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At least we played better than we did last year. The 2-0 scoreline was ludicrous really. We should never have lost the game at all but to lose by two was just taking the piss. If we never have to go to play in Naples again it will still be too fucking soon. Whether we finish first or second in the group didn’t matter to me before, but it does now. I’m sick of Napoli. I’m sick of having to play them in pre-season. I’m sick of their rat fans stabbing people. I’m sick of their shitty fucking Kappa kit. I’m sick of their snide bastard players and I’m even sick of Carlo Ancelotti’s rogue eyebrow (and I’ve always quite liked ol’ Carlo). I want us to smash them at Anfield and then never have to play them ever again. I must admit, I struggle to get up for the Champions League group stages these days. Since we’ve become title contenders these games don’t do anything for me to be honest. They’re a necessary evil but my blood doesn't get pumping until the knock outs come around. So going into the game my feeling was that I’d like to win to keep the run going, but that if we were to come a cropper in any game we have coming up then this would be the one that would be the least damaging. Losing a Premier League game can have dire consequences, but basically, this game didn’t matter because whatever the result we should still go through anyway. That didn’t stop me from being fucking livid afterwards though. Livid at VAR, livid at Napoli, and livid at the amount of bollocks I heard on telly and read on social media about it. Yeah, I mean the penalty incident and some of the baffling takes on it. “He gave the ref a decision to make” “It’s not a clear and obvious error” “if that was at the other end I’d want it” and various other nonsense soundbites. I don’t often talk in absolutes and I generally have respect for the opposing point of view. I'm not an "I'm right and you're wrong" type of guy. On this though? Nah. All of the above is absolute horseshit. It wasn’t a penalty. 100% it wasn’t. No debate, no room for ambiguity, it was just a dive and should have been a booking for Callejon. I honestly can’t get my head around how anyone sees it differently. Are we that attuned to cheating now that an incident like this is somehow seen as contentious by people who ought to know better? Apparently so. This isn’t a 50-50 call. It’s not even a 90-10 call. In fact, it’s not even a 99-1 call. It’s a clear dive and the only ‘contact’ that is made (if you can even call it that) is Callejon ensuring that his leg brushes against Robbo’s on his way to the floor. We don't lose very often these days and I'd almost forgotten how it feels. If you take VAR out of the question then I wouldn’t be anywhere near as bitter and resentful as I am about this one. I don’t blame the ref for giving a penalty as in real time it looked like a clumsy foul from Robbo. As soon as it happened I said “oh shit that’s a pen”. So, even if replays had shown that the ref got it wrong I could have lived with that because it’s tough and mistakes happen. Refs will get some of these wrong as it’s impossible sometimes to get them right in real time. But isn’t that the whole reason they inflicted this video shit on us? I’m totally against VAR in all forms but at least when the on-pitch referee would go to the touchline to look at the video himself then more often than not the decision would be right, because if he fucked up he’d see it and over-rule himself. Since they stopped that and had some fucking trained monkey in a room looking at the video and doing absolutely fuck all, the whole thing has become a farce. The video is meant to help the ref, so let him look at it and then either stand by his decision or change it. This ref was good I thought. I liked how he let a lot of stuff go and wasn’t blowing up any time a Napoli player hit the turf looking for a cheap free-kick. A lot of the time in Europe refs are blowing up for nothing and it becomes really hard to play our normal pressing game. This ref wasn’t like that, so if he had the benefit of seeing that incident on a pitchside monitor I reckon he’d have reversed the decision and booked Callejon. Instead he’s been made to look foolish because he was hood winked by a player and because the video ref didn’t help him out. The four worst words in the English language right now are “clear and obvious error”. I’m sick of hearing it as it’s basically just a fucking cop out for not ensuring the right decision is made. By using this daft rationale you can pretty much justify never over-ruling anything. I mean come on, in our last two games alone we’ve seen two clearly incorrect decisions upheld on this bullshit ‘not clear and obvious’ thing. They’re basically saying that if it’s subjective they won’t overturn anything, but realistically 99% of decisions are subjective to some degree, as this has proved. The fact that there are people claiming that this, THIS, is not an obvious error shows that. I mean fucking hell people, he took a dive. It’s as clear as day. So I’m not angry that we lost to Napoli. I’m not even angry that the referee was conned by a well executed dive. I’m angry that this video bollocks that has been inflicted on us on the premise that it would stop this kind of shit has actually just made the situation even worse. We talk more about bad decisions now than we did before. “He gave the ref a decision to make”. I’m so sick of hearing that because it no longer applies. When it’s a referee making a decision without the help of replays, then yeah, that’s a valid argument. If a defender dived in and the ref mistakenly thought it was a foul, it was a legitimate thing to argue. The second they brought this fucking video shit in though it became null and void. Or at least it should have. It’s fucking shit. I hate it. It should be fucked off. I hate VAR and didn’t want it. I know some were in favour of it, but even they must surely see that this is not how it’s supposed to be. The way it’s being implemented is not how this shit was advertised. VAR is basically a big red brexit bus, promising shit that it had no intention of ever delivering. In terms of the game and the performance, I’m fine with it. Napoli are a good side and it’s a difficult place to go. I thought we played pretty well and should have won. The reason we didn’t was because of VAR being as much use as Phillip Degen and because we were just too wasteful in attack. Sadio was uncharacteristically sloppy and Bobby followed up his sensational display at the weekend with a bang average one this time. He got better in the second half, but overall he was a little bit off. I thought Mo was generally fine. He wasn’t great but he was the least culpable of the front three. He was really unlucky with a great shot that the keeper did superbly to tip around the post. The most frustrating moment of the night was the brilliant counter we had from a Napoli corner that saw Sadio and Mo running at the last defender. I’m absolutely positive that the shit at Burnley contributed to that whole thing going wrong as it caused Mané to second guess himself. In fairness the defender did well and made the pass difficult, and what should have happened really was Sadio should have just drove at him and had a shot. There were a couple of split seconds when the pass might have been on and even when he did play it there was a chance of making it, but I just think the whole situation was in his head and impacted his judgement. Overall we had some good chances and loads of situations that should have led to good chances if only we’d played the right pass. It was just one of those rare off nights for the attackers (for some weird reason they tend to usually happen away from home in Europe), but the performance was generally good and there were some top quality outings from the likes of Fabinho, Trent, Matip and Adrian. It’s Adrian I feel for the most actually. He was fucking brilliant and didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. He made a nice double save in the first half but the thing I liked best about that was how quickly and confidently he was up and appealing for offside when the striker finished the rebound from the second one. He just seemed in complete control of that whole situation. The save he made in the second half was incredible. I think it’s one of the greatest saves I’ve ever seen actually. The commentators kept saying that “he went early” but he didn’t at all. It wasn’t going early, it was recognising the situation and spreading himself to try and give the striker the least amount of space as possible. Schmeichel did that all the time. You can be reactive and wait until the forward takes his shot and then try to save it, or you can be proactive and make yourself as big as possible. Adrian did the latter, and although there was some fortune involved in that the ball hit his hand, he still had to keep it out and somehow he turned it over the bar. It was an incredible save. He was good in everything he did actually. His distribution was good, his handling was good and he looked supremely confident. He nearly saved the pen too. Top performance from him. He’s the star man just ahead of Fabinho. It's not nice losing a game but as I said, if we were going to lose one then this was the best time for it. Similarly, if Virg was going to make a costly error than let it be in this game when we're already 1-0 down. On that note, Steve McManaman said after that second goal that the penalty incident doesnt matter now because they scored again. Fucking hell. Look at how that goal came about. Mo plays a high risk pass because time is running out and we need to score. Virgil then tries to keep the ball alive by playing a risky ball for the same reason. But the penalty doesn't matter because it finished 2-0? Behave yerself. But yeah, far better to have a blip in this one that at Chelsea next weekend. At least it's a Sunday game, and having played on the Tuesday that gives us plenty of time to recover, which will be necessary given that Klopp went full strength (bar Gini being left on the bench). Stamford Bridge is always a tough place to go but the way we've been playing we should be fine. The only thing that could cause us a problem is if the forwards are wasteful again, because the way we play means that we'll almost always create good situations no matter who we play. Misfiring in Champions League away group games isn't the end of the world, as we saw last season when we lost all three of them. Team: Adrian; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Henderson (Shaqiri), Milner (Wijnaldum); Salah, Firmino, Mané:

The Champions League clash between Liverpool and Napoli has become another game to be overshadowed by discussion over the effectiveness of the Video Assistant Referee.With the scores locked at 0-0 in the Reds' first group game against the Italian side, Andy Robertson was adjudged to have fouled Jose Callejon inside the box eight minutes from time.Dries Mertens converted the spot-kick before former Spurs man Fernando Llorente made the most of a extremely rare mistake by Virgil Van Dijk to seal the victory for the home side in injury time.In a tight contest where small margins were at play, understandably the penalty decision was at the forefront of Jurgen Klopp’s mind after the contest. The Liverpool Echo reported Klopp as saying:“I'm pretty sure there are different views on that situation but I’m sorry, when the player jumps before there is contact then there cannot be a penalty.“ We conceded the 1-0 and that was the game-changer. We can't change that any more, though. That's how it is. We carry on.“I said last week against Newcastle that if it would have been decisive then we would have a different discussion. Today it was decisive.“I could say a lot of things about it but I'm not a bad loser. I'm not the best loser but I'm not bad.The manager who was much more pleased with the performance of his side at the Stadio San Paulo compared to the corresponding fixture last season, said that there was still too many grey areas with VAR that needed to be worked out.“ It was very decisive in the moment. I think it (VAR) will help in the long-term but as long as human beings made the decision there is still potential for failure. “We are all like this.“ What can I say? The rules are like this, and they'd have to adjust the rules. “The German (refereeing) team, they do it for a while already, the VAR was also German, they have been using it longer than others.“They will find an explanation about why they did the right thing, that's how it is.“If he didn't whistle for the penalty he wouldn't have been overruled by VAR. “We all wanted to have more clarification in these things, now we don't have it. In his post-match press conference, Klopp asked the assembled media a show of hands into how many of them thought it was a penalty.Only two people put their hands up.Then the German produced the line of the night.“Only two guys in the room think it's a penalty then it's still a penalty, they both wear glasses but mine are the right prescription.”Class response.

Liverpool will return to the venue of arguably their worst performance of last season when they kick off their defence of the Champions League in Napoli’s San Paolo stadium on Tuesday night. Divock Origi has been ruled out while Andy Robertson is also a doubt. Jurgen Klopp might look to shuffle his pack a little with a massively important Premier League fixture at Chelsea coming up this weekend, but there is a large enough gap between Tuesday night and Sunday afternoon that he could go full strength if he chose. Some changes are likely, however, and members of the squad who haven’t featured much will be hoping for an opportunity to play. Joe Gomez, Dejan Lovren, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Xherdan Shaqiri, Adam Lallana and even young Rhian Brewster will all be hoping to see the field after failing to make the starting line up in last weekend’s 3-1 win over Newcastle. Liverpool are still riding the crest of a wave having become European Champions for a sixth time last June. Not only are the Reds top of the table, they are the only side in all four divisions to still boast a 100% record this season. Despite the Reds having raced into a five point lead at the Premier League summit, Sports Betting Dime still has City are still favourites for the title, but Liverpool’s odds have shortened after their 100% start to the campaign. While it’s understandable that City are favourites to retain the crown they’ve worn for the past two years, it’s puzzling that they are also favourites to win the Champions League. Their record in the competition is poor, whereas under Jurgen Klopp Liverpool have reached successive finals and are the reigning Champions. The Group Stages of the competition always throw up some interesting (and often surprising) results, but in truth we will learn very little from the outcome of these games. The only thing that matters is getting out of the group and often you’ll see big teams losing group games, quite simply because they can afford to. The Reds lost all three away games in the group last year (which included a dreadful showing against Napoli) but not only emerged from the group, they won the whole damn thing. So while this game in Naples is important in regards to keeping the winning run going, in reality it won’t matter one bit if the Reds suffer a bad result. Napoli away is the toughest game in the group, but regardless of the result on Tuesday night, both teams should qualify comfortably from a group that also includes Salzburg and Genk. A win would keep Liverpool’s momentum going nicely, but losing this fixture last year didn’t exactly do them any harm so whatever happens on Tuesday the most important thing is to avoid injuries

Five games, five wins and a five point lead. Winning all of our games isn’t surprising, but the five point lead is definitely an unexpected bonus. I don’t think anyone saw that coming. Apparently this is the biggest lead any team has ever had after five games, so if we don’t win it we can expect to have that little nugget thrown back at us by random little nuggets all over the country. Being top after five games doesn’t mean much but you’d rather be there than not. It’s funny seeing fans of other clubs declaring the title race over. I haven’t seen any Reds even remotely suggesting that we’ve got anything in the bag but I’ve seen numerous other fans crying it in and trying to reverse jinx us. We are good though, aren’t we? I don’t blame anyone who thinks we’ll run away with it, as if I supported someone else I might feel the same way. We’re not like that because we’ve been burned so many times and tempting fate is never wise, but we’re European Champions for a reason. Here’s something else to consider too. I saw a tweet from Carra where he said City are the best team in Europe and we’re really close behind. It’s not an unreasonable statement. They beat us to the title last season and they were miles ahead of us the season before. There’s another way of looking at it though. It depends on how far back you want to go. I mean, I could make the point that over the last 43 Premier League games we’ve collected four more points than them as well as becoming Champions of Europe. We don’t have to take a back seat to anyone right now. One of the main benefits to being this good is the Mike Tyson effect. A lot of opponents are beaten before they even start. City have benefitted from that massively and only have around 15 ‘competitive’ games a season. The rest are just glorified training exercises against opponents who just want to avoid too bad a beating. We might be getting that kind of aura about us now. The european Cup helps, obviously, but it’s more than that. It’s the 97 points, the only losing one game last season (and even that was to City) and the incredible form at Anfield. The other contributing factor is the media narrative. If you’re constantly hearing about how special a team is, it has an impact. In the build up this game Steve Bruce was virtually calling us the greatest side in the history of the world. He didn’t say that in so many words, but it was more or less implied. “As good as side as you’re likely to face” and similar platitudes. It’s not just him either, it’s becoming a common theme. Uni Emery half joked that he wished he never had to play against us. All of this influences how opponents see you. City have had loads of games where it was over before it started and it feels that way with us a lot of the time. Newcastle scored first but it will have shocked them as much as us and I doubt they felt that they might be able to hold onto it. I’d say Newcastle did as well as they could have realistically been expected to do. They gave us a minor fright and they actually made Virgil sprint on two occasions (impudent bastards) but in the end they were probably relieved to have kept the score as close as they did. This wasn’t a 3-1 game as the Newcastle penalty area was like the Alamo for much of the second half. It was an easy win in the end, but it didn’t start out like that and we were sloppy and disjointed in the opening stages. You get that sometimes after international breaks though, and you get that sometimes with early kick offs. Put them both together and there’s a good chance you won’t see a fast start. Then there were the changes made to the usual starting line up. The midfield was different and the forward line switched around too. Klopp’s team selections are always going to come under scrutiny any time he makes changes to the forwards, but he can’t send the big three out to start every game so some degree of rotation is going to be necessary. When he does it, there’s no point second guessing it. It’s a necessary evil. Origi is going to be needed and so is Shaqiri. We just need them to deliver when they are called upon. Divock got his chance against Newcastle but didn’t take it. It wasn’t his fault in fairness. The team didn’t start particularly well and then looked much better after he went off injured. As with the first half of the Super Cup against Chelsea, it’s too simplistic to put that on him alone though. Of course we looked better with Firmino on the field. It would be staggering if we didn’t, as he’s one of the best players in the world and he’s flying at the moment. We had also started to look better before he came on though. The improvement didn’t begin when Firmino came on, it began when Origi was moved into the middle and Sadio went back out wide. I felt for Origi. I’m not sure why he started on the left with Sadio through the middle. In one sense it helps him as he’s not directly having to replace Bobby, but by playing him there it means two thirds of the frontline is changing. Sadio can play centrally to a good level but he’s sensational out wide. We missed him out there, especially as he links up so well with Robbo. Divock came up big for us on so many occasions last season and he’s a good option. The problem is, the regular front three are not only all great players, but they work so well as a unit. You take one out and it’s not the same, and that’s completely understandable. There are maybe a handful of players in the world who could come in and play without there being any significant drop off. I still think we’d have gone on to win the game had Origi not been forced off with injury but it was clear from the second Bobby came on that we went up several levels. It was the same in the Super Cup. He’s irreplaceable because there is nobody who does what he does. How can you replace a player who is completely unique in world football? There are some great number nine’s out there but there are none who do all the things Firmino does. Some will do certain things better than him but no-one can do everything he does. We’d drawn level before he came on so like I say I’m pretty confident we’d have gone on to win anyway. We might have even won by a bigger margin, but we wouldn’t have played to the level we did. The difference was obvious. With Bobby up there, players were able to pop the ball into him and then run into box to collect the return pass. Didn’t matter whether the pass looked on or not, Bobby got the ball there anyway. Origi can’t do that, but neither can Mané or Salah when they play centrally. A lot of the time you don’t need to anyway as there are other ways to score a goal. Against an opponent playing the way Newcastle did though, it’s a huge weapon to have. Remember when we used to struggle against packed defences? Now that’s virtually all we ever face but we just slice through opponents at will. As I say, I thought Newcastle did alright overall. They looked much more assured and comfortable before Bobby came on, and they did give us one or two problems at the back. They even missed a great chance to equalise when it was 2-1. They did better than a lot of teams will at Anfield, but they also rode their luck at times and could easily have conceded six in that second half. I thought Joelinton battled well and had some (although not much) joy against Van Dijk and Matip, but he’s basically a B&M Bargains Rondon isn’t he? Maybe if they’d given half of that £40m to Rondon he’d have stayed? He looked like he might have given us problems if he’d had better players around him. Sadly for him, he didn’t. If you’ve been reading the PL Round Ups on here, you’ll have already known that Almiron, the worm with eyebrows, is SHITE. I’ve been banging that drum so hard that I was half expecting he’d finally break his duck against us just to make me look a tit. He didn’t though, so I’ll say something nice about him as a thank you. He’s shite, but at least he’s not that Ayoze Perez loser. Fuck that guy. On the opposite flank, Atsu always looks better than he actually is. By that I mean he always looks like he should be good, but somehow he just isn’t. He couldn’t even hack it at Everton. All that being said, early on they had some dangerous moments because we were half asleep at the back. The goal was a case in point. I assumed Atsu must have been offside as the ease with which he found space behind our defence is not something we’re used to seeing. What followed was great from Newcastle’s point of view and I don’t have any real criticism of our lads after that. Trent showed the left wing back inside, which normally wouldn’t be a problem, but he unleashed a fucking rocket that was past Adrian before he could even move his hands. Would Alisson have saved it? Yeah he might have, but I’m not going to point the finger at a keeper for not stopping a shot like that. Brilliant finish, fair play to the lad. Great goal. It should never have reached that stage though because Atsu should never have found that kind of space behind Matip. Not that it was Matip’s fault specifically. It just looked to me like a lack of communication. Van Dijk was too far over, meaning Matip has to go over as well so as not to leave a massive gap. That meant Atsu had space to run into. A bit of talking and virgil moving inside a bit would have prevented that. Going a goal down was a shock to the system but these days there’s no cause for alarm. Did any of you doubt that we’d come back to win? I didn’t, although it did take longer than I expected for us to equalise. It just wasn’t really clicking in the final third, and it didn’t help that Origi picked up an early knock. We eventually began to settle and should have been awarded a penalty when Matip was manhandled to the floor as he attacked a corner. All the focus since has been on VAR and why that blatantly wrong decision wasn’t overturned. It’s a valid question, but the real crime here is that neither Andre Marriner nor the Main Stand side linesman spotted it with their own eyes. The whole thing is a fucking joke. Obviously they saw it, they couldn’t not have seen it. They didn’t give it because they’ve got the VAR safety net now and the officials are thinking “I’ll just leave that to the fella watching the video”, while the fella watching the video is too fucking scared to over rule the ref on the pitch. And this is what we’re left with. VAR was supposed to stop this shit. Instead it’s just made it worse. Honestly, it’s a fucking scandal that Marriner didn’t give that penalty but it’s even worse that his fuck up wasn’t corrected. Thankfully it didn’t matter because we equalised soon after anyway, but what if this fucking crap happens in a tight game, maybe against City? It’s not good enough and it needs sorting out. Either use it or don’t use it, but this half arsed shit we have now helps no-one. I’m not reacting only to that one incident either, as it’s happening four or five times every single weekend across various games. Robbo reckons he asked the ref about it and was told “they’ve looked at the video and it’s not a pen”. Nah, that’s not what happened at all is it? You’d even struggle to find a Newcastle fan who could watch a replay of that and say “not a foul”. The video ref knew it was a foul but he didn’t want to undermine the ref on the field. Marriner was just shit all day though. He’s one of the better ones but he’s fucking garbage. He just seems to want to cruise through the game and not give anything. The Main Stand linesman was a twat as well. I completely lost my shit with him when he watched Dummett just take a swan dive to get out of trouble. It was right under his nose but he took the shithouse way out and flagged for a foul. I’m still angry about that as it caused me great physical pain. I’ve had a dodgy back for a couple of weeks and it had been really bad in the days leading up to the game. Up until Thursday I didn’t even think I’d make it to the game, but fortunately it improved enough that I was able to go. Walking around is ok, it’s the sitting down that gives me problems as when I have to stand up it hurts like fuck. So I was taking it easy and I’d even decided I wouldn’t jump up when we scored. Then he gives that free-kick (shortly after falling for a similar thing from Shelvey) and I momentarily forgot about my back pain and jumped up to yell a stream of obscenities at him. Then the pain hit me. Fucks sake. Anyway, to get back on track, we didn’t get the pen on Matip and the crowd were steaming bout it. It had taken a little while for everyone (players and crowd) to get going and after only 15 minutes or so Klopp was bouncing around yelling at the Main Stand to get into the game. I’m sat there thinking “the fuck are you shouting at us for, have a go at the Kop as they’re supposed to be leading the way on this. And I’ve got a bad back”. What was weird is he was reacting the way he normally does when the crowd are getting impatient or if there’s a big groan when a player makes a mistake. That never happened though, no-one was being a dick and it just seems to me like Klopp has decided that every game needs to be like a cup final now and he wants the crowd bang at it each time. I said recently that I suspect he probably told the lads in pre-season that 97 points wasn’t enough, so this year let’s just win every game and not have any of those draws. This sort of plays into what I’m saying. There was loads of time left, we’d have almost certainly come back to win anyway but Jurgen was leaving nothing to chance. Every game is big, so he wants us all to act like it. Weirdly, Jurgen’s rallying wasn’t the thing that got everyone going. That was Andy Robbo winning a tackle, shrugging off an opponent who was just trying to drag him back, and charging down the line. The roof came off then, and after that the place was rocking until it quietened down after it was clear the game was won. The key to getting back into it was Klopp switching Origi and Mané over. It paid dividends fairly quickly as Robbo linked with Sadio and he pinged one into the top corner. Just an exquisite finish but that’s what we’re getting all the time from him now. He might even go on to have the kind of season that Mo had two years ago, because it feels like he scores in every game now. Seriously, Mané might score forty plus the way he’s going. Tell you what I loved about this one though; he didn’t even celebrate, he just went and got the ball and told everyone to get the fuck back and restart the game. Nothin’ but business. Love it. His second goal wasn’t as spectacular but in it’s own way it was just as impressive. Very little will be made of this but the truth is that pass from Bobby wasn’t very good. It was overhit by quite a bit but Mané made it look better than it was by his blistering speed over a few yards. The keeper should still do better but the reason he fucked up was because Sadio was on him so quickly and he was distracted. Against anyone else that’s an easy gather for the keeper. I’ve said it before, but the only player I’ve seen as quick as Mané over a few yards was teenage Michael Owen. He’s just lightning. Bobby’s introduction was the catalyst for that goal though, as he had dropped deep and came from behind to pick the pocket of Atsu. You’ve lost got to feel sorry for Atsu because the last thing you expect in that position is that the oppositions centre forward is coming from behind you. That’s Bobby though, a massive pain in the arse. The second half was just a Firmino masterclass. Just a joy to watch. We had so many chances and almost all of them came though him. He played in Robbo, Trent and Salah and he also unselfishly squared for Mané to claim what he thought was a hat-trick, only for the linesman to rule it out. That’s the beauty of Bobby though, he doesn’t give a fuck if he scores or not. He’s the most selfless number nine you’ll find and it’s great that he’s now finally getting the recognition he deserves. It seems like everyone is talking about him after this game and it’s really nice to hear. For so long it’s been Salah and Mané getting all the plaudits, but now Bobby is being recognised by the wider football world. This weekend Troy Deeney called him the best in the league and some big name former Brazilian internationals have been singing his praises too. Steve Bruce even compared him to Cantona. Klopp said he was tempted to join in with the song. At some point this season he probably will. I’m just buzzing at the moment. Generally if we score less than four at home I’m disappointed, but I’m fine with this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the way we played it should have been six or seven really and I’m not sure how it wasn’t. Secondly, we went five points clear this weekend so I’m not going to quibble about us ‘only’ winning 3-1. I’d like us to tighten up at the back though as I loved all those clean sheets this time last year. I miss those clean sheets but as long as we keep winning it’s not a big deal. For now. Five wins from five and I’ve lost count of how many we’ve won in succession now. 14 or 15 I think. If we can keep this going for another month or two we might actually grind City into the dust. It’s hard chasing when the other team just keeps relentlessly winning. We know that as it’s fucking horrible when that happens. It’s to the eternal credit of our players that they kept winning last season and managed to pull some results out of the fire when things were getting hairy. Every game was must win because City were so relentless. It’s hard work chasing a team that you know is highly unlikely to drop points, but now it’s up to us to put City in that position. Five points is nothing, especially in September. At least, it never used to be. Now? It kind of is something. Not a big deal, but it is a little deal. The standards set by us and City mean that every game that isn’t won can have dire consequences. Nobody else is playing under that pressure, only us and them. If Spurs lose so what? Same with Arsenal, Chelsea and United. They can lose eight or nine games and still achieve their season objective. For us and City, every dropped point feels massive and the ramifications are potentially season defining. Five points can be hauled back in the blink of an eye though. We know that because it happened to us last season. Hopefully we learn from that. A five point lead isn’t enough to feel comfortable and it’s not something that will have City in too much of a flap. What if it gets to ten though? That’s what we’ve got to be looking at. Make hay while the sun shine and that. City are having some issues at the back and might be vulnerable over the next few weeks if other teams have the same balls that Norwich showed. They’ve got two easy games coming up but if we keep winning and turning the screw then who knows what will happen. Chelsea away is a tough one but there isn’t a venue in the world now that we shouldn’t expect to go to and win. Even at this early stage that could be a really big one because the longer we can keep that five point lead (or extend it) the more pressure it puts on City. If it goes from five to three or two within one week, it almost lets them off the hook after their loss at Norwich. Let’s just keep churning out the wins and applying the pressure to them. We’ve got Napoli next though of course, but that’s not particularly important. It would be nice to win just to keep the momentum going but realistically there is nothing riding on that game because we could lose twice to Napoli and should still qualify from the group anyway. We do owe them one after the shitshow we served up in that fixture last season, so hopefully we give a much better account of ourselves this time. They’ll be bang up for it as we’re such a big scalp for anybody now. Everyone wants a shot at the Kings of Europe. Star man is Bobby. He was on the field less than an hour but his impact was huge. Robbo ran him very close though, he was great and it’s just a shame he didn’t get the goal he deserved. It’s coming though, he seems to have an effort on goal every game these days. It’s like when Virg wasn’t scoring but you knew they were coming. Since then he’s been regularly chipping in. Imagine if the full backs start banging them in. Speaking of Virg though, the last word has to be on him. He took a ball full in the face, shook his head as though there was a wasp buzzing around him and then just carried on. Everyone laughed. What a man. The last time I saw that happen it was another Big Dutchman. Mad Erik. They breed them tough over there. Team: Adrian; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain (Milner), Wijnaldum (Shaqiri); Salah, Mané, Origi (Firmino):

Steve Bruce has continued to lavish praise on Liverpool after the Reds 3-1 victory against Newcastle on Saturday.Often managers give faint praise to their opposition, while mainly focusing on their own team but the Magpies manager was honest in his assessment claiming the Reds are ‘an excellent, excellent team’ and ‘as good you can get.’This time around, Bruce focused solely on an individual, that being the tireless Roberto Firmino.The Brazilian has a tremendous blend to his game of guile and grunt. While Firmino‘s teammates, manager and fans have recognized his qualities for a good while, it seems his play is finally getting the wider acclaim and high praise it deserves.The Mirror reported Bruce as saying:Look, Cantona is as good a player as I’ve ever seen. I haven’t seen Firmino week in week out but….“Firmino is similar to Cantona in that he drifts into that little area and he naturally does it, where it’s so difficult for defenders to go.“I haven’t seen him week in week out like Eric but just when you see him here today and what he gives them, it’s a perfect balance. And Cantona gave us that.“Back in the day, we had Giggs and Kanchelskis who had frightening pace and stretched sides so much like Liverpool’s two, and Cantona dropped into that hole and people couldn’t get anywhere near him. “That’s what you see with Firmino.”The veteran manager said the reason the Liverpool front three are so potent is that they tick all the boxes required in terms of elite forward play. “Firmino is the one that drops in, but the pace of the other two is frightening. He drops in and the other two are running over your shoulder.“His attitude and work rate, it’s so important.Bruce says that Liverpool are a team which instills fear into the opposition and therefore incredibly difficult to contain.“Back when I played for United, everybody suddenly started playing one centre forward against us.“Back in the day, everyone played with two, then suddenly they would put an extra midfield player in, and it’s what you have to do because you are under threat of getting a hiding.“And a team like Liverpool, they have two full backs up the pitch, they attack at every opportunity, then you face being blown away. “They can do that to you, and you have to acknowledge that.“If you open up against sides like this then… the big difficulty we all have, is you have to find a way when you know a team is far better than you – and I say that with no disrespect at all to us – then you have to find a way.”“That is Liverpool now, like City a team opponents fear to provoke. And that is the biggest progress they have made over the past 12 months.”It is a another sign of how far we have come that the opposition are showering us with fulsome praise. Respect is not earned lightly and now we have that and deservedly so.

Saturday Sep 7: Gini was the star of the show as Holland beat Germany 4-2. He scored and had a stonking game by all accounts. He’s got a bit more licence to attack in their system than he does in ours, although he does have those occasional games for us where it seems like he’s been given free reign to get in the box, and when he does he usually makes it count. Funny how quickly things can turn around though. It was only a couple of years ago the Dutch seemed to have been slumping. They had their worst team in years, while the Germans were flying high and winning tournaments. Now, the Dutch are suddenly resurgent and have beaten the old enemy a couple of times of late. It helps when you’ve got the best defender in the world too, obviously. Meanwhile, on Instagram…. Remember I said the other week how any time Paddy Berger posts a picture I get stressed if Vladi isn’t there? Well it’s been happening a lot lately, he’s popping up all over the place doing various fun things, and all I can think is “Where’s Vladi?” Well I saw this today and initially I was wigging out, but then it hit me… …Vladi is taking the photos! I feel so much better now having convinced myself of that. Sunday Sep 8: Yerrrssss, Virg has agreed to a new deal and contract extension. Wait, no he hasn’t. Fuck knows where that story came from but the Grim Reaper James Pearce has shot it down as being bollocks. His contract still has four or five years left anyway, so there’s no need to be doing anything about it. Might not hurt to offer him a payrise though, just to let him know his efforts are appreciated. Sometimes it’s hard to believe we actually managed to get him. I mean, he would walk into any team in the world, and even back when we signed him he had offers from teams that we’re in a better situation than us. He could have gone to any of the top teams in this country, but he only had eyes for us. I’d love to know what Klopp said to him when they met in Blackpool. Also today, Fowler comes to the defence of Salah and says “Everyone commenting and talking nonsense about being “greedy” or destroying team spirit, have they never watched football before?,” said Fowler. “Because you can’t be a ­top-class goalscorer without total belief you will score.” That’s true, but Salah is no Robbie Fowler. By that I mean he’s not as clinical a finisher. Robbie could do it with both feet or his head, and he could do it from two yards or forty yards. There’s a difference between wanting to score goals and being greedy. I never saw Fowler as greedy, and I don’t see Salah as being greedy all the time. Most of the time he isn’t. He just has these days though, where it’s as though he gets it in his head that he has to score no matter what and he becomes selfish. You can’t defend what he did at Burnley and Mané had every right to be pissed off. Bobby had even more right, but he’s just not as arsed about how many goals he scores as Sadio and Mo. Healthy competition is fine, but it can easily cross a line if it’s let unchecked. Salah and Mané will be fine I reckon though. Klopp will make sure of it. Monday Sep 9: People are kicking off about some of our players being under-rated in their FIFA ratings. Fucking international breaks. This is the shit people are being reduced to arguing about? Maybe it’s an age thing, but this kind of thing winds me right up. Why does anyone give a shit? Absolute virgins. Even Rhian Brewster has had something to say about his own rating. He should just be grateful he’s even on the fucking thing. Nothing against the lad personally, but he hasn’t played even one second of first team football yet and already I’m sick of hearing about him. Seriously has there ever been a player who has done so little yet had so many column inches devoted to him? It’s fucking weird. He tweets and there’s ten articles on newsnow. Why? What’s he done? Fuck all. Curtis Jones doesn’t get that kind of attention even though he’s actually played a first team game. As I say, it’s nothing against Brewster himself, I just find the whole thing weird and annoying. Speaking of weird and annoying…. Michael Owen has upset people again. (disclaimer: I don’t find him weird or annoying, but I’m in a minority). This time he’s got our fans going after him because he said “Are Manchester United players far inferior to Liverpool’s? I don’t necessarily think so”. Fucking hell Michael. I like him as a pundit, I often feel like he makes points that others might not have and he’s good at providing insight from a striker’s perspective. He’s had a ‘mare here though. There is not one Manchester United player that would get in our starting eleven, and not too many that would make our bench. De Gea, Martial and Rashford might make the bench. Maybe Wan-Bissaka too, but that’s it. So are they inferior to Liverpool players? Hell yeah they are. Have a word with yourself, Michael. Tuesday Sep 10: Emile H*sk*y says he was so homesick in his first six months at Anfield that sometimes he’d lie on the floor crying. Yeah, I know he feels. That’s how I was in those six months too as I had to listen to my dad constantly moaning about him. Funny thing was, I had Emile’s back at the point. A couple of years later I hated him even more than my dad did. Meanwhile, Nabil Fakir says Liverpool lied about the reason for not signing him. Basically he reckons his knee is sound and he was baffled as to why we pulled the plug. His former agent then responded by saying that he’s talking bollocks and that there were two reasons the deal didn’t happen. One, his knee. And two, another agent appeared mid-negotiation and wanted to start the talks over from scratch. I hadn’t heard that before, but it would explain a lot. It’s always seemed a bit weird this one. There were obvious concerns about his knee, but it doesn’t seem to have bothered him since. If there was something dodgy going on with an agent though that makes it more plausible as to why we wanted no part of it. And now he’s ended up at Real Betis, playing alongside 56 year old Joaquin. Fuckin’ agents. Greedy, horrible, leechy bastards. England played tonight. Don't know the score or who they played, but I know Henderson played. How do I know? Because I had a look at newsnow and saw the usual barrel scraping articles where some sad fuck trawls through twitter to find the worst takes they can from random thick as fuck fans who have no clue. Then you have an article entitled something like "What does he do?" "Useless" "Embarrassing" - England fans unimpressed with Liverpool man". I'd like to shut down every fucking website that resorts to this kind of lowest common denominator shit. How did we get to this point, where the opinions of random goons on the internet are deemed important enough to make a news article from? Fucking hell. Wednesday Sep 11: Milner plays in Kompany’s testimonial tonight. Actually not sure whether he played or not. He was there, but I didn’t see any of the game so not sure whether he was involved. The sad bastards actually had a hashtag this week saying #MilnersNotWelcome. Hilarious seeing as it’s got fuck all to do with them who Kompany invites to play in HIS testimonial. Really though, how much of a twat do you need to be to have any kind of negative opinion of James Milner. If there's one player that should be universally liked by everyone, it's him. And he generally is universally liked, the only cunts who don't like him are the cunts who he helped win two league titles. Man City fans are the absolute fucking worst aren't they? Paul Glatzel signed a new contract today. Good for him, the poor lad has had so many injuries and we probably won’t see him this season after he did his ACL, but the staff absolutely love this kid. That’s why he got the captain’s armband while Bobby Duncan was getting all the publicity. Some interesting comments from Lallana. He genuinely sees himself as an option in the number six role and is studying other players in the position to familiarise himself with it. I don’t see this happening at all. If Fabinho doesn’t play, it’ll be Gini. If he’s not playing either, it’ll be Hendo. Honestly, other than in the domestic cups I’ll be amazed if Lallana plays that role. I liked his attitude though and this quote in particular jumped out at me. “If I want to be part of this team, the best team in Europe, I need to keep improving and developing and that is what I have found difficult over the last two years because I have not been able to show that. I can’t be the same player, I need to be better because the team is better.” Good stuff that. A 30 year old experienced international player saying he needs to be better because the team is better now than it was when he was playing regularly. I couldn’t help but compare that attitude with Bobby Duncan, the cheeky fucking upstart. Thursday Sep 12: Oh for fucks sake. Scholes played last night and social media was full of fawning about him today. He played a disguised pass with the outside of his foot and footy hipster twitter has had it’s cock out all day. Paul Scholes is an urban myth. He got better with every year he didn’t play. When he was playing nobody, absolutely nobody, spoke of him as being the best midfielder in the league. Hell, when he was playing, he was hardly ever described as the best midfielder at his own fucking club. The he retires, that little crab Xavi made a comment about Scholes being his best opponent and suddenly his reputation sky rocketed. This whole bizarre narrative has only come about in recent years as history has been rewritten. Anyone who says Scholes was the best midfielder of his generation is just trying to make themselves sound more knowledgeable than your average Joe, who would say Gerrard, Vieira, Keane or even Lampard. Really, talking up Scholes just makes you sound like a cunt who is trying too hard. The people spouting this shite about Scholes will almost certainly be the same gobshites who tried to tell everyone that Michael Carrick was the most important player in United’s title winning sides. Friday Sep 13: Klopp says Alisson is progressing well but that the week after the second international break was always the realistic target for his return. Didn’t tell us that at the time though did he? This is what I was saying, when it comes to injuries Kloppo is a right lying bastard. It’s all about the morale. If he’d said straight away Alisson was out for 2-3 months it would have put us all on a massive downer. So instead, he let’s us think it’s a few weeks, then a few weeks pass and he lets us think its a few more weeks. Before you know it, it’s 2-3 months but we haven’t stressed out over it. Meanwhile, what about this free kick competition video today? Absolutely mad that. Nobody will have seen that coming. Joe Gomez bagging five out of five and absolutely destroying Trent, Shaq and Bobby. Fair play to him, that took some doing that and I’d never have believed he could have done that. Trent had a face like a smacked arse. He wasn’t happy at all that Gomez beat him at his own game. Dead funny it was. Trent is a terrible loser and an obnoxious winner. Don’t take that as a criticism of him though, as it’s not. I’m exactly the same. Show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser, that’s what I always say. Seen an advert on BT today for something called ‘thursday night swagger’. It was all ‘street’ and they had graphics like something from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. I’m thinking ‘what the fuck is this shite’ and then it became clear. It was glorious. It was an ad for the Europa League, and they had a load of dancing fools promoting their games. Of course Pogba and Lingard were front and centre, as well as Gibbs-White from Wolves and Aubameyeng and Bellerin from Arsenal. No hint of embarrassment from any of them either. Imagine being United or Arsenal in the Europa League and not being embarrassed by it. Fucking losers. …. and that was the week that was

Roberto Firmino has been given due recognition for his selfless deeds in the Liverpool line-up after the Reds made it five wins from as many games to start the new season after a 3-1 win against Newcastle on Saturday afternoon. The Brazilian was meant to play a bit-part role in the fixture after a week of international duty and a heavy schedule of games coming up in the next few weeks. However, when Divock Origi succumbed to an ankle injury just on the half-hour mark, Jurgen Klopp called upon his number nine with the game in the balance at 1-1. While Firmino did not get onto the scoresheet, he was the perfect team man supplying two assists for his frontline partners Sadio Mane and Mo Salah. Firmino’s unselfishness means he is often the least heralded of Liverpool’s brilliant front three. Salah won the Golden Boot in 2017/18 and was in a three way share for it last season, along with Mané and Arsenal’s Pierre Emerick Aubamayeng. According to most Bookmakers Salah is second favourite to make it three in a row this season. Mané represents better value with punters as he is more of an outside bet with five or six other players ahead of him. The Senegal man has started the season in blistering form but BetFred is still offering odds of 9/1 for him to repeat last season’s exploits and top the scoring charts. Few would bet on Firmino being top scorer, however, because unlike all those ahead of him in the betting odds (and there are plenty) his driving motivation isn’t scoring goals. That is demonstrated by the fact most oddsmakers have him as a 40/1 shot. He may have a number nine on his back but he doesn’t think like your traditional centre forward. If you’re looking to take advantage of Online Bookie Betting Offers then Firmino is a much better shout for Player of the Year than he is to finish as top scorer. The Brazilian was a joy to watch against Newcastle and if he can maintain this level of form then he might even be able to wrestle away the PFA Player of the Year award away from team-mate Virgil Van Dijk. Both are currently 16-1 shots with Unibet. Firmino’s performance on Saturday deservedly won him the man of the match award and drew praise from multiple sources, including former Chelsea and Liverpool midfielder Joe Cole, who was fulsome in his praise for the fan favourite. The Liverpool Echo (via BT Sport) reported Cole as saying: “These fans and this club have seen some fantastic players over the years but he’s doing things now where he’s up there with anyone. “50 goals, the first Brazilian to do that, and what he does, when he brings other players into the game, he’s so unselfish. He’s a great player and was wonderful to watch today. “Sometimes in your career you find a manager that fits you, knows your his guy and helps you mature as a player. “I think Brendan [Rodgers] maybe didn’t see him as that focal point. “Jurgen, obviously has had more eyes on him because he played in the Bundesliga for so long, but as soon as he opened the door he put his arm round him, getting the best out of him.” The importance of Firmino is also not lost on his teammates as Virgil Van Dijk discussed after the game. “He’s a very important player for all of us. “I know how difficult it is for a centre-back if the striker is dropping – you don’t want to go as a central defender. "He is making life difficult for any defender in the world. He is so good and I’m very happy he’s in my team.”

Steve Bruce has declared that his side could not compete with the attacking quality of Liverpool as the Reds maintained their 100% record to start the Premier League season with a 3-1 victory on Saturday.The visitors took a shock 1-0 lead courtesy of a fine finish by Dutch international Jetro Willems. After a sluggish start, the Reds certainly needed a spark.A Sadio Mane strike restored parity in the 28th minute and he then scored his second before the interval, combining with Roberto Firmino who came on as a substitute for Divock Origi.Firmino’s brilliant work was not done however, and he played a sublime ball for Mo Salah to finish and round out the scoring 20 minutes from time.Bruce, a manager who has been a thorn in many Liverpool teams in previous seasons was glowing in his praise for Jurgen Klopp’s side who have now won 14 top flight games in a row stretching back to last season. The Reds have raced into a five point lead at the top of the table but face their sternest test of the season so far next weekend when they travel to Stamford Bridge. Games don't come much bigger than Chelsea v Liverpool but a look at premier league odds will show you the recent change in fortunes between the two clubs. However, Frank Lampard's faith in youth appears to be paying dividends and the Londoners go into the game in good form. The sloppiness that Liverpool showed early on against Newcastle might be punished more severely if the same mistakes are made at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea have gone from regular title contenders to facing a battle just to make the top four, while Klopp's side have reversed that trend. Will they win the title this year after narrowly missing out last time out? Bruce certainly feels they might.The Liverpool Echo reported the Newcastle boss as saying:“They are an excellent, excellent team. "They have pace, creativity and at the top end of the pitch they can damage you. I knew it was going to be difficult, but in fits and starts we did okay.“Can they win the league? They are going to be there or thereabouts. They only lost once last year and didn't win the league, it's quite unbelievable.“They are a very, very good side which will cause any team problems. They are as good as you get. They are fantastic.” Bruce said that along with the quality play of Liverpool, his own side made it difficult for themselves.“ We were okay in bits but unfortunately we have made a mistake for the second goal.“We are disappointed about that.“When you get a start like we did, the first-half hour was crucial. "Mane then scored a wonderful goal and there was the introduction of Firmino with his movement and the way he plays."When you come to an arena like this you know they will cut you open at times, but we have given the ball away in the middle of the pitch and I'm sure Martin (Dubravka) when he looks at it will know he can do better. "It was a crucial part(of the game)."

Jurgen Klopp has signalled that he will be fully utilising his squad as we approach a very busy next few weeks.The Reds already have had a busier than normal start to the campaign playing in the Community Shield and European Super Cup.Klopp made subtle rather than sweeping changes in August, wanting to build some early season momentum.However, we now move into the next phase with four successive away trips following the home lunchtime kickoff against Newcastle today. That begins with Napoli on Tuesday night, then follows Chelsea, MK Dons in the Carabao Cup and concluding with Sheffield United.The Premier League manager of the month for August explained his thought process heading into the next part of the fixture list via the Liverpool Echo.“Our football has no easy start, we don’t ease in to a season - we have to be aggressive, and that is very important and we did that, so that is really good,"Now we have two days to prepare with the boys coming back from Brazil (Fabinho and Roberto Firmino) and not able to train of course.“So we have to be very aggressive and very lively again, and then we go to Napoli and we don’t talk about our start to the season any more because this is a completely different situation.“Last season we played our worst game of the Champions League there, so we have to prove something there and hopefully we can do that - then it’s Chelsea away, and then we come back to London, and then we have to go to Sheffield, that’s the thing. Klopp said that as well as momentum, keeping focus is a key element for success and with the added workload, other players will get their chance in the period he refers to as "the slog."“The start is the start, it’s good but it’s done. Rotation? Absolutely, they know it - the situation we spoke about last time, we said OK, the first four match days, we had twice a week to prepare, so there is no reason [to change]…you won the games.“We found a rhythm (in the first month) so there was no reason for changes, no need for rotation, why rotate to just show ‘you can play as well’? “They know they can play as well. “Of course it is the upcoming time now that is the most intense period - right through until January right, so really now we are going - it’s the slog, absolutely.“We have really to be 100 per cent focused - that’s what brought us to the position we were in last year, and as long as we can keep that mindset alive and going, it will be good, it will be fine.“Because we have quality and only with this mindset we can really bring them on the pitch."In reflecting on the Reds perfect start to the Premier League season, there was two games which stood out.“Burnley was quite impressive, it was the best Burnley game we played so far.“But Arsenal at home was a statement – it was really wild in the best organised way I ever saw. It was really good”

Adam Lallana has turned to an external source as he continues to adapt to a new position. Jurgen Klopp deployed the attacking midfielder in a deeper lying position during the pre season and it is something that the veteran enjoyed.Lallana has taken to watching footage of former Ajax starlet and current Barcelona midfielder Frenkie De Jong along with teammate Fabinho to get a better understanding of the role.The Liverpool Echo reported Lallana as saying:“I find it very stimulating because I get more of the ball than I have ever had in my career before."Sometimes as a number eight you are making decoy runs, or you are offering and you don’t get the ball.“If you are in the ‘six’ you are centralised to the play, involved in the build-up a lot more. That is what I noticed straight away. “That’s where the stimulation comes from - it feels good to be on the ball. Lallana said his captain suggested he look at the style of the Dutch youngster.“I have not gone into it too deeply. Jordan (Henderson) told me I need to watch Frenkie de Jong. “The way he plays it, he kind of dribbles a little bit more than other sixes would, which obviously brings a bit of risk but that is in my game.“I do watch the six more so now than what the eight does because I know that reasonably well. “What are their movements like? I’ve found myself focusing on Fabinho a little bit in our first games and he has played it outstandingly well.”Lallana has played a very minimal role in this campaign, only coming on as a late substitute against Man City in the Community Shield and at home to Arsenal.The oft-injured veteran was fit and available for selection for the first league game against Norwich but got a unwelcome shock.“I didn’t make the squad for the first game of the season (against Norwich City) and that was a bit of an eye-opener. “ I didn’t see that happening. I hadn’t experienced that since I was growing up at Southampton.“But it is a 60-game season and I look at my last couple of seasons and think just be patient, be persistent and eventually my chance will come.The English international was honest in what has been his failings over the past few seasons and what he needs to work on.“If I want to be part of this team, the best team in Europe, I need to keep improving and developing and that is what I have found difficult over the last two years because I have not been able to show that.“I can’t be the same player, I need to be better because the team is better.“If I am fit, I am sure I will contribute in a big way.”

The latest in TLW's Opposition series takes us to the North East to speak with Kyle Thompson from @NewcastleFansTV. Kyle talks about the impact that the much-loved Rafa Benitez had on the Magpies along with the long running dispute between the fans and club owner Mike Ashley and a trio of attacking talent to keep an eye out for on Saturday. Liverpool and Newcastle supporters share a mutual love of Rafa Benitez. Can you talk about the impact he made at your club? Rafa Benitez joined NUFC under very difficult circumstances. We had just been beaten at home by newly promoted Bournemouth under Steve McClaren. There was serious discontent around the fan base and it was even becoming toxic as we thought a second relegation in nine years was on the near horizon. Rafa was appointed manager and all of a sudden from the get-go the fanbase was united again. Behind this man Rafa, the impact was unbelievable as Liverpool fans can relate. Managers and players come and go but you don’t get many that “get it” and Rafa got it from day one. He understood what the club meant to the people of Newcastle. He didn’t need to, but he helped the local community through the NUFC foundation, Wor flags and the Newcastle foodbank. Off the field all Newcastle fans saw a humble, classy and brilliant man. And on the field, even though we got relegated in his first season, we all had high hopes of things to come. And throughout his tenure at the club, Newcastle fans always had the thought that if the board backed him what could be…. Is there one lasting memory you have of Rafa’s tenure. It can be a particular game, a signing he made, a piece of tactical brilliance or just the way he conducted himself as a whole? There are so many!!! But if I was to say one. It would be the 2-1 win against Man City in late January of this year. It was a special night, after 30 seconds we were 1-0 down. And you get that feeling of “this could be a long night” but the fight back from the players that night was unbelievable. Despite the gulf in class, the money spent on players and everything like that, it was Rafa’s Battlers that came out on top courtesy of a Matt Ritchie penalty. The atmosphere was special, it was an unbelievable experience as a fan. We don’t do trophies and cup finals, so this is up there with the best performances I’ve witnessed as a NUFC fan. To just show what kind of achievement it was, Newcastle are still the last team to beat Manchester City in the Premier League. It just sums up how special that performance was. Under Mike Ashley’s reign, he has seen fit to recycle veteran British managers with Steve Bruce being the latest man in the hot seat. Despite his years of experience, it is debatable whether he has been at a club at such a turbulent period in their history. In terms of Bruce winning over the fanbase, is it as simple as winning games or is it more complex than that? I think winning games will keep the fans content but never truly happy. The only way Newcastle fans will be truly happy again is when the cancer that is Mike Ashley is rid from our club. I don’t think the majority of the fans problem is with Steve Bruce, it is more the fatigue and war of attrition against the owner for the last 12 years. Do you agree with the fan boycott of home games that is currently taking place or can it be counter-productive to the success of the team? The main boycott throughout the summer was #BoycottArsenal on the opening day of the season. I and the channel I represent partook in the boycott that day despite being season ticket holders. That being said, the boycott was a complete and utter failure. The attendance was around 47,000 for the day, which was really disappointing. As the hype built on social media, you had a sense that the crowd could be around 20,000,but it wasn’t the case. A fan boycott can affect the team, but the way fans look at it, Mike Ashley has affected this club since 2007 when he bought the club, and that won’t change until he finally leaves our club. As a supporter, what would you view as a bigger success this season: A top 10 finish and a strong run in the FA Cup, or Mike Ashley selling up? A legend of both Liverpool and Newcastle Kevin Keegan once said this: "Newcastle will go nowhere under Mike Ashley I promise you that." One Season would change nothing for me even though it would be an amazing feat for Newcastle. However the day when Ashley is finally gone from the club, the scenes in Newcastle would be truly amazing. If you remember the feeling of what every city was like when we all thought it was “coming home” last year, then times that by about 200 and you’ll get the sentiment of Newcastle fans when Ashley leaves. Putting all the off-field drama to one side, which players in your current squad excite you the most and can cause Jurgen Klopp some headaches on Saturday? As tough as a game it will be for us, I believe we have a couple of players that could potentially cause Liverpool some problems. I think our front three of Almiron, Joelinton and Allan Saint-Maximim are capable of threatening any team in the league. They are very quick and deadly on the counter attack. This is going to be a defensive game for Newcastle. So any chance to get forward we will be heavily relying on those three. Steve Bruce has had more success coming up against Liverpool than any other top six team in his managerial career. How would you like him to set the team up for the game? We set up very well against Spurs in our win away at their new ground a few weeks ago. I would like to see a similar set up to this. A 5-4-1 system with a pacey but direct counter attack. With the players Liverpool have, I think it is possibly the only way to set up. Norwich showed how much of a bad idea it is to try and attack at Anfield. Is there a Liverpool player that you admire and would love to see in the Magpies line-up if money was no object? Sadio Mane, I think he is so under rated. The pace he has, finishing ability and his work rate. He is the perfect player for the Premier League and I’d love him in a Newcastle shirt. Have you got a score prediction for Saturday? I say this with gritted teeth but I can’t see anything more than a Liverpool win to be honest. We’ve historically been atrocious at Anfield. If Newcastle do get anything, it would be one of the best days of my life.

Nabil Fekir has opened up about the transfer that wasn’t, believing that there were a number of lies told along the way.The French international was on the verge of a dream move to the Reds last summer, but with everything virtually signed,sealed and delivered the negotiations were suddenly ended due to Liverpool’s concerns over a long standing knee injury.However Fekir believes that it was a convenient excuse to not go through with the deal.Sky Sports (via L’Equipe) reported Fekir as saying:“ There was an incredible amount of lies told about it. “Everything that has been said about my family in particular. It hurts them, as it hurt me.“You want the truth? Even I do not know it, I assure you. “I did my medical examination and, behind, they decided not to sign me.“At one point, they wanted me to believe it was the knee. But it was an excuse and medical tests passed at Clairefontaine were very clear.“What irritated me was that by trying to advance this pseudo-physical problem, it ruled out chances with other clubs that were potentially interested, while there are other players who have experienced the same injury and it did not prevent them from returning to a normal trajectory. However Fekir who signed for Real Betis in the last transfer window does not hold it personally against the Reds.I have no bitterness towards Liverpool. “They showed me that they really wanted me. But behind, when you do not surround yourself with good people, it hurts you."However, Fekir’s former agent Jean-Pierre Bernes placed blame squarely at the feet of the former Lyon captain.“He has to stop this show and stop taking people for fools. Everyone knows what happened.“The transfer to Liverpool has turned around for two reasons. The first is his knee, even though the English club's leaders were willing to make an effort on this.“The second is the appearance of a foreign pseudo-representative who asked for the negotiations to be resumed from the beginning at the moment of signing.”All clubs have a player or two who have slipped through the net when everything seems on track.But despite being a good player, it seems entirely reasonable for the club to have pulled out of the Fekir deal if they detected a problem, as that is just good due diligence.