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Not sure what’s going own with the MOTD running order lately but it’s gone all weird. Last week when we played City it was on last (or second to last maybe) and this week they started with Burnley and Sheffield United. At this rate Everton might get on first at some point for the first time in about 10 years. Burnley finally won at home, but I’m not it should even count as Sheffield United are so fucking hopeless. I knew they’d win this game though because these are basically Championship teams and Burnley ran away with the Championship last season. Of course they were going to win. I wouldn’t have called a 5-0 though, but that’s got a lot to do with the Blades going down to ten men. I’ll get to that. Burnley went ahead inside 15 seconds through Rodriguez. Not sure that should be his goal though as it didn’t look like it was on target before it hit a defender and went in. How he’s getting credit for that but Trent had his taken away seems a bit daft. Bruun Larsen made it 2-0 with a strange goal. He’s on the touchline when he receives the diagonal pass but with his first touch he knocked it towards goal and was able to just run towards goal and score. It’s a nice goal, but he looked like he was running in slow motion so how fucking slow must that defender have been? Then came the sending off. McBurnie is the worst player in the league and I don’t like him, but that’s never a second yellow. The first one might have been a borderline red, but the second one is absolutely fuck all. He’s just gone up for a header and his arm is where it’s meant to be, so nothing sinister in that whatsoever. He was on thin ice because of the first one though so I can see why my boy Chris Kavanagh sent him packing as he must have thought “you absolute dickhead”, which he is. Amdouni made it 3-0 with a decent finish, Koleosho (a potential ‘my boy’ in the making he is) added a fourth and Brownhill wrapped it up with a lovely strike from outside the box. So that’s that for Paul (Flippin) HeckI’mBottom then. Chris Wilder is back, but they’re still finishing bottom because they’ve got an awful team and some long term injuries to key players. Burnley are still shit too. View full article

Sheffield United are as bad a Premier League as we’ve seen and this performance was barely good enough to beat them. Wretched, worse than the Luton game, because Luton are much better than these. I didn't enjoy a single minute of this game, it was awful. But we won and we’re in great shape when you look at the table. I do feel a little uneasy about us after this though, particularly after what happened at Luton. Our away form hasn’t been too impressive so far and this was a good opportunity to rack up a comfortable win and bang in a few goals. I’d have felt more confident about us moving forward if we’d done that, but after seeing this I still have that nagging doubt about us in games like this. You can’t drop points to shite because there are enough decent sides that will take points from you. Look at Fulham at the weekend, they played really well and we almost came unstuck. I said after that game I didn’t think we played as badly as a lot of other people did. Sometimes when you’re just a bit off and the opponent plays well, it can be trouble. That was what happened on Sunday. This wasn’t that. Sheffield United are genuinely terrible and we made really hard work of it. You can’t just put this down to “one of those nights” because our overall body of work against the body teams these last couple of years points to a trend. We don’t perform against them. Some will put that down to complacency, but it can’t be. After dropping points at Luton there’s no way we were taking the Blades lightly. So why did we look so impotent? To me it has to be tactical. I don’t know what the fuck we were even trying to do. I’m not going to make this about Trent and the inverted full back thing. It isn’t specifically that, although that’s part of it and it’s fair to wonder whether it’s something that helps us against shite. We’ve been the best team in the league since that switch was made for that Arsenal game last season, and that record speaks for itself I guess. And Trent played well in this game. It’s not about him, or about where he plays. But if you’re going to do that and you have Joe Gomez on the left, then most of the play is coming down the middle. Chris Wilder knew that and he’ll have been delighted by it. Just as Luton were. It’s easier to play against us when the width isn’t there. The space is down the sides and we ignored it for most of the game. It’s a regular thing and it’s frustrating. But we won, and we’re second in the table and the only reason we aren’t top is because of what happened at Spurs, so it seems somewhat churlish complaining about it. I just think it’s a problem that might bite us in the arse again and with every point likely to be crucial, I want to see us adapt our tactics when we face shite, especially away from home. View full article

It wasn't pretty but it's a win and three points that keep the Reds in second spot hot on the heels of leaders Arsenal. A first half goal from the imperious Virgil Van Dijk and a late strike by Dom Szoboszlai secured the win despite an uninspiring performance. TLW Editor Dave Usher is joined by Julian Richards and Terry McDonald to look back over a largely forgettable evening and then look ahead to the weekend trip to Palace. View full article

Was this our “Aston Villa away” for this season? We won’t know until May but it definitely feels like this might have some significance. It was a day when we never really got going but it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We finished like a runaway train and Fulham were left in a bloodied heap on the tracks. It will mean nothing if we don’t take advantage of it, but it feels big because we don’t tend to have too many of these games at Anfield, but we found a way to get through it unscathed. Home games are usually easy. We win by two or three goals and don’t have to sweat much over the result. It’s reached a point where I’m taking these wins for granted and I didn’t see any way Fulham were leaving Anfield with anything. So for us to be staring down the barrel of a defeat with a few minutes left felt like a massive blow. With our away form being somewhat patchy, we absolutely can’t afford to drop points at home to anyone really, let alone bottom half teams. Yet it looked like we would. Imagine the mood today if we hadn’t turned this around. We wouldn’t be dreaming of a possible title that’s for sure. But we did turn it around and we are still dreaming of it. And wins like this give you that extra spring in your step on a Monday, and I’m sure it gives the players a little extra belief in themselves and what they can achieve. It’s still a long shot, we’re not favourites and nor should we be. But we’ve played 14 games and we’re above Man City. That’s a better situation that any of us expected. Wins like this help to create belief among the squad and also the fans. The next time we’re in a tight spot we’ll draw from this experience. This is a new team but they’ve had a number of tricky situations to deal with already and they’ve come through all of them really. They had to play with ten men against Bournemouth and Newcastle but they got the results anyway. They had to play with nine at Spurs and were a last ditch freak own goal away from getting a point, despite having a legitimate goal scandalously not awarded. We lost the day, but it was a test they passed with flying colours. We went a goal down away at City and came back to get a point and end their 100% home record in 2023. Even Luton, as shit as it was, can be spun into a positive in the sense that they managed to avoid losing the game when it looked like they would suffer a humiliating defeat. The draw was pretty humiliating, but they pulled that one out of the fire late to get a point. Then there’s this. Conceding late on to fall behind on a freezing day in which the crowd had offered virtually nothing. Everything was flat, we were heading for a result that would have really damaged morale and the faith the fans have in the team, but instead we ended up with a win and one of the most enjoyable five minutes we’ve had at Anfield in a good while. The crowd had barely made a peep for 80 odd minutes, but Anfield was rocking by the end. View full article

Monday Nov 27: More craziness from the Blues. They’ve got major beef with Sky now as well as the “Corrupt Premier League”. They’re going mad because Sky didn’t show their plane during our game with City. What did they think was going to happen? There are so many reasons why Sky were never going to show it, and every one of them is valid. Firstly, it was City and Liverpool playing. Who gives a fuck that some knobheads with an unjustified beef are making a protest? If Sky show that then they’re opening the door for anyone else who wants to get publicity for themselves. Just because you fly a plane over doesn’t mean Sky have an obligation to show it. Secondly, it’s City v Liverpool. The biggest game of the season. People are tuning in for that, why would you take eyeballs away from that to show a fucking plane making a false claim about the Premier League? Thirdly, the PL and Sky are business partners. There’s no industry in the world that is going to promote slander of a business partner. The whole thing is hilarious, you could hear on TV the plane circling the stadium as the game was going on but nothing was said about it and they sure as shit didn’t show it. Maybe Everton can claim the cost of the plane and use it to help offset some of their losses on their next set of accounts? Meanwhile, staggeringly bad officiating fucked Wolves again tonight. Wolves fans piss me off but I’ll happily stand with them against Howard Webb and his band of knobheads. What happened tonight was a fucking joke, yet again. Poor Gary O’Neil, he’s a top fella and the way he’s handled all of the incompetence he’s been hit with this season is admirable. It wasn’t the on-field ref tonight who was the problem, it was the clown on VAR, Stuart Atwell. He’s awful isn’t he? Some of them I think are biased and have agendas. Him? I just think he’s truly awful. He massively favoured Fulham tonight though and Wolves have every reason to feel victimised again. Newcastle fans were attacked in Paris tonight and it’s lucky that nobody was seriously hurt as it looked pretty bad. The Geordies who travelled are almost certainly not the bellends who attacked the PSG fans the other week though. Everyone said at the time that those pricks were just ensuring that things were going to be really dangerous for the ones travelling over and that’s what we’re seeing now. It’s the kind of thing you often get from Italians or Turks. They kick off in their home leg and then it’s the fans who go to the away game who pay the price. We’re in 2023 and you’ve still got wankers carrying on like this at footy. Hopefully no-one gets seriously hurt. View full article

What a wild ride that was! Having fallen behind late the lads were able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat thanks to goals from Endo and Trent to move the Reds up to second spot. Chris Smith is joined by Paul Natton, Dan Thomas and TLW Editor Dave Usher to reflect on a crazy afternoon at a bitterly cold Anfield. View full article

Well that was about as entertaining an experience as it's possible to have on a cold Thursday night at Anfield in the Europa League. To say it was "big coat weather", would be an understatement and both Dan and I (the only Team TLW lads doing the Europa matches this season) duly obliged. Because it was fucking Baltic, regardless of the warm glow of pleasure emanating from a very comfortable 4-0 win that left us as group winners before the season moves up a gear as we head into a very busy December. As expected, Klopp made a selection that looked easily good enough to win the match, while simultaneously resting some of the big guns. The presence of Virgil, Macca, Dom, Joel, Trent and Darwin on the bench spoke volumes, as did the fact that the first four of those names remained there all night. Klopp has quietly become arguably the best manager around for making use of his full squad, keeping everyone happy without letting standards or development dip (recent strange and humiliating defeat in France notwithstanding). It shouldn't be forgotten that we've already had quite a few significant injuries and suspensions this season, yet Jurgen has managed to negotiate pretty much every hurdle before us, regardless. Further tests await on that score - not least Alisson's absence for the next couple of weeks, minimum - but we must acknowledge that the days of a first eleven are pretty much gone now and we seem all the better for it as a club, despite still rapidly developing a new way of playing with many new personnel. Despite the many changes, virtually from the instant the match kicked off, we were playing some really nice stuff: all fluid movement and crisp, intelligent passing. Obviously both the quality of opposition and the fact that we were at home have to be factored into assessments of the significance of the performance, but I can't be anything other than pleased to see a heavily rotated team play some really entertaining stuff. We seem to have almost instantly switched from being a turgid and predictable mess filled with players whose standards had fallen off a cliff just a matter of months ago to a side now brimming with young, hungry, intelligent technicians. In fact, I don't think we've had a technically better squad in all the (approaching 40) years I've been seriously watching Liverpool. As fans I think we take for granted a little the fact that - almost to a man - the entire squad plays sensational one and two touch, head up football that's imbued with intelligence and composure. For examples last night, look no further than Harvey Elliott and Jarell Quansah. Harvey has to be the best midfield decision maker for his age I've ever seen. Not only that, his movement and use of the ball are as technically prodigious as they are tactically astute. For a player who has only known the best of the academy era of professional development, maybe those things should be a given (even ignoring the fact that he seems to be levels above all his peers). However, look at the unrelenting desire to maximise every element of his game evident in his clearly improved core strength this season. For inspiration, he's not had far to look and it seems obvious that Mo's mentorship of him is showing itself in a growing physical development that seeks to emulate that of the superstar captain for the night. Harvey was really fucking good last night in a manner that utterly belies his age - a description that can be equally applied to his teammate at left centre half. I don't religiously follow the youth teams at Liverpool, but it's pretty unusual for me to be completely unaware of the names of the various young prospects making waves in our development sides. However, until pre-season this summer, I had never registered Jarell Quansah's name. It therefore feels slightly bizarre that he's made such a seamless, calm and confident transition to first team squad member so quickly. But that's exactly what he is. I've resisted eulogising him too much, despite his obvious technical, tactical, physical and mental strengths as he's yet to be fully tested at this level. No matter that he appears to have the touch, height, pace and strength to play centre half for Liverpool, until I've seen him come under real pressure from the kind of physical duel-happy forwards the Premier League is full of and escape unscathed, I will retain question marks about him. However, until that test is passed, I think it's also fair to consider that maybe the reason he's not come under pressure is as much to do with how he plays as with whom he's faced. Either way, it's getting harder to temper expectations. Nothing will deflect me from my view that we need another left footed defender, but that needn't be at Quansah's expense. In fact it mustn't be. We need to keep him very firmly on this apparently exponential development path he's on because who knows where his ceiling is? In terms of the game itself, despite the front-foot bravery of LASK (or maybe because of it), we played fluent attacking football right from the off which was swiftly rewarded after just twelve minutes with the first goal. Luis Diaz collected the ball running across the edge of the penalty area from the left following a little half-stabbed clearance, and immediately played it out to the overlapping Joe Gomez who hit a lobbed half volley into the six yard box which Diaz ran through to dive and bury himself with a superb flick of his head that left the keeper stranded. This was followed a mere three minutes later with a trademark Cody Gakpo back post tap in from Mo. Salah received a pass from Endo out on the right touchline maybe ten yards inside the opposition half and immediately hit a first-time ball to Diaz on the edge of the D which cut out three opposition players. Unfortunately Diaz mis-controlled the ball, but then pounced as the centre half failed to clear convincingly under pressure from Gakpo, playing in Mo as he ran into the penalty area from the right. He was closed down and challenged as he played the ball in for Gakpo, but it wasn't enough to prevent the assist. You know, assists: they're those stats that Dave reckons are meaningless, even though only a handful of players in the game consistently deliver them in high numbers. No, I'm not letting this one go, regardless of what the data geeks think about them as a stat; why the fuck would we dismiss a statistic that the players themselves are proud of or that some of our lads are setting all-time records for? What next? Tap ins no longer count as goals because they're so easy? There goes a certain a certain centre forward's "career" record. (Sorry John - I know that'll sting a little about your boy, but truth hurts). Anyway, enough about "Kenny" Usher's nonsense, back to the game. Throughout the first half, LASK had a number of instances where they broke through our back line with skill, intelligent movement and purpose. However, virtually every single one was flagged as offside (regardless of the infuriating VAR policy-related late flagging from the linesman). It blows my mind a little how many of our fans are still not used to this because it is an absolutely fundamental part of how we play. You may well find it difficult to watch at times, but it's a well established tactic that, crucially, is brilliantly effective. So despite what commentators or various fans may believe, we didn't actually come under much pressure at all. I only know one team that is able to consistently exert pressure outside the laws of the game and it's not LASK. File this one under the same tab as "Alisson can't kick"; he clearly can as his frequent ability to control the ball with either foot and pass it long or short with total precision attests. Alisson's problem is not his ability to kick effectively; it's his over-confidence in doing so when under a high degree of pressure from opponents. Even then though, it very rarely costs us and so I'm more than happy to see it continue (even if I'll concede that it's nervy to watch at times). So as I said, offside "chances" are not changes; they're offsides. That said, egged on by their consistently loud and supportive away fans, LASK kept plugging away when they could, including deep into the second half when already well beaten. However, they were unable to do anything about multiple further chances and goals for us, including a great effort from the recently revived Kostas who hit an absolute peach that was unlucky to hit the crossbar after he got over the ball well and struck it sweetly. Normal goal-scoring business was resumed soon into the second half though when Gakpo created his own opportunity to go one on one with the keeper and used a good burst of pace to edge the ball away milliseconds before being brought down for a penalty, duly dispatched by Mo to take him onto 199 goals for Liverpool. Another game, another record for the main man. This was also his 16th consecutive game at Anfield with a scoring contribution (I won't mention the A word again) and he extended his European record for a player representing an English club to 44 goals. He's unbelievable - almost literally so. The guy has huge moments every single time he steps onto the pitch, regardless of the narrative around him - including from some of his own fans - that he doesn't dominate games. Chris said on the pod in the summer/early season that he'd give Mo another contract right now and I absolutely agree. We have one of the very best players in our entire history (certainly an all-time eleven player) who is adapting his game for new tactics and team mates in a changing body as he ages and yet he's still there game in, game out delivering. I see absolutely no let up in his hunger and it defies what we know of his ambitions as a player that he's simply biding his time for the Saudi call. That looks years away to me - if it ever comes (I reckon he'll want to retire at the very top with us). The final goal came two minutes into injury time with Gakpo running onto an absolutely perfectly weighted fizzed ball from substitute Trent who'd run through the middle of midfield to do so. Cody cut onto his right and lashed it in beyond the keeper at the far post. 4-0, game over. So, given the other result in the group last night, we have qualified top and don't need to give serious consideration to this competition again until March. Don't get me wrong though - I badly want to win this. And we absolutely should win it too, playing this way. I see no reason at all why Klopp can't complete his clean sweep of trophies with Liverpool in Dublin in the late spring of next year. However, it's not just the prospect of further silverware that I'm appreciating about this competition; I'm also delighted to see how positively its affected our development, both accelerating and honing our transition into a new way of playing with lots of new or changing players. I'd never have chosen this route forward last season, but now we're here, I think it's obvious that Champions League participation would have made it far harder to rotate and develop players in the way we have so far in this campaign. Star Man is Cody who had arguably his best performance for us, with nods to Harvey, Joe G and the consistently classy Gravenberch too. And so onto December which brings a step change in challenge for us, both in terms of the quality of opponent and the frequency of matches. However, as I've said repeatedly on the pod this season, could any of us seriously have expected such a rapid development in our football by this stage of the campaign? It seems that yet again Jurgen is defying received wisdom of what's possible in football and long may it continue. Given our strength at Anfield, I'm expecting a big December from us, regardless of the quality of opponent coming to try their luck. I remain focused on second as a realistic prediction of where we'll end the campaign. However, throw into the mix highly possible European and domestic cup wins and it's starting to feel like there's a really great end to a highly enjoyable campaign on the way. Come on you Reds!!! Team: Kelleher; Gomez, Konate (Alexander-Arnold), Quansah, Tsimikas (Chambers); Endo, Elliott, Gravenberch (Bradley); Salah (Nunez), Gakpo, Diaz (Jones): View full article

The Reds booked their place in the Europa League knockout stages with a convincing win over LASK at Anfield. Chris Smith is joined by John Brennan and TLW Editor Dave Usher on a night when Cody Gakpo bagged a brace, Luis Diaz scored in front of his family and Mo Salah notched his 199th goal for the club. View full article

Chelsea followed up their impressive 4-4 draw with Man City by shitting all down their own leg at St James’ Park. They’re definitely the most unpredictable team in the league. How can you possibly predict their results? Bonkers team. Generally they’ve played alright but they’re crap in both boxes and it's difficult to win regularly with those glaring weaknesses. They fell behind early against Saudi Arabia when they left Isak all alone in the middle of the box and he finished well. Chelsea then equalised in the most unlikely of circumstances. And I mean that literally, because I’d have said there was more chance of the keeper scoring with a clearance from inside his own box than there was of Sterling planting a free-kick in the top corner from 25 yards. He’s one of the last players on earth I’d want taking a free-kick, but fair dos, that was fucking boss. He did that thing that Ronaldo has been trying and failing with for 15 years. That one where you hit it on the valve with your laces and it dips wildly. Honestly, that’s such a great strike and it’s a huge shock, proving that the sun does indeed even shine on a dog’s arse somedays. Bet he could never do that again if you gave him a thousand tries. That was as good as it got for Chelsea though. Reece James had a torrid time, probably because he’s a right fat cunt. Seriously, look at the fucking size of him and his big arse. What’s he been doing during that injury layoff? Entering hot dog eating contests in America? Proper fat cunt. Seeing him waddling after Anthony Gordon was just embarrassing. Should be ashamed of himself getting into that state. He looked like he was pulling two caravans. Trippier hit the bar with a free-kick before Lascelles headed them in front from a Gordon cross. Terrible defending from Chelsea and seconds later it was 3-1 when Joelinton took advantage of even worse defending. Thiago Silva had an absolute Jon Walters of a game. There’s a viral clip of him trying to do a little trick and then just falling over and conceding a corner, and for that third goal he makes the kind of mistake you just never see from a player like him. Father Time might have finally landed a knockout blow on him, which is a shame as he’s been an incredible player. Chelsea were all over the place after that and James got sent off for a second yellow when he pulled Gordon back. Obviously Gordon made a right meal of it as that’s what he does. Vile cunt him. James’ first booking was a bit harsh I thought. Technically he kicked the ball away but the ball comes to him just as the whistle goes and he’s about to be challenged. He instinctively just flicks the ball around the corner. I’m not saying he didn’t know what he was doing, but there’s enough doubt there that you shouldn’t card him for it. To then pull Gordon back when you’re already on a booking is just fucking stupid, but maybe he had a Just Eat order from Maccies waiting for him in the dressing room? View full article

Before the game I’d have been made up with a point. After the game, I am made up with the point, especially as we had to come from behind to get it. That doesn’t mean I thought we played well though. We were ok, there were plenty of things to like about this, but we were nowhere near our best. Neither were City, despite Guardiola’s protestations to the contrary. The early kick off after an international break just doesn’t do this game justice. The Premier League are a fucking joke, letting the Manchester bizzies dictate to them like that. This is their showpiece game and it’s been watered down in quality by that kick off time. This isn’t sour grapes as I don’t think it hampered us any more than them. I’m just saying that neither team were near their best level and the spectacle suffered because of it. We got a point though and that’s all that matters. It’s a better result for us than them, especially given they had the lead and were at home. They’d have expected to win from there, I mean, they literally do win all of their home games. Every single one in 2023, in all competitions. Until now. That’s why we should be happy. I wouldn’t be happy to settle for a draw at any other venue (maybe Arsenal currently) but City are better than us and our record there is shit. So this is a really nice result. As for the performance, it’s a weird one because we deserved a draw and did not get outplayed, so we must have played pretty well. If we hadn’t then they’d have taken us to the cleaners like they do everybody else at the Etihad. Yet I couldn’t help but feeling a bit frustrated by our play, particularly going forward where we did not make the most of countless decent situations that should have been converted into decent chances. That has to be a good thing though big picture wise. Going to City and getting a deserved draw without playing anywhere near as well as we can does make you wonder what might have happened if we had played somewhere near our best. Equally though, we didn’t get City on their best day and they were without De Bruyne and Grealish, who along with Son have probably been the biggest thorns in our side in recent seasons. I didn’t think there was anything surprising in Klopp’s team selection. Maybe Konate over Matip, but he’s not played much of late and Joel is in a better rhythm so I’d have leaned that way too. Curtis coming back in made sense because he keeps the ball and he’s our best presser. It didn’t work out like that in hindsight, but the selection made sense. Jota for Diaz was a coin flip really, but I’d have gone for Jota too. He was crap, but there was no way of knowing he would be as he’s been doing well lately. City were able to welcome back all of the players who missed the international games through injury. How about that eh? They all played the full ninety too. No matter how much he wins, Liverpool will always be front and centre in Guardiola’s mind. Sneaky cheating bald fuck. View full article