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Gini Wijnaldum believes that Sadio Mane is one of the more underrated players in the Premier League and deserves more recognition for his performances this season.Mane displayed his qualities on the big stage once again on Wednesday evening when he scored a double which went a long way to deciding the last 16 Champions League tie with Bayern Munich.While Mo Salah has hit a rare barren spell of late, Mane has stepped up to the mark in fine style scoring six goals in his last four games (and 10 in 10 in a larger sample size of his current form).Wijnaldum believes that level of performance is a example of his quality and why he should be seen as one of elite forwards in the game along with Salah and Sergio Aguero.Sky Sports reported the Dutchman as saying:" He is really good. The games tell you that, he is really important with his goals and assists. "A good season, his best with us."They (media) do not speak about him? "I think the other players have shown they get the headlines but Sadio also."He has had a big influence on winning games. You have to speak about everyone. For me, Sadio is up there with those players you named (Salah and Aguero)."With eight games still to be played, Mane has already surpassed his best season in terms of goals scored in the Premier League with 16.In relation to his own status, Wijnaldum is very comfortable in the fact that a new contract offer has not come his way at this time. "No. I did not speak with the club yet."(Is it) a problem between me and the club? I am not a person who has problems. That (contract) is something for the club. I will see what happens."I signed a five-year contract (in the summer of 2017) and I am still under contract. I just do my job to perform. A new contract has to come from the club."With the 28 year-old being one of Klopp's most trusted players, along with being one of the most popular and affable members of the squad, you get a feeling that just like his game in general, any future contract negotiations will be done with a minimum of fuss.

James Milner has given a blunt assessment of Liverpool's recent record in big finals saying it is not good enough and that they must clear that mental hurdle sooner rather than later if they want to progress to the next level.Milner is a man who speaks with experience in this sense, having won the league title on two occasions with Man City, along with the FA Cup and League Club with the Sky Blues.It is one of the main reasons why Jurgen Klopp holds him in such high esteem as he can pass on key pieces of advice to his less experienced teammates.The straight talking midfielder says it is one thing to get to finals, but it is another thing altogether to be good enough to lift silverware especially for a club like Liverpool whose last success came in the League Cup against Cardiff City in 2012.The Mirror reported Milner as saying:"You know, it’s been so long since we won a league title,”“Even in recent years, Liverpool haven’t won as many trophies as they should do for such a big club."Even for us now – we are a young team, we are improving but the chances we have given ourselves? “We have to put that right. We have to get over the line in one of them.”There is little question that Jurgen Klopp has completely transformed this Liverpool outfit in a relatively short period of time.But the old adage that the final step is often the hardest to accomplish rings true in Liverpool's case. In a great insight into the inner thoughts of the veteran, Milner says the losses in the Europa and Champions League finals along with the defeat in the final of the League Cup to City still sits very uncomfortably with him.“I have been to three finals since I have been here, lost them all and I am desperate to put that right. "It’s a memory you will never forget.“You are proud to have played in the European Cup Final, but you don’t go there to lose. "Listen, I have loved every minute of my time at Liverpool but to have not won something when we have given ourselves opportunities is difficult to take at this moment." It is something I am desperate to put right.”The Reds are still in a good position to complete a double this season after overcoming Bayern Munich in their last 16 clash on Wednesday evening.After being able to reach the last eight of Europe's premier club competition for the second year in succession, there is no further proof needed that Liverpool are dining at Football's top table after a long absence.With that status comes respect from the opposition.I’d like to think teams have that respect for us – I think we know how good we can be."But whether teams take notice is not really for us to worry about...they take notice after they have played us and we have put them out."

So that 0-0 in the first leg didn’t do us any harm after all eh? Bayern got the result they wanted at Anfield but it did them no good because they needed to beat us, and that’s much easier said than done these days. Granted, we’d lost all three of our Champions League away games this season, but there’s a world of difference between the groups and the knockouts. Those three losses were in games where the stakes weren’t as high. We could lose them and still progress, and we did. In high stakes games this season we’ve been beaten once. By Manchester City. In a game that was settled by the tiniest of details and which could have gone in our favour had the referee done his job and sent off Vincent Kompany. So the point is, beating this Liverpool side is extremely difficult, even if you’re the mighty Bayern Munich. And where’s this bullshit “Bayern are over the hill and in need of a rebuild” narrative come from? The commentators kept going on about how they’re “not the Bayern of old”. Really? Coz last time I checked they were top of the Bundesliga and they reached the semis of this competition last season, where they were screwed by Real Madrid after completely outplaying them. Who are these over the hill players of theirs? Sure, Robben and Ribery are at the end, but who else? It’s lazy, nonsensical bollocks. Most of that team are in their prime, and they’ve got some boss young players like Sule, Kimich and Coman. They had a slow start to the season while the new coach found his feet but they’ve been flying of late. Bayern are still Bayern, but we’re just better than them and whatsmore, they knew it. That’s why they played the way they did, because they were frozen with fear about what would happen if they opened up and tried to attack us. They kept the tie in the balance right up until Virgil headed us in front and they knew they needed to score twice. After that they had to come out, and you could see they had no belief that they could hurt us. The space opened up and we were playing through them at will. That second half was close to being the perfect away performance. The first half was a little strange though. Both sides seemed to cancel each other out and it was similar to the second half at Anfield, the big difference being both teams scored this time. Performance wise though I didn’t think we were anywhere near where we needed to be. We gave the ball away far too much, although we defended very well and made life difficult for them. We can easily improve on that first half, but when they play with the maturity they showed in the second half, this team is virtually impossible to beat. The first half display wasn’t helped by having to make an early change when Hendo rolled his ankle and couldn’t continue. A lot of fans would have started Fabinho over him anyway, but there are two things to consider here. One, Hendo was fucking brilliant in the first leg. Two, Fabinho can’t play every game and it made sense to leave him out. He didn’t get much rest though as he went on early. He was a little sloppy at times but on the whole he did a great job, as he tends to do most weeks now. The other two midfielders were pretty invisible in the first half and were chasing shadows for most of it. Bayern knocked the ball around quite well in the middle of the park and had plenty of possession, but Milner and Gini did a lot of good unseen work filling spaces and closing down. They didn’t see much of the ball though and we gave it away too often which made it harder for ourselves. We still had the better of the chances though. Bobby flashed a shot wide early, Robbo brought a save out of Neuer and Sadio was scaring them to death any time he was able to have a run at them. The goal he scored to put us ahead was just exquisite. You won’t see three better touches than that, each one was perfection. The keeper was rash in coming out and he made it easier for Mané to score, but even so, that was fucking glorious. The first touch to bring the ball down out of the air was almost impossible as he had about a tenth of a second to see that ball. He wasn’t even looking, and when he finally turned around the ball was right there on him. Incredible touch. The second one completely wrong footed Neuer, and the third was a deft chip into the net that took the covering Sule completely out of it. Sadio is in sensational form at the moment and that’s covering for the lack of goals we’re getting from Mo. With us having got the all important away goal, I couldn’t see Bayern getting back into it because they were creating nothing. Their equaliser came out of nothing but it was great play by Gnabri, who was their most dangerous player in both games. He feigned to come short and then spun in behind Robbo who tried to play offside. Pretty sure the exact same thing happened in the first game too but we got away with it. This time we weren’t so fortunate. Gnabri powered into the box, held off Robbo and then drilled the ball across the face of goal where the unfortunate Matip could only stick out a leg and divert into his own net. I don’t blame Big Bird for that at all though. It was a nigh on impossible situation to deal with as if he’d left it then Lewandowski had a tap in. He had to try and get something on it but he was stretching so he couldn’t direct it away from goal. The goal lifted Bayern and for the rest of the half I felt we were struggling. We weren’t exactly under the cosh, but we didn’t look comfortable and half time came at a good moment for us. The second half was a completely different story. We looked more incisive in possession and played between the lines more, which allowed us to keep the ball and also get the forwards involved. He didn’t score but I thought Mo was really god in the second half and allowed us to get out and carry the ball up the field and relieve pressure. Some of the one touch give and go’s with Bobby and Gini in particular were great to see, and the longer the game went on the more you could see that we had them. Bayern had one moment in that second half and that was it. Just one moment of danger. At home. Again it was Gnabri causing the problem as he got in behind Robbo and drove in another brilliant low cross that thankfully eluded everyone this time. That was their one and only threatening moment. As for us, we looked dangerous every time we went forward. Mo hit a snapshot too centrally and Neuer was able to save, and he should then have had a penalty when he dribbled into the box and was clipped as he turned inside the defender. He didn’t go down, but it knocked him out of his stride just enough for Sule to get back and take the ball off his toe just as he was about to shoot. What’s the point in VAR if they aren’t going to look at things like this? Do they only use it when they want to screw over PSG / help out the mancs (delete as appropriate)? Next time Mo goes down easily and is castigated for it, this should be used as exhibit A for the defence. You could almost feel the goal coming as we forced a number of corners and were knocking on the door. Trent’s first half deliveries hadn’t been great but he whipped in a couple of belters in the second half that had Bayern at full stretch to keep us out. They could do nothing to stop Big Virg powering in to meet Milner’s right wing corner though. He’s finally started to score the goals that a player of his absolute aerial dominance should do. What a man. Since he got that song he can’t stop scoring, and the fans can’t stop singing. At 2-1 the tie was over. Not only because we’re so resilient and difficult to score against these days, but also because the Bayern players’ body language screamed out that they knew they were done. Players know. They’re out there trying to break us down and they knew they couldn’t, that we were too good. To their credit, they even said so afterwards. Bayern coach Kovac admitted that we were just better than them over both games, and their Sporting Director said the same thing. He basically said that we were just too strong and too physical for them. They’re used to playing the game in the other team’s half and dominating, but they couldn’t do it because we didn’t allow it. They spoke a lot more sense than Lewandowski, who spent both legs being completely dominated by Van Dijk, Matip or Fabinho, who took turns in babysitting him in their pockets. “In both games we played too defensive,” he said.” We didn’t try to push forward to create situations – in the first game and tonight. We were playing too deep, we didn’t take risks to try to score the goals, I don’t know why.” They didn’t push forward and take risks, and he doesn’t know why? Really? He doesn’t know? Because I can come up with three reasons without even having to think about it. Salah, Firmino and Mané. It’s a bit rich Lewandowski complaining about his coach’s tactics when his only contribution to the two games was to repeatedly throw himself to the floor any time the ball was played up to him. He was probably lying on the floor when he made those quotes, the crying cunt. File him away in the “Massive fraud” draw with Higuain and Cavani. What? Look, I don't give a fuck if he's scored three thousand goals in Germany or that he's the Champions League's top scorer this season or whatever numbers you want to throw at me. That's exactly the same shit people said about Zlatan, and he was an over-rated turd too. Bottom line, if they don't produce when I'm watching then I'm going to say they're shite. Bayern’s 'defensive' approach to both games was no doubt a result of what we did in this competition last season. We put the fear of God into everyone in Europe and but for some freak circumstances in the final we’d have won the competition. We’ve not come close to repeating that blistering form in this season’s competition (although we played some great stuff at home against PSG and Napoli) but it doesn’t matter because everyone remembers last season. The other aspect to it is that we’re good defensively now that teams no longer have that “put pressure on them and they’ll crack” incentive that was there when we were involved in 3-3, 4-3 and 5-4 type games. Virgil has changed all that. He’s incredible. Even when he’s not there the team can now defend because of the confidence that he’s instilled in the entire squad. When he is there though, fucking hell. It’s not even just that he’s a great defender. There’s so much more to it than that. He’s a threat in attack too, and his leadership, calmness and general all round dominance inspires those around him. Some of the legends of the 70s and 80s have spoken about the impact Souness had on the team. They’d talk about how they’d look at him in the tunnel and think “we can’t lose with him out there with us”. I bet this team looks at Van Dijk in the same way. How can you not? You see that big majestic bastard stood there in all his magnificence, and you just know you’re gonna be alright. He’s the best defender I’ve ever seen and you could even take it a step further and put him in the conversation for best player full stop. He doesn’t have the longevity yet but that’s a different discussion. My cousin Tom has been saying for about six months that Virgil is the best player in the world. Comparing defenders with forwards or even midfield players isn’t an exact science, and I can’t make the case that he’s better than Messi or Ronaldo because it’s an apples to oranges comparison. It’s hard enough for me to even argue that Maradona is better than Messi (hard but not impossible, as Diego will always be number one in my eyes) so I can’t put a centre half above him, but let’s put it this way, I wouldn’t swap Van Dijk for any player in world football. That second goal was the decisive moment in the tie, and all that was left was for Sadio to put the icing on top with his second of the game. It was another great goal too. Big Div had come on for Bobby and he seemed to enjoy himself out there. He was lively and he played his part in the third goal when he collected a pass from Alisson and then found Mo on the right. The nonchalant ball in with the outside of his left peg was inch perfect, and Sadio did what he does better than anyone else in the squad and found space in the box to stretch and head past Neuer. Sadio’s movement and ability to get in between defenders is probably the most under-rated part of his game. He’s amazing at it and seems to have a headed opportunity in every game. It would have been nice had Mo ended his barren spell but it’s coming. He’s doing so many things well at the moment that it’s going to just all fall into place for him soon and someone will pay a heavy price. The only sour note on what was a historic night for us was the daft booking Robbo picked up deep in stoppage time. He didn’t need to make that challenge but even so, that was never a fucking booking that, especially as I think it was his first offence. The ref could have done us a favour there as the tie was over and booking Robbo made no difference to anything other than our next game. He looked massively disappointed at full time and it briefly took the shine off the win for him, you could tell. It probably took the shine off it for Milner too, as he knows he’s likely to be on left back duty again in the next round. I hope he is anyway, as no-one needs to see Albert the Moron in a game of any importance. This was such a great result though. I don’t know if this team will win the trophies they deserve, but what we have seen from them over the last couple of years has been special. Far lesser sides than them have won trophies due to the competition not being as fierce as what these lads are up against, and I just hope they get that little bit of luck that you need (and that has so often deserted us) to get over the line. It’s a mark of how strong this team is now though that they can and win in Munich without even needing their “A Game”. Before Virgil we needed the forwards to be right at it for us to stand a chance in big games because we’d usually concede a couple. Now we’re in every game because we’re so hard to score against. Klopp said afterwards he was just happy because it was good for Liverpool and that beating Bayern didn’t mean anything extra. Fuck. Off. He’ll have been buzzing about this and texting all his Dortmund mates. Bayern inflicted so much heartbreak on him that it’s only natural this would mean more to him, but fair play for taking the moral high ground I guess. This win gives us momentum to take into the title challenge and it also adds to the aura that surrounds this team in Europe. Very few teams go to Munich and turn Bayern over, and you know everyone else in the draw is hoping to avoid us. I’m prepared for anything in Friday’s draw, but I’d dearly like to avoid City because that would just be fucking unbearable. Those games with Chelsea back in the day took years off my life but this would be ten times worse. Last year was stressful enough but so much more fuel has been thrown on that fire since that in terms of hype and bad blood and tension, I genuinely feel it would be the biggest two legged tie of my lifetime. I feel like it’s inevitable that we’re going to meet them but it’s the last thing I want, and probably the last thing they want too. I don’t want Juve either as I can’t be doing with all the unpleasantness that comes with that. In an ideal world we’d avoid all the other English clubs but neither Spurs or United would worry me over two legs. Barcelona don’t scare me either but I’m hoping City get them as Guardiola’s ego is so big that his stupid baldy head would be so pre-occupied with beating Barca that he might take his eye off the ball domestically. Porto is the easier draw, but Ajax would be fine too. They were brilliant against Madrid and are a dangerous side, but Madrid this year would struggle to beat anyone in the top half of the Premier League. So as great as Ajax were, it needs to be put in the correct perspective. Ajax or Porto would be ideal, especially as Robbo will miss the first leg. I wouldn’t want to face City without Robbo in there against Sterling, but we kept a clean sheet against Bayern without Big Virg so I’ve got faith in the team regardless of what Klopp decides to do (as long as it’s not Moreno, obviously). Star man is a toss up between Sadio and Big Virg. I can’t decide between them so I won’t. Everyone played their part though. Over the two games Matip didn't give Lewandowski a sniff, and even denied him a goal by putting it in the net himself. That's dedication to the job right there. "Stop him scoring, whatever it takes". "You got it, boss!" Trent was ice cool and not fazed at all by coming up against the experienced Ribery, a man who despite being in his mid-thirties had a number seven shaved into his head. In fairness, with a face like that you can’t blame him for doing anything he can to deflect people’s gaze elsewhere. Trent though, you can see him maturing all the time now. He was doing some proper little snidey things here, like taking extra time on throw ins and slyly kicking the ball away to slow things down. These lads are learning about game management now and it was great to see players telling team-mates to calm it down and take their time. I saw Milner doing it, which you’d expect, but Mané was all over that shit too. And don’t think I didn’t notice Fabinho doing the old Didi Hamann ‘tree falling down’ routine to win a free-kick late on either. Bravo, sir. Bravo. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson (Fabinho), Wijnaldum, Milner (Lallana); Salah, Firmino (Origi), Mané:

Jurgen Klopp was a very proud manager after his players produced a fine away performance in the second leg of their last 16 clash with Bayern Munich winning 3-1 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday evening.After a tense goalless first leg at Anfield three weeks ago where chances were at a premium, Liverpool started on the front foot courtesy of a sublime piece of finishing by Sadio Mane after 26 minutes.While Joel Matip inadvertently turned the ball into his own net six minutes from the half time interval, the visitors importantly did not let any negative thoughts creep into their mindset. Second half goals by Virgil Van Dijk and a second to Mane (courtesy of a fine Mo Salah assist) sealed the superb victory which sees the Reds progress to the last eight for the second year in succession.It is also the first time that all four English sides have made it to this stage in 10 years.While Liverpool ticked many boxes on their march to the final against Real Madrid last season, you sense this victory was special for Klopp for a number of reasons.The professional way that the team went out and did their business, the continued progression of the team as a whole, along with the opposition that this performance came against.ESPN reported the manager as saying:"It is an important [win] for different reasons. Important money-wise but also confidence-wise."Liverpool's self-awareness now must be: 'We are back. We are back on the landscape. Back in big football."That was part of the plan when we started the project."We still have space for improvement but beating Bayern here is a big one."What made the performance all the more impressive was that it was the first time they had won a away tie since the quarter final second leg against Man City in April of last year. The form in the group stages of this years competition gave no indication to be overly positive ahead of this fixture with three defeats and only one goal scored ( a James Milner penalty against PSG). Klopp continued to allude to the magnitude of the performance."It's a big step for us. We have set a mark that this wonderful club is really at the top of the landscape of European football.""I am really proud of the boys because it is a massive achievement. We are on a good way and I like what the boys did tonight."The second half I was really happy by how mature the performance was, how strong we looked, how good we defended.There was a differing range of opinions on how Liverpool would react to a defeat at this stage of the competition.Some thought focusing on one competition would give them a advantage over Man City in the title run-in, however others thought a heavy defeat would have given their confidence a real shake. A victory like this against such a esteemed and in-form opponent leaves no one in any doubt that Liverpool are certainly a team to be reckoned with, both at this present moment in time and for the future as well.

Stand-in captain James Milner complemented his teammates on a job well done after Liverpool progressed to the quarter finals of the Champions League by defeating Bayern Munich 3-1 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday evening.While Jordan Henderson started the contest, he departed after just 13 minutes after suffering an ankle injury.Vice captain Milner took over official leadership duties on the pitch and in his own understated way, the veteran midfielder led from the front.After a cagey first leg at Anfield, this contest started in similar fashion. It was the Reds who scored the first goal of the tie in the 26th minute, courtesy of a fine piece of individual play from Sadio Mane.Joel Matip then gave the home team new belief, when he inadvertently turned home a Serge Gnabry cross into his own net six minutes from the half time interval to make it 1-1.With the game now on a knife-edge, it was evident that the visitors would have to have their minds well and truly at the job at hand in the second 45 minutes. However, to their great credit, Liverpool did not show any signs of fragility and regained the lead in the 69th minute.Milner registered his tenth assist in the competition since the start of last season (which is the most of any player in that time), when his pin-point corner met the head of the towering presence of Virgil Van Dijk.The visitors sensed their younger legs would be a advantage as the contest progressed and this was to be the case.Mane wrapped up proceedings in style when he was on the end of a fine ball from Mo Salah and the Reds were into the quarter finals yet again.The Official Site (via BT Sport) reported Milner as being a contented man afterwards.“I thought it was a good performance away from home in Europe against a good team." It’s never easy, they are going to have spells on top. "We didn’t play our best but it’s about getting a result. We defended pretty well, didn’t give them too much, and the front three were outstanding again.While Milner was rather low-key about the level of the performance, in terms of individuals, he was glowing about the form of Mane who scored his tenth goal from as many games. "Sadio is on fire. "The first goal was ridiculous really, how he has finished it off – the calmness and the finish. "He is on fire at the moment and hopefully that continues for the rest of the season.”Milner said the strength of the squad was highlighted yet again by the performance of Fabinho who came on for Henderson and filled his role to perfection."It says a lot about the team and the boys on the bench ready to come on, the squad we’ve got."Obviously you work leading up to the game on a plan and how you’re going to play. "To lose the captain that early was difficult but we dealt with it well, Fab came on and did very well."We’ve got quality all through the squad and that’s what you need when you’re playing against these sorts of teams and in this competition.”

Besiktas manager Senol Gunes has questioned the enthusiasm that Loris Karius has for the game after the Liverpool loanee produced a substandard performance for the Turkish giants on the weekend.The woes of Karius at Liverpool have been well documented, none moreso than in the harsh spotlight of the Champions League final against Real Madrid last May.After that moment, it was clear that Karius needed to get away from the club, more so for his own mental state that anything else. In the aftermath of his calamitous performance, Jurgen Klopp made a passionate defence of his player.Despite displaying the loyalty which is one of his trademarks, in his heart of hearts, Klopp knew a world class keeper had to be brought in. The summer signing of Alisson saw Karius go on loan to Besiktas where the German would have hoped to rebuild his career away from the bright lights of one of the top leagues in the world.However it has not been a happy arrangement for both parties, with reports as early as October saying that Beskitas wanted to cut the loan short immediately.While that did not eventuate, more poor performances have transpired, to such a extent that Gunes has publicly slated him.The Liverpool Echo has reported the manager saying that he would drop the loanee if he could after he conceded a soft goal in the first half of their 3-2 win over Konyaspor on Sunday.The 25 year-old was heckled by his own fans and reportedly asked to come off at the interval.Gunes bemoaned the unavailability of reserve goalkeeper Tolga Zengin for the clash saying that he would have replaced Karius if he was on the bench.Alarmingly, the veteran manager also questioned the enthusiasm that Karius has for the game. "He was at fault for the goals he conceded. Karius has gone a bit stagnant, something is wrong with his electricity, motivation, enthusiasm for the game. He does not really feel a part of the team. "It has been like that since the beginning and it's something we haven't been able to work out and, of course, I am partly to blame for this."He is talented but something is wrong and we have a problem. In this day and age of teams looking to keep everything in-house and control the narrative, it is a ruthless opinion that the veteran Turkish manager has made public.Besiktas currently sit in third position in the Turkish Superliga, but are 13 points behind leaders Istanbul Basaksehir with just nine games remaining.They have also conceded more goals (36) than Bursapor (28), Goztepe (33) and Buyuksehir Erzurumspor (34) who currently occupy 15-17th on the table respectively.Being loaned out can work both ways for a player.If it is a success, confidence builds and helps pushes them to the next level as we have seen many times in the past.Conversely, if the player struggles, they run the risk of becoming of football 'journeymen' bouncing from one club to another, and never really fulfilling their true potential.It seems that Loris Karius looks to be entering the latter category.While he obviously made his share of mistakes in a game situation for the Reds, it would certainly be unfair to hold that against him on a personal level.Let's hope finds some happiness in wherever he ends up playing next, or whatever he ends up doing away from the football pitch.

This could easily have gone badly wrong but it didn’t. The players overcame an unjust early setback and got the job done, and in the process stuck it to the rest of the country, most of whom are desperate for us to come up short. If we pull this off it will be the sweetest victory we’ve ever had. All the lads can do now is keep winning and hope for a break that at this moment in time just doesn’t look like coming. Things can change though, we have to cling to that. City have a difficult April so we just have to apply pressure and hope they crack. Klopp said afterwards that we aren’t going away and let’s hope not. It only takes one bad week and everything can turn to shit. Look at Spurs - they’ve gone from being in a title race to looking like they might even end up sixth. There’s no margin for error at the top, but that goes for City as well as us. This team deserves better than all this recent talk of “bottling it”. After 30 games they’ve lost once, they have equalled the club record for points won at this stage of the season and are only one point behind a team that has been labelled the greatest ever by some. The form hasn’t been great since the turn of the year and that’s a concern, obviously, but even on their bad days they haven’t been losing, which is why it’s unfair to talk about bottling it. Spurs have shit the bed massively and had far less accusations of bottling than our lads. I guess when you’re Spurs it’s to be expected so no-one even bats an eyelid anymore. The main problem we have is the away form, as at Anfield we’ve been damn near flawless. Barring the Leicester game (a result that was heavily influenced by poor refereeing, let’s not forget) and the rather fortuitous draw with City we’ve been perfect at home. A look at our remaining fixtures sees us with four at Anfield and four away. The away games aren’t exactly the toughest on paper (particularly looking forward to Rafa sending out the youth team against us in May), so that gives cause for optimism. So as long as we can get back on track away then that could make all the difference. I don’t know if that will happen because it’s so hard to get a handle on this team at the moment. Just when it looks like they’re back in the groove they’ll go and draw a blank somewhere. Everton are as bad as any side we’re likely to face and we couldn’t beat them. They were supercharged and powered on bile that day though, something we won’t have to face from the likes of Fulham and Southampton. Of all the fixtures we had left, the Burnley one was one of the more difficult ones because we never find it easy going against them. It’s always a slog, but this was pretty straightforward in the end, the late scare notwithstanding. The front three looked like they’re supposed to and it was particularly nice to see Bobby back in the goals. Mo remains a bit of a worry, but only because he appears to be uncharacteristically uncertain in front of goal recently. He’s holding onto the ball too long, or taking an extra touch when it’s not necessary. Other than that he still generally looks the same and Burnley struggled to cope with him. Jurgen said he was the best player on the pitch. He wasn’t, but I’m fully on board with the manager saying whatever he feels necessary to help his players. There’s not much wrong with Mo, he’s just a little bit off and has been most of the season. There’s still time for him to explode again and we really need him to. He didn’t score but he caused havoc against Burnley and was involved in most good things. That elusive 50th goal just won’t come though. Five games without him scoring is just bizarre. It sounds mad, but I never thought that could happen given how prolific he’s been. It won’t last though and someone will eventually end up being hit for three or four by him, probably Fulham next week. It would have been nice if he’d scored in this one, especially as both his strike partners did, but it’s not a big deal. We won, we played well and there’s nothing to be displeased about. Apart from the officiating that is. I have two explanations for that Burnley opener being allowed to stand. One is that Andre Marriner seemed to be on a one man mission to sabotage our title bid (actually it’s more of a two man with Paul Tierney) and the other is momentum. You can’t overestimate the power of momentum. It’s massive. We’ve lost it and City have it, and in recent weeks we’ve seen the effect it has. We need to get it back and maybe this result does that. When momentum is with you, strange things will go in your favour. City had that phantom penalty against West Ham and the scandalous offside goal against Watford. When it’s against you, shit like this can happen - a goal direct from a corner with the goalkeeper being blatantly fouled. It almost never happens, but when momentum and an official doing his best to make things difficult combine, this is the result. Lesser teams may have crumbled and felt sorry for themselves at that setback, and I daresay some fans felt that way. Klopp went fucking mad at the Kop and the Main Stand, both immediately before and after the Burnley goal. There was an audible groan of displeasure when Matip conceded a corner after misjudging the flight of the ball. Klopp lost his shit at that. I can understand why, as we were only five minutes into the game and there’s no need for anybody to be panicking about anything. At the same time, I didn’t think it was anything too out of the ordinary either. It wasn’t exactly mass panic. Any time a player makes a mistake and needlessly concedes a corner you’ll get a bit of a rumbling of disapproval. It’s not like people are yelling abuse, but if you have twenty thousand people muttering “fucks sake” then it’s going to be fairly audible. It’s easy to say now because we won, but I don’t even attach any blame to Matip on that as the wind out there was fucking ridiculous and that’s probably what caught ol’ Big Bird out. Initially I felt that it was an error, but the longer the half went on and the more it became apparent just how wild that wind was out there, it put the incident in some perspective. The ball suddenly picked up pace and Matip didn’t have time to react properly. Shit happens. The wind also aided Westwood with his corner kick. He could try that a 100 times with an open goal and nobody else on the pitch and he probably couldn’t do that again. You know what annoyed me even more than Marriner allowing the goal to stand even though he could clearly see Alisson was mugged? I’ll tell you. The thing that tipped me over the edge and had me on my feet screaming all sorts of abuse at Marriner, was that he then had the audacity to book Alisson for complaining. Actually that’s not even true, he booked him before he could even start to complain. Alison ran out of his goal to make his point to Marriner, who pulled out a card before he even reached him. How fucking arrogant is that? He makes a monumentally bad decision and then doesn’t even attempt to explain it or allow Alisson to get his point across. Fucking egotistical, superior twat. His linesman can fuck off too. He was a disgrace as well. He was fine with the offsides, but he gave nothing else and turned a blind eye to so many incidents. Maybe he was told by Marriner not to get involved unless he is asked for his opinion. Some refs rely on assistants more than others. This guy gave fuck all though even when it was right in front of him. Ashley Barnes nudged Robbo in the back on every throw in Burnley had and I think we got one free-kick from it all day. Virgil was fouled too when he went for a header and Marriner gave nothing. I saw Big Virg go to the linesman and ask him about it, and it genuinely looked like the lino agreed with him and said it was a foul (he gave him the thumbs up and nodded). So if you saw it, put your flag up then you impotent cock. I probably shouldn’t focus too much on the officiating given that we played really well and won the game, but it annoyed the shit out of me. It’s all well and good saying it doesn’t matter because we won, but it does matter. We conceded two goals in this game and both have Marriner’s fingerprints all over them. The second goal was a clear foul on Salah before they went down the field and scored. It could even be argued that our goal difference is two goals worse off because of this game, although that’s hypothetical because we might not have scored the fourth if they hadn’t just scored their second and we don’t know how the game would have played out if we hadn’t fallen behind. What is not in dispute is that our great defensive record is now two goals worse off than it should be because of this tit. And along with Michael Oliver this fucker is probably the best of a piss poor bunch. What concerns me is that on another day we might not have come back from that disgraceful decision on the opening goal. What if it had been 75 minutes in and we didn’t have so much time to pull it back? I genuinely want to know how he can see that incident with Alisson and call it the way he did. It’s alarming. Not as alarming as what Tierney did at the Etihad, but it’s still hard to fathom. Goalkeepers get so much protection in the modern game that it’s actually a running joke. “You can’t breathe on goalkeepers these days” they say. Yet our keeper has a player all over him, preventing him from jumping, and that’s not given as a foul? Get to fuck. I’m not prepared to go down the “even the refs don’t want us to win the league” but I can’t deny it’s in the back of my mind after this weekend. City’s opening goal against Watford is genuinely the worst decision I think I’ve ever seen. Then it’s compounded with the Burnley goal. You can’t blame us for being paranoid at the moment given that everyone seems to want us to fail. When the Burnley goal went in, Klopp turned to the Main Stand and started yelling like a loon, pointing at his watch. His point was obvious, chill the fuck out, knob heads, there are 85 minutes left. The message seemed to strike home as I didn’t think there was any sense of panic or frustration after that (I didn’t think there was much before it either, in fairness). The crowd got behind the lads, the lads kept their cool and played their football, and it wasn’t too long before they had the lead. The equaliser had an element of fortune about it as both the keeper and defender had a chance to cut out Mo’s cross before Bobby tapped it in. You know what though, that was exactly the type of goal we should be scoring more often. Every week I bitch and complain about us not doing this enough, but it’s a fact that good things happen when you get to the byline and drill the ball across the face of goal. I loved that goal, it was brilliant from Mo. I loved the second one even more though because it epitomised just what can happen when you work hard and try to force mistakes. Lallana said afterwards the Klopp had pointed out a moment in the Watford game when Milner closed down the keeper and blocked a clearance. He told the players that’s what he wants to see as it lifts the crowd and fires everyone up. Lallana took that message to heart and looked like the player we saw in the opening months of Klopp’s regime when he was running himself to a standstill every week and leading the pressing game. That press hasn’t been as evident this season, not specifically because Lallana hasn’t played, but his absence hasn’t helped. This was great to see though. He doesn’t get an assist for that second goal but morally he should. He closed down the defender and flung himself to block the attempted clearance. That in itself would have got the crowd going, but the ball broke nicely to Salah in the box and although he was tackled, the loose ball was superbly whipped into the corner by Mané. Just what we needed. While I said the crowd were fine and didn’t panic, if we’d still been level or behind after an hour that probably wouldn’t have been the case. Thankfully we’ll never know. It was a nice moment for Lallana, whose inclusion hadn’t exactly been met with universal approval. Some of the reaction on social media was embarrassing. I was surprised when I saw his name on the team sheet but I honestly didn’t have a problem with him starting. I don’t ever want to see him playing in a front three and I’d say that he’s a pretty terrible substitute who rarely makes us stronger, but starting in a midfield three is fine with me, particularly in games like this. Our midfield is generally much too ‘samey’. We often have three players doing the same job, which is fine against the better teams (as long as the front three are on their game) but can often see us get bogged down against more defensive opponents. What Lallana brings that nobody else (other than Ox) does, is that ability to run beyond the forwards and drag defenders out of position. He’s got great feet in and around the box too, but the biggest thing he does is ‘gegenpress’ the absolute fuck out of people. That’s why Klopp has always loved him. Hell, that’s one of the reasons I loved him until the injuries completely ruined him. I’d all but written him off and while one swallow doesn’t make a summer and all that, it’s great seeing him making such a positive contribution again and I couldn’t be happier for him. I’m not getting my hopes up too much as he’s just as likely to pull a muscle in training this week as he is to play like this again, but to me there’s no doubt that a fully fit Adam Lallana is a big asset to this team. For two years though he hasn’t been fully fit and he may never be again as all the evidence points to his body just not being able to withstand the demands of the style of football he plays. Forget the silky skills, quick feet and Cruyff turns he’s known for, this lad runs his fucking bollocks off for the team but sadly his body just can’t handle it anymore. If we can somehow get two more months out of him without him breaking down though he could really play a big part in some of these games we have left. He’s probably moved ahead of Keita and Shaqiri in the pecking order after this. We’ll see what happens now, but he played his part in this win and it will have meant a lot to him because he’s seen his team-mates do remarkable things these last two years while he’s barely been able to contribute anything. That can’t have been easy for him. Back to the game though, as I seem to have gone off on several different tangents there and have no idea where I was. Oh yeah, 2-1. Once we got our noses in front I was probably 95% sure we’d win. I wasn’t worried we’d throw it away and I didn’t think Burnley had another goal in them. You can’t ever be completely relaxed about it of course, because all it takes is a set-piece or a referees intervention (or as with the first goal, both), but I’d say I was as confident as it’s possible to be in that situation. Still, the third goal is always crucial and makes life much easier, so the sooner we got it the better we could all feel. Several chances came and went and we were playing some lovely football. It took a mistake from Tom Heaton for us to finally get that two goal cushion though. His poor clearance went straight to Salah who collected well and ran through on goal. He should have scored himself but the obsession with getting onto his left foot saw him tackled. It may have been a foul but I doubt Marriner would have given us anything so it was a blessing that Bobby was on hand to follow up and tuck the loose ball away. After that it was just a case of how many we’d get, but the finishing wasn’t great and somehow it stayed 3-1 until stoppage time. The closest we came was when Mané hit the bar from a couple of yards out following a brilliant move that ended with Trent delivering a buffet ball to the back post. Sadio stretched and took the ball away from Robertson who would have had a tap in. Robbo absolutely savaged him in his post match LFC TV interview afterwards and then on social media too. It was all good natured and very funny, but he’s defo annoyed about it. So am I. Imagine Robbo scoring at the Kop end? The roof would have come off the place. Despite how comfortable the game was at that stage, Marriner was still winding me right up with some of his decisions. It was going on right throughout the game. One minute he’s giving a free-kick against Lallana for winning a header against a stationary player who didn’t jump, the next he’s ignoring the exact same thing by a Burnley player. He gave a free-kick against Henderson after some brilliant pressing and then allowed a Burnley player to clearly foul Salah, resulting in them going up the field and making it 3-2. Absolute twat. I honestly didn’t mind him before this, but it really felt like something was amiss watching this. Maybe he just had a bad game though. Maybe. There was only about a minute left but that goal caused unnecessary, but understandable, anxiety. This game should never have been that close but this is why getting that third goal is so vital in those situations. All it takes is one freak moment or a mistake from the ref and just like that, two points gone. So that third goal was massive. The fourth was nice too (lovely play by Sturridge and a good finish by Sadio) but the only significance of it really was to ensure that everything stayed ‘as you were’ in the title race. City won by two goals, we won by two goals. No change, just one game less to play. It also meant that Mané is now the joint leading scoring in the league if you disregard penalties. He’s not really getting the credit he probably deserves for that. Last year he was very much the third man in our dazzling front three (they scored ninety goals between them. NINETY!!!), but this year he’s been at least the equal of Mo and he’s been better than Bobby. That probably says more about how they’ve dropped off than it does about any improvement in Sadio, but he’s done well. So three points more to the tally and the gap remains one (two really, we need to start eating into that goal difference soon before it becomes too late). We’re about to enter a key stage in the race because we no longer have to play catch up by playing the day after City. That’s a big help I think, as it’s tough seeing the gap go to four points, even with a game in hand. At least we won’t have to do that again for a while. City have no league game for three weeks now, while we play twice. In other words, if we win our next two games we’ll have a five point lead. Yes, they’ll have two games in hand (and one of them is Cardiff at home), but psychologically it’s a lot tougher being behind so we just have to win those next two games and make life uncomfortable for them. Whatever happens I don’t think it will be down to pressure. The players are dealing with that and it’s insulting to them to suggest otherwise. I’ve probably said it myself in moments of frustration, but it’s bollocks really. They might not always perform well but I don’t think it’s because they’re feeling the strain. When you look at what the players overcame to get this win it says a lot about their character. Early kick off, playing catch up after City’s win, terrible weather, awkward bastard opponents who we always have difficulty with, and an abomination of a referee intent on shafting us at every turn. They shrugged all that off and won. So a great job from the lads I’d say. Maybe going behind even helped, as it added a sense of urgency that might not have been there otherwise. It was a jolt to everybody and the players were stung into a reaction. I’m still livid about it though as it’s put a dent in our great defensive record. Interestingly, we’ve now got the exact same record at this stage of the season as the 1987/88 season. You know, the team widely regarded as the greatest we’ve ever had and who have been immortalised in song - “Kenny’s Boys of 88, there’s never been a side so great”. Until now maybe. There’s every chance these lads might give us the best league season in our history and not even win the league. That shouldn’t be held against them though, as none of our previous great sides had to compete against what Klopp’s team is facing. Kenny’s side were 14 points ahead with two games in hand. He wasn’t up against City. The last few weeks have been so frustrating, with the draws against Leicester, West Ham, the Mancs and Blueshite. It’s cast a shadow over what has been an incredible season really. It all stems from how desperate we are to win it and that we’re so close we can taste it, but getting down in the dumps about a few draws and singling out players for criticism is pretty unfair when you actually think about it. I’ve done it myself. I was steaming mad after the United game, I wasn’t thrilled after the derby and I’ve had a downer on Mo and Bobby for a while just because they haven’t been able to maintain the incredible form they had last season. It’s completely unfair but it is what is it. Wanting to win the title so badly makes us a little irrational. The real problem here though isn’t anything our lads have or haven’t done, it’s those cheating cunts completely ignoring the rules everyone else is playing by. Star man could have been any one of several. Van Dijk was majestic again, not even the tornado blowing around Anfield could unsettle him. Fabinho was solid as fuck, Bobby looked like Bobby again and Mané was razor sharp and should have gone home with the match ball. I’m giving it to Lallana though. He might not necessarily have been the best player on the pitch but he was certainly in the conversation, and given the context involved he deserves it. Hell, even my mum said he played well, and it didn’t even seem to be through gritted teeth. I’ve seen it all now. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (Sturridge), Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Wijnaldum (Henderson), Lallana (Keita); Salah, Firmino, Mané:

Liverpool showed their main title rivals that they are well and truly up for the challenge after defeating a resolute Burnley outfit 4-2 at Anfield on Sunday.Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane each scored twice as the Reds showed their fighting qualities were in fine order after falling behind to a contentious Ashley Westwood goal in the sixth minute.While the nature of conceding that goal would have knocked the confidence out of Liverpool sides from the recent past, this squad is made of real substance and that showed as Firmino and Mane scored within ten minutes and they took that lead into the half-time interval.The Brazilian gave the Reds some breathing space midway through the second half, but the home team had to withstand a nervy finish when Clarets substitute Johann Berg Gudmunsson struck in the first minute of injury time.However Mane sent everyone's heart rate back to normal levels when he scored two minutes later to give the Reds a deserved victory. Speaking to the Official site, Andy Robertson said that the team would be embracing the challenge that lies ahead in the last couple of months." It’s another game down, eight to go. It’s going to be exciting one way or another." I’ve said in all the interviews I’ve done, we need to give 100 per cent in every single game and whether it gets us a trophy or it doesn’t, we need to deal with that." The position we’re in now, one point behind with eight games to go, if we perform like that – especially with our attitude – then it’ll stand us in good stead." We’ve got some tough games coming up but we look forward to the chase and hopefully we can push them all the way.” Robertson was very pleased with the way the team responded from conceding the early goal and the overall quality of their play." The work-rate from all of us was brilliant, our counter-press to get the ball quickly and our reactions to poor passes or chances missed." We reacted well and we looked positive, that’s what we needed to get better at. " We did that. We kept going and we were ruthless when the chances came." Away from the title race, Robertson is looking forward to the challenge that awaits in Munich on Wednesday evening against a in-form Bayern outfit.“Last season we were good away from home in the Champions League, we caused teams problems and that’s what we need to do again."It will probably be a different game, they’ll need to come out a bit more, their fans will demand they try to create."It’s all about trying to keep them out first and foremost and then hopefully we can take the chances we get and do enough to get through.”

Adam Lallana has given Jurgen Klopp a pleasant selection headache after producing a vintage display in Liverpool's 4-2 win against Burnley on Sunday afternoon.You could be forgiven for thinking that we had seen the best of the English international in Liverpool colours after a wretched two year battle with a number of leg muscle injuries.Eyebrows were certainly raised when the starting lineups were released for the high noon clash and the 30 year-old's name was on it.This was especially the case when you take into account the demand for the likes of Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri to return to the starting lineup in the hope it would give the team the kind of impetus it had been lacking in recent times.However, as we know so well, Klopp is a man with his own ideas and has always had a fondness for Lallana, a player who was so pivotal in the German's early tenure and the midfielder got the nod after a strong week in training. Making just his fourth league start for the season, Lallana was at the heart of a number of attacking moves by the home side as they overcame an early deficit to register a vital three points to narrow Man City's lead to just one point.Just like any player, Lallana just wants to play and admits the last couple of years have been extremely frustrating.The Official site reported Lallana as saying:"It has been a difficult two years for me with injuries, but hopefully that’s behind me now."I just want to keep working hard and contribute to what will be an exciting end to the season."It helps when you can be fit consistently, I’ve not had that over the last couple of years. It was a good game and I enjoyed being out there.”Competition for places is a delight for any manager and if Lallana can maintain his current level of fitness, it will be a massive boost in the title run-in because at his best he is a player of proven quality. Understandably Klopp was thrilled with the performance of the man of the match. " He is always good on the ball but he is pretty aggressive too, so on the counter-press situation it is a game changer, it's a brilliant thing. "Well done and well deserved, I am really happy for him."Lallana said that the players knew that the resilient Clarets outfit would be a tough nut to crack, especially as they are fighting for their Premier League survival .However, he was pleased with the overall effort of the team and said that maintaining focus was a key factor for the remaining eight games."Burnley made it very difficult for us and obviously got an early goal." All we’ve got to do is concentrate on ourselves and win games. "City won yesterday, so it was our job today to put in a professional performance."Burnley didn’t make it easy, and we might not have made it easy for ourselves at the end, but Sadio finished it off.” With Man City in FA Cup action next week, Liverpool can return to the top of the table with a win over Fulham at Craven Cottage on Sunday.

Saturday Mar 2: Some ridiculous quotes from Sterling today on how pressure from the fans got to the players in the 2014 title race when we were pipped by City. Apparently all that support made them nervous. He doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. Empty seats don’t make any noise. What a crock of shite though. That team won 11 of their last 13 games and the only defeat was to third placed Chelsea. It wasn’t the pressure that did them in, it was incredibly bad luck on the Gerrard slip and then a lack of quality from the bench to change things when it became clear that Mourinho had completely done a number on us and nullified what we were good at. Sure though, blame it on the fans if it fuels the bullshit narrative coming from City that our crowd is not actually a help to the players, but a hinderance. We’ve dropped just four points at home all season, maybe other clubs could do with having such unhelpful fans too? Staying with City, they had an unimpressive 1-0 win at Bournemouth today. They didn’t play well but they didn’t need to because Eddie Howe’s men just curled up into a little ball and begged not to be hit. Bournemouth became the first team since records began to not have a shot on or off target or win a single corner. I’m not sure how that’s even possible at this level of football, but this is the problem we have now. When a lot of teams play us it’s like a fucking cup final to them because they don’t want us to win the league (not Bournemouth, in fairness). When they play City they’re happy to just not get embarrassed. They aren’t arsed about winning because hardly anybody hates City because they were so insignificant for so long they haven’t had time to make any enemies. Their biggest enemies are probably fucking Macclesfield or Oldham or someone from back in the second division days. Even United don’t give a shit about them, while Everton idolise the fuckers. Hell, even Chelsea went there and bent over. Wait until you see how up for it they are when they come to Anfield though. City don’t have the kind of ‘grudge matches’ we have and it’s a big advantage. I reckon Burnley might give them all they can handle, and Palace will be up for it too. The rest? Nah, City will have it easy in all of those games, including the trip to Old Trafford. Meanwhile, a hat-trick for Bobby Duncan in a 7-2 win for the u18s draws him level with his partner Paul Glatzel on 24 goals apiece for the season. I like watching them and would love for one or both to make it here. It’s so tough though, and having a good international pedigree doesn’t mean as much as it used to. Michael Owen made a name for himself at youth level with us and England, and from the first time I saw him play I knew he’d make it. He’s probably the only youth team player I can ever say I was 100% sure was nailed on to be a star, and I use him as the barometer for all the other kids that have come through afterwards. Some of them have been hyped up, like Jerome Sinclair, Adam Morgan and more recently Rhian Brewster and Duncan, but honestly none of them have even come close to looking like the sure thing Owen was. Duncan is a star for England youth and once scored a hat-trick against Brazil for the u17s. People get excited about that kind of thing, but there’s a long way to go between under 17 and senior football. Hell, even when they’re a couple of years older it’s still really tough to know whether they’ll make it or not. I mean, England u20s won the World Cup a couple of years ago and their star player was Dom Solanke. The lad who scored the winning goal in the final was the bang average Calvert-Lewin. I really want Duncan to be a star and perhaps he will be. There’s a hell of a long way to go though and I’ve seen too many of these young strikers come up short because the standard is just so high these days. Sunday Mar 3: Everton 0 L 0 Well that was shite. Not as shite as last week at Old Trafford, but it was shite nonetheless. We didn’t play well but we should have won because we had all the chances. Its like the Anfield derby, a lot of shit being spoken about how well the Blues did. They played like the plucky underdogs they are and did a great job of stopping us playing and making sure we never really got a grip on the game. The rabid nature of the crowd inspired their players to put in the kind of shift they never have before, and never will again (not unless they play us when we’re going for a title again). They worked their bollocks off and rode their luck. They never looked like scoring though and that’s five clean sheets on the bounce for us now, so take all this ‘bottling’ talk and stick it where the sun don’t shine. We aren’t bottling anything, but a seven point lead is not one point deficit and that’s hugely demoralising. On the group chat some of the lads have completely given up now. Others aren’t having it, I’m somewhere in the middle. I think it’s probably gone, but I also know that there’s enough time left and one result can change everything. I’m sick of seeing fans running down other fans for their lack of faith though. Honestly, how can you blame anyone who thinks we may have lost our chance to win it? There’s been an eight point swing in a couple of weeks and we’re up against a side that amassed 100 points last season. We could still win it, but truth be told it would be a pretty big upset now if we did. In a perfect world everyone would keep faith that we were going to win the title regardless of how patchy our form has been since the turn of the year. Human emotions just don’t work that way though. No two people are the same and everyone reacts to setbacks in their own way. Some will believe right until the point when it’s no longer possible, and more power to them and their positive thinking. You can’t blame anybody who has thrown in the towel though. After all, this isn’t our first rodeo and in most of the others we fell off and were kicked in the head. Klopp is a big fan of the Rocky movies and has even likened the Reds to the “Italian Stallion” himself (perhaps instead of taking the lads for warm weather training he should have had them growing beards and chopping logs in Siberia?). Rocky had one big advantage over us though; he had somebody writing a favourable script for him. Whoever has been writing our script over the past decade clearly has a sadistic streak and has looked to inflict as much mental anguish on us as possible. So how can you blame anybody who fears it’s about to happen again? When you’ve been repeatedly knocked down there comes a point when you decide you’d rather stay on the canvas than get up and take more punishment. Some Reds have reached that point now, whereas others are still staggering to their feet and hoping to land a knockout blow, Rocky Balboa style. Anything can still happen, but it’s perfectly understandable that some are preparing themselves for the worst possible outcome. It’s just a natural defence mechanism. It fucking sucks though, doesn’t it? As for Everton, they can celebrate their 0-0 win all their like and sing about us ‘winning fuck all’, but watch them shit the bed next time out and spend the rest of the season continuing to be the embarrassment they’ve been all year. Losers. Monday Mar 4: It was the Mini derby tonight at Anfield. I was gonna go to this and take my daughter. Season ticket holders get in free, just like the old days (there was a time there when they were playing at Chester and Wrexham where season ticket holders still had to pay to get in). Only catch was you had to get there before 5pm and actually pick up paper tickets because for some reason you can’t just use the fancard to get in. There was no pay at the gate either. What the fuck? This club does my fucking head in. Why go out of your way to make it as difficult as possible for people to actually go and watch? I don’t get it. Would it really have been so difficult to open up some pay turnstiles? Fucking pricks. The more money they get they less they give a shit about us. Games like this are great for kids to go and get a taste for being in the big stadium watching footy. Get to fuck Liverpool, you fucking dickheads. As it turned out, they did us a favour as it was dire. The Blues won 2-0 and I watched the first half on LFCTV. Just awful stuff, this is not a fun team to watch at all. If you thought the midfield Klopp sent out yesterday was workmanlike and lacking in guile, you should have seen this. Fucking hell. Connor Randall (yeah he’s still here), Isaac Christie-Davies (I’ve seen him half a dozen times and still have absolutely no idea what he is or what he does) and Liam Coyle (I like this kid, he’s a tough tackling number six). No wonder we didn’t create anything. Although the front three were useless as well. Ben Woodburn has completely fallen off a cliff. Remember when Klopp was calling him the “Prince of Wales”? The last two seasons have been a complete waste of time for the kid. He played centre forward tonight for some reason. Madness. The other two forwards were Camacho and Jones. It amazes me that Camacho gets on the first team bench because we’ve had loads of young wingers who were better than him and got nowhere near. I don’t see it with him at all, he’s alright like, but a million miles away from first team standard. He doesn’t even stand out much at this level. As for Jones, I’m a big fan of his but has not kicked on at all this year and it annoys me seeing him playing on the left wing. It’s a Lallana thing. He’s not quick but he’s got great feet, so he’s a midfielder, not a winger. It’s doing my head in seeing him doing all his tricks miles from goal marooned on the touchline. Tuesday Mar 5: Remember a few weeks ago and Spurs battered Dortmund at Wembley. Some idiot ran his mouth about how Dortmund would still go through. Yeah, well tonight Spurs won 1-0 in the away leg to go through 4-0 on aggregate. Christ, that was some poor judgement from me. Still, I’ve got some way to go before I can match Sergio Ramos in the massively ill judged decision stakes. The soft cunt deliberately got himself booked at Ajax three weeks ago, thinking the job was done and the home leg would be a formality. UEFA weren’t happy and doubled his ban to two games, and then tonight Ajax dicked Madrid all over the Bernabeu and won 4-1. Absolutely glorious. As much as I wanted us to be the ones to put them out, I’m realistic enough to know that given how we’ve been playing away from home recently (and all season in Europe) there are no guarantees we’ll get by Munich next week. So at least Madrid are out in the most comical of circumstances. If we win number six at least we won’t have far to go to reach his house and celebrate outside. Oh, and sign that De Ligt kid to partner Big Virg. Wednesday Mar 6: Duncan and Glatzel (has anyone dubbed them D&G yet? Hope not) inspire the u18s to the semis of the youth cup. Glatzel scored two and Duncan got one (while both laid on a goal for the other) in a 5-1 win over Bury. The lads have had a piss easy run to the semis and they now play Watford, who you’d imagine they should also beat. City play West Bom in the other semi, so maybe we’ll play them in the final? Imagine how up for that one Duncan would be. Also tonight, the Mancs turned it around against PSG and went through. Of course they did. PSG are the biggest bottlers in Europe. I had thought after the first leg that even they couldn’t fuck this up, but I under-estimated just what massive chokers they are. Still, United needed a farcical stoppage time penalty awarded by VAR to go through. It won’t stop everyone tonguing Solskjaer’s balls, but the fact is they were incredibly spawny and if football wasn’t so completely intent on ruining itself then they’d be out. I’ll say it again. VAR IS FUCKING SHIT. I hate it, and it has nothing to do with United benefitting from it tonight. I’d honestly be saying the exact same thing had it gone the other way. It’s genuinely the worst thing that’s ever happened to football. It ruined the World Cup and now it’s ruining the Champions League. And next season it will ruin the Premier League. If this wasn’t how I make my living I’d seriously be thinking of fucking the whole thing off, as this isn’t the game I grew up with. Between handball, offside and VAR I’m genuinely starting to hate this game. Thursday Mar 7: The fallout from last night continues, with Neymar letting loose on Instagram and telling UEFA to go and “fuck yourselves”. Leaving aside the fact he’s a massive twat and I hate him, I have three thoughts on this. Firstly, had that decision gone his way he’d be singing a massively different tune. Secondly, he’s absolutely right. And thirdly, seeing a footballer tell UEFA to go fuck themselves is great, so fair play to him. On the subject of UEFA though, they’ve belatedly launched an inquiry into Man City and their dodgy dealings. City issued a statement protesting their innocence, which should be used as further evidence against them when they’re found guilty. They had a chance to come clean but instead doubled down on the deceit. That should mean further punishment. The end result of this will probably be some sort of ban from European football. I’m not arsed about that at all really, I want to see the Premier League do something. This is a little more complicated though apparently. The PL can’t do anything without the backing of the clubs. There are some rumours tonight that “up to a dozen” clubs are concerned about this and want to know what the league are going to do about it. A dozen? What about the others? Obviously Everton won’t want any part of it, but that still leaves 18 clubs. This is the biggest frustration about the whole thing for me. Madrid, Barca, Bayern, Juve and all the European big hitters should be piling the pressure onto UEFA to do something, but so should every club in the PL too. Do they not understand what’s happening here? There are rules in place that it appears everyone else bar City are following. One club is blatantly ignoring those rules to gain an advantage. Why the fuck isn’t everyone kicking off and demanding the league do something? I can’t get my head around it, unless they’re worried about their own rule breaches being exposed. Friday Mar 8: Surprise surprise, the suggestion is that FSG are the ones pushing hardest for the PL to do something about City. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but I don’t like the implication that we’re the ringleaders just because we stand to gain the most if anything is done. There’s even an element of us being “grasses” about this. If FSG are the ones leading the charge, firstly I’d say good for them. Secondly I’d say, about fucking time. As I say, everyone should be pissed off about this as it’s blatant cheating to gain an advantage. I despair when I see the love for City from so called ‘neutral’ fans. Everyone should hate what they are doing, but because it means they’re sticking it to us and United you’ve got all sorts of dickheads thinking it’s great. They’re not just sticking it to us though. Look at Burton for example, who reached a league cup semi final and lost 9-0 to City and their illegitimately paid for squad of all stars. If they are found guilty (and that should be a formality given the leaked emails that confirm their guilt) it’s going to be fascinating to see what happens. You can’t fine them, because they’ve got all the money in the world and it is no punishment whatsoever. A transfer ban is an option, but Chelsea have just had that for illegal payments to Academy players or something trivial like that. What City have done is a thousand times more serious than taping up a youth player or buying his parents a house or whatever shit clubs are getting caught out doing (us and Everton both included). There’s no comparison, so the punishment can’t compare either. That’s why talk of a transfer ban is laughable to me. It has to be a points deduction and strip them of the titles they won since the rules came into play. Anything less is a farce and should not be accepted by the other clubs. I won’t hold my breath though. In other news today, Ox was back and Ox was injured. Thankfully it’s not thought to be anything to worry about, but this is exactly why we shouldn’t be pinning any hopes on him coming back and giving us that drive and thrust he provided last season. Any player who comes from such a long absence nearly always ends up picking up minor muscle injuries. They reckon it usually takes around six months after they come back before they reach peak level again, so if we get anything from Ox this year it’s a bonus. Meanwhile, his mate Brewster has done ANOTHER interview. Fuck me, have we ever heard so much from a kid yet to play a first team game? It’s not his fault and he actually speaks very well and seems like a really likeable kid, but it’s mad how high profile he is considering he’s only ever played youth football. Finally, it seems that the plan for Harry Wilson is to loan him to a Premier League side next year, and Leicester were in pole position until they appointed Brendan. Now, reportedly, that won’t happen. Why not? He’s pretty good working with youngsters isn’t he? Is this because of the beef between him and Edwards? If so, put that shit to one side and do what’s best for Wilson. and that was the week that was...

The evolution of the Liverpool defence has undoubtedly been one of the most pleasing elements of the season to date. For so long seen as the main thing stopping Liverpool from progressing to the next level, it has now become the bedrock of the Reds success this campaign.It has been a meticulously planned process by Jurgen Klopp, a manager who saw the faults, but took his time to assess and rectify it in his own way.Part one of the plan was to throw plenty of challenges the way of young full-backs Andy Robertson and Trent-Alexander-Arnold in their first full season at the club.In the main they passed them with flying colours, however Klopp knew he was missing a key element, a defensive leader if you like.The signing of Virgil Van Dijk was certainly a drawn out affair, but Klopp wanted his man knowing full well what kind of role he could play, not just on the park but as a mentor to the likes of Robertson and Alexander-Arnold.It is a role that the Dutchman is loving and the results are there for all to see.However, in typical mentoring fashion, he is convinced his pupils can go to another level.The Official site reported Van Dijk in saying:" They are having outstanding seasons and I am always a bit hard on them because I want them to do very well." But I am enjoying every bit of it, seeing them perform like this." They are fantastic players, full of confidence and they should be full of confidence because they’re performing at such a high level." I said to Robbo the other day that he needs to get some goals as well to be even better, but that’s just me wanting to push him to improve even more!" That’s something I like, to push him – and Trent the same"The trio have a fantastic relationship which is vitally important when you are playing in such a pivotal area of the pitch."We have a great understanding and that’s how we all work together, especially at the back. "In the end, we do it all together”Liverpool are currently on the back of five clean sheets in all competitions with the last goal conceded coming on the fourth of February against West Ham.Again, Van Dijk hails the importance of everyone playing a vital role." 100 per cent [it’s a collective effort]. "Robbo is having a fantastic season, Trent has been amazing and Joel has come in for the last few games and been playing very well."It’s very important that everyone is getting to their best level, especially for the last nine games."It’s obviously very important, especially with the games we have left and the situation we’re in, it’s good to have something to build on.With the likes of Joe Gomez and Dejan Lovren edging closer to full fitness, Klopp may have some selection headaches on his hands in the near future.But you sense with how well the current quartet are playing, he would be wary of changing too many things.As Van Dijk says, stability is key with so much on the line." We have to keep doing it."We’ve had five clean sheets on the bounce with the Bayern game as well and we hope to keep it going. "That’s the way forward. Other than that, we have to keep working and hopefully keep winning games as well."Let's hope they can make it six clean sheets on the bounce along with a vital three points against Burnley.

It has been one of the main unanswered questions for the Liverpool faithful as we have progressed into 2019. What are the reasons why Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri have been receiving inconsistent game time of late?While it has been speculated that Jurgen Klopp may have lost a level of faith in the duo, there is enough proof to say that the German is not that kind of manager.If anything, he is a shining example that patience can win out in the end, and certainly he is not going to toss you out on the scrap heap in a matter of months.Klopp addressed the issue yesterday at his weekly press conference with the Liverpool Echo reporting the manager as saying:"It is about our situation in training and what's needed individually for the next opponent. That is all that we think about."We don’t stick to one formation or the other, but the boys need to offer. "Sometimes it is more possible and sometimes it is not possible for different reasons." Sometimes we don’t have the sessions. "Then it's more difficult to offer something. It's all part of the decision making.In terms of Keita clocking minutes on the pitch, it appears to be all or nothing.The Guinea international made starts against Leicester, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth along with Bayern Munich in the Champions League, yet only clocked up ten minutes total in the other league fixtures against Brighton, Watford and Everton.The 24 year-old has been widely criticised for his lack of general impact, especially as he was touted as the sort of box to box midfielder the club has lacked in recent seasons.Klopp has regularly backed Keita and maintained he will live up to his £52 million price tag. The German explained his current situation. “It's just that we have to think about a lot of things before a game."We played quite a few teams with really good set-pieces, stuff like that. We needed to make sure that we had the right line up and set up for that."Naby is actually in a good moment and has trained well. It's only been the last three games he didn't play too much."The team is in a good moment and we feel in a good moment so it's difficult if things are working out well in midfield."If we play the system we usually play most of the time then there are only three positions (in midfield). Somebody has to be out but it's all good. "They are all fit and we can use them all.”Shaqiri's plight has been even more puzzling to those looking on from the sidelines.In fine form at the tail end of 2018, the Swiss star has only made two league starts in 2019 and only seen 39 minutes of game time in the past month.Again, Klopp explained his reasoning in regards to the former Bayern Munich and Inter Milan star.“It's similar with Shaq."He had a little injury and was out (for Bournemouth at home). There was something with his back and he needed a little time."I remember the moment when he got the injury - he won a heading challenge near the sideline. His body wasn't used to that! It affected him."With the line up we had and system wise, it wasn't difficult but we have to change a little bit if Shaq is playing. For the last few games we didn't do that. He's fully fit now.”Alluding to the overall improving health of his squad, Klopp says there is no reason why they cannot finish the season very strongly."Yeah, 100%, that's my feeling at the moment."Everything is prepared for that. It looks as positive as I don't know since when. People are coming back. "We had to go through situations with two centre-backs, one centre-back plus Fabinho. We came through all these situations. Midfield there were exactly three players left."To cope and deal with all of the situations during the season that is the art, that is what it is about and then if you do that then you are in a situation that pretty much all the other teams want to be."