience up to that point but now we had all of the momentum and if anyone was going to win it was going to be us. I wasn’t worried at all about Newcastle scoring. They were done. The only question was whether we had enough in us to go and get the winner. Clearly we did, because Darwin, Jota and Mo had the bit between their teeth. Jota missed a glorious chance to win when he fed Darwin and then missed his kick when the return pass came his way. That was fucking brilliant by Nunez and it’s probably been forgotten about in all the buzz about the two goals. I thought that might have been our last chance, but Darwin had other ideas. Guimares was pressured in midfield and hit a pass straight at Harvey. The ball fell to Mo and Darwin immediately set off. The pass was perfect and the movement of Nunez matched it. Look at how he bends his run so when he meets the ball he can shoot straight away. The pass by Mo was spoken brilliantly placed and weighted but the run is great too. As was the finish. Wow. Two absolutely stunning finishes from a player who has missed a lot of those kind of chances. I read something a while back from Neil Jones about how the coaches have got Darwin working on converting those exact type of chances (because he gets them a lot) and you could see here the conviction and the technique. Those two finishes reminded me of how Suarez would finish in those situations. I’m not a big celebrater when I’m watching on the telly these days. I went nuts on both of these goals though, partly because it’s Darwin but mostly because we’d somehow won a game that I’d given up on. What a feeling it was when that second went in. Imagine being in that away end. Spine chilling. I’m buzzing for my boy as he needed this. He’s pissed off that he can’t get in the team and so he should be. He was our best forward in pre-season and the reason he isn’t being picked isn’t even specifically about him. Klopp doesn’t trust that the team is solid enough to be able to fully integrate Nunez into it, so he’s going with the more savvy, defensively aware forwards like Jota and Gakpo. I understand it to some extent but there comes a point when you’ve got to let the peacock fly. How can you not start Nunez next week? I’m fed up of hearing about what Darwin can’t do. Not enough is made of what he can do. I don’t think there is anyone else at the club who could have done what he did. Maybe Mo, he’s done it before, but would you have backed him to score from the positions Nunez was in? He’d have cut back inside and then it’s in the lap of the gods. Nobody else we have makes that run or finishes like that. They don’t have the physical tools to do that. Darwin is different, he brings things to the table others can’t. There are also things they do that he can’t of course, I know he isn’t perfect. The point is we would have lost this game if we didn’t have Nunez to call on. I keep seeing people say he can only play if the opponents are defending high and he has room to run into, but I don’t buy that. He’s a chance magnet regardless of how the opponents are playing. Things happen when he’s on the pitch and while his finishing has been erratic to say the least, he gets chances like nobody else in the league, not even Haaland. The stats will back that up. There’s something there with him. Something potentially great. You only have to listen to what other strikers say about him. Wright, Shearer and Owen have all praised his brilliant movement and they all said he’ll come good when he calms down a little with his finishing. Even Neville said he’d hate to play against him. There’s something in that. When the opposition defenders see the team sheet and he’s not on it, I bet they’re relieved. Not because Jota or Gakpo aren’t top players, but no-one is going to be scared of them. They are scared of Nunez because of the raw pace and directness he has. He struck absolute fear into Botman and Burn on that left side of their defence. His movement really is great. Look at him on both goals, he’s running in areas where defenders don’t want to have to deal with him. He also made that chance for Jota with a great run too. Mo has always been on the same wavelength as him and they’ve created plenty of chances for each other, but with Macca and Dom there now too, when Klopp eventually decides the team is solid enough to be able to unleash Nunez from the start in every game, he’s going to score shitloads. Hopefully this game is a watershed moment for him. It silences his critics for a while if nothing else, but it could be the catalyst for him to do what he’s done at previous clubs. Underwhelming first season and then BOOM, he explodes. I don’t know what this win will mean in the long term, but in the short term it’s put smiles on the fans faces and the impact it will have on the team could be massive. This is pretty much a new team. An entirely new midfield and other than Mo the forwards are relatively new as well. Teams grow together and games like this really quicken up the process. You go through adversity together and it builds character and team spirit. This is a massive result for all of the new lads and should give everyone confidence. I don’t think we really know what this team is yet or what they will be capable of. We can see there are flaws and we all want a couple of signings to help us maintain a challenge, but it’s way too soon to be able to get a proper handle on who we are. At this moment I have no idea what to expect from us, but seven points from nine considering the fixtures we’ve had is a promising start. We’re building the plane while it’s in the air so to come through away games at Chelsea and Newcastle with four points is a nice little return. Villa are next and that won’t be easy, but if we can win that then we’re in great shape going into the international break. Nunez is the star man but I’d also give a huge shout to Gomez who stepped in and performed superbly. Alisson as well, as you’d expect. Jota and Harvey made a difference when they came on, while young Quansah acquitted himself well on his debut. Finally, Mo deserves a mention for the great shift he put in as well as creating the winner with a sublime pass. What a fucking result against the odds! This one will live in the memory for a long time. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip (Quansah), Van Dijk, Robertson; Endo (Elliott), Szoboslai, Mac Allister (Nunez); Salah, Gakpo (Jota), Diaz (Gomez): View full article

I hope this is permissible to post amidst the to and fro of messages? My grandson Aiden [7] went to his first Liverpool game against Fulham. He had a great time. He was absolutely buzzing. He was hi-fiving all the fellas around him when Liverpool scored, and told me that he was screaming when they scored. He had his Alisson Becker kit on.

Don't be sad he is going, be happy we have had him. He has transformed our football club and given us the one thing we all wanted more than anything and who knows what he may deliver yet before he goes. Thanks for everything, Jurgen - you made even the biggest doubters believers and you gave us our pride back.

Ah cheers mate, been busy of late, been clearing out my late Dads house. It's been a bit of a mare tbh. Sale is due for completion on Friday. Been struggling to find any worthwhile footage to make gifs from whilst the games are live too.

Struggling to find somewhere decent to make gifs up during the game latel

Grinch, I have you on ignore but I’m flagging your ‘victims’ posts to Usher. I won’t see any reply you make but I’m not going behind your back. I’m telling you what I’m doing straight. Maybe he can have a word about getting you to stop that fucking nonsense, as you clearly have no shame over what you’re doing.

Booing 777

Took the kids to that yesterday. Lad's third final and daughters first. What a game for your first final. She's already planning Dublin now. Thoughts on the game. The ref! I've seen some badly reffed games over the years and that was up there with them. Free kick every time their players fell to the floor but not a thing when we were getting hacked all over the place. Only just seen the reason for the disallowed goal. If that's a reason to disallow a goal then you may as well abolish corners and free kicks as it's like a wrestling match every time and yet it very rarely results in anything. Only it seems when they are looking for something to rule a goal out. Some immense performances, the goalie, Endo, Virgil, Harvey. Diaz. Second half of extra time and I just thought some of them are not going to get through this. Diaz was gone, the effort he put in was unbelievable. All the kids as well. Wow. However, if you want to see what makes the club special just look at the difference between the fans. When Chelsea did sing, which was rare, you could barely hear a thing. Whereas our lot never stopped. And that's where I think this game was won. Second half of extra time, Oley Oley Oley. Something special happened. It started off as normal but you could just feel it growing. You could sense the crowd realised the players needed it. I'm an old sod now and vary rarely sing at the game but absolutely everyone got swept up in it. Couldn't help but join in and you could see a change on the pitch. It honestly felt liked we'd told the lads it was ours to win and they reacted. At the same time Chelsea looked like they realised it was futile trying to stop it. That was when I felt it was ours. Football in general has been worse in the past few years. VAR, the money, the cheating and it is easy to get disillusioned with it but yesterday was like a throwback to what it should be about. Let's go and win the rest now.

Sorry to read this mate. My mum died on Tuesday and I’ve been a bit fucked since. This game made me smile. Take care mate.

Sweet 16? 23 Carra Gold? Not quite, but 16 League games in and 23 games in in all competitions and things are not too bad at all for Jürgen’s Top-of-the-Table Reds! And they haven’t really clicked yet, according to the manager. 22-23 is a low bar – 21-22 had exhausted this team and a big fall-off was always likely. So any comparisons with last season come with that caveat. That being said, the improvement is striking, best illustrated, probably, by this statistic: we’ve reached 37 points after 16 games on the 9th of December; in 22-23 we reached 36 points after 23 games on the the 25th of FEBRUARY! We could be looking at 20-25 points more this season than last, which would get us to the 87-92 range… None of this was a given, of course, given the turmoil of the summer. To be where we are is remarkable, and all the more so as this group – Klopp 2.0 – are still getting used to each other and the new system. Before the start of the season, I mentioned ‘Hope’ and wrote what I felt needed to happen for us to have a good season. ‘Alisson remains the best in the world. He was our best player last season. Hopefully we won’t need him as much this, but if we do, he’ll be up to the task. Virgil gets back to his imperious best. He’s captain now. He’s got to set an example. His role will be key to where we finish. Trent can combine both roles that he’ll be asked to play. Vice-captain. Future captain. He is also key to all we do. The new lads hit the ground running. If they do, we’ve got a great chance of having a great season. Curtis came into his own at the end of last season too and in the summer with England. We still need to strengthen in the middle of the park but we should be okay with the five or six we’ve got. Competition for places up front will keep everyone on their toes. There are two spots up for grabs (Mo starts every time). Gakpo, Nunez, Diogo and Diaz will all be desperate to start. And the two who don’t should provide great options off the bench.’ So far, so good! Alisson has been sensational – he’s the best there is. Of all the Klopp signings, he’s in the top three, isn’t he? We’re probably 5-6 points better off this season – already! – thanks to him. Newcastle, City and Palace spring to mind as games where he was decisive. Trent’s goal against City wouldn’t have happened only for that point-blank save 15 seconds prior. An absolute gem. Virgil has been imperious. Ever since his antics against Newcastle and the subsequent two-match ban, he’s taken the bull by the horns and has shown the way to everyone else. No mattter who his partner at centre-half or down that left-hand side (and there have been a few) he’s been consistent. A huge part of our current success. The jury is still out on Trent in this dual role. It’s going to take time, but suffice to say, he’s coming into it, as evidenced by recent goals, especially, and as the season goes on, he’ll get better. The middle of the park has been steady if not spectacular. What more could we expect after a total rebuild? Two of the lads came in very late in the window too – Gravenberch and Endo – and they’ve started to play a role of late. Mac Allister will improve too, as will Dom as he continues to build that understanding with Trent and Mo. As for the front five? 40 goals in 23 games. And given we will play a minimum of 50 games this season (we’ll likely play between 55 and 60), we could be looking at over 100 from them alone. As much as all of the above has been key to this season’s success, there are other factors. One is Europe. Pre-season, in the same article, I said this: […] the lack of intense European football (while our main rivals will all have to juggle that calendar up to December at least) and things don’t seem so grim. The Europa League has been, as Gérard would probably have said back in the day ‘a blessing in disguise’. First, because this team / squad would not have been able for Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday football at this stage in its development. This competition has afforded us the chance to rotate – something Klopp has done brilliantly – and keep everyone fresh. Had we finished fourth last season, we would have been in a group with PSG, Dortmund and Milan. Look at the effect this has had on Newcastle. Even this week, United play Bayern, while we have a dead rubber. Second, it’s allowed us – by virtue of rotation – to keep ‘fringe’ or second-choice players happy by giving them lots of game time. Kelleher, Gomez, Kostas, Endo, Gravenberch, Jones, Harvey, amongst others. 20 (TWENTY) players have figured in 8 or more games this season. That’s exceptional management of resources. Third, it’s allowed us to introduce new players – like Quansah – helping them get experience and look at ease when they are called upon in the League (Newcastle, Wolves and Palace for Quansah). Fourth, it’s helped build confidence and momentum: four wins out of five, 16 goals. Old-timers playing as well as they’ve ever done, new signings hitting the ground running, forwards scoring, Anfield as a bastion, the Manager managing his resources to perfection all adds up to 17 wins out of 23. And to: The second-best attack in the League. The joint-best defence in the League. The best goal difference in the League. Libpool, Top of the League Libpool Libpool, Top of the League. Don’t believe the Table? Listen to the Fume. It’s a sure sign we’re back. John Brennan View full article

2 week ban for Grinch for being an absolute dick in this thread.

So is anyone detecting any patterns to our season, then? Slow starts? Check. Conceding single goals? Check. Dominant, front-foot, attacking displays? Check. Big impact substitutions? Check. 3-1 wins, even? Again, check. This season feels like it's gone from the zero of last season to, if not quite 100mph, at least 80 in pretty short order. Excited again everyone? If not, you should be because I don't think we've got any right to expect so soon this level of entertainment and - more importantly - run of results, given the huge changes in system and personnel coming off the back of the most depressing campaign of the Klopp era. Because it is, isn't it? An era. If you consider our ridiculous history of both great and dominant football, these years under Jurgen stand apart. Yes, we can quibble about the varying demands of football over the ages, but most professional observers acknowledge the quality of the modern game surpasses anything that came before and in Klopp we have a manager who not only navigates these choppy waters of state ownership and billion pound transfer outlays, but builds a battleship that's as fast and destructive and resilient as anything else at sea. And then, once the rust suddenly appears, takes the good ship LFC into dry dock and whips her back out again in short order ready to take on all comers once more. An over-egged appraisal of where our season is at before we even enter October? Maybe. But if there's one thing we can surely all agree on, it's that these days under Jurgen have been, for the most part, overwhelmingly fun and if we don't enjoy the good times while they're here, more fools we. Because make no mistake: the season to date has been fun and there aren't too many signs of that waning. Leicester arrived at Anfield on the back of an equally exhilarating run of form, relatively speaking, that has taken them to the top of The Championship, with a team which, while denuded of the continuing intermittent deadliness of Jamie Vardy, still retains numerous PL and international experienced familiar names worthy of some respect. Plus Conor Coady. Let me get this our of the way now: my years of bewilderment at Dave's hatred of Coady were rectified at the final home game of the 21-22 season when, as "a massive Red"... *Coughs* Bullshit!!! *Coughs* ...he proceeded to waste time from the opening minute of our final opportunity to go a step closer to the unprecedented quadruple we had in our sights and generally revelled in he and his team shithousing their way through the game. And that's before he joined Everton! No, he's a completely self-obsessed prick and not anything even vaguely approaching my idea of a Red. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't looking for any favours from him in that match against Wolves (which we ultimately won, anyway). However, I didn't expect him to literally try and cheat us out a win that day and absolutely delight in doing so! And how any genuine Red - regardless of what's happening with his career - joins an Everton as embittered and shambolic as the current iteration and then continues to look in the mirror is literally inconceivable; ergo, he's no Red. Anyway, I digress (been reading Dave for too many years, soz). The line up from Liverpool was almost exactly what I wanted to see in this competition: an almost completely rotated side which had eyes on the triple prizes of squad freshness, individual development and - most crucially of all - victory. I say "almost" because Curtis' inclusion was a surprise. That said, it was a happy one given the fact that Jurgen elected to make him captain over a more established option such as Jota. This has been a huge season for one of my long term favourite players as he has emerged from what feels like years in a wilderness of injury and ill-fitting tactics to become a nailed-down first team player. So to see him given what looked like further affirmation - and also opportunity to continue his growth into a serious talent firmly harnessed to the team - was genuinely delightful. And the fact that he was trusted with the Trent hybrid role speaks volumes about the esteem in which both his talent and intelligence are held by the coaching staff. We have a very proud tradition in this competition, despite it's numerous name changes, and I desperately want to put further distance between us and the flat-track bullies who've crept into sight in our rear view mirror as all time leaders on the league cup honours board. I admit there was a time when I was dismissive of the league cup. However, given what sports washing has done to squads in terms of size and quality for the top English clubs, it's not only desirable to go deep into the domestic and lesser European trophies, it's essential. We need the games in order to keep the entirety of the squad focused and fresh, whilst also retaining a keen eye on a fundamental aspect of our success under Klopp: player development. So the game kicked off with a much changed line up of familiar faces and almost immediately hit a snag as Leicester broke against us by pressing Kostas, who was running towards his own goal, and exploiting his tendency to over-elaborate when trying to convince the referee he's been fouled. Look, it probably was a foul (it certainly looked as much from my spec on The Kop), but he's got to be cuter than that silly effort when trying to win a free kick - especially given the position he was in and the fact that so many of our players were higher up the pitch than him. Curtis had a go at slowing the attack while cutting off the pass, but ultimately his back line/offside trap inexperience left him a little too deep and McAteer broke through to receive the pass and beat Kweev low and to his right. It looked very offside to me at the time but, while it's not absolutely conclusively onside, having seen the highlights, it was a welcome throwback to the pre-VAR footballing age. I say "welcome" because I thought referee had a good game. There's something really refreshing about watching a game that's allowed to flow because my biggest bugbear with the new anti-time-wasting directives to have 100+ minute games is that it doesn't actually help a side like us which thrives on momentum and the flow of our game. Besides, despite the early set back, I had absolute zero concerns about the ultimate outcome of the match - and so it proved. The rest of the first half saw us completely dominate Leicester with high-pressing, fluid football which, while occasionally dipping in intensity, created myriad opportunities for goals somehow thwarted only by the woodwork and desperate goal-line clearances. Key to much of this was the new triangle on the right hand side of Curtis, Harvey and Ben Doak with the prodigious teenager showing plenty of evidence of the potential height of his Liverpool ceiling by taking on numerous one on ones, putting dangerous crosses in and hitting the bar himself. Other areas of the attack seemed less lustrous and I suspect that's why Jurgen called Endo over at the mid-point of the half to pass on instructions to Curtis, who then switched into the double pivot slot thereafter, curtailing that right side threat considerably. Certainly the attack seemed better balanced until half time, albeit slightly neutered. It was in this period that the lack of regular match experience for much of the crowd became clear. I have no issues with good Reds taking a rare opportunity to get to Anfield as the regulars opt to save their money for the bigger games, even if they do betray themselves every time with the inevitable early applause for YNWA. What does irk though is a lack of patience in what they're seeing and an inability to, if not recognise the predictability of a Liverpool comeback (we almost never drop points/results at Anfield under Klopp), at least suspend their audible disbelief. That said, we went in at half-time a goal down and, in my mind at least, comfortably placed for a second half assault on The Kop end augmented, if necessary, by the big guns sitting on the bench. And that's exactly what transpired when we came out for the second half. After just a couple of minutes or so, Gggggravenberchhhhhh (shout out to Chris on the pod for the pronunciation skills) received the ball under pressure on the edge of the area and defied the received wisdom about footballing "big men" to rapidly switch feet and play an incisive pass around a defender's attempt to close him down and into the feet of Gakpo. Cody then used his strength to hold off the defender and spin him to hit a great shot into the right hand bottom corner. 1-1 and that thing about classy grocks which I've wittered on about previously was starting to look like a theme, given the emergence of Szoboszlai not long afterwards to similarly impact the game. Ever since Arsene Wenger (from the time when he was good, rather than when he went all "tiki-taka tart") showed the way in the signings of Viera and Henry, it's always seemed clear to me that - give or take what will be obvious exceptions - modern top class sides shouldn't see power and pace as incompatible attributes with touch and intelligence in a footballer. If you can have everything in one package, why the hell wouldn't you? And in the two new Dutch lads, plus Hungary's apparently god-like captain (not to mention Jarell Quansah - more on him later), that seems to be our new recruitment aim. To me it's an absolute no brainer and I think we're increasingly going to see the significance of these physical yet gifted players as Klopp 2.0 continues to emerge. On 64 minutes, the aforementioned Szoboszlai came on alongside Darwin to replace Gravenberch and Doak and the performance immediately moved through the gears as Darwin caused utter mayhem with his pace, energy, pressing and clever movement, thereby creating space for teammates all over the place. One such moment ultimately led to Szoboszlai's screamer as a clearance fell to Endo (finally starting to look like the experienced pro he is with a busy yet composed second half) and he immediately fed Dom to unleash what has to be one of the hardest hit shots Anfield has ever seen. It was an absolute screamer into the top left corner that seemed to actually be picking up speed even as it billowed the net. The Stevie comparisons have started unduly early with this lad for my taste, but I don't see there's anyway to stop them given the way he's starting to impose himself on games and opponents with increasing frequency (witness the near-as-dammit mirror image effort on goal some ten minutes later in the game). It seems bizarre that he's only 22, so preternaturally mature is his reading of the game and deployment of his talent therein. However, it's equally bizarre he has fewer than ten appearances for Liverpool so absolutely at home does he seem in a Red shirt and fundamental to the way this team now wants to play. I'm not going to eulogise him at length here as others are already doing so wherever you look in the LFC-verse right now. However, I will say this: no matter how excited any of us feels about him currently, I think we've barely scratched the surface of what he will eventually be for Liverpool. So at 2-1 it was clear to all that the result was in the bag and the only question remaining was to what extent we could turn our dominance into goals. That it transpired only once more should not detract from the overall quality of performance from a scratch side and especially not in the context of that final successful strike. Kostas took a free kick from a couple of yards outside the penalty area on the left hand side and the ball eventually broke to the right after a great effort by Harvey to intervene in what would have been a fortuitous Leicester counter-attack. Quansah charged back at pace from his attacking position at the set-piece and bullied Justin off the ball before running into the penalty area and laying a lovely pass on for Jota whose finish was class personified as he judiciously flicked a back heel at the ball, hitting it perfectly into the far corner. 3-1 and that really was game over. So, Bournemouth away next in this competition at the end of next month, which I'm a little gutted about for two reasons: firstly, I've really got a taste for seeing the full depth and breadth of our squad displayed like this and I doubt we'll see such a complete change before that next round, even allowing for the Europa League matches in between. Second of all though, it's frustrating that the next match is away as I get the sense that the significance of Anfield is going to show itself again this season and we all know that the more opportunities the players have to perform in front of their home crowd, the more confident and therefore effective they will become. Before then though we go into consecutive tough away games in the league (separated by what should be a comfortable visit to Anfield for us by Macca's brother and his mates) that will give us an indication of just how ambitious we should really be this season. Spurs and particularly Brighton will present challenges of the kind we've not faced this season and together have the potential to really shape the campaign, should we emerge with good results from each match. On the pod a couple of games into the season, I said that, contrary to what we'd all thought about the opening match of the campaign having been a good time to play Chelsea, rather Chelsea might come to regard it as having been a good time to have faced us. Given the way we have passed every subsequent test, moving through the gears as we do so, who would bet against a couple of great away wins now? I don't think we can regard either game as anything less than a real challenge, but I just get the sense that this is a team - and squad - that will continue to find ways to win. The significance of the five substitutes rule is becoming apparent to all Liverpool fans now as Jurgen repeatedly deploys our attacking riches from the bench to deliver wins. Furthermore though, he is able to make in-match adjustments to our tactics in response to the problems presented by other sides and I think both factors are going to be significant over the next few matches and beyond. I'm aware I need to rein in my default setting of overwhelming optimism a little right now as we're not even out of September yet. However, I think the summer business is starting to look far more astute than it appeared in the context of the switch away from Bellingham, the fruitless jousts with Chelsea and the left-field recruitment of a clearly far from first choice option for number six. Dom and, to a lesser extent, Macca, speak for themselves as signings, and Endo and Gravenberch have clear potential to be at the very least excellent value, if not more, based on what we've seen so far. Of particular concern to me though this summer was the lack of action in signing a centre half. However, the previously never-mentioned Jarell Quansah has seized his pre-season opportunity and acquitted himself magnificently when called upon so far. He's another one who combines brawn and acceleration with touch and composure and I've been delighted to watch his low-key emergence as a viable squad option, even as I continue to worry about the availability of the senior centre halves we have on our books. So after the first eight games of the season, I don't think any of us could be happier given the mess of the previous campaign and the wild fluctuations in mood of the transfer window. This feels like an exciting bandwagon that's rapidly gathering pace and - hopefully - momentum. Entertaining matches such as last night's are very much part of the recipe; rather than these being an annoyance or a distraction, we need to see ourselves as favourites to win the trophy and be the first club to move into double figures with league cup wins. Star Man is a difficult one given the quality of goals, the precocity of some of the performers and the fact that we were denied what could have been an absolute trouncing of Leicester. However, I'm going to go with Endo just edging out Harvey, Quansah and Dom, for producing what was, for me, a reassuring performance that showed me what I wanted to see from him from the outset. He's not going to be a world beater, but he can be a wise older head and leader whose ability to play a specific role can be the tactical foundation for the more mercurial talents liberally scattered throughout the rest of the squad to explode from. And Saturday tea time? I'm going to go right out on a limb with this team and predict... - you've guessed it - ...3-1!!! Come on you Reds!!! Team: Kelleher; Jones (Bajcetic), Konate, Quansah, Tsimikas (Chambers); Endo, Elliott, Gravenberch (Szoboszlai); Doak (Nunez), Gakpo, Jota: View full article

Oh can't you see You've breached FFP How my belly aches Laughing at your stupid takes

Landed in London this morning. Still working on getting friends and colleagues over the boarder.

Dubz.mp4

The Liverpool Disabled Supporters Association are amazing.

Long time lurker, first time poster. Have been fortunate enough to see many, many trophies, but I'm with the boss... that one was different. Have never been as proud of a win. Kids, leadership from the seniors, rising above the injuries and the officials - fucking immense.

...So you're SURE now, are you? You want to go to and live in an appallingly repressive and obscenely intolerant regime to 'help build the sport'? Yeah. You're SURE, now, are you? Cos it'll be REALLY embarrassing and expensive if you change your mind. So you're 100% sure? Yeah. Here we are then. Don't like it.

Well this thread is normally all bad news. I've had good news today. Over the last couple of weeks I've been waiting on another scare, which given my history, has been tough to go through. But I found out today it was all a false alarm, so it's a fucking relief to say the least.

Definitely Saint and Greavsie, this is Greavsie and me from 1984. Brilliant man, so funny, coached us and played on my 5 a side team at a soccer school.

asked her to reserve a table at a Chinese buffet on Sunday. She's only nearly bought a website for a Chinese buffet

My daughter had amate round to watch the game. They're over 18, but still had to mind manners etc. Virge scores on 118 mins. "TRY TO CHALK THAT ONE OFF, YOU CUNTS!"

What the fuck is wrong with some of you on here. Klopp has made clear his reasons for this decsion and the timing. Some of you soap watching cunts on here have nothing better to do than look for some ulterior motive for that decision. Given what he has done for this club, and the obvious depth of feelling he has for it, do you really think he would not have considered all the repercussions of his decision and made one that, in his opinion, was best for the club?

1-3 down in the tie and still booing Harvey who played a grand total of three games for them, 5 years ago, and ironically cheering any missed shot on goal we have. Fucking morons, this lot. By the way @Bjornebye and @SasaS Yes I got the job. Lost my previous one on 3rd Jan but this one is a step up in every way so I'm fucking made up. Also, off to Fuerteventura tomorrow. After a wank 12 months, life feels good today.

You wait for one picture of a bus stop to come along and then three come along at the same time.

A few days late but my 2nd Grandchild and first Grandson was born last Friday weighing a healthy 10 lb 1 oz.

Sergio Ramos turned down the Saudi coin to rejoin Sevilla and has now spoken out against Rubiales. Imagine someone saying to you, especially post-Kiev, that Sergio Ramos would be one of the good guys and Jordan Henderson would be the greedy, obsequious lickspittle.