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  1. image.jpeg

    Monday Dec 10:

     

    Forgot to mention this in last Friday’s diary entry but Ten Hag was manager of the month and Maguire was player of the month for November. I have no idea how that actually happened. Other than the clowns who decided this I genuinely doubt there is a person on earth who thought Ten Hag was manager of the month for November. As for Maguire? He set such a low bar for himself that all he has to do now is not fall over his own feet and that’s enough to earn praise. He’s been alright, but alright looks amazing in comparison to what he served up before. Everyone reckons he’s thick as fuck but he might actually be a genius you know. United completed a hat-trick as Garnacho got goal of the month. Yeah I’ll give them that.

     

    I saw yesterday that Nat Phillips was trending. It was Celtic fans absolutely destroying him for being shite. Loads were calling him the worst centre half they’ve seen and generally ridiculing him. I wanted to take offence as Nat’s our boy and we love him, but some of them were backing it up with video footage and fucking hell, what is going on there? He looks like a proper yard dog. The Celtic fans are completely justified in what they’re saying, he looks SHITE. You just can’t overstate the Klopp effect you know. So many players who look decent or better under Klopp go elsewhere and they’re fucking useless. Look at Origi for example. Ryhs Williams has stunk on loan too despite doing a good job for us.

     

    Also, Michael Owen ladies and gentlemen….

     

    <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-media-max-width="560"><p lang="qme" dir="ltr"> <a href="https://t.co/TOJOBSOmfY">pic.twitter.com/TOJOBSOmfY</a></p>&mdash; Olly (@ClassAbackup1) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClassAbackup1/status/1733658534137516497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 10, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

     

    This is just sensational, it’s classic Owen. Look, I’ve said before that I like Michael, I just don’t have it in me to hold any negative feelings for him. But he’s pure cringe isn’t he? He isn’t a normal human, there’s something a bit weird about him and that clip sums it up perfectly. So Partridge isn’t it?


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  2. It’s quite funny how at the beginning of the group stages the goal is to get qualified as quickly as possible, then pick kids for the dead rubber because np-one cares about those games. Until you actually watch the game and that goes out of the window.

     

    Before the game I didn’t care about the result or performance. Today, the morning after, I don’t care about the result or the performance. For the 90 minutes when I’m actually watching it though? Yeah I cared and I got a bit wound up by how shot we were. It’s stupid really, but I do get caught up in the moment. Not in the beginning, for the first 15 minutes or so I wasn’t arsed. But the longer it goes with us doing nothing, it does get frustrating.

     

    I think I was disappointed because I was hoping for more from some of the younger players. They don’t get many chances so you’re hoping to see something when they do. I didn’t see it, from any of them. I’m not counting Quansah in that as he’s past that now, he’s a legit first team squad player. This was a good opportunity for the two full backs and for Doak though. And none of them did anything to enhance their reputation. Kaide Gordon gets a pass because he’s been out for so long and because I thought he was ok, but Doak and Chambers were disappointing. Bradley wasn’t great either but he was alright and got better as it went on.

     

    It doesn’t matter though and Klopp said as much afterwards. He sees these lads every day and isn’t going to judge them based on this game. We don’t see them every day though and fans probably are going to judge them on games like this because we don’t see them any other time.

     

    Chambers had a stinker and he wasn’t great in his other appearance either. But this kid can play. He’s been with England right through the age groups and he was boss when he went on loan to Kilmarnock. I’m not judging him on this, but he was bad.

     

    Doak has been a bit frustrating in the games he’s started but I don’t think he’s really had much chance to shine. On the rare occasions we’ve got him the ball in areas when he can face up the full back and go past him he’s generally left them for dead. But too often he’s getting the ball with his back to goal in areas where he’s not going to do anything. That’s part of the job, Mo has to deal with that shit all the time too, but for an 18 year old kid it’s not easy when you aren’t able to play to your strengths.


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    I’ll start at Old Trafford where the newly crowned Manager of the Month and Player of the Month got their arses handed to them by Bournemouth. This was not a shock result and anyone who was shocked by it has not been paying attention. It was Bournemouth’s first ever win at Old Trafford but they’ve never played a United side this bad before.

     

    United have been beaten by every decent team they’ve faced and other than their 3-0 win at Goodison, I think every win they’ve had has been by one goal.

     

    “The league table doesn’t lie” they say. That’s such bollocks, the league table this season has been like a Government Minister giving evidence at a Covid inquiry. United being three points behind City going into this game was the league table basically saying “yeah I have no idea what’s happened to all my WhatsApp messages, it must be because I changed my phone or something?”

     

    United are a million fucking miles behind City yet the league table said it was three points. Remember that next time you hear “the table doesn’t lie” and file it away with “refereeing decisions even themselves out”.

     

    I don’t think I’ll ever get used to seeing United’s starting line up and going through them one by one and going “he’s shite, he’s even worse, shite, shite, meh, who?, shite, kid, really shite, kid, holy fuck is he still there?” I’ll never get used to it and I’ll never tire of it. These are great times.

     

    I’ve been saying for a couple of weeks that Bournemouth seem to have finally grasped what Iraola wants them to do and we can see now why he was so highly rated and why they binned O’Neil to get him. I slated them for that and I still think they should have kept O’Neil, but they’re a different beast than they were a few weeks ago when they looked like they might be the only ones to challenge the three newly promoted turds for a relegation spot. They’ll be well clear of it.

     

    My boy Solanke scored very early to set them on their way. Tavernier had one ruled out for offside and Solanke was denied by the post as Bournemouth posed by far the bigger threat.

     

    Billing made it 2-0 with a back post header. I’ve been debating whether he can still be ‘my boy’ or not after he changed the name on the back of his shirt from “Billing” to “Peter” but after this I’m going to allow it I think. Sense headed in the third and Old Trafford echoed with boos.

     

    It got worse when Outarra made it 4-0 after a Maguire clown moment. At least it should have, but VAR spoiled the fun because the ball ricocheted off the keeper onto the chest of the Bournemouth man, and it then brushed his hand. There was no advantage gained from it, his hand didn’t deviate the path of the ball at all. But this is the shitty world we live in now. Legit goals being ruled out because of this forensic bullshit.

     

    Fernandes got himself booked and will miss the trip to Anfield. There’s been some suggestion he did it deliberately. Not entirely sure I buy that as top level footballers tend to not think that way and always believe they can do something in any game, but then this cunt did throw his toys out of the pram last season when he was left on during the 7-0 and others were subbed. You can’t rule it out.


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  4. A young Reds side went down to defeat in Belgium in the final game of the group stage, but we won't waste too much time talking about that.

     

    Chris Smith is joined by John Brennan and TLW Editor Dave Usher to briefly skip over this game and look at the group stage as a whole, plus the lads look ahead to the big one this Sunday against Manchester United at Anfield.

     

     


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  5. Sweet 16? 23 Carra Gold? Not quite, but 16 League games in and 23 games in in all competitions and things are not too bad at all for Jürgen’s Top-of-the-Table Reds! And they haven’t really clicked yet, according to the manager.

     

    22-23 is a low bar – 21-22 had exhausted this team and a big fall-off was always likely. So any comparisons with last season come with that caveat. That being said, the improvement is striking, best illustrated, probably, by this statistic: we’ve reached 37 points after 16 games on the 9th of December; in 22-23 we reached 36 points after 23 games on the the 25th of FEBRUARY! We could be looking at 20-25 points more this season than last, which would get us to the 87-92 range…

     

    None of this was a given, of course, given the turmoil of the summer. To be where we are is remarkable, and all the more so as this group – Klopp 2.0 – are still getting used to each other and the new system.

     

    Before the start of the season, I mentioned ‘Hope’ and wrote what I felt needed to happen for us to have a good season.

     

    • ‘Alisson remains the best in the world. He was our best player last season. Hopefully we won’t need him as much this, but if we do, he’ll be up to the task.
       
    • Virgil gets back to his imperious best. He’s captain now. He’s got to set an example. His role will be key to where we finish.
       
    • Trent can combine both roles that he’ll be asked to play. Vice-captain. Future captain. He is also key to all we do.
       
    • The new lads hit the ground running. If they do, we’ve got a great chance of having a great season. Curtis came into his own at the end of last season too and in the summer with England. We still need to strengthen in the middle of the park but we should be okay with the five or six we’ve got.
       
    • Competition for places up front will keep everyone on their toes. There are two spots up for grabs (Mo starts every time). Gakpo, Nunez, Diogo and Diaz will all be desperate to start. And the two who don’t should provide great options off the bench.’

     

    So far, so good!

     

    Alisson has been sensational – he’s the best there is. Of all the Klopp signings, he’s in the top three, isn’t he? We’re probably 5-6 points better off this season – already! – thanks to him. Newcastle, City and Palace spring to mind as games where he was decisive. Trent’s goal against City wouldn’t have happened only for that point-blank save 15 seconds prior. An absolute gem.

     

    Virgil has been imperious. Ever since his antics against Newcastle and the subsequent two-match ban, he’s taken the bull by the horns and has shown the way to everyone else. No mattter who his partner at centre-half or down that left-hand side (and there have been a few) he’s been consistent. A huge part of our current success.

     

    The jury is still out on Trent in this dual role. It’s going to take time, but suffice to say, he’s coming into it, as evidenced by recent goals, especially, and as the season goes on, he’ll get better.

     

    The middle of the park has been steady if not spectacular. What more could we expect after a total rebuild? Two of the lads came in  very late in the window too – Gravenberch and Endo – and they’ve started to play a role of late. Mac Allister will improve too, as will Dom as he continues to build that understanding with Trent and Mo.

     

    As for the front five? 40 goals in 23 games. And given we will play a minimum of 50 games this season (we’ll likely play between 55 and 60), we could be looking at over 100 from them alone.

     

    As much as all of the above has been key to this season’s success, there are other factors. One is Europe. Pre-season, in the same article, I said this:

     

    […] the lack of intense European football (while our main rivals will all have to juggle that calendar up to December at least) and things don’t seem so grim.

     

    The Europa League has been, as Gérard would probably have said back in the day ‘a blessing in disguise’. First, because this team / squad would not have been able for Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday football at this stage in its development. This competition has afforded us the chance to rotate – something Klopp has done brilliantly – and keep everyone fresh. Had we finished fourth last season, we would have been in a group with PSG, Dortmund and Milan. Look at the effect this has had on Newcastle. Even this week, United play Bayern, while we have a dead rubber.

     

    Second, it’s allowed us – by virtue of rotation – to keep ‘fringe’ or second-choice players happy by giving them lots of game time. Kelleher, Gomez, Kostas, Endo, Gravenberch, Jones,  Harvey, amongst others. 20 (TWENTY) players have figured in 8 or more games this season. That’s exceptional management of resources.

     

    Third, it’s allowed us to introduce new players – like Quansah – helping them get experience and look at ease when they are called upon in the League (Newcastle, Wolves and Palace for Quansah).

     

    Fourth, it’s helped build confidence and momentum:  four wins out of five, 16 goals.

     

    Old-timers playing as well as they’ve ever done, new signings hitting the ground running, forwards scoring, Anfield as a bastion, the Manager managing his resources to perfection all adds up to 17 wins out of 23. And to:

     

    • The second-best attack in the League.
    • The joint-best defence in the League.
    • The best goal difference in the League.

     

    Libpool, Top of the League

    Libpool Libpool, Top of the League.

     

    Don’t believe the Table? Listen to the Fume. It’s a sure sign we’re back.

     

    John Brennan


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    We’re top, but are we actually that good? It’s weird because the league table and results suggest we’re REALLY good, but the performances are giving us more questions than answers. I definitely don’t think that’s a bad thing at this stage because we’re clearly a work in progress and have a long way to go until Klopp has things humming the way he wants, yet we’re finding ways to win regardless of how we play or whatever roadblocks are put in our way.

     

    Klopp said from 76 minutes to 105 we were really good, and before that we were really bad. That’s absolutely spot on isn’t it? We were atrocious for most of the game, even worse than the other night at Bramall Lane when I thought we were hideous. We had our problems against Fulham last weekend too but we’ve taken nine points regardless. There’s a saying in golf that “a scorecard doesn’t have pictures” and that applies here. The league table shows the points we have collected, it doesn’t show he we got them.

     

    I’m struggling to work us out though. The record since Trent switched roles is the best in the league. We’ve got more points than anyone and I think we have the best goal difference too. So that tells you it’s working. But is it that simple? I don’t think it is. I’m not sure it is working because we’re often a bit shit in the first half of games and it’s quite common that it’s Klopp’s changes that turn the game our way.

     

    How many of those points were gained because we were struggling and had to make changes, either to the system, personnel or both? Quite a lot I’d say. We finish games much better than we start them, so can we really say this system is the reason for our success when a lot of the time we’re getting results after abandoning it? Are the points we’re picking up because of the system, or in spite of it? It’s an interesting discussion I think. I don’t know yet, I need to see more before I’m convinced either way.

     

    In the last week we’ve had to scrap the system to come back and beat Fulham and Palace. We did beat Sheffield United but looked shite for the entire game.  But we won all three games and it feels like we’re doing it through sheer willpower more than anything else. Nothing is coming easy to us.

     

    I don’t see that as a negative though. Well, maybe a bit, but generally I think it’s a good thing because I don’t expect this patchy form to last and I’m sure we’ll be playing well again soon. If you are a talented team that can keep collecting maximum points even when you stink, you won’t go far wrong because when you play well you’ll blow a lot of teams away. The amount of times we could / should have dropped points this season only to pull it out of the fire is the stuff of Champions. That doesn’t mean we’ll win it, but it definitely helps.

     

    Tired legs and the 12.30 kick off time contributed to this below par showing, plus I have to say that Palace did a really good job on us until that period of a minute or so when everything was turned on its head. Elliott came on, Ayew was sent off and then we scored. All of that happened in such a short space of time and it’s difficult to know which had the biggest impact. I’ll get to that though.


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  7. Another come from behind win from the Reds sent them to the top of the Premier League after a Harvey Elliott strike capped a late fightback to sink plucky Palace at Selhust Park on a day when Mo Salah claimed his 200th goal for the club.

     

    TLW Editor Dave Usher is joined by John Gallagher and Paul Natton to look back on yet another game where Klopp's 'Mentality Monsters" somehow found a way to get the job done despite being far from their best.

     

     


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    Monday Dec 3:

    Still no word on Joel but it’s not going to be good is it? We need to buy someone now. I was ok with the notion of giving Joel another contract and putting on hold the plans for another centre back, but we can’t do that now. Joel can’t get a long term deal (by that I mean two or more years) as this is a tough one to come back from at his age. We have to accept he’s done here now, and while we’re ok with the four we have, one of them is made of glass, one is a kid and the other is spending a lot of time covering the full back spots. We have to buy in January now. Bet we don’t though. Hopefully Endo remembers how to play there as he’ll defo be called upon at some stage.

    Meanwhile, Heckingbottom is getting sacked and Wilder is replacing him. Shouldn’t make any difference for Wednesday night but that fella is a victim of his own success. If he’d finished in the playoff spots and missed out in the final last season, he’d still be in a job now. He had them punch well above their weight and when they got promoted his owner sold his two best players and then sacked him when they couldn’t get any results. And now that same owner is bringing back a fella he sacked for criticising him. Modern football is so fucked up, so many clubs are owned by absolute bellends.


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    Not sure what’s going own with the MOTD running order lately but it’s gone all weird. Last week when we played City it was on last (or second to last maybe) and this week they started with Burnley and Sheffield United. At this rate Everton might get on first at some point for the first time in about 10 years.

     

    Burnley finally won at home, but I’m not it should even count as Sheffield United are so fucking hopeless. I knew they’d win this game though because these are basically Championship teams and Burnley ran away with the Championship last season. Of course they were going to win. I wouldn’t have called a 5-0 though, but that’s got a lot to do with the Blades going down to ten men. I’ll get to that.

     

    Burnley went ahead inside 15 seconds through Rodriguez.  Not sure that should be his goal though as it didn’t look like it was on target before it hit a defender and went in. How he’s getting credit for that but Trent had his taken away seems a bit daft.

     

    Bruun Larsen made it 2-0 with a strange goal. He’s on the touchline when he receives the diagonal pass but with his first touch he knocked it towards goal and was able to just run towards goal and score. It’s a nice goal, but he looked like he was running in slow motion so how fucking slow must that defender have been?

     

    Then came the sending off. McBurnie is the worst player in the league and I don’t like him, but that’s never a second yellow. The first one might have been a borderline red, but the second one is absolutely fuck all. He’s just gone up for a header and his arm is where it’s meant to be, so nothing sinister in that whatsoever. He was on thin ice because of the first one though so I can see why my boy Chris Kavanagh sent him packing as he must have thought “you absolute dickhead”, which he is.

     

    Amdouni made it 3-0 with a decent finish, Koleosho (a potential ‘my boy’ in the making he is) added a fourth and Brownhill wrapped it up with a lovely strike from outside the box.

     

    So that’s that for Paul (Flippin) HeckI’mBottom then. Chris Wilder is back, but they’re still finishing bottom because they’ve got an awful team and some long term injuries to key players. Burnley are still shit too.


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    Sheffield United are as bad a Premier League as we’ve seen and this performance was barely good enough to beat them. Wretched, worse than the Luton game, because Luton are much better than these. I didn't enjoy a single minute of this game, it was awful.

     

    But we won and we’re in great shape when you look at the table. I do feel a little uneasy about us after this though, particularly after what happened at Luton. Our away form hasn’t been too impressive so far and this was a good opportunity to rack up a comfortable win and bang in a few goals. I’d have felt more confident about us moving forward if we’d done that, but after seeing this I still have that nagging doubt about us in games like this. You can’t drop points to shite because there are enough decent sides that will take points from you. Look at Fulham at the weekend, they played really well and we almost came unstuck.

     

    I said after that game I didn’t think we played as badly as a lot of other people did. Sometimes when you’re just a bit off and the opponent plays well, it can be trouble. That was what happened on Sunday. This wasn’t that. Sheffield United are genuinely terrible and we made really hard work of it. You can’t just put this down to “one of those nights” because our overall body of work against the body teams these last couple of years points to a trend. We don’t perform against them.

     

    Some will put that down to complacency, but it can’t be. After dropping points at Luton there’s no way we were taking the Blades lightly. So why did we look so impotent? To me it has to be tactical. I don’t know what the fuck we were even trying to do.

     

    I’m not going to make this about Trent and the inverted full back thing. It isn’t specifically that, although that’s part of it and it’s fair to wonder whether it’s something that helps us against shite. We’ve been the best team in the league since that switch was made for that Arsenal game last season, and that record speaks for itself I guess. 

     

    And Trent played well in this game. It’s not about him, or about where he plays. But if you’re going to do that and you have Joe Gomez on the left, then most of the play is coming down the middle. Chris Wilder knew that and he’ll have been delighted by it. Just as Luton were. It’s easier to play against us when the width isn’t there. The space is down the sides and we ignored it for most of the game. It’s a regular thing and it’s frustrating.

     

    But we won, and we’re second in the table and the only reason we aren’t top is because of what happened at Spurs, so it seems somewhat churlish complaining about it. I just think it’s a problem that might bite us in the arse again and with every point likely to be crucial, I want to see us adapt our tactics when we face shite, especially away from home.


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  11. It wasn't pretty but it's a win and three points that keep the Reds in second spot hot on the heels of leaders Arsenal. A first half goal from the imperious Virgil Van Dijk and a late strike by Dom Szoboszlai secured the win despite an uninspiring performance.

     

    TLW Editor Dave Usher is joined by Julian Richards and Terry McDonald to look back over a largely forgettable evening and then look ahead to the weekend trip to Palace.

     

     

     


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    Was this our “Aston Villa away” for this season? We won’t know until May but it definitely feels like this might have some significance. It was a day when we never really got going but it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We finished like a runaway train and Fulham were left in a bloodied heap on the tracks.

     

    It will mean nothing if we don’t take advantage of it, but it feels big because we don’t tend to have too many of these games at Anfield, but we found a way to get through it unscathed. Home games are usually easy. We win by two or three goals and don’t have to sweat much over the result.

     

    It’s reached a point where I’m taking these wins for granted and I didn’t see any way Fulham were leaving Anfield with anything. So for us to be staring down the barrel of a defeat with a few minutes left felt like a massive blow. With our away form being somewhat patchy, we absolutely can’t afford to drop points at home to anyone really, let alone bottom half teams. Yet it looked like we would.

     

    Imagine the mood today if we hadn’t turned this around. We wouldn’t be dreaming of a possible title that’s for sure. But we did turn it around and we are still dreaming of it. And wins like this give you that extra spring in your step on a Monday, and I’m sure it gives the players a little extra belief in themselves and what they can achieve. It’s still a long shot, we’re not favourites and nor should we be. But we’ve played 14 games and we’re above Man City. That’s a better situation that any of us expected.

     

    Wins like this help to create belief among the squad and also the fans. The next time we’re in a tight spot we’ll draw from this experience. This is a new team but they’ve had a number of tricky situations to deal with already and they’ve come through all of them really.

     

    They had to play with ten men against Bournemouth and Newcastle but they got the results anyway. They had to play with nine at Spurs and were a last ditch freak own goal away from getting a point, despite having a legitimate goal scandalously not awarded. We lost the day, but it was a test they passed with flying colours.

     

    We went a goal down away at City and came back to get a point and end their 100% home record in 2023. Even Luton, as shit as it was, can be spun into a positive in the sense that they managed to avoid losing the game when it looked like they would suffer a humiliating defeat. The draw was pretty humiliating, but they pulled that one out of the fire late to get a point.

     

    Then there’s this. Conceding late on to fall behind on a freezing day in which the crowd had offered virtually nothing. Everything was flat, we were heading for a result that would have really damaged morale and the faith the fans have in the team, but instead we ended up with a win and one of the most enjoyable five minutes we’ve had at Anfield in a good while. The crowd had barely made a peep for 80 odd minutes, but Anfield was rocking by the end.

     


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    Monday Nov 27:

     

    More craziness from the Blues. They’ve got major beef with Sky now as well as the “Corrupt Premier League”. They’re going mad because Sky didn’t show their plane during our game with City. What did they think was going to happen? There are so many reasons why Sky were never going to show it, and every one of them is valid. Firstly, it was City and Liverpool playing. Who gives a fuck that some knobheads with an unjustified beef are making a protest? If Sky show that then they’re opening the door for anyone else who wants to get publicity for themselves. Just because you fly a plane over doesn’t mean Sky have an obligation to show it.

     

    Secondly, it’s City v Liverpool. The biggest game of the season. People are tuning in for that, why would you take eyeballs away from that to show a fucking plane making a false claim about the Premier League? Thirdly, the PL and Sky are business partners. There’s no industry in the world that is going to promote slander of a business partner. The whole thing is hilarious, you could hear on TV the plane circling the stadium as the game was going on but nothing was said about it and they sure as shit didn’t show it. Maybe Everton can claim the cost of the plane and use it to help offset some of their losses on their next set of accounts?

     

    Meanwhile, staggeringly bad officiating fucked Wolves again tonight. Wolves fans piss me off but I’ll happily stand with them against Howard Webb and his band of knobheads. What happened tonight was a fucking joke, yet again. Poor Gary O’Neil, he’s a top fella and the way he’s handled all of the incompetence he’s been hit with this season is admirable. It wasn’t the on-field ref tonight who was the problem, it was the clown on VAR, Stuart Atwell. He’s awful isn’t he? Some of them I think are biased and have agendas. Him? I just think he’s truly awful. He massively favoured Fulham tonight though and Wolves have every reason to feel victimised again.

     

    Newcastle fans were attacked in Paris tonight and it’s lucky that nobody was seriously hurt as it looked pretty bad. The Geordies who travelled are almost certainly not the bellends who attacked the PSG fans the other week though. Everyone said at the time that those pricks were just ensuring that things were going to be really dangerous for the ones travelling over and that’s what we’re seeing now. It’s the kind of thing you often get from Italians or Turks. They kick off in their home leg and then it’s the fans who go to the away game who pay the price. We’re in 2023 and you’ve still got wankers carrying on like this at footy. Hopefully no-one gets seriously hurt.


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    Well that was about as entertaining an experience as it's possible to have on a cold Thursday night at Anfield in the Europa League. To say it was "big coat weather", would be an understatement and both Dan and I (the only Team TLW lads doing the Europa matches this season) duly obliged. Because it was fucking Baltic, regardless of the warm glow of pleasure emanating from a very comfortable 4-0 win that left us as group winners before the season moves up a gear as we head into a very busy December.

     

    As expected, Klopp made a selection that looked easily good enough to win the match, while simultaneously resting some of the big guns. The presence of Virgil, Macca, Dom, Joel, Trent and Darwin on the bench spoke volumes, as did the fact that the first four of those names remained there all night. Klopp has quietly become arguably the best manager around for making use of his full squad, keeping everyone happy without letting standards or development dip (recent strange and humiliating defeat in France notwithstanding). It shouldn't be forgotten that we've already had quite a few significant injuries and suspensions this season, yet Jurgen has managed to negotiate pretty much every hurdle before us, regardless. Further tests await on that score - not least Alisson's absence for the next couple of weeks, minimum - but we must acknowledge that the days of a first eleven are pretty much gone now and we seem all the better for it as a club, despite still rapidly developing a new way of playing with many new personnel.  

     

    Despite the many changes, virtually from the instant the match kicked off, we were playing some really nice stuff: all fluid movement and crisp, intelligent passing. Obviously both the quality of opposition and the fact that we were at home have to be factored into assessments of the significance of the performance, but I can't be anything other than pleased to see a heavily rotated team play some really entertaining stuff. We seem to have almost instantly switched from being a turgid and predictable mess filled with players whose standards had fallen off a cliff just a matter of months ago to a side now brimming with young, hungry, intelligent technicians. In fact, I don't think we've had a technically better squad in all the (approaching 40) years I've been seriously watching Liverpool. As fans I think we take for granted a little the fact that - almost to a man - the entire squad plays sensational one and two touch, head up football that's imbued with intelligence and composure.

     

    For examples last night, look no further than Harvey Elliott and Jarell Quansah. Harvey has to be the best midfield decision maker for his age I've ever seen. Not only that, his movement and use of the ball are as technically prodigious as they are tactically astute. For a player who has only known the best of the academy era of professional development, maybe those things should be a given (even ignoring the fact that he seems to be levels above all his peers). However, look at the unrelenting desire to maximise every element of his game evident in his clearly improved core strength this season. For inspiration, he's not had far to look and it seems obvious that Mo's mentorship of him is showing itself in a growing physical development that seeks to emulate that of the superstar captain for the night. Harvey was really fucking good last night in a manner that utterly belies his age - a description that can be equally applied to his teammate at left centre half.

     

    I don't religiously follow the youth teams at Liverpool, but it's pretty unusual for me to be completely unaware of the names of the various young prospects making waves in our development sides. However, until pre-season this summer, I had never registered Jarell Quansah's name. It therefore feels slightly bizarre that he's made such a seamless, calm and confident transition to first team squad member so quickly. But that's exactly what he is. I've resisted eulogising him too much, despite his obvious technical, tactical, physical and mental strengths as he's yet to be fully tested at this level. No matter that he appears to have the touch, height, pace and strength to play centre half for Liverpool, until I've seen him come under real pressure from the kind of physical duel-happy forwards the Premier League is full of and escape unscathed, I will retain question marks about him. However, until that test is passed, I think it's also fair to consider that maybe the reason he's not come under pressure is as much to do with how he plays as with whom he's faced. Either way, it's getting harder to temper expectations. Nothing will deflect me from my view that we need another left footed defender, but that needn't be at Quansah's expense. In fact it mustn't be. We need to keep him very firmly on this apparently exponential development path he's on because who knows where his ceiling is?

     

    In terms of the game itself, despite the front-foot bravery of LASK (or maybe because of it), we played fluent attacking football right from the off which was swiftly rewarded after just twelve minutes with the first goal. Luis Diaz collected the ball running across the edge of the penalty area from the left following a little half-stabbed clearance, and immediately played it out to the overlapping Joe Gomez who hit a lobbed half volley into the six yard box which Diaz ran through to dive and bury himself with a superb flick of his head that left the keeper stranded. This was followed a mere three minutes later with a trademark Cody Gakpo back post tap in from Mo. Salah received a pass from Endo out on the right touchline maybe ten yards inside the opposition half and immediately hit a first-time ball to Diaz on the edge of the D which cut out three opposition players. Unfortunately Diaz mis-controlled the ball, but then pounced as the centre half failed to clear convincingly under pressure from Gakpo, playing in Mo as he ran into the penalty area from the right. He was closed down and challenged as he played the ball in for Gakpo, but it wasn't enough to prevent the assist. You know, assists: they're those stats that Dave reckons are meaningless, even though only a handful of players in the game consistently deliver them in high numbers.

     

    No, I'm not letting this one go, regardless of what the data geeks think about them as a stat; why the fuck would we dismiss a statistic that the players themselves are proud of or that some of our lads are setting all-time records for? What next? Tap ins no longer count as goals because they're so easy? There goes a certain a certain centre forward's "career" record. (Sorry John - I know that'll sting a little about your boy, but truth hurts). Anyway, enough about "Kenny" Usher's nonsense, back to the game.

     

    Throughout the first half, LASK had a number of instances where they broke through our back line with skill, intelligent movement and purpose. However, virtually every single one was flagged as offside (regardless of the infuriating VAR policy-related late flagging from the linesman). It blows my mind a little how many of our fans are still not used to this because it is an absolutely fundamental part of how we play. You may well find it difficult to watch at times, but it's a well established tactic that, crucially, is brilliantly effective. So despite what commentators or various fans may believe, we didn't actually come under much pressure at all. I only know one team that is able to consistently exert pressure outside the laws of the game and it's not LASK. File this one under the same tab as "Alisson can't kick"; he clearly can as his frequent ability to control the ball with either foot and pass it long or short with total precision attests. Alisson's problem is not his ability to kick effectively; it's his over-confidence in doing so when under a high degree of pressure from opponents. Even then though, it very rarely costs us and so I'm more than happy to see it continue (even if I'll concede that it's nervy to watch at times). So as I said, offside "chances" are not changes; they're offsides.

     

    That said, egged on by their consistently loud and supportive away fans, LASK kept plugging away when they could, including deep into the second half when already well beaten. However, they were unable to do anything about multiple further chances and goals for us, including a great effort from the recently revived Kostas who hit an absolute peach that was unlucky to hit the crossbar after he got over the ball well and struck it sweetly. Normal goal-scoring business was resumed soon into the second half though when Gakpo created his own opportunity to go one on one with the keeper and used a good burst of pace to edge the ball away milliseconds before being brought down for a penalty, duly dispatched by Mo to take him onto 199 goals for Liverpool. 

     

    Another game, another record for the main man. This was also his 16th consecutive game at Anfield with a scoring contribution (I won't mention the A word again) and he extended his European record for a player representing an English club to 44 goals. He's unbelievable - almost literally so. The guy has huge moments every single time he steps onto the pitch, regardless of the narrative around him - including from some of his own fans - that he doesn't dominate games. Chris said on the pod in the summer/early season that he'd give Mo another contract right now and I absolutely agree. We have one of the very best players in our entire history (certainly an all-time eleven player) who is adapting his game for new tactics and team mates in a changing body as he ages and yet he's still there game in, game out delivering. I see absolutely no let up in his hunger and it defies what we know of his ambitions as a player that he's simply biding his time for the Saudi call. That looks years away to me - if it ever comes (I reckon he'll want to retire at the very top with us). 

     

    The final goal came two minutes into injury time with Gakpo running onto an absolutely perfectly weighted fizzed ball from substitute Trent who'd run through the middle of midfield to do so. Cody cut onto his right and lashed it in beyond the keeper at the far post. 4-0, game over.

     

    So, given the other result in the group last night, we have qualified top and don't need to give serious consideration to this competition again until March. Don't get me wrong though - I badly want to win this. And we absolutely should win it too, playing this way. I see no reason at all why Klopp can't complete his clean sweep of trophies with Liverpool in Dublin in the late spring of next year. However, it's not just the prospect of further silverware that I'm appreciating about this competition; I'm also delighted to see how positively its affected our development, both accelerating and honing our transition into a new way of playing with lots of new or changing players. I'd never have chosen this route forward last season, but now we're here, I think it's obvious that Champions League participation would have made it far harder to rotate and develop players in the way we have so far in this campaign.

     

    Star Man is Cody who had arguably his best performance for us, with nods to Harvey, Joe G and the consistently classy Gravenberch too. 

     

    And so onto December which brings a step change in challenge for us, both in terms of the quality of opponent and the frequency of matches. However, as I've said repeatedly on the pod this season, could any of us seriously have expected such a rapid development in our football by this stage of the campaign? It seems that yet again Jurgen is defying received wisdom of what's possible in football and long may it continue. Given our strength at Anfield, I'm expecting a big December from us, regardless of the quality of opponent coming to try their luck. I remain focused on second as a realistic prediction of where we'll end the campaign. However, throw into the mix highly possible European and domestic cup wins and it's starting to feel like there's a really great end to a highly enjoyable campaign on the way.

     

    Come on you Reds!!!

     

    Team: Kelleher; Gomez, Konate (Alexander-Arnold), Quansah, Tsimikas (Chambers); Endo, Elliott, Gravenberch (Bradley); Salah (Nunez), Gakpo, Diaz (Jones):


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    Chelsea followed up their impressive 4-4 draw with Man City by shitting all down their own leg at St James’ Park. They’re definitely the most unpredictable team in the league. How can you possibly predict their results? Bonkers team. Generally they’ve played alright but they’re crap in both boxes and it's difficult to win regularly with those glaring weaknesses.

     

    They fell behind early against Saudi Arabia when they left Isak all alone in the middle of the box and he finished well. Chelsea then equalised in the most unlikely of circumstances. And I mean that literally, because I’d have said there was more chance of the keeper scoring with a clearance from inside his own box than there was of Sterling planting a free-kick in the top corner from 25 yards. He’s one of the last players on earth I’d want taking a free-kick, but fair dos, that was fucking boss. He did that thing that Ronaldo has been trying and failing with for 15 years. That one where you hit it on the valve with your laces and it dips wildly. Honestly, that’s such a great strike and it’s a huge shock, proving that the sun does indeed even shine on a dog’s arse somedays. Bet he could never do that again if you gave him a thousand tries.

     

    That was as good as it got for Chelsea though. Reece James had a torrid time, probably because he’s a right fat cunt. Seriously, look at the fucking size of him and his big arse. What’s he been doing during that injury layoff? Entering hot dog eating contests in America? Proper fat cunt. Seeing him waddling after Anthony Gordon was just embarrassing. Should be ashamed of himself getting into that state. He looked like he was pulling two caravans. 

     

    Trippier hit the bar with a free-kick before Lascelles headed them in front from a Gordon cross. Terrible defending from Chelsea and seconds later it was 3-1 when Joelinton took advantage of even worse defending. Thiago Silva had an absolute Jon Walters of a game. There’s a viral clip of him trying to do a little trick and then just falling over and conceding a corner, and for that third goal he makes the kind of mistake you just never see from a player like him. Father Time might have finally landed a knockout blow on him, which is a shame as he’s been an incredible player.

     

    Chelsea were all over the place after that and James got sent off for a second yellow when he pulled Gordon back. Obviously Gordon made a right meal of it as that’s what he does. Vile cunt him.

     

    James’ first booking was a bit harsh I thought. Technically he kicked the ball away but the ball comes to him just as the whistle goes and he’s about to be challenged. He instinctively just flicks the ball around the corner. I’m not saying he didn’t know what he was doing, but there’s enough doubt there that you shouldn’t card him for it. To then pull Gordon back when you’re already on a booking is just fucking stupid, but maybe he had a Just Eat order from Maccies waiting for him in the dressing room?


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    Before the game I’d have been made up with a point. After the game, I am made up with the point, especially as we had to come from behind to get it. That doesn’t mean I thought we played well though. We were ok, there were plenty of things to like about this, but we were nowhere near our best. Neither were City, despite Guardiola’s protestations to the contrary.

     

    The early kick off after an international break just doesn’t do this game justice. The Premier League are a fucking joke, letting the Manchester bizzies dictate to them like that. This is their showpiece game and it’s been watered down in quality by that kick off time. This isn’t sour grapes as I don’t think it hampered us any more than them. I’m just saying that neither team were near their best level and the spectacle suffered because of it.

     

    We got a point though and that’s all that matters. It’s a better result for us than them, especially given they had the lead and were at home. They’d have expected to win from there, I mean, they literally do win all of their home games. Every single one in 2023, in all competitions. Until now. That’s why we should be happy. I wouldn’t be happy to settle for a draw at any other venue (maybe Arsenal currently) but City are better than us and our record there is shit. So this is a really nice result.

     

    As for the performance, it’s a weird one because we deserved a draw and did not get outplayed, so we must have played pretty well. If we hadn’t then they’d have taken us to the cleaners like they do everybody else at the Etihad. Yet I couldn’t help but feeling a bit frustrated by our play, particularly going forward where we did not make the most of countless decent situations that should have been converted into decent chances.

     

    That has to be a good thing though big picture wise. Going to City and getting a deserved draw without playing anywhere near as well as we can does make you wonder what might have happened if we had played somewhere near our best. Equally though, we didn’t get City on their best day and they were without De Bruyne and Grealish, who along with Son have probably been the biggest thorns in our side in recent seasons. 

     

    I didn’t think there was anything surprising in Klopp’s team selection. Maybe Konate over Matip, but he’s not played much of late and Joel is in a better rhythm so I’d have leaned that way too. Curtis coming back in made sense because he keeps the ball and he’s our best presser. It didn’t work out like that in hindsight, but the selection made sense. Jota for Diaz was a coin flip really, but I’d have gone for Jota too. He was crap, but there was no way of knowing he would be as he’s been doing well lately.

     

    City were able to welcome back all of the players who missed the international games through injury. How about that eh? They all played the full ninety too. No matter how much he wins, Liverpool will always be front and centre in Guardiola’s mind. Sneaky cheating bald fuck.


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    Monday Nov 20:

     

    Just when I thought I couldn't respect him any less, Gerrard calls Ronaldo 'the GOAT'. Firstly, him using that term at all is irritating and its bad wool behaviour. Secondly, using it to describe Ronaldo is even worse. And thirdly, his fucking kid is named "Lio" after Lionel Fucking Messi!!! But because he's doing the Saudi PR thing he's now declaring himself "Team Ronaldo". What a knob.

     

    This Everton stuff is batshit mental. I feel like I’m living in some kind of bizarro world. I keep hearing people - not just Blues - talking about how harsh and unfair it is but nobody is saying why. It’s like they haven’t been bothered to read up on any of it and have just gone “10 points? Seems over the top” but that’s just not the case at all. It’s incredibly frustrating listening to this ignorance from people who are paid to talk about football. But then there’s the Blues themselves. I saw someone saying today that they’d lost the plot, but that implies they ever had the plot to begin with.

     

    The mental ones have gone even further off the reservation, but even the normally rational ones seem to have got swept along with all this. “Corrupt Premier League” they scream. Well, yeah. There is corruption and cheating in the Premier League but you are part of it and your club actually admitted it. They pleaded guilty, so the only decision to be made was whether there were mitigating circumstances for the staggeringly huge losses made. And the answer to that was “was there fuck”. They scream about it being unfair, about the PL being corrupt, about this conspiracy against their club but when you ask them why it isn’t fair they’ve got nothing. Just a shitload of irrelevant whataboutery.

     

    Whatabout Man City? Whatabout Chelsea? Whatabout when the Sky Six tried to leave the Premier League? I mean fucking hell, I know one who actually said “what about when Liverpool wore those t-shirts for Suarez”. And he’s one of the sound ones! Like I say, this has caused them to lose their fucking minds and lose all perspective about the situation. I get the feeling of injustice where City is concerned. I’d be pissed off if my club was punished when someone else has quite literally done things over a hundred times worse, but surely they can see that the City thing is way more complex and will take time, not least because unlike Everton City have not pleaded guilty.

     

    I’m really trying to see it from their point of view and understand why they’re so aggrieved, but as of yet I haven’t seen a single valid argument for it. I’m willing to listen if anyone can tell me why this is unfair, but all I’m seeing from Blues at the moment is this….

     

     


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  18. It might be an international break but there's loads going on so we're here to cover it as well as to look ahead to the big game at the Etihad this weekend.

     

    Diaz, Nunez & Szoboslai have been tearing it up for their countries, Trent has caught the eye in midfield and Evertonians are revolting. And they're unhappy about being docked ten points, badumtish!

     

    Chris Smith is joined by Julian Richards, Paul Natton and TLW Editor Dave Usher to discuss all of the above, plus we also answer some questions sent in by the listeners.

     

     

     


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    Monday Nov 13:

     

    It’s been over a week now and there’s been no mention about any charges for Arteta after his outburst against refs. That was as strong as I can remember anybody going after them, and he did it in about four separate post match interviews so it wasn’t just one heat of the moment comment. His club then put a statement out backing everything he said, and absolutely fuck all has been done about it. He repeatedly used words like “disgrace” and “ashamed” yet nothing has happened yet. What are they waiting for?

     

    I don’t even care if he had a point or not (he did) because loads of managers (and players for that matter) have had just cause to go after refs, but you still have to face consequences when you do. Except Arteta it seems. Let me just remind you that Van Dijk was suspended for one match and fined 100k for simply saying “that’s a fucking joke”. Nowhere near enough of a stink was made of that when I look back.

     

    In other news, Ederson is out of the Brazil squad which means Alisson will play their two games in this break. If I’m Alisson I’d pull out too, because fuck that coach for not picking him. Alisson is a man of God though and probably prays for that coach rather than bear a grudge against him. The easy conclusion to draw here is that Ederson will be fine for the game with us and this is City pulling their usual shit, but I don’t think that’s it. He may well play against us but that doesn’t mean he isn’t legitimately injured now. Ederson probably never thought he’d be Brazil’s first choice and he won’t want to give that up lightly. If he’s out of the squad he’s definitely injured because he’s not going to miss two important qualifiers and allow Alisson back in just because Guardiola wants him to rest.

     

    Hopefully it’s bad enough that he loses his foot, but failing that I’ll settle for him missing the game in a fortnight. Ok ok, I’m joking, I don’t really want him to lose his foot, that would be awful. The only City player I’d genuinely wish harm on is that cunt Bernardo Silva.


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    A good weekend for the most part, not least because of what happened to Spurs. Laugh? I nearly shat. It’s weird how much hostility I suddenly have for Spurs since that screw job we suffered at their place. It wasn’t their fault, but I don’t like how they reacted to it and every time I looked at the table and saw them above us it gnawed away at me because they shouldn’t be there.

     

    Now we’ll see them revert back to where they should be. Injuries have really caught up with them and they don’t have the squad to cope, but let’s also get something straight here, their first eleven isn’t anything special either. At best they’ve got the fourth or fifth best starting line up in the league but their league position seems to have caused some people to get a bit carried away about how good they are.

     

    The constant slurping of “Ange” is sickening too and the sooner people see him for the wrong un he is the better. You know I’ve got a gift for spotting these things early (Richarlison, Antony and Coady being good examples) and my radar went off with him very quickly.

     

    But he says “mate” a lot when he talks to the press so they all love him. That will wear off pretty quickly if the results dry up, which they probably will now they’ve lost some key players. They were totally outplayed by Wolves despite starting the game well. Johnson gave them the lead after a minute and they did have chances to extend that lead before collapsing late on. Not as many chances as Wolves had though.

     

    Wolves had dominated the game but couldn’t convert anything until stoppage time rolled around and they bagged two. The first is brilliant. The first touch from Sarabia to collect a ball fizzed into him is glorious. The finish isn’t bad either. Then right at the very death Lemina stole into the box to latch onto a Sarabia pass to win it. Hilarious. So Spursy. This is Spurs getting to the top of the league and then remembering that they are Spurs….

     

     

     

    Wolves are pretty good though. Well coached, some good players, just lacking that wee bit of a cutting edge and officials who aren’t trying to continually fuck them. If they had that, they wouldn’t be too far from the European spots.


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    Made up with that. We needed a result and a performance after the last couple of disappointing games and that’s what we got. It wasn’t perfect and on another day this could have been a much closer game than it was because Brentford did what they do well and gave us plenty to think about, but our superior finishing proved to be the difference.

     

    We took three of the chances we created, whereas Brentford took none of theirs. And they had plenty. They’re a right handful aren’t they? Especially against the better sides when they change their set up to 5-3-2 and play on the break. They don’t need much of the ball to cause problems and they had the two clearest opportunities of the first half, both of which came at 0-0 I think. If they take either of those it’s a different game. But they didn’t, and it wasn’t.

     

    Low key we’ve got something of an injury crisis going on and as a result of that our bench looked like a school kids day out. Robbo, Thiago and Bajcetic are long term absentees, Jones and Gravenberch we knew would miss the game, Macca was suspended and then Konate and Gomez were added to it unexpectedly. I may have forgotten about someone too.

     

    The starting eleven was still quite strong looking and we had Elliott and Diaz in reserve, but there was not a great deal else in the way of experience. I wasn’t surprised Diaz was benched but Harvey can consider himself lucky to have missed out, especially to Gakpo who isn’t a natural midfielder.

     

    It was only afterwards it became clear what Klopp’s thinking was with that; defending set-pieces. Not only was his starting line up effected by this, but he also left his subs much later than usual because he needed his tallest players on the field while the game was still in the balance. It’s a compliment to Brentford really, but Klopp knows the threat posed.

     

    With some opponents you’re wary about giving away corners or free-kicks in your own final third. You can manage that to some extent by keeping them away from your goal. With Brentford it’s not that easy. Look at their first chance of the game that should have led to a goal by Pinnock. It’s a foul by Endo in the Brentford half, but they sent everyone forward and the keeper (I think) knocked it long. A flick on, a cross, some confusion and before you know Pinnock has the goal at his mercy, seven yards out. He skewed his kick wide but even then there was a Brentford player a whisker away from sliding in and converting at the back post.


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