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Not the result we hoped for but it’s fine. Considering there were no goals, it was a cracking game. A classic European tie. We played well for a while but couldn’t capitalise on it and eventually we ran out of ideas. Bayern seemed happy to take a goalless draw and showed little interest in trying to nick an away goal. Hopefully they will live to regret that. Our defence played well, the midfielders were all impressive and Bobby was outstanding for someone who should have been tucked up in bed with a lemsip or a pack of immodium (depending on what type of virus he had). Had we been able to get one maybe we’d have gotten more, as some of the football we played was great (in the first half especially). Sadly we couldn’t finish it off and it allowed Bayern to become more and more comfortable. The finishing was poor but the final ball was often even worse. I’d say that was the only thing wrong with what was otherwise a good performance. If Sadio had been able to finish or if Mo had not continually ran into cul de sac’s we’d have been fine. I don’t think there’s any need for people to feel disappointed and there’s certainly no cause to be disheartened. Disappointing is drawing at home with Leicester or away to West Ham. This is Bayern Munich, serial winners, and a team who a couple of years ago would have been seen as being light years ahead of us. Now we’re facing them on an equal footing. In fact, we’re facing them as slight favourites. You could see the respect they have for us in how they approached the game. They were much more defensive than anyone expected and to be fair I thought they were very good, very composed and they passed it around nicely. That might have changed if we’d scored, but we’ll never know because we didn’t. They defended well, rode their luck at times and eventually they looked largely untroubled. I felt as though they had a goal in them too after how they played in that first half, but after the break they didn’t do much and seemed content to just sit in and keep what they had. It’s a first leg away from home against a very good side, so it's long been a tried and trusted approach. In their shoes though I’d be thinking this might just be a missed opportunity. No Van Dijk. No Gomez. No Lovren. No away goals. That's the biggest positive we can take from the night, the makeshift pairing of Matip and Fabinho stood strong and the clean sheet could prove to be the most decisive aspect of the tie. We'll see. The first half was a cracker. Chances galore and lots of nice football from both sides. Salah had a good chance that he couldn’t convert when Hendo picked him out with a glorious ball over the top. Not an easy one, and I’d have probably tried to head that in if it was me. But then I don’t have a left peg like Mo so that would be why. A diving header would have been easier than attempting what he did though I reckon. Bayern hit back straight away and almost took the lead with a freak own goal. Gnabry did brilliantly to skin Robbo and drill a low cross into the box. Lewandowski missed it under pressure from Matip, but the defender didn’t have time to react and side footed it straight into the chest of Alisson, who knew nothing about it. Bad moment there for 'Big Bird', and he had another one not long after. In fairness, it was more on Alisson than him, as the keeper dawdled on the ball (as he tends to do far too much) before just about smuggling it away to Matip, who was not expecting it and was caught completely on his heels. His feeble flicked attempt at clearing the ball was seized upon by Coman who struck the side netting. Mané then shot wide following the best move of the game. The way the lads worked that opportunity out of some tight spaces on the right was outstanding. Shame Sadio couldn’t finish it off. He’d have been better cutting inside and then releasing the overlapping Robertson, but instead he moved to his left and dragged his shot wide of the near post. He then wasted an even better chance when he didn’t realise how much time he had when a loose ball fell to him after Keita’s shot had been partially blocked. He could have taken a touch and picked his spot but he rushed it, tried to hit it on the turn and scuffed it wide from 8 yards. It felt like all our chances were falling to Mané, and he missed another opportunity from another blocked Keita shot, as this time his overhead kick went well over. Difficult one that though in fairness. Salah missed a great chance too when he headed wide at the back post after a gorgeously flighted ball in by Trent, while Matip put one wide after lovely interplay between Mo and Bobby had created the chance. So we had our chances, we just didn’t take any of them. The second half wasn’t anywhere near as good, mainly because the final ball kept screwing things up for us and because Bayern became more defensive. The longer it went, the more frustrating it was and the more inevitable the goalless draw became. Part of the problem was that Bobby eventually ran out of steam and had to go off to be replaced by Origi. With him went the link between the midfield and attack and it all became a bit too much about individuals rather than the collective. Not Divock’s fault by any means - it was others who were guilty of not passing - but the understanding isn’t there between him and the others and the dynamic understandably doesn’t function as well. There was one situation late on when he made a great run in behind and Mané just refused to pass it and instead went himself and lost it. That pissed me off because had he slipped him in we may have seen a repeat of Origi’s goal against Dortmund, as it was in the same area of the field. He could just as easily have fucked it up of course, but we'll never know because fucking Sadio didn't pass it to him. There was no excuse for not playing that pass and had it been Firmino or Salah making the run I expect he would have done. The closest we came to a second half breakthrough was a diving header from Mané that the keeper tipped around at his near post. Other than that it was just a lot of set-pieces that never really threatened to come to anything. The delivery wasn’t the best (Salah in particular is terrible on corners), but the real issue was the massive height difference between the sides. I looked at our lads in the box any time there was a corner and it was obvious that unless Big Bird somehow got his 50p head on the end of something we weren’t going to win any headers against them. We didn’t miss Virgil at the back, but we missed him on our attacking set-pieces. 0-0 isn’t a scoreline anyone expected but this is big boy football. It’s the European Cup; it’s not supposed to be easy. Just because we made it look easy last year doesn’t mean that’s now the norm. It isn’t. This is hard fucking work. It’s Bayern Munich, one of the giants of the game, and they’re not going to just come here and shit the bed. The ‘power of Anfield’ can work in two ways. It can intimidate the opposition and it can inspire our lads. Sometimes it does both. Bayern are too long in the tooth to allow themselves to be unduly affected by the crowd though. Mats Hummels was on the wrong end of it a few years ago so he knew what to expect (same with Arjen Robben) and he will have briefed the rest of them. The crowd were up for it but this wasn’t an all or nothing, high stakes, everything on the line game. It was a first leg, and we’re not big underdogs. That makes a difference and the intensity was perhaps not quite what it has been on other occasions. Maybe if it had been at fever pitch it might have unsettled Bayern, but probably not. The crowd were right into it in the first half and YNWA before kick off was great. I don’t know if George intentionally played it when he did but I’m not sure that turning it off after the opening chorus will be enough to stop UEFA from handing out a charge as the fans totally drowned out their anthem, and we know how they don’t take kindly to that. In the second half when the game began to drift, the crowd seemed to become increasingly resigned to the fact that we weren’t going to score but because this wasn’t a do or die type situation that’s almost to be expected. There wasn’t the frantic, manic atmosphere to drive the players on in the closing stages because this is essentially only the first half. The last thing we needed was to over commit and give away an away goal, which could decide the entire tie. I'd say there has been an over-reaction to the performance in some quarters. Watch the first half again and then tell me we didn’t play well. Yes it dropped off after the break and the second half wasn’t a good performance from an attacking perspective, but the defensive side of it was fucking boss. Almost flawless in fact. Alisson had nothing to do because the defending (and by that I don't just mean the defence) was great. Goal number one is to win the game. Goal number two is to keep a clean sheet. We achieved one of those so all in all it’s not a bad night’s work. I mean come on, we can’t win every tie in the first leg. We did last season but it’s not always going to be that way. The important thing is to not lose it in the first leg *cough* Man United *cough* , which we haven’t. The general consensus seems to be that this is a better result for Bayern than it is for us. Not for me, Clive. At worst it’s 50-50 but it might even be slightly in our favour thanks to the clean sheet. We don’t need to win in Munich. We just need to score and to not lose. Easier said than done of course, but it’s difficult for Bayern as well. They need to win (or hold out for pens and cross their fingers). They’re clearly a good side and there’s an aura of calmness and professionalism about them. They’re vastly experienced, been there and seen it all. You could tell. They never panicked and stuck to their gameplan well. It’s worth pointing out though that they didn’t muster a single shot on target. They had their threatening moments of course (mainly through the lively Gnabry), but they never seriously troubled a defence missing it’s top three central defenders. That’s being overlooked by many I think. They got to face a Liverpool defence missing Virgil and they couldn’t score. We had our number four and five centre backs out there against Lewandowski and he barely got a kick. It’s probably not going to be any easier for them in the return leg either, although the big difference there I suspect will be in their attacking ambition. At Anfield they seemed happy to keep everyone back and keep it tight. That’s not an option in the second leg and that will leave us more space to play in. Their right back is suspended now, which might unsettle their defence a little. He seems like a tit, and I don’t just mean because that jarg muzzy he was sporting. Did you see him shouting like a fucking loon in Sadio’s face after he made a tackle? Mané just laughed at him. It’s almost a shame he’s not playing in three weeks because I’m sure Sadio would be looking forward to having another crack at him, especially as he knows if he had his shooting boots on he’d have been going home with the match ball. Yet this prick tackles him once and is giving it the arl Marco Tardelli? We could easily go over there and lose. Only a fool would suggest otherwise. We could turn in a performance like we did in Paris or Naples and if we do then we’ll lose convincingly. It all depends on how we perform on the night and also whether we get the bounce of the ball. I’m not telling you we’ll definitely go through, I’m saying is that 0-0 is fine and that I saw nothing at all in this game to make me any less confident of progression than I was going into the tie. Star man is Hendo. A stonking performance from the skipper which I’d like to think will silence his doubters for a while, but I’m not that naive. Maybe if he follows it up with an equally impressive display on Sunday that will help. He’s got great performances in him but he just struggles to produce them consistently, partly because he seems to pick up injuries at the worst possible times. We need this Hendo for the rest of the season. Both centre backs were very good too (once Matip got over a couple of initial wobbles) and Naby looked lively again. The full backs weren’t at their best though. Trent was wasteful in possession while Robbo really had his hands full with Gnabry, who probably beat him more times than every other opponent he’s faced over the last year combined. Hopefully Mo and Sadio will be sharper in the second leg too, and more importantly (to me anyway) on Sunday. As big as these Champions League games are, they don’t even come close to what is at stake this weekend. I’m nervous already, whereas if I’m being completely honest I’d barely even given the Bayern game a second thought until kick off approached. I’ve had this United game on my mind for months though. I just want it out of the way so we’ll know exactly where we stand for the run in. By that I mean, every time we look at the table and see City above us, the consolation is always “we’ve got a game in hand”. It makes us feel better. It’s a comfort blanket. Until you actually stop and think about it and realise that the game in hand is THEM, and it’s THERE. It’s the least enjoyable fixture on the calendar at the best of times, but the stress factor is cranked up like never before this year. So come on Reds, let’s have you looking sharp in the final third, play to your best and let’s fucking do these bastards. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Fabinho, Robertson; Henderson, Keita (Milner), Wijnaldum; Mané, Firmino (Origi), Salah:

Liverpool played out a scoreless draw against Bayern Munich in the first leg of their last 16 clash at Anfield on Tuesday evening. It was a cagey affair with both teams lacking their usual fluency in the attacking third of the pitch, but in a defensive sense it was a first class display by both sides.Heading into the eagerly awaited clash, one of the big talking points was the absence of Virgil Van Dijk through suspension.With Joe Gomez and Dejan Lovren out through injury, the question was who was going to fill the sizeable void that the Dutchman left.While captain Jordan Henderson put his hand up for the role, Jurgen Klopp went with Fabinho who had played at centre back with former club Monaco, and also for the Reds against Brighton last month where he looked right at home.Partnering Joel Matip, the defensive midfielder had to face the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry but instead of shying away from the responsibility, he took it all in his stride.One teammate who was keen to highlight the performance of the Brazilian after the contest was Andy Robertson.Metro reported the left-back as saying:" Yeah, different class."The good thing is we haven’t had a game in ten days so me and Fab have been working together in training and trying to work on a partnership."Of course he would prefer not to be playing there but I thought he did a great job for us."He put in some great tackles in the box but of course we’ve got Virg back for the next leg but Fab did the job we needed to do. "We all stuck by him, we all protected him. But he didn’t need it." After needing time to find his feet in a new league, the performances of Fabinho have been on a rapidly upward curve during the last few months which is a major bonus as we head into the crucial final months of the season.What is also a bonus is the fact that the 25 year-old is so comfortable playing in multiple positions of the pitch which in the modern game is so vital.While the overall result was not what Jurgen Klopp and his players would have wanted before kick-off, it was certainly not a disaster either.Klopp knew that his team was not at their best on the evening, but is well aware that there is plenty to play for when they meet again in three weeks time."On the game, we made our life a bit difficult today with the last pass. "I don’t know how often, maybe 10 to 12 times, there was a promising situation either a counter-attack or on the edge of the box but we immediately shot [the ball] into their legs, it doesn’t make too much sense. "The positive of course is the result, it’s the best possible draw you can get but we can play better, we should play better.After not playing for 10 days, perhaps it is a blessing we got that sort of performance out of our system before we play our most important game of the season to date on Sunday.

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson is confident his side has what it takes to last the distance in the title race while competing strongly on the European stage.While title rivals Man City were in action in the fifth round of the FA Cup on the weekend, the Reds were taking part in a training camp in Marbella which came at the perfect time with so many big games just around the corner.In the past, Liverpool sides have routinely struggled when they have had more than one competition on their agenda.As recently as 12 months ago, the team were taking all before them in the Champions League, but in terms of the league it was another story where they dropped 10 points immediately following a Champions League fixture from the round of 16 onwards.The drop off in league form saw Liverpool make extremely hard work of top four qualification, which was only sealed with victory on the last day of the season against Brighton.The Mirror reports Henderson saying that a repeat is not on the cards:“I feel as though we have got a good enough squad to cope with the games when they are coming thick and fast."It is down to us to keep performing, no matter what competition it is. We will give everything and just be mentally ready for the next few months."It is why Marbella was such an important week for us to get ready." Naturally there is a lot of outside noise at this time of the season, both with fans growing in expectation, and the football pundits analysing every facet of the title race.Henderson says they cannot focus about what has been said and it is all about striking the right balance between light hearted banter and keeping their mind firmly on the job.“Whatever is being said outside, you can’t get into all that. For us, it is about focussing on the next game. We are in a good place at the minute, so hopefully we can put on a good show."We have just been the way we always are and we have just enjoyed going to work every day with a smile on our face."We have been having a joke but as soon as we go on to the training field, it is down to business and we are focused on what we need to do and it is very serious. "That is the way it should be.”The captain has had a stop-start campaign due to some niggling injuries and extra competition in the midfield has meant that he is not a automatic selection when fit. But being a leader means that you sometimes have to sacrifice your own game for what is good for the team. In more recent times, Henderson has been deployed at right-back covering for Trent Alexander-Arnold. The 28 year-old is more than willing to play at centre-back in the absence of Virgil Van Dijk for the first leg of the last 16 clash against Bayern Munich but it is believed that Jurgen Klopp will use Fabinho in the position.Whatever the position he plays between now and the rest of the season, Klopp will be relying on the experience of Henderson to keep the ship steady and steer it over the line in first place.

Saturday Feb 2: L 3 Bournemouth 0. Yes! There you go. The Reds are back. 4-3-3, Bobby and Mo back where they should be and just like that we’re back to the 17/18 team that scared the shit out of everybody. Results wise we’ve been incredible this season, but the performances have generally taken a bit of a dip. If we’re going to stay ahead of City then we need the fire and brimstone, tear your a new arsehole attacking football from last season. This performance was a big step on the road to where we need to be. The opposition has to be taken into account, as Bournemouth aren’t the most difficult side to play football against, but on this form anybody would struggle to deal with us. The front three were dazzling, the full backs were great and the midfield was probably as good as we’ve seen it all season. This was Naby’s best game, Fabinho was terrific and Wijnaldum was the best player on the park. Gini actually had the wildshites in the build up to the game and said he was worried he might shit his shorts during the game. Imagine being able to play as well as that under those circumstances. I won’t even leave the house when I’ve got the shits. When he plays with this freedom to get forward and make runs he’s a brilliant player. His problem is because he’s so good at everything and can adapt his game to do whatever Klopp needs him to, sometimes we don’t see him making those runs. I want to see him given license to do that every game because when we have midfielders breaking beyond the forwards (Ox does this brilliantly and we’ve missed him) it gives us an added dimension and makes the front three even more difficult to handle. If we play like this at Old Trafford then I’ve been worrying over nothing. Sunday Feb 10: Mo has shaved off his beard. Not sure I’m a fan of this as I tend to not like change, and I’m also superstitious. Why risk it now, with so much at stake? I don’t want him turning into ‘Chelsea Mo’ and never scoring any goals. The pictures did make me laugh, as although he’s clean shaven he’s still got a 5 o’clock shadow. Like when Homer gets a shave and within a second or two it grows back. That was the only thing that made me smile today, as Spurs won again and those Chelsea losers let in six at Man City. How the fuck does one of the big teams let in six goals when they have all eleven players on the field? It shouldn’t happen. Ever. It’s Arsenal behaviour that. Chelsea started the season well and Sarri’s methods were being lauded. Seemingly all it took was for opposing teams to stick someone on Jorginho and stop him getting on the ball, and the whole thing fell apart. Doesn’t take much for that squad of players to become disillusioned with a manager’s tactics though does it? And when it happens, they just stop playing. That was a disgrace today and it’s not all Sarri’s fault. He’ll be the one to carry the can though, and those players will all live to kill off another manager in the next year or two. I just hope Reds don’t get disheartened by this result today. Other than goal difference, it doesn’t matter if they won 1-0 or 6-0 as its three points either way. Psychologically it might have an impact as it fuels the whole “oh look how scary Man City are” narrative. To me it changes nothing though. This doesn’t make them any better or worse than we thought. They’re the same team that lost to Newcastle two weeks ago. It says a lot more about Chelsea than it does City. I don’t feel any differently about our title chances today than I did yesterday. City will win most of their games, we knew this. Hopefully they slip up once or twice and then the rest is up to us. Monday Feb 11: Ramsay is getting 400k a week to join Juve. This is a joke. This kind of shit is not doing football any good. Players getting stupid money as a reward for running down contracts doesn’t help anyone except the players. Juve pulled this exact same shit with Emre Can and while I’ve barely even given him a second thought this season and I don’t think we’ve missed him one jot, that’s not the point. Other players will see the eye watering salaries Can and Ramsay are getting and it will encourage more of them to let their contracts run down. Not just that, you’ll always get the dickhead copycat clubs that will see Juve doing this and think that’s what they need to do to compete. When you have good but not great players like Can and Ramsay making that kind of dough, it only makes the great ones think “what the fuck? How’s he getting more than me?”. And that’s not going to end well for the clubs. The rest of Europe’s big clubs need to get together and beat the shit out of Juve and steal their lunch money, the absolute weapons. Meanwhile, the squad fly to Spain for their warm weather training. Gomez is left behind but everyone else based at Melwood has travelled, meaning there are places for some lads who some of you won’t really know anything about. Hell, I’ve always made it a point of pride to keep abreast of what’s going on with the reserves and youth teams, but even I couldn’t tell you anything about what type of player Isaac Christie-Davies is. It’s a good chance for some of the lads to stake a claim for next season though. My boy Adam Lewis in particular really needs to catch the eye, because Moreno is off and there’s a vacancy there for the back up job to Robbo. The main thing is they don’t come back with the fucking ebola virus or whatever it was that swept through there camp after their last little jaunt to warmer climes. Tuesday Feb 12: Ok, so those reports were wrong yesterday. Gomez isn’t the only one to miss out, as Lovren was not in the travelling party either. This makes him a big doubt for Bayern next week. Even if he recovers in time it’s not Klopp’s way to throw players in when they haven’t had at least a few days of high intensity training. So it’s going to be Matip and Fabinho playing in that game. Not ideal, but it’s the home leg and hopefully we’ll be more on the front foot anyway and won’t have to defend too much. The bigger problem is that means no Fabinho in midfield, and he’s becoming more important by the week in there. By the time we play the away leg Virgil and Lovren should both be back in the mix so fingers crossed we’ll have a good result to take over there. Unlike the Mancs, who have to travel to Pais chasing a 2-0 deficit after being taken to school by the oil cheats tonight. The Goblin’s unbeaten record went up in smoke as PSG thoroughly outclassed them. This is interesting to me because they did it without Neymar and Cavani. They exposed United for what they are; a flawed team with a shite defence. They’re dangerous in attack and because of that Solskjaer has been able to get them punching their weight in a way that Mourinho never could. They have too much quality for the shit teams but tonight showed what can happen when they face genuine quality. There’s a blueprint there for us when we go there the weekend after next. I feel a little less dread about that game now, especially as Martial and Lingard both look like they’ll be out for a while. Losing to them would be a horrendous feeling regardless, but it would definitely be worse if Lingard and his cunt face was out there celebrating. Wednesday Feb 13: I see Keita and Mane both tapping up Werner through the press. Don’t like this at all. We’ve been on the receiving end of this shit from Barcelona and it’s annoying as fuck, so it’s not cool having our lads do it. Especially as I’m not sold on Werner. If they were tapping up Mbappe then I’d be right on board with that, which makes me a stinking hypocrite but that’s ok, most football fans are and I’m no different. Keita says Werner is one of his best mates. That’s fine then, WhatsApp the shit out of him every day telling him how boss it is here. Get Sadio in the group too seeing as how he seems to love Werner so much. Just don’t be saying shit to the press about it. On the field tonight, Spurs beat Dortmund 3-0 at Wembley. Mad how they’re just grinding on relentlessly even without Kane and Alli. I’m putting it out there now though. Dortmund are still going to knock them out. 5-1 over there. You heard it here first. As for us, well the kids are through to the next round of the Youth Cup after a 2-0 win over Wigan. No surprise that Glatzel and Duncan got the goals. I switched it on at half time but I could only take 20 minutes of the second half before I switched it off, as it was awful. They’ll need to play much better than this if they’re going to go any further. Don’t know why Hoever and Jones aren’t playing in this either. I know they’re in the 23s now, but they’re still eligible and at one time the Youth Cup was seen as such a big deal that clubs would always put their strongest teams out. Sometimes you’d even get lads who’d played first team football moving down to play. I guess it’s suffering in the same way as it’s big brother, the FA Cup. No-one's arsed anymore. Thursday Feb 14: Really interesting stuff from Ljinders today in an interview with Neil Jones on goal.com in which he revealed the reasoning for the formation change we’ve seen this season. It was about getting Fabinho in the side, as he wasn’t ready to play 4-3-3. “For Fabinho, to play in a midfield three as we did at the start of the season, we knew it would take time. His impulse of defending forward is absolutely of the highest level, elite. The question as a No.6, though, is that you are moving more side-to-side than forwards. “Then, of course, you have to adapt to the league and the team. We found a good solution to change to 4-4-2 (4-2-3-1). And from that moment it helped so much, and then you saw the real Fabinho.” We did, but it came at a cost. Not in terms of results, but it really hasn’t helped Bobby. Or Salah either, although it hasn’t hurt him as much as it has Firmino. Mo’s done well and is still scoring, but sometimes he just gets marked out of the game when playing through the middle, and Bobby as a 10 has just not worked in the way many thought it would. He’s played there before and at one time it was seen as his best position, but in that ‘false nine’ role he’s as good as anybody. Now that Fabinho looks to have fully adjusted to 4-3-3, I’m excited to see whether we can go on the kind of tear that we did this time last year. Also today, there’s some discussion about our wage bill and how it is now apparently higher than Man City’s. The Echo ran an article on it outlining how the Reds have double the amount of staff working in various admin roles and maybe that has played a part. Really? That annual amount probably accounts for a week’s wage for Aguero. It’s irrelevant. This is simple really. The reason our wage bill is higher is because our wages go through the books. Arsenal lost to BATE in the Danny Welbeck Cup tonight. This is great, not because they’ll get knocked out as no doubt they’ll win the home leg and go through, but it’s still dead funny seeing them losing. I saw on Twitter that BATE have only ever beaten English clubs twice (the other one was Everton 10 years ago) and that Mustafi was playing in both games. He should have that on his headstone, the absolute bum. Friday Feb 15: Allan moves on loan to Fluminense after Eintracht Frankfurt terminated his spell with them (he played four games). What’s the point in this then? He’s been loaned all around Europe since we signed him in a bid to help him qualify for a work permit for next year, but he’s not pulled up any trees and now it seems the only option was for him to go back to Brazil? Not that I’m arsed. Klopp has said plenty about how talented this lad is, but his performances on loan clearly haven’t backed that up. There's as much chance of him playing for us as there is of the other loan ranger, Taiwo Adeyemi, ever coming back and forcing his way in. Conor Coady signs a new deal at Wolves to apparently ‘end speculation of a return to Anfield’. Who was speculating that then? He’s a good lad, a massive Red and he’s done well at Wolves, but he’s nowhere near the level of player we’ll be looking at this summer if we're in the market for a partner for a Matip (or maybe Lovren) replacement. He plays in a back three for one thing, and how do you even scout a centre back who plays in an entirely different system and style to your own? It’s virtually impossible. Good luck to him though, I hope he’s been given a good wedge there as its nice to see Academy lads doing well for themselves. Case in point, we’re being linked with Ajax wondered De Ligt again. £75m apparently. Juve are said to be interested to, so presumably nobody has told them he’s still under contract. Speaking of everyone's least favourite scabby bastards, according to Tuttosport, they want Mo and are prepared to send Dybala (who they value at £135m despite him scoring only two goals all season) here in part ex. Gee, that’s nice of them, eh? Fucking hell. I know nothing about ‘Tuttosport’ other than when I hear the name I’ve always thought it sounded like the Italian version of the Sunday Sport, and stories like this do nothing to change my mind. I bet their front page was “Genoa man turns into frog after sucking off man in Kermit costume”. Have to admire the delusion of it though. The only reason way leave top PL clubs to go to Juve is when they’re available on freebies and Juve can completely distort the market with insane wages. File this one away with Genoa man / Kermit the frog. and that was the week that was...

Watford edged the Z-Cars derby thanks to an Andre Gray strike. My boy Troy's pre-match pleas fell on deaf ears as loads of fans brought rubber snakes with them to show what they think of Marco Ssssssilva. Or should that be $ilva? Either way, they think he’s a twat. There was all sorts of aggro after the game too as Everton fans reportedly began attacking Watford fans as they came out of the stadium. There's two sides to every story of course, but let's just say that Watford aren't exactly known for the reputation of their 'firm'. Probably Millwall's fault though. The goal came from a corner that shouldn’t have been given, which just makes it all the more amusing. The ref should have known that wasn't a corner as Pickford was never going to get a touch on that shot. Not with those little arms. Zouma was sent off after the final whistle for getting in the refs face to complain about it. That derby game really did do irreparable damage to this Everton team. Only for the fact they’d picked up a fair few points earlier in the season, they’d be in the relegation mix right now as they’re free falling. The countdown to the second coming of the Moyesiah is well under way now. The Mancs extended their unbeaten run under the Goblin with a routine 3-0 win at Fulham. The Londoners started brightly and had a couple of great chances to take the lead but, as usual, their car crash defending would prove to be their undoing. I hammered Ranieri recently for picking that Tim Ream bum, but after seeing the performance of Maxine Le Marchand I now have some sympathy with arl Claudio, as if this is the alternative no wonder he went with Ream. The Frenchman was more like Tim Ream than Tim Ream himself. You'll do well to find a worse performance from anyone all season. Then there’s the keeper, allowing Pogba to score at the near post like that. Shite. Fulham basically handed this game to United with the kind of defending (and goalkeeping) that has no business in any of the top four divisions in England, let alone the top one. I’m officially giving up on Fulham now. You can’t defend like they do and hope to have any chance of doing anything. Not even Lazar can save them. Cardiff though, they continue to defy the odds. Their win at Southampton was huge for both teams. As much as everyone (including me) seems to just be assuming they will go down, their players seem to believe otherwise. Going to Southampton in a six pointer and coming away with a stoppage time winner says a lot about them. And maybe says even more about Southampton. That little bounce they had when ‘Useless’ was sacked and the new fella came in seems to have gone now. This result puts them right back in the mix to go down. I don't believe they will, but losing at home to Cardiff suggests it might be trending that way. Sol Bamba put Cardiff ahead and immediately charged straight into the away end to celebrate with the fans. He’s boss him. He was having a laugh with some of them on twitter afterwards too, as one of them broke his glasses in the celebrations. If you’re a team at that level you’d love someone like him, he's a proper leader. It looked like that would be the winning goal but then Stephens equalised in stoppage time. Huge blow for Cardiff, but incredibly they went down the other end won it through Zohore. Their first back to back wins in the top flight since the 1950s. Mad that. Not sure I’m comfortable with all this “we’re doing Emiliano proud” talk though. Warnock was giving it all that afterwards, and while I understand that he’s trying to pay his respects in his own way, the lad didn’t know anyone at the club, hadn’t played a game for them and if he’s up there somewhere watching footy, chances are he’s watching Nantes and not Cardiff. Cardiff's win tightens things up down there, especially as Brighton lost to Burnley and are now only three points above the drop zone. The Seagulls are struggling, which only serves to show just what an amazing job Hughton has done there. Player for player, they are probably in the three worst squads in the league along with Cardiff and Huddersfield. They were last year too, but they finished mid-table because Hughton did a great job. They fell behind to a Chris Wood strike after the striker was left in the clear when Lewis Dunk fell over. He added a second after the break and then Barnes made it 3-0 from the spot after being felled by the keeper. Duffy pulled one back but Burnley were comfortable winners and are now level on points with Brighton. Stuart Atwell though. Fucking hell. At 2-0 Brighton should have had the clearest of penalties. Somehow both he and his linesman missed it, and 15 seconds later he’s giving one at the other end. The Burnley pen is a little dubious for me. Barnes was brought down by the keeper, there’s no doubt about that, but Wood picked up the loose ball and put it wide of an open goal. The ref brought it back and gave the pen, but my question would be; if Wood had scored would he have ruled it out to give the pen instead? I suspect he would have allowed Wood’s goal to stand, so by that logic it probably shouldn’t be a pen. Fucking sick of Burnley and their dubious pens though. Two in seven days now (or two in two years depending on your point of view!). They’re getting as bad as Palace. Arsenal won away. Not something that happens too often. It was only Huddersfield though, and as I said last week it’s almost as though that shouldn’t even count now. Iwobi’s deflected volley put the Gunners ahead but Huddersfield could have had a pen when my boy Puncheon’s shot was blocked by the hand of Koscielny. The defender hit the deck holding his balls and the ref fell for it. Defo hit his hand first though. Lacazette fired in Arsenal’s second after good work by Maitland-Niles and that proved decisive, as Huddersfield pulled one back in stoppage time when Kolasinic put through his own net. The Huddersfield fans are great. They’re still making noise and getting behind the team. They get a corner when they're losing 4-0 and they're still roaring encouragement. They’ve never turned against the players or lost enthusiasm, even though they’ve basically been down since around October. Fair play to them, no doubt they'll have plenty to cheer about next season as I'd be surprised if they're not in contention to come back up again. They need a couple of goalscorers though. Over at Selhurst Park, Wilfried Palace missed a shedload of chances in a 1-1 draw with West Ham, whose fans taunted Zaha by chanting “you’re not good enough for England”. I saw something on Twitter in response to that which made me laugh. Zaha isn’t even English but he’s represented England more times than Mark Noble. I’m a big fan of Wan Bissaka but I saw something from him in this game that really concerned me, and I don’t mean his hair. He was just ambling back when Anderson was running clear. He could have caught him if he had sprinted, but there was absolutely no desire from him to get back in there and defend. Alarming that. West Ham took the lead when the keeper flattened Antonio and Noble despatched the spot kick. Benteke was denied by Fabianski and McArthur and Batshuayi both missed sitters before Zaha eventually squeezed in the equaliser with the aid of a deflection. He almost won it right at the death too but was denied by Fabianksi. Onto Sunday now, and a game I saw someone refer to as 'El Plastico'. Very good that. Just what the fuck were Chelsea playing at though? Not football, put it that way. I was fairly sure they'd lose, but not like this. Top sides should NEVER lose like this, no matter who they are playing. Not unless they have a player or two sent off anyway. Chelsea are a disgrace and although it's partly on Sarri and his one dimensional tactics and unwillingness to compromise on them, the big problem is that toxic group of players. How many managers are they going to see off because someone at Chelsea realises they have a problem with the culture at the club? Loads more hopefully, because as things stand they're no threat to us. At 0-0 Higuain fluffed a chance. So much for proving me wrong eh? Man’s a fraud. Always has been, always will be. F-R-A-U-D. Of course he’ll probably score against us now that I’ve said that, but it won’t change anything. Kevin Lisbie once scored a hat-trick against us and he was shit too. A minute after that miss City had the lead. Of course it came from someone getting in behind and firing in a low cross to Sterling at the back post. Chelsea’s defending on that was Fulham-esque. So amateurish. Minutes later they were undone again. Bernardo Silva down the side, low cross to the back post, but Aguero incredibly put it wide. That must have pissed him off because the next time he got the ball he lashed it into the top corner from 25 yards. It was 3-0 almost immediately as Barkley headed the ball back towards his own goal straight to the feet of Aguero. Once a Blue always a Blue eh, you breeze block headed cunt. Gundogan made it 4-0 and there wasn’t even half an hour gone. Carra summed it up perfectly when he said that Chelsea have morphed into Arsenal. Of the top clubs, only the Gunners have it in them to get their pants pulled down like this against a rival. Aguero made it 5-0 from the spot after Sterling had been hacked down. Hat-trick for him, but the funny thing is that all anyone wanted to talk about was the dramatics of Mike Dean as he pointed to the spot. He’s a massive tool that fella but he’s hilarious. Sterling bagged the sixth and I’m not even going to tell you how it came about. Textbook City, and further proof of how badly prepared so many teams are. That keeper is fucking shite as well. How come no-one is talking about that? Imagine the media coverage if Alisson had been shit. This lad cost even more money and has been a shambles so far. I see Aguero still doing interviews in Spanish because he’s just flat out refused to learn English despite having played over here for about ten fucking years. Lazy cunt. Sarri refused to shake Guardiola’s hand afterwards. No idea what his reasoning was, but I wouldn’t want to shake his hand either as he’s a fake nice guy twat. Sarri will be getting a handshake soon though. A golden one. Also on Sunday, Claude Puel left out Vardy at Spurs because he “wants to develop other options”. How about you develop them against someone else, you whispering fucking prick. He compounded that fuck up by then bringing him on to take a penalty (after the latest Maddison dive), which of course he missed. That would have made it 1-1 after Spurs had led through a first half goal from Sanchez. Minutes after the penalty miss Eriksen made it 2-0. Vardy pulled one back but with Leicester pushing hard for an equaliser they got caught on the break and Son made it 3-1. Spurs just keep spawning wins despite hardly ever looking any good. The only time they haven’t managed to do it was against United. They were the better side that day but their spawn isn’t as strong as United’s. Son was booked for diving, which is par for the course with Spurs as it happens every week. If it’s not Son it’s Kane, or Alli, or Lamela. All diving bastards. But let’s talk about that Mo Salah fella eh? Finally, Wolves and Newcastle on Monday night. I almost shit a lung at the finish to that game. So, so funny. Newcastle deservedly led and looked like they would pick up a massive three points on their fight to stay up, but a crazy passage of play in the dying seconds ended with Boli heading the ball out of the hands of the keeper as he tried to catch a cross that had been completely mis-hit. Was it a foul on the keeper? I don't know. Maybe. The keeper should have done much better, but usually refs will take the easy option and give the free-kick. This ref didn't, and Rafa looked like he was gonna keel over as he was so red faced and mad. That's not why I thought it was funny, I felt kind of bad for him as he'd done a number of Wolves tactically. It was funny because all night was that the cameras kept showing the away end and all the shirtless knobheads in there. They thought they were going back up the North East with three points, but instead all they got was a kick in the nuts. Laughing at Geordies is one of the joys of being a football fan. They're not as funny as Evertonians but they're a distant second. Finally, have you seen the state of Newcastle’s new signing? Some Paraguayan lad they bought from the MLS. He came on as a sub and I was like "what the fuck is that?". He looks like a worm with eyebrows.

If there a player who knows a fair bit about putting the ball in the back of the net it is Michael Owen. While his departure from Anfield and future career path was contentious to say the least, what can't be denied was the impact he had at the club, scoring at a ratio better than one goal every two games for the club across all competitions during his eight season spell.The former England international has identified an area of the squad which he thinks Jurgen Klopp will look to strengthen in the summer.That is the role of back-up to the superstar front three of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mo Salah.When you get three players with such natural talent who play in the same frontline you normally find that ego comes to play.But the sense of joy that they have playing together is clear to see, and the fact that they are such a close unit is just as much a strength as their overall consistent output. However, it is fair to say that if any of that trio is missing for a period of time, the drop off is pretty stark.The current duo of Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi and previously Dom Solanke and Danny Ings have had some opportunities to show their worth over the past couple of years.While each have had 'moments', there is nothing to say that they can provide that on a consistent basis.Owen says that a world class forward is not required in this situation, but someone who can play a solid role brought the season.The Mirror reported Owen as saying:"I mean, where do you go? How do you go and target someone, and they say ‘am I going to start?’ and you have to say 'no, Salah will start or Mane will start.“You can’t go and get an absolute top player, unless they only have a couple of years left in their career."Or you go and buy the next young thing and maybe bleed him in for a year or so. "To go and get someone in the guts of their career, at 24 or 25, that’s so hard, and that’s the only player that can really improve teams like this one.“I know it’s a dream for everyone (to sign world-class players) but it’s so hard to improve your team if you are in the top six, unless you’re not happy with one of your players and you look to replace them. "But Liverpool have a great front three, and so if they’re going to buy, it would more likely be one of the options I mentioned.” Jurgen Klopp has a number of exciting prospects in the academy ranks such as Rhian Brewster, Liam Millar, Bobby Duncan, Paul Glatzel and Glen McAuley who will develop naturally over time. Most, if not all will spend time away from the club to hone their skills in the same way that Harry Wilson and Herbie Kane are presently doing. On their return, the hope will be that they will be able to hit the ground running and make a strong impact for the first team. Ben Woodburn would have been a perfect candidate for this role, but sadly his career has stagnated somewhat over the past year and it remains to be seen which direction he will go from here.But Owen raises a fair point where you need one or two players who will accept a secondary role in this current Liverpool set-up, and be able to have a knack of producing when the opportunity arises.Depth is becoming a ever increasing factor in the modern game, and Klopp would love the luxury to rest Bobby, Sadio and Mo from time to time and be sure that their replacement can fill in adequately.Lets hope that we can identity some candidates in the months ahead.

Hey look, the Red Arrows are back! It’s been a while but their return couldn’t have been more timely. It was a must win game but we also needed a performance to lift flagging morale and to blow up the tiresome “they’re bottling it” narrative. If one defeat all season is classed as “bottling it”, I’ll have that every year. That being said, we all know that our form hasn’t been good for a little while now and even when we were winning every game it wasn’t always dazzling. This, however, was dazzling. This was the football I remember from last season when we were blowing teams away. Speed, skill, speed, intensity, speed. Did I mention speed? How satisfying was it seeing those lightning quick counter attacks from opposing corner kicks? That’s one of my favourite things in football; seeing us clear a corner and then everyone going “chaaaaaaarrrggge!” Even Virgil was right up there in the box for one of them late on. Exhilerrating. I don’t care that it was ‘only Bournemouth’ and that their style of play suits us. That helped, obviously, but it wasn’t the reason we looked so good. To me it feels as though Klopp did some soul searching after Leicester and West Ham, and at the end of it he went back to the tried and trusted. Back to what he knows works; 4-3-3 with Bobby in the middle and Mo on the right. I don’t know why he has veered away from it for so much of this season, particularly as the 4-2-3-1 has never really looked that convincing. In flashes it’s been good and it helped get us to the top of the table so there is that, but we’ve never looked as fluent playing that way as we did when we were running roughshod on all of Europe last season. I guess despite the results there’s been a part of me this season that has kept thinking about the blistering football we saw for much of the previous campaign. Don’t get me wrong, I like how we’re winning more games than last year, but the performances have rarely been as thrilling as much of what we were treated to a year ago. This felt like a return to that. It’s only one game though, so we’ll see. The change back to 4-3-3 was the key to it for me, and specifically how Salah and Bobby were deployed. No doubt you’re as tired of reading me complaining about the lack of width as I am about writing it, but look at the difference it made having Mo starting wide, hugging the touchline and then coming inside to open space for Milner. By stretching the pitch like that it opened up room for others to play in. Specifically Bobby, who looked so much happier in his number nine role. It hasn’t worked as a ten. He’s had flashes here and there, but much of the time he’s looked lost and ended up coming far too deep just to get on the ball. This is his role. The role in which I wouldn’t take anybody else in world football over him. Keep him there now please, Jurgen. The other big difference in this game was the forward running from midfield. This is something I don’t get at all. Gini can do this all day - he’s fucking brilliant at it - but we hardly ever see it. Fair enough when he’s playing as the six, but why don’t we see it when he plays in one of the two box to box roles? I’m 100% sure it’s not because he doesn’t want to do it, so it must be that he’s playing to instructions. When he makes those runs though he causes havoc. Remember when he replaced Ox against Roma last year and absolutely destroyed them with those runs in behind? I love seeing this, but it doesn’t happen enough. The front three were great in this game but it was Gini’s runs beyond them that was the main catalyst for how good we looked in the first half. It emerged afterwards that he’d been battling the wildies in the build up to the game, and Gini himself admitted that he had to run off as quick as he could at half time because he needed to go. I had this a couple of weeks ago and I wouldn’t even leave the house. As I mentioned in the ‘week that was’ I still somehow managed to shit myself anyway. So fair play to Gini for taking that risk in front of 60 odd thousand people and millions watching around the world on TV. What a man. Bournemouth were ideal opponents because they have a go, they always do. That approach tends to work much better for them at home than on their travels though, and that made it easier for us than if we’d been playing Cardiff or Newcastle. The flip side to that is they have players who can really cause problems if you’re not on your game. Thankfully two of their best ones were missing (Callum Wilson and David Brooks), but they still had the first real chance of the game when my boy Ryan Fraser cut inside and forced a save out of Alisson. They were throwing men forward when they had the chance and Jordon Ibe looked like a lad out to prove a point. He played well I thought. At least as well as it’s possible to play when you’re up against the mighty Robbo. Maybe Bournemouth would have caused us more problems had Brooks and Wilson been available, but with the Reds in this form I don’t think they had a chance regardless of who was playing. I like Eddie Howe but he’s becoming a bit of a cry baby every time he loses to us now isn’t he? He had a point about the offside goal we scored at their place a few months ago, but bitching over our opening goal in this game was just clutching at straws. Apparently his coaching staff told him it was clearly offside. They must have been looking at the doctored screenshots on Twitter rather than the actual video replays then, because Sadio is level. And even if he was off by an inch or two that’s hardly cause for complaint. Mané is on a roll at the moment and is scoring every week. He should have had more than one in this game but missed a great headed chance in the second half after a delicious little chip from Gini had picked him out. One thing I’ve noticed about him recently is that he’s fucking brilliant at finding space in the box to win headers. He’s only little but his movement is fantastic and it’s making him difficult to pick up. Against Leicester he won two headers from corners just because of his movement. If Van Dijk and Matip had that kind of movement they’d be hitting double figures easily. Of course Matip would have to learn how to head the ball on target first (head like a 50p piece that lad), but you know what I mean. It just looked much more like us in that first half I thought. There was a vibrancy and a confidence about everything we did. Both of those things have been lacking of late. Mo was picking the ball up on the right and then looking to play one twos, usually with Bobby, and the full backs were continually getting down the sides. The corner that led to the opener came from Milner being played in behind, while Robbo was having a lot of joy on the other side too. The thing that really got my juices flowing again though was the return of the old fast break. I remember writing last season that we’d undergone a complete 180 when it comes to opposition corners. We went from “oh shit, we’re in trouble here” to “YES! We’ve got you now!”. Virgil heads them out and if we collect that loose ball on the edge of the box, then look out, it’s the charge of the light brigade. We had one in the first half and I think three in the second. None ended up with the ball in the net, but at least three of them should have done. The first one saw Keita find Mané, who played a perfect ball down the line to a sprinting Firmino. He collected the ball and saw Gini flying through the middle. The ball was perfect and it was set up nicely for Wijnaldum to get his shot away, but he unselfishly squared it to Salah instead. It wasn’t a great ball and Mo didn’t look like he was expecting it anyway. His shot was woeful. Next time Gini got in behind he didn’t pass the buck, and instead produced a nonchalant little lob over Boruc to make it 2-0. Just a lovely goal that. Nice assist by Robbo and a gorgeous finish by Gini. It was the run in behind that made the goal though. As I said, I don’t know why we don’t see more of that. It’s really hard to defend because a lot of midfielders don’t like tracking those runs or simply don’t see them in time. Steve McMahon would score double figures every year based on that type of run, and although the game has changed since then, it hasn’t changed to the point where runners from midfield don’t cause absolute chaos in a defence. This was brilliant from Gini, now let’s see him encouraged to do it every week. Salah was within a whisker of making it 3-0 when he picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box and unleashed a stunning volley that Boruc just about tipped over the bar. Great technique that. We had other chances too, but it was in the second half when we really started to hit our stride and tear them apart. It’s hard to believe we only scored one goal in that second half, because some of the football was sublime and Bournemouth just couldn’t cope. Few teams would be able to, so let’s hope this is what we’re going to see for the rest of the way now. The third goal was sexy as fuck. It might be my favourite goal of the season, at least aesthetically. Origi’s derby winner will take some beating in terms of ‘favourite’ goal, but this was glorious. It all started with a throw in. Mané did well to collect the ball and turn out of trouble to find Keita. He saw Firmino making a run and delivered an inch perfect ball with the outside of his foot. There was a shooting opportunity for Bobby but the angle wasn’t favourable and he was being rapidly closed down by Ake. Somehow he managed to see Mo making a run behind him and he just rolled the ball backwards into his path without even looking. Salah did the rest. It was a special goal that. Mo hit the bar after a similar move a little later. Again, the reverse pass from Firmino was glorious. Keita blasted over the bar when he should have scored and Bobby hit a tame shot at Boruc after another breathtaking counter following a Bournemouth corner. That attack summed up everything that is great about this team. It was Virgil’s header that had cleared the initial corner but when Firmino took the final shot, who was there right next to him wanting a pass? Yeah, big Virg. I’m still annoyed at Bobby for not taking another touch and then teeing up the big man. That would have been one of the all time great goals if he’d done that. We had another one too when once again the corner was cleared and Mo went haring off down the left. He played the ball into the box for Origi (who had come on to replace Bobby) but it was a little bit behind him and he had to slow down to collect, and ended up falling over. I’m good with us not finishing off any of those counters though because I’d rather we saved a couple for Old Trafford. Imagine scoring one of those types of breakaway goals there. Great to see Trent back in action too and he almost marked his return with a goal after another brilliant move. The only criticism would be that we didn’t score more and boost our goal difference. We were miles behind on that front, then remarkably we pulled it back and had an edge over City, but now we’re a long way back again. Hopefully it doesn’t come down to that, as we’ve been on the wrong end of that once before and it’s the worst way to lose. The win put us top again, albeit only for 24 hours thanks for that Chelsea, the fucking tool downing, toxic bunch of cunts. City have played a game more, thanks to the Premier League allowing them to bring forward their easiest game of the season to get extra points on the board, so we’re level on points with a game in hand, which on the surface is a great position to be in. The problem is who the game in hand is against, and where it’s going to played. I’ve said for weeks that we’re only going to know exactly where we stand once that game is out of the way. If we’re still top after playing at Old Trafford then we’re in great shape. If we aren’t, it’s going to be tough. I mean it’s tough either way, but that game really is massive. I’m not going to worry about any of that now though. I had a moment this week that put things in perspective and made me realise how daft I’ve been in allowing the stress of this title challenge to ruin my enjoyment of what is statistically the best season we’ve ever had to this point. You may have read about ‘the moment’ in the week that was, but if not I’ll give you a brief explanation here. To cut a long story short I found myself unloading all of my ‘problems’ on a poor unsuspecting Blue, and at one point I actually uttered the words “being top isn’t all it’s cracked up to be”. Fucking hell, I actually said that. To a Blue! That was the moment I knew I had to try and find some perspective and stop letting the pressure of it all ruin the enjoyment. Judging by the atmosphere in this game, I don’t think I’m alone in this (although I’m pretty sure no-one else inside Anfield will have tried to explain to an Evertonian how it’s not all champagne and roses being top of the table!) as we’ve all realised that the jitters that have engulfed a lot of the fanbase isn’t helpful, especially inside Anfield. The crowd were great, but it’s easy to be great when the game is under control from an early stage and the result was never really in doubt. My gut feeling is the fans would have still done their job even if the game had been close, but until we’re in that position again we won’t know. I just know I feel much better about the whole thing having hit rock bottom last week. It helps massively that the team responded the way they did and I feel much more relaxed about the whole thing now that the Red Arrows are back. If we keep playing as we can, then we won’t go far wrong. If we somehow come up short then it will be heartbreaking, but worrying about that now is pointless. I’m not going to allow myself to dream about winning it, so why should I make myself miserable worrying about losing it? What will be, will be. Star man is Gini, but there were strong performances all over the park. Virgil was imperious, Robbo was brilliant as usual, Milner was Milner, Matip had a solid enough game, Fabinho is just a really good player, the front three were on fire and this was the best game Keita has had. He didn’t do anything mind blowing, but he was confident, assured, inventive, busy and was involved in pretty much everything. Made up for him, let’s hope he’s turned that corner now because if he can be the player we thought he was going to be then he could give us the little extra push we need to get over the line. Team: Alisson; Milner, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Wijnaldum (Alexander-Arnold), Keita; Salah, Firmino (Origi), Mané:

If Liverpool fans are looking to follow the progress of a rival player with a sense of fondness in their heart, they shouldn't look further than Bournemouth's Ryan Fraser.The Scottish winger has made his choice of who he would like to see lift the title this season, and he has voted in favour of the Reds.The Liverpool Echo reported Fraser as saying:" I just like watching good football, and I like the way Liverpool play. "They’ve been waiting for it for a long time, and with the players they’ve got, they’ll do it, I think. They only got beaten in one game, and you know what it’s like, people say they’re under pressure.They’re not, are they? Everyone gets beaten, and they’re still at the top of the league. I just think it was a little blip. I’ve got nothing to do with it, but I would like to see them win the league". Fraser's teammate Steve Cook was also glowing in his admiration, and this time it was the fans which won his praise." You could see that the crowd were going to play a major part in the game. I haven’t quite heard an atmosphere like it today, especially when they scored."The Liverpool fans got behind their team. I’m sure they’re going to play a huge part from now until the end of the season.”Cook, the Cherries veteran who played a starring role in Bournemouth's stunning 4-3 victory against the Reds at the Vitality stadium in 2016, also passed comment on the form of Klopp's men which also impressed him greatly. “The way they attack is really difficult to defend against. They don’t really give you much chance to get your game going, its really tough to play against."On this showing, it’s hard to see Liverpool dropping too many points again. But this is why everyone loves this league, because you never know what you’re going to get."If they go on to win the league, I’m sure they’ll fully deserve to do it.”While there is sure to be a certain group of individuals who couldn't bear to see us raise the trophy come the end of the season, it's great to hear the thoughts of two current professionals who are not afraid in saying they think on the matter. Fair play to them.

For those who have been around Football long enough, they would have heard plenty of tales of the weird and wonderful variety. This latest story comfortably fits into the former category. Gini Wijnaldum has been one of the most consistent members of Liverpool's starting lineup throughout the season and his absence from a knee injury was most certainly felt during the Reds 1-1 draw against West Ham on Monday night.The Dutchman was scheduled to return for the crucial clash against Bournemouth on Saturday and while he produced his standard performance which included a sublime goal (just his second in the league this season), on the face of things, all what was not what it seemed.Sky Sports reported Wijnaldum as saying:"Thursday night I had a tablet from the doctor for my knee. It was a tablet that could induce stomach pains. I took it and I had a pain and thought it was from the tablet. In the end I was vomiting and everyone was a little bit scared."I didn't train on Friday and I didn't sleep at the hotel either because they thought I might infect other players."The manager called me and said 'Do you think you can play?' I said I was as positive as I can. "In the morning I was still weak and had diarrhoea. The tablets helped a lot but even at half-time I had to run off to get to the toilet. I was like 'Oh no!'. "I ran inside and I managed to control it!"That was undoubtedly a relief for all concerned.Wijnaldum knew the importance of Saturday's result especially on the back of dropped points against Leicester and West Ham.While frustrated with those results, the affable 28 year-old took a glass half full approach to the season as a whole."We had two draws in a row and that didn't feel that good. But if we had been told that at the beginning (of the season) you will have this kind of points (65) everyone would have taken it."It could be better but we must appreciate where we stand, you can see the improvement. "You could see at the beginning of the season we improved. We just have to keep it going." While there is a school of thought that Liverpool should drop their interest in progressing to the latter stages of the Champions League to focus fully on their quest to win the league, Wijnaldum believes they can battle on two fronts."We have to see how it is going to work. I think we can play both. You never know but a lot of times it goes well."Last season the Champions League went well and we dropped a lot of points in the league. But I don't think it was because of the Champions League."For now, a bit of rest and recuperation is in order for the squad as they head to Spain for a training camp this week, before facing Bayern Munich in the first leg of their last 16 clash at Anfield next Tuesday.

Saturday Feb 2: Gomez is having an op. There’s no timescale on his return but he is expected to play again this season. Yeah, heard that before so I’ll take it with a pinch of salt. What the fuck has gone on here? History repeating itself, that’s what. Last season he got injured, it was mis-diagnosed and it caused him to miss the run to the Champions League Final and also robbed him of a place at the World Cup. Same thing has happened here. He was meant to be back already, but someone got it wrong and now he’s having a fucking operation and we’re stuck with Big Bird from Sesame Street playing alongside Van Dijk because of course Lovren is injured again too. We’ll be playing against Bayern Munich with Big Bird and Fabinho in the middle of the back four. Can’t wait. Sunday Feb 3: City cruise to a 3-1 win against Arsenal. Can’t say I’m shocked by the scoreline but I didn’t expect Arsenal to be as bad as they were. I thought they’d have a go but that their awful defending would prove their undoing. I was half right. Their defending was staggeringly shit but they didn’t even have a go. No shots in the second half. Fucking shitbags. Don’t expect Chelsea to do anything next week either, or Spurs when they go there. If City drop points it will be to someone you least expect it to be. They’ll be zoned in against Chelsea and Spurs. Chelsea got beat 4-0 at Bournemouth last week and the players have quit on Sarri. On paper Spurs could give City a game, but on grass they never do. Bad day all around really as United won as well. Nine wins from ten for the Goblin now, but one man isn’t impressed as Paul Ince says “I could have done what Solskjaer has done”. Yeah, course you could. Fucking hell. Solskjaer might’t be the greatest tactical manager in the world and what he’s done there might just be as straightforward as simply playing the best players in their best positions and allowing them to express themselves, but you know what Solskjaer is not doing? He’s not stood on the touchline with a little notepad, writing the word “SHOOT!” on it. So pipe down, guv’nor. Over the pond tonight we saw the worst Superbowl in living memory as the hated Patriots won again. Their opponents were the Stan Kroenke owned LA Rams, who thoroughly embarrassed themselves with a pitiful showing. Kroenke should be used to such gutless displays though as he also owns Arsenal. Worse than the Patriots winning was having to see Harry Kane’s slobbering gob on TV. He was over there watching the game, and of course he’s a Patriots fan. I’d have been staggered if he wasn’t, the front running, glory hunting twat. The only surprise is he din’t somehow end up on the field claiming the MVP award. Southgate was there too, as was… wait for it…. David Moyes. Ok, time out here. The Superbowl is always referred to as ‘the greatest show on earth’ and tickets for it are like gold dust. You generally have to be a somebody to go to a Superbowl. At least that’s how it used to be. Letting that deadbeat Moyes in there changes everything. It’s lost all credibility. Monday Feb 4: West Ham 1 L 1. That was so demoralising. I can live with the two dropped points but how we look right now is really terrifying me. The thought of not winning this title fills me with dread, and performances like this are making the possibility seem all too real. I hate that I’m being such a shithouse, but I can’t help it. I had no confidence about tonight at all. I’ve been dreading the game all day. Against a fucking West Ham team who’ve just been spanked by Wimbledon and Wolves. How am I not confident about playing them? We’re top of the league and have lost one game all season. And I’m shitting myself about playing these losers? The worst part is I was right to be worried. We should have lost. They had better chances than we did and the one goal we scored was a mile offside. What’s happened to our form? Can we not just go back to what worked, with Mo on the right and Bobby at number nine? Mo has been hit and miss at centre forward but Bobby has been mostly shite in that number ten role. Half the time he doesn’t look like he knows what he’s supposed to be doing and he was shambolic tonight. Get back to basics. 4-3-3, counter pressing, running all over teams. I know sometimes that’s not possible depending on how the opposition play, but it’s all but disappeared since the Arsenal game. This season we’re doing great, so how come I enjoyed last year more? I dunno, it’s weird. I should be loving this as it’s what we’ve always wanted, but instead I’m just stressed out and miserable. Could have done without Jurgen kicking off about the ref on a night when the two linesmen did their best to hand us three points too. There have been times when he'd have been justified in letting the ref have it with both barrels, but tonight wasn't one of them and this just plays up to the shitty "they're bottling it" narrative. Tuesday Feb 5: Carra is stirring things up ahead of tomorrow night’s game at Goodison and is doing his best to light a fire under the Blues by suggesting they always roll over for the Manc teams whenever one of them is going for the title. He’s right, but it’s not going to make a scrap of difference. At least half the crowd will be wanting to lose, and if history tells us anything then half the players will look disinterested too. Some of them will give it a go but it won’t matter because they’re shite anyway and have zero chance of beating City. That might sound a little OTT given that Newcastle beat City last week and Everton are better than Newcastle, but there are some key differences. The Geordie crowd were bang up for it and gave their team everything to help them over the line. Everton won’t have that. The biggest difference though is Newcastle have Rafa and Everton have Silva. One knows how to an organise a defence, and one has conceded six goals in a game with all three PL clubs he’s managed. Rafa could get eleven lads from the crowd, spend a week training them up and still not concede six goals. Meanwhile, Fabinho had this to say about our tactical approach: “Often, we want to go through the middle and it is difficult against physically strong and defensive teams. We need to find solutions and in these past few games we haven’t.” Yeah no shit Sherlock, I’ve been writing that week in week out all season. John Barnes is in the news today after his defence of Liam Neeson and attack on Winston Churchill. Wise words from Digger, as always, but he’s never issued a truer statement than when he rapped “there’s only one way to beat them, get round the back”. Wednesday Feb 6: Jesse Lingard is asked who he’d rather win the title, us or City. He replied “My voice is a bit sore, I can’t answer that”. How can your voice be sore you thick manc twat? We all know he’d rather City win it and that’s fine, I get it. At least he didn’t say it though (and in doing so pledge support for City), so I’ll give him credit for that. If the situation was reversed and it was United and Everton (don’t laugh) going for the league, I’d probably want United to win. My reasoning is purely because Everton haven’t won anything for so long whereas United have won plenty. I wouldn’t want the Blues ending that drought. If both had won something in recent years then I’d want Everton to win. So I get why United fans want City to win, but what I don’t get is how they can revel in it like they did after 2014. It's the least shitty outcome, but it's still a shitty outcome. Them singing about Gerrard slipping is glorifying their neighbours winning the title. Sad, thick cunts probably don’t see that though. Not sure where I’m going with this other than pointing out United fans are thick knobheads and I hate Lingard. On the field tonight, City had a stroll to three points against an Everton side without it’s three best players, who Marco Silva rested because he’s so desperate to beat Watford at the weekend. Imagine being a Blue. What an utterly horrific, joyless existence it is. Meanwhile, Tim Sherwood knows where we are going wrong. “Allowing Coutinho to leave” and the “incredible” decision to loan out Clyne, which was “a massive error”. It’s not just Sherwood either. That other oracle of knowledge Chris Sutton is in agreement. “Letting Clyne leave on loan – with no ability to recall him – is the biggest mistake Klopp has made at Liverpool. It could cost them the title.” I’m also of the opinion we shouldn’t have loaned out Clyne but it’s being overstated there. We didn’t draw with Leicester and West Ham because of who we had playing at right back and that wasn’t the reason Salah and Firmino did fuck all at West Ham. There are a number of things I’m worried about right now, and the right back position is not at the top of that list. Thursday Feb 7: Ox is in the CL squad. He won’t play against Bayern but should be available for the semis if we get through. If the football Gods didn’t hate us so much I’d be tipping him to score the goal that either wins the title or lands us the European Cup. Given how things usually go for us he’ll probably put through his own net or miss a pen in a shoot out. Glen Johnson was on Talksport today and the Suarez / Evra stuff was all brought up again. I’d forgotten how great Johnson was through all of that. He was one of the few who had the balls to call out Evra over the whole handshake fiasco. Jeez, those were some stressful times weren’t they? The amount of time and energy I spent on all that stuff was ridiculous looking back. It was the injustice of it all though. I hate injustice and there was so much shit went on there to stitch Suarez up. It still bothers me even now, even after he fucked us off and then acted as an estate agent for Coutinho to get him over there too. As horrible a time as it was, there is one incident from that period that cracks me up every time I think of it. After Evra stitched him up over the handshake, United’s players were fucking steaming at Luis and Ferdinand had completely lost his head. In the first minute he went charging over with bad intentions, but Suarez ducked out of the way and Ferdinand took Evra out instead. If we’d have won that game it would have been one of the all time great moments. But we lost, because it’s United at Old Trafford and that’s what always seems to happen. As rabid as they were that day, it will be nothing to how worked up they’ll be in a couple of weeks. Twats. Speaking of United, they gave a new contract to Phil Jones today. Great stuff. Hopefully Smalling gets one too. Friday Feb 8: Ok I’m drawing a line in the sand now over this rampant shithousery I’ve been displaying in recent weeks. It stops here. Now. It’s completely understandable that I and others have been stressing out about the possibility of not winning the title after getting ourselves into such a strong position, but I had an epiphany tonight and from this moment forward I’m going to focus on the positive and just try to enjoy the race we’re in. What happened? I’ll tell you. Tonight I was at my daughter’s footy training and I was talking to one of the other dads. Lovely fella, possibly the nicest Evertonian I’ve ever met. So the conversation starts with me saying how shite the Blues are and it can’t be much fun for him going to the games. He was quite philosophical about it, and the subject comes around to us and the title race. He didn’t really say anything other than “it’s interesting” and “we’ll see what happens”. As for me? I was crying it in like a good ‘un. Telling him how I’m not handling it very well, I’m shitting myself about going to Old Trafford and then, finally, the coup de grace. I said to him “I know this is where we all want to be, but honestly, being top of the league isn’t all it’s cracked up to be”. Yes, I actually said that. To an EVERTONIAN! He’s too nice a fella to say to me “cry me a river you ungrateful, spoiled redshite twat” but that’s surely what he was thinking. Hell, a few minutes afterwards when I got back to the car that’s what I was thinking. I told my daughter what I’d said and she was pissing herself. I may as well have gone up to a homeless person and complained about my bedroom being too warm at night time. What an absolute fucking weapon I am. It took that low point for me to realise the ludicrousness of the entire situation. It means too much to us and that is bringing a pressure that wouldn’t be there if we had a recent title or two under our belts, but we’re in mid February, top of the table (technically we’re second but that’s merely a result of the PL bringing forward City’s easiest game of the season) and have only lost one game. Statistically this is the best season in the club’s entire history, and I’m crying to an Evertonian about how “being top isn’t all it’s cracked up to be”. Fucking hell. What an absolute shithouse. That stops now. We have to enjoy these times and what will be will be. If there's heartbreak at the end of it then I'll worry about it then, not now. Up the Reds! and that was the week that was

Liverpool returned to winning ways with a impressive 3-0 win against Bournemouth at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.First half goals by Sadio Mane and Gini Wijnaldum was followed by a Mo Salah strike three minutes into the second half.Bournemouth missing the creative touches of David Brooks and strike power of Callum Wilson had no answer and fell to yet another away day defeat which is their eighth in succession.While the win was more than welcome especially after two frustrating draws, another pleasing factor of the victory was the game of Naby Keita.The performances of the Guinea international who turns 24 today (Happy birthday Naby) has been a major talking point throughout the season.While fellow midfield summer signings in Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri have shown encouraging signs, Keita has never really settled as he has battled niggling injuries and inconsistent performances.Jurgen Klopp has pleaded for patience in regards to the £50 million signing saying that he will come good in time.One player who knows all about adapting to a new club and having to be patient is Andy Robertson as he was in the same boat last season.The Scottish captain who on Saturday registered his 11th assist since debuting for the Reds (most of any defender during that span) was very impressed with the performance of Keita and told the Official site that he can gain a lot from that as we move into the crucial last couple of months."I thought that Naby was excellent. He has taken a wee bit of time to settle in but today was probably his best performance in a Liverpool shirt. I’m sure he can take a lot of confidence from that, which he will."He’s young and he’s had to take time. But if you look at all of us, Fabinho had to take time, me, Chambo. There’s a kind of pattern emerging that you need to settle in and you need to learn the way to play and things like that."I think everyone forgets how young Naby is, he’s only a young boy. I thought today he was a different class. I’m sure his confidence will be sky high after today.”"He’s a fantastic player and the more he shows it the more people will start talking about him. In terms of the victory, Robertson said it was pretty much a complete performance, goals from the front line and midfield, and the defence keeping things tight at the back.The left-back also says that every win in the division should be savoured."In this league it is so hard to win games and you have to work for every inch that you get. And you have to work for every goal that you score, and thankfully we did that today."Bournemouth, two games ago, beat Chelsea 4-0. So, they are having a good season, they have a good team and a good manager. But, overall, I thought we deserved the win and we deserved the clean sheet, and it probably could have been more.While winning is obviously vital when aiming for a league title, the other thing you need is the supporters to drive you on during games.Robertson was glowing in his appreciation of the Anfield crowd on Saturday."It was brilliant. The fans got behind us, they were in nice and early and they got behind us from the first whistle. It always makes a difference."But we know we have to put on a performance to match that. We need to put in a performance to get the fans onside; to win our tackles, to score goals, to create chances. "That’s the only way you are going to get fans off their seats and that’s in any league at any time.The squad now heads off to a warm weather camp in Spain for a few days, before a massive stretch of games starting with the first leg of the last 16 Champions League clash against Bayern Munich a week on Tuesday.

Jurgen Klopp has urged his players and the supporters to focus what is ahead of them and forget what has gone before as Liverpool aim to get back on the winning track against Bournemouth at Anfield today.Plenty has been made of the Reds inability to win their last two fixtures against Leicester and West Ham, while their main rivals Man City have made the most of that mini blip and climbed back to the top of the table albeit having played a game more.You would expect a sense of trepidation and panic to creep into the mind of a manager in this kind of situation, however you get a sense that Klopp is loving the challenge.The Liverpool Echo reported Klopp as saying:“The reality is that if you want to be champions of the league, you have to fight until the last matchday. "That is completely normal and what we have to do."To be in that fight is very positive – a big achievement – and we have to make sure the people see that again on Saturday.“We have no influence if people want to be overly critical. We can not change that immediately. What is on offer is a tight race until the last matchday."Make yourself ready. Fasten the seatbelts and let’s go.” The German is fully aware that the current narrative for his side is one of lost opportunities.However, he has been around long enough to know he can't change what people think.“For us, I did not see what they all say they can see in our faces."When I talked to the referee after the game (at West Ham) they said now he is nervous.' I did not think it but I cannot change it."There was never a guarantee this season. People always wanted the biggest gap in the world, pretty much, 25 points, whatever, and then only three games to go. That’s nice, but it’s not the reality."The two clashes against the Foxes and Hammers have seen Liverpool lack any kind of fluency in a attacking sense, while the defence which had previously been the strength this season, has started to look a bit vulnerable under pressure.Klopp knows they have to improve their game once again if they want to realise their title dream this season but maintains there were mitigating reasons behind the sluggish displays. “We are very critical. In the outside world, we can never use any real explanations because it’s then always used as being an excuse."But internally, we have to talk about why it was a bit more difficult. It’s not cool if we cannot train with the team we want to play."We still should have performed better, especially in the Leicester game. The pitch didn’t help. Nobody has to write that any more. It’s just a fact. It made the game really difficult."West Ham was always a tough place to go and a few other teams realised that already. "Getting a point there, and having more chances, stuff like that, which nobody even thinks after the game, it’s like you have to dominate them constantly and they are not allowed to have anything."That’s the situation we are in, but that’s not a problem. We expect ourselves to do better. We are not blind to our problems, but it’s not as serious as people make it. That’s the truth.”There is a view that injuries to members of the back four have contributed the team conceding five goals in the past three games, but the manager was not using that as a excuse.“It is never cool if you have to change but the goals we conceded were not because of the changes to the last line."If you look at the goals and make the analysis, the goal against West Ham and Leicester had nothing to do with the last line. That is the 100% truth."The goals against Palace, maybe, we had to change a lot in the game and had a red card. It is always better if you can keep seven or eight players always playing and change three or four and keep it like this."As Klopp says, when expectations are raised, more questions follow when things don't go to plan.The best way to answer that is to claim the three points in the fixtures ahead.And that is what the Reds aim to do.