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Trent Alexander-Arnold has become the latest of a growing list of Liverpool players to commit their long term future with the club.The good news comes just a few days after fellow full-back Andy Robertson signed a extension for a similar length of time, believed to be five years.The 20 year-old Academy graduate has been somewhat of a revelation since becoming a full time member of the first team squad at the start of last season.Alexander-Arnold has refused to let his inexperience be a detriment to his development, tacking the biggest challenges in the game head on, be it a Champions League final or on the centrepiece of international football - The World Cup.The joy of signing the new deal was evident in Alexander-Arnold's reaction.The Official website reported the youngster as saying:“I’m ecstatic and really proud."I feel privileged to have the support and the trust the club has in me to offer me a new deal. "There was no doubt in my mind to sign and extend the years I have with the club. Hopefully we can achieve a lot of success in those years.“As soon as they offered the contract, there was no hesitation whatsoever. "The thing that made it easiest for me was having the people around me to make sure I was able to focus on football as much as possible and get the deal done as soon as possible."That is down to my brother especially, my manager, who took that role and allowed me to focus on football and not get distracted, which is the main thing." Over time the announcement of a key player re-signing has come as a relief to fans, but you haven't really been able to read too much into their inner thoughts.Their comments have been pretty stock standard and to the point.In contrast, when you read the quotes from this current squad of players, it is entirely evident how much joy and overall excitement they have playing for this team.Something special is going on at the club and they all want to be part of that.Alexander-Arnold eluded to his whirlwind past year and a half.“The last 18 months especially have been very special. Hopefully the next 18 months and even further on than that will be even more special.”The average age of Alexander-Arnold, Robertson and Joe Gomez is not even 22.While Alisson (26) and Virgil Van Dijk (27) are certainly well and truly still in their prime, and with that, it appears the best years of this defensive group is still ahead of us.Exciting times for all concerned.

Jurgen Klopp has poured cold water on any suggestions that Philippe Coutinho may be returning to play for the club.There has been a deal of speculation in the January transfer window that the Brazilian is growing increasingly frustrated over his lack of regular game time at Barcelona and possibly looking for a return to the Premier League.Naturally, Liverpool was linked along with Man United, but Klopp says that any reunion is certainly not something he has given any thought to.The Liverpool Echo reported Klopp as saying:" That is something I don't want to talk about. I would not say it is a potential transfer or a likely one." Nothing to say and whatever I would say would open more stories and there is no story." Phil is at Barcelona and as I know he fits really well and everything is fine."The 26 year-old has started in all of Barcelona's Champions League games this season, but in the league it has been a different story where he has only started in 10 games and a substitute in seven others. Coutinho's average minutes played in La Liga this season is 65, compared to 77 in the Champions League and domestic cup competitions combined. Coutinho has four league goals during this campaign, but his last one came at the end of October when he opened the scoring in a 5-1 rout against fierce rivals Real Madrid. The attacking midfielder certainly had his heart set on moving to the Catalan giants and while it would be unfair to call it a complete failure at this point, he must be wondering whether if it was the best move in terms of his own career.A penny for his thoughts also regarding the progression of Liverpool since his departure.The uproar that surrounded selling arguably Liverpool's most precious of diamonds in the middle of a season seems like a distant memory, yet it was just over a year ago.Having a manager with unshakable belief in his own methods and full faith in his squad is essential in those difficult times.It's what the club lacked during the Luis Suarez transfer saga, and the proof was in the pudding.In the Klopp tenure, the Coutinho departure is another example that a strong team ethic will always triumph over a individual.The German is someone who places loyalty at the forefront of his values.He will back in his players no matter what anyone says, but it you don't want to be a part of in any way, the trust is lost.Reading between the lines in this case, don't bet on Philippe returning to play for the club anytime soon.

Gini Wijnaldum says he believes Liverpool can lift the Premier League trophy in May and says it would be stupid to think otherwise.The Dutch midfielder who is having a fine season for the Reds, said that any sign of negativity or self-doubt creeping into the camp during the second half of the campaign would be a bad sign. Sky Sports reported Wijnaldum as saying:I think it would be stupid if I said 'no' [I don't think we will win]." If you ask people from Manchester City 'will they be champions?', they'll say 'yes'." It's a bad sign if you say no, but we'll see what happens until the end of the season. "We will give everything we have, try to win every game and see what happens at the end of the season. There's still a long way to go.While Wijnaldum was talking about the bigger picture, his mind soon switched back to the upcoming challenge, that being a unpredictable Crystal Palace outfit on Saturday at Anfield."I'd prefer to speak about games, like now against Crystal Palace, than about the Championship. "We just want to make the season as good as possible."We are trying to give everything during the season and hope we will succeed in the season. "When we look back at the end of the season we will say, 'Ok, what we have right now, we gave everything to reach that."Wijnaldum says a slight advantage for the league leaders could be when they are scheduled to play before City, which happens this weekend.Speaking from prior experience in Holland, the 27 year-old said getting a win on the board, puts a deal of pressure on the chasing team(s). "I had the feeling it felt like an advantage when I was at PSV (in 2015), we felt like we were putting pressure on Ajax whenever we won a game."However we didn't put pressure on ourselves."We went out, tried to enjoy it and win the game - and we won nearly every game so it worked well. We concentrated on our own game, that's the only thing you can control."Gini speaks a lot of common sense here. It would be all over the press if he displayed any kind of self-doubt on our prospects of winning the title, yet he got on the front foot and spoke in a considered and sensible fashion.Belief is the catch word for the team and if they can maintain that, good things will happen.

Jurgen Klopp has expressed his absolute delight over the re-signing of left-back Andy Robertson on a five year deal. There was some speculation during the festive period that a new deal for Robertson was in the works, but there was no official news until yesterday when it was confirmed by the club. It continues a fine pattern of re-signings made the club in recent months which include Joe Gomez Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino. The Scottish defender had to bide his time for a opportunity in the starting line-up after signing from Hull for the bargain fee of £8 million in the summer of 2017.After a untimely injury to the incumbent in Alberto Moreno, Robertson took his chance with both hands and it is fair to say that he has been a revelation ever since.Robertson has been exceptional in a defensive and attacking sense, there is another impressive side to the 24 year-old.While some players believe their footballing talents alone are enough to have a impact at a club, Robertson is cut from a different clothIt is the overall personality of the Scottish captain which has won the admiration of his teammates and fans alike.After having to do the hard yards in the early part of his career, it is clear that he is loving every second of his current situation.You can see that it means a hell of a lot to Robertson that he is playing for Liverpool Football club.And as a fan, you cannot ask for more than that. Speaking to the Official site, manager Jurgen Klopp expressed his delight that his left-back has signed on for the long term." I think of all the contract renewals I have been involved with, this one was done in almost record time."It’s fair to say Robbo didn’t hesitate for even a second when we spoke about extending his stay at our club for longer.“I remember when we signed him back in the summer of 2017, I spoke a lot about ‘his story, his journey’ and how much I loved it and thought it pointed to the type of person and player he would be for us. "He might be from Glasgow originally, but everything about him screams Liverpool."Klopp alluded to the difficult start that Robertson made to his Liverpool career, and the patience which he displayed when waiting for his opportunity was to his great credit."It has been fantastic to see him grow, develop and improve. It was not the easiest of starts for him maybe, because we are blessed with another fantastic left-back in Alberto Moreno. "He had to be patient - he had to be ready when his chance came and his progression since is an example to any player joining us."Klopp also discussed some underrated qualities that Robertson has.“Everyone knows about his personality, on and off the pitch, but maybe we are guilty at times of overlooking his quality. "Ask those who play against him - be it matchday or training - and they speak about his technical and tactical qualities, just as much as his character and heart."While it is a bit too soon to give Robbo 'icon status' if he continues on his current path for the next few seasons, it is certainly not out of the question.

Arsenal produced a sorry performance in losing 1-0 at West Ham. Lifeless, turgid, shite. The exact type of performance they became synonymous with under Wenger. It’s too soon to be making any kind of judgement on Emery and his methods, but that stink is clearly going to take a long time (and a lot of money) to clear. There’s nothing surprising about it. The sixth best squad in the country will most likely finish sixth now that United have cut loose the massive dead weight that was slowing them down. Arsenal are where they should be but the gap between them and the top four is now huge in terms of player quality. They need to spend big but Kroenke isn’t going to do that. In fact, the suggestion this month is that they’re only able to bring anyone in if it’s a loan deal. Ouch. Arsenal never lose at West Ham though and the manner of this defeat prompted me to have a little look at Arsenal Fan TV for the first time this season. Great stuff. DT is still the same angry, aggressive, arrogant knobhead, only instead of leading a “Wenger Out” campaign he’s now urging his fellow fans to target the owners by not buying anything inside the Emirates. He’s not wrong to be fair to him like. Most expensive tickets in the league and they’re talking about only being able to sign loan players? The price you pay for giving Ozil nearly half a million a week to sit in the stands I guess. Amusingly, DT did acknowledge that little Ty is one of the biggest problems as he is single handedly keeping them in business with all the shit he buys in the club shop. Troopz, meanwhile, was understandably kicking off over the fact that his club are paying shite players crazy salaries, and pointed out that Carl Jenkinson is on 65k a week. Fucking hell, that’s mad. What are they smoking down there at the Emirates? I always used to get Jenkinson confused with Callum Chambers, as I’m sure some of you must also. Here’s a little trick I use to tell the difference; Chambers is the shit one, and Jenkinson is the REALLY shit one. Kind of like how it used to be with James McCarthy / James McArthur, until they confused the issue by switching roles. Meanwhile, I had no idea Samir Nasri was back in the Premier League, but if you’d asked me to name the top three most likely landing spots for him, West Ham would have been one, two and three on the list. The most West Ham signing ever that is. The Hammers have improved steadily under Pellegrini but they might be about to lose Arnautovic to China. Initially I was appalled at the notion he’d walk away from a top league to go and play over there. In theory I’m against any player still in his prime doing that, but the more I think about it the more I reckon he’d be stupid not to. This isn’t like Oscar or that other Brazilian midfielder (his name escapes me for now) who left Chelsea to chase the money. Arnautovic isn’t at Chelsea. He’s not challenging for major honours. He’s at West Ham. Before that he was at Stoke. It doesn’t look like any of the top teams want him so if he can quadruple his wages by going to China then good luck to him I guess. He’d be a loss to the Premier League as he’s a really good player, but West Ham will no doubt already have a replacement lined up. What’s David Trezeguet up to these days? Or Stephane Guivarch? Besides, Arnautovic can always return there for one last big pay day when he’s in his mid-30s. From the east end to the west end now, as Chelsea secured their grip on fourth place with a hard fought win over one of their many former managers. Pedro opened the scoring early when he latched onto an inch perfect ball over the top by David Luiz and finished expertly. Great goal that. Lovely pass and terrific technique on the control and finish. Newcastle responded well though and had a little spell of pressure that culminated in an equaliser from Clark. Newcastle wanted a penalty when that Ayoze Perez loser took an outrageous dive in the box. Can’t stand him, the fuckin’ bum. Chelsea then stepped it up once again and a cracker from Willian won it for them, but the performance was far from convincing and after all the initial good publicity they had early in the season, turns out they’re actually a bit dull to watch really. It’s all pass pass pass without going anywhere. But for the individual brilliance they possess in Hazard and Willian, they’d struggle to score any goals via the way they build attacks. They’ve got a big issue in attack as Hazard is just not a centre forward and it’s criminal to play him there. Sarri left Morata out of the squad and is now on the brink of signing Higuain. I for one will be glad when this little porker is finally over here because we’ll find out once and for all if he’s the massive fraud I’ve always thought he is. Ramires!! That’s the fella I was on about earlier. I might be slow but I usually get there in the end. He was a good player him too, absolute waste that he’s now in China. I mean I get Oscar and Jon Obi Mikel going there as they’re both fucking shite, but Ramires could play. He was like a Poundland Fernandinho. No wait, that was Fernando. Ramires was a Tesco’s Fernandinho. Meanwhile, another former Chelsea man (there are fucking hundreds of them aren’t there?) Andre Schurrle’s brilliant strike put Fulham ahead at Turf Moor, but two own goals ensured they went home with nothing. Only Burnley could score twice without having a single shot on target. Maybe I’m deluded, but I still think Fulham will get out of it. I hope so, as I’d much rather watch them then most of the other spoiling shithouse teams down there. I’m rooting for them. Get rid of Burnley or Newcastle and let’s see Fulham survive, especially now Ryan Babel is there. I’ll always have a soft spot for him, partly because of that night against Arsenal in the Champions League at Anfield, but mostly for the Howard Webb in a United kit picture he tweeted. What a man. It was an entertaining game at Leicester, as ten man Southampton pulled off an upset win. I say upset, but I guess it wasn’t really because as I wrote in the last round up, Leicester are much better when the game comes to them and they don’t have to make the play. That’s why they won at Chelsea and Everton but lost at home to Cardiff. They should beat Southampton but it’s all very Claude Puel-ish that they didn’t. Shane Long won a penalty in typical Shane Long style, getting his body in front of a defender and then falling down. Not that there was any doubt about it, as Mendy’s challenge was clumsy as fuck. Ward-Prowse buried the pen to put the Saints ahead but then Valery was harshly sent off for a second yellow. It was harsh, as it was a nothing foul (if it even was a foul), but he’d been lucky to stay on earlier after a bad tackle and he also escaped a booking for diving, as did Vardy after one of the most pitiful attempts at deceiving a ref I’ve ever seen. I’ve said repeatedly that there are few players I enjoy watching more than Vardy, I think he’s brilliant. He loves a dive though. Being English means he seems to get a free pass on it. It’s not so much that they don’t get pointed out (it was highlighted on MOTD), it’s just that it doesn’t seem to stick and damage his reputation. People don’t automatically think “diver” when they hear the name Vardy, but they probably should. Same with Harry Kane, who dives more than anyone else in the league. Anyway, despite being a man down, Southampton extended their lead when Long capitalised on more generosity from the hapless Mendy to score with the last kick of the first half. Not sure he should even be credited with the goal though as his shot was going wide until it hit Schmeichel’s hand. It would take a far crueler man than me to take that away from Long though, as goals for him come around about as regularly as Halley’s Comet. His last four goals have come under four different managers, which is mental. People look down their noses at Long, but he’s got his uses and any team outside of the top six should be glad to have him. This manager appears to know how to use him, unlike some of the other bums he’s played for in recent years. Ndidi pulled one back after the break but Southampton held on quite comfortably. They’re not out of the woods yet but they’ve improved enough under the new fella to suggest they’ll be alright. That’s right, I still don’t know his name and I still can’t be arsed looking it up because I’m still pissed off at him throwing that game against City, the twat. I sound like my main man Neil Warnock there, but don’t worry, I’m not going to follow his lead on Brexit as well. Come on though, I know he’s a cock, but that was funny as fuck. Initially I thought the quotes were fake as they just seemed too Neil Warnock even for Neil Warnock. “I can’t wait to get out. To hell with the rest of the world”. He’s sat there in front of a ‘Visit Malaysia’ sign, he manages a team that has ten different nationalities represented, his multi million pound salary is paid by a Malaysian billionaire and he’s spent this week trying to sign Oumar Niasse from Everton. To hell with the rest of the world though, eh? Amazing. In fairness, he’s a 70 year old Yorkshireman. It would be more surprising if he didn’t think that way. His Brexit outburst overshadowed the rest of the absolute horseshite he came out with after their 0-0 draw with Huddersfield though. Huddersfield got screwed massively. There’s no doubt about it. Lee Mason saw what he believed was a penalty (and it was) and then allowed himself to be talked out of it by a linesman who had a much worse view of it. Absolute disgrace that was, and it’s had he consequences already, which I’ll get to shortly. Warnock said “thank God we had an experienced linesman”. Now I’m willing to go out on a limb here and say if Warnock had been on the receiving end of that decision he’d be serving a lengthy touchline ban and that linesman would currently be in A&E recovering from having his flag removed from his arse. He then tried to deflect attention away from that incident by complaining about a penalty that wasn’t awarded to Cardiff, even though replays showed the Huddersfield defender won the ball cleanly. Give Warnock credit though, it’s not easy talking so much and somehow not being right about anything at all. It’s a difficult skill, mastered only by the true greats, such as Richard Keys and Paul Merson. Warnock put himself in that lofty company this weekend though. Sadly it was all too much for poor David Wagner, who a couple of days after the result stepped down as Huddersfield boss. That was probably the final straw for him. It would have been more of a statement if he’d just quit right there and then when Mason screwed him. Imagine that. What a way to go out, just quit in the middle of the game and put it on Lee Mason’s shoulders. That would have been boss. It’s a shame for Wagner and it looks like, on the surface at least, that it was his decision rather than the club’s. I hope so, because if they’ve pushed him then they’re fucking idiots. He performed a miracle there, and then performed another one. You don’t sack him because he can’t pull off a third. Yeah they’re going down, but they can come back up again and be stronger for it. Maybe not now though, not without Klopp’s mate. He’s done himself a power of good in his time there though and he should get a good job whenever he’s ready to step back into it. It doesn’t matter who Huddersfield bring in, they’re already down, so they should probably be looking to next season and finding someone who can get them back up. Moving on, and Craig Cathcart scored at both ends as Watford won at Palace. Could any of you pick him out of a line up? He’s one of those players who’s been around forever and we all know his name, but I bet most of you have no idea what he looks like. I like to call this “Wes Hoolahan Syndrome”. The game was finely poised at 1-1 with chances coming at both ends, but substitute Tom Cleverly eventually hit a screaming volley to win it. He’s been out injured for a year so it was a nice moment for him. A year is a long time and I’d forgotten just how much I hated his manc face. I remember now though. Eurgh. Speaking of the mancs, they won at Spurs on Sunday. I didn’t watch it but it’s a good result for us as it pretty much ends any hope Spurs had of catching us. Still, this United “revival” needs to fuck off. It’s been massively overstated to this point as they’ve basically beaten a load of shite teams and only won this one because Spurs got De Gea’d. That being said, it is becoming a thing now. They’ve won every game and irrespective of who they beat or how they did it, that will breed confidence. I’m already fucking dreading the prospect of going to Old Trafford in a few weeks, with them being all whipped up into a frenzy trying to help City out. Horrible bastards. Also on Sunday, the Blues had an unconvincing win at home over Bournemouth. They were booed off at half after being thoroughly outplayed by Eddie Howe’s men. David Brooks ran them ragged in the first half and came closest to scoring when his shot hit the inside of the post. He also thought he should have had a penalty. Could have gone either way, but Bournemouth never get any decisions so there’s no point even appealing. They were denied a clear one later on too. The lad made a meal of it, but he was definitely fouled. As I say though, it’s Bournemouth, they get stiffed by refs every week and Nice Guy Eddie takes it on the chin. They were right in this until the end when they allowed that Calvert-Lewin turn to wrap things up five minutes into stoppage time. Bournemouth need to get Solanke fit because it looks like Callum Wilson might be off soon. Chelsea and Spurs are both being linked. He’s a good player, but he’s not THAT good. No way is Daniel Levy paying £50m for him. Finally, City beat Wolves on Monday night. I didn’t see any of it because I was in bed with stomach flu (and have been for pretty much the rest of the week. I’ve spewed out more shit this week than Neil Warnock, Rio Ferdinand and Richard Keys combined). I didn’t even know they’d won until the next day, but I’ve already come to terms with the idea they’ll probably win every game between now and May and that we’re going to have to do the same. One thing I do know is when they go to Old Trafford they’ll have a much easier time of it than we will. It might be stretching things a little to suggest they’ll all be hand in hand chanting “Manchester” but I guarantee the only competition we’ll see that day is in who can sing about us the most. Cunts.

James Milner is someone who does not hand out praise lightly, so when he does give a endorsement, you have to sit up and take note.The evergreen utility who is in the frame to replace the injured Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back for the next few weeks, believes that goalkeeper Alisson has been the most consistent player for the Reds this season.While in the past it may have been a easy choice to pinpoint a specific individual, this season has seen a number of players worthy of high praise.Mo Salah, Virgil Van Dijk, Gini Wijnaldum and prior to his injury Joe Gomez all make compelling cases, but Milner has a valid reason for choosing the Brazilian.Metro reports Milner as saying:"It’s hard to pick out one player because everyone in the squad has done so well, not just the 11 who are starting." I think maybe one you could select is Alisson. "Coming to a new league is never easy. ‘It’s a new lifestyle and you are also getting used to the weather and things like that, but he’s been unbelievable: from how he is around the place, to how good he is on the pitch with his feet and with the saves he makes." Goalkeeping is arguably the most scrutinised position on the pitch.A midfielder may consistently turn over possession with loose passes, or a striker may miss a hatful of chances, but one mistake from the man between the sticks and you can bet it will a main point of discussion the next day.Knowing the expectation would be placed on him would be high due to the transfer fee paid to Roma in the summer, the 26 year-old has not let him be affected by it in the slightest.Even when he has made a error such as against Leicester or Man United, Alisson has completely eradicated it from his mind and moved onto the next passage of play.13 clean sheets from 22 league appearances is a superb record, and is also a indication of the overall improvement of the defensive unit as a whole. Comparing that with the previous two seasons, the Reds kept just 29 clean sheets during that span (17 in 2017/18 and 12 in 2016/7).Milner continued his effusive praise of Alisson."He’s been unbelievable for us this season so far and I believe that he’ll be a massive, massive player for us going forward."This topic leads on to a further question. Who do the fans think has been the best player during this campaign.Do you agree with James Milner, or is there another player who has caught your eye?

When you think of guile and grace as a midfielder, one name that personally comes to mind is Xabi Alonso. To this day, Xabi remains in my top three all-time favourite Liverpool players for many of the qualities that will be discussed in this piece.Signed for a absolute snip at £10.7 million from Real Sociedad at the start of Rafa Benitez's tenure in the summer of 2004, the Spaniard's arrival in England was at the peak of a pre-eminent era for central midfielders in the Premier League. He joined the likes of Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard, Roy Keane, Patrick Vieira, Claude Makalele while having a pretty handy teammate in Steven Gerrard. Alonso displayed a point of difference to some of his contemporaries. While the English game was largely built on power, pace and work ethic, Alonso's brought a high level of technical skill to the forefront. The Liverpool midfield of the mid 2000s had a terrific blend. Didi Hamman and Mo Sissoko were the glue, Gerrard the talismanic figure, Luis Garcia the crafty X factor, while Alonso was the player who made the team tick. When he played well, more often than not Liverpool were on the winning side.Creating goals was the main strength of Alonso's game, however when he put the ball in the back in the net himself, he did it in style with some substance attached for good measure. Some examples included a superb free kick which helped turn round a two goal deficit against Fulham, finishing off a terrific flowing team move with aplomb against the Gunners (both were in his first few months at the club), along with scoring the vital equaliser in the Champions League final against AC Milan later that season. However it is a goal in the early part of the 2006/7 season which underlined Alonso's brilliant game sense, vision and technical quality in the one passage of play. The Reds had made a pretty miserable start to the new campaign, claiming four points from as many games which included losses to Chelsea and a galling 3-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park.Having scored just two goals in those four games, the Reds were desperate to kick start their season. Newcastle were the opponents for the midweek game and summer signing Dirk Kurt opened his account for his new club in the first half which was Liverpool's first goal in over 300 minutes. Alonso was at the heart of the move, playing a defence splitting ball to Steve Finnan who crossed it to the Dutchman who scored with a sliding finish.With the pressure of scoring finally off their shoulders, the confidence began to grow with the home side looking to double their lead. Their opponents were offering little threat going forward and it became a matter of when Liverpool would double their lead. Step forward the Spanish maestro.With Newcastle looking to produce a rare attack, Alonso took the ball from the feet of Charles N'Zogbia and while assessing what options were able on the counter attack, saw Magpies goalkeeper Steve Harper off his line.Alonso had a history of scoring from his own half, having done so in the third round of the FA Cup in the previous season against Luton. While that strike had a slight sense of good fortune as it took a few bobbles before going into the empty net, on this occasion he struck the ball with venom from 70 yards, taking one bounce before lodging in the back of the net giving a backpedalling Harper no chance. Anfield broke into a rapturous cheers as Alonso leaped into the arms of Pepe Reina with the goal helping secure a second home win of the season. Many players have tried to follow Alonso's lead and it can look quite ugly if not executed correctly. The ability of the Spaniard to assess the situation and get his technique right was simply sublime. In all, Alonso made 143 appearances for the Reds over five seasons contributing 15 goals. He played for the club in a time where the record in Europe was top class, but unfortunately could not find the consistency needed across a domestic campaign.Xabi's departure from the club was much like Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez in that it left a sour taste and still does to this day. There was a lot of speculation that Alonso was offput by Benitez's pursuit of Aston Villa's Gareth Barry in the summer of 2008 which ended up being a fruitless chase.There was also a wide held belief that the friction between the pair began a few months prior when Alonso missed the second leg of a Champions League quarter final clash against Inter Milan to be at the birth of his son. According to Alonso, he offered to fly out to Milan after the birth but it was refused by the manager. Alonso ended up staying for the 08/09 season, but soon after he departed to join Real Madrid.Whatever the reason, his unfortunate departure was widely felt from the fans to the players itself. Gerrard openly admitted he was devastated when Alonso left, a player who he described as the best midfielder he played with.What is a known fact is that Alonso left a indelible mark on the club, and as fans can be extremely thankful for his contribution.

One of the biggest wins of the season under the circumstances. A nice four or five goal stroll would have been preferable of course, but it was somewhat fitting that we did it this way, as we are where we are this season based on this kind of ultra professional, ballsy win. Losing against City shouldn’t have had any negative impact on the confidence of the players as it was a tight game that could have gone either way. In isolation that loss wasn’t going to do too much damage to our title chances either, providing of course that we just picked right up where we’d left off before that defeat. This game was huge in terms of that. It was as big a test as we've had all season. Anything other than three points would have been utterly soul destroying and probably season changing. We can’t give City any encouragement as they’re capable of going unbeaten between now and the end of the season. So are we though. You can’t always smack lesser teams about and on those difficult days when it becomes a slog, the only thing that counts is winning. We’ve had loads of these grind it out wins and it must be doing City’s head in. When we were chasing them it was their close wins that got to me more than the beatdowns. They’ll have hated this, as right until the very end there was the hope for them that we might drop points. But we didn’t drop points. We did what we’ve done all season and took care of business. We haven’t had to do it like this very often in recent weeks but earlier in the season these kind of wins were becoming the norm. We’re becoming machine-like and it’s great. More often than not you’ll beat the weaker sides with plenty to spare, but not always. Sometimes it’s tight and tense. Teams that don’t win the title can usually point to these scrappy games as the reason why. It’s so easy to drop points in these games but so far we’ve got a 100% record against sides outside of the top five. Incredible. To do that you can’t afford any mistakes at the back and you have to find a way to get the breakthrough at the other end. Brighton didn’t have a single shot on target (and they only had a couple off target) and although we only managed the one goal when you defend like we do now, that’s usually enough. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to saying that after all these years of keystone cops defending and 4-3 wins, but this is where we are now. Big Virgil has transformed the culture. It’s all about the clean sheets. The big man was imperious again in this game. Fabinho did well alongside him too, but Virgil is so good, so dominant and so much of a leader that Klopp could have probably dragged someone out of the away end and Van Dijk would have been able to carry them through the game. That’s doing Fabinho a bit of a dis-service, but you get the point. Seeing him yelling and pointing and making sure everyone is doing their jobs just makes you feel safe, doesn't it? The game is in the balance, but you think "it's fine, Virgil's got this". Brighton had no interest in anything other than trying to fluke a goalless draw. Even when we went a goal up they still played conservatively. It’s understandable because we’re so good. Brighton don’t play like this against everyone - they’re actually one of the better home teams in the league - but as I wrote in a recent report, we’re now a absolute nightmare for rival managers to prepare for. I mean seriously, what do you do? If you attack us you’ve basically got no chance. Adopting a blanket defensive strategy probably won’t work either, but it might be the best hope you have if we have a bit of an off day up front. The lack of a recognised centre back alongside Van Dijk offered them a glimmer of hope and something they might be able to target, but all out defence was clearly their best chance of getting anything. Chris Hughton puts all his eggs in that basket and it almost worked for him. Brighton made it very difficult for us but I thought we made it more difficult for ourselves with the way we played, especially in the first half. Defensively we were spot on and it was almost complete and total domination of the ball. It’s just that we weren’t doing much with it. At times it almost looked like we’d never been faced with this kind of approach before, which is frustrating because we come up against it probably 75% of the time. Maybe Brighton are just better at it than most? It is hard when the opposition are as well drilled as Hughton’s men, but I didn’t like the way we went about trying to break them down. The build up was too slow and ponderous, the passing in midfield was too safe and what was with all those attempted long balls over the top? You can’t play balls over the top when the centre halves are massive and are usually standing around 30 yards from their own goal. There’s no space for a ball like that, yet we kept trying it. I sound like a broken record here, but fucking hell lads, get round the back and get some low crosses in. That’s how you break these teams down; overload out wide, move the ball quickly and get to the byline. Instead, we had Mané playing miles inside, meaning Robbo had nowhere to go and usually had to just play it back to Van Dijk. Meanwhile, over on the other side Shaqiri was nowhere to be seen and Trent was clearly troubled by an injury he picked up in the warm up. Robbo did give us a bit of production from his flank when possible, but generally he had too little support to be able to do much. We never looked like scoring in that first half at all, but the thing with this team, this year, is that they usually find a way. The second half wasn’t vintage but it was definitely better. The tempo was quicker and there was more zip up front. The main reason for that was Salah seemed to just decide he was going to take over the game. He did nothing in the first half but after the break he was much more involved, coming deep to get on the ball and generally just looking a lot livelier. He won the penalty with some great play in the box that left poor Pascal Gross in a terrible spot. You can’t expect an attacking player to be able to deal with Mo in that situation. Hell, most defenders wouldn’t be able to. Had it not been for the foul he might have scored anyway as he had worked a good shooting opportunity for himself before he was completely mugged by Gross. I’m the first to admit when Mo has gone down easily but anyone suggesting this was anything other than a 100% stonewall pen clearly has their own agenda. If you think that isn’t a penalty or it was a dive, go and watch another sport because clearly you have no idea about football or your perspective is so warped by a hatred of the Reds that it’s probably better for your health to spend your weekends doing something else. I mean bloody hell, how this is even up for discussion is baffling. The funniest thing is seeing Brighton fans accusing Kevin Friend of being a scouser. KEVIN FRIEND!!! Fucking hell. In terms of screwing over the Reds, he's Poundland Howard Webb. I’m going to say something I’ve never said before and probably never will again though. Kevin Friend had a flawless game. Not just good. Flawless. I think Friend actually got every single decision right, big and small. Maybe there was one foul on Robertson he should have given, but Robbo wasn’t going to reach the ball and I can see why Friend chose not to give it. Everything else he absolutely nailed, and he wasn’t being a twat with his cards either. This merely confirms the view I’ve always had of him that he’s not a terrible referee, he’s just a a biased one. When he’s not being a Chelsea-enabling twat he’s one of the better refs out there. This notion that he was doing us a favour though, it’s beyond fantasy. If that wasn’t a stonewall pen then Friend wouldn’t have given it. Not to us. Brighton might want to think about the three pens he didn’t give us last season when we played them at Anfield. Of course ol’ hairy hands Richard Keys has chimed in with his “does Salah go down to easily?” shite, but his opinion is completely worthless at this point (was it ever worth anything?). The man’s a complete joke, the TV equivalent of click bait. He’s a boil on the arse of sports broadcasting, and his Tefal headed sidekick is little better. But I digress. Mo picked himself up and buried the spot kick, but again it just wasn’t convincing and it’s only a matter of time before he misses a costly one. I’m not saying he shouldn’t be taking them, just that I know that miss is coming as I don’t think he’s particularly good at them. Hopefully it’s not in a close game. Hopefully not at Old Trafford. *shudders* After we went ahead I thought we’d pick them off and add a second, but it’s not easy to pick off a team that isn’t really trying to attack. Brighton had a bit more of a go than before, especially late on, but they never really overcommitted and we didn’t create too many more chances. Mo did miss an absolute sitter after substitute Milner put one on a plate for him. How did that come about? A nice one two out wide and Milner cutting one back. That’s what I mean. That’s how you do it. Just do it more, Reds. Do it more. I’m not sure how much more of these close games my heart can take. We’ve got 16 more games and I reckon half of them are going to go down something like this one. At the other end Brighton only threatened a couple of times. Alisson turned a shot round the post but it was going wide anyway. The most dangerous moment they had was when Keita gave the ball away and Trent needed to get something on a cross to prevent a Brighton player having a back post tap in. Keita is prone to that type of thing. It’s happened too many times where he’s given the ball away cheaply and put us under pressure. He’s not a great sub to bring on. Not at this moment in time anyway. So now we sit and watch to see what City do. They’ll probably win, but it’s fine because we won so the gap isn’t going to be anything less than four. Any dropped points is a bonus. The pressure is back on them and we’ll see how they respond. Playing first helps us, as does City’s involvement in cups that could see them fall further behind us if we’re playing league games when they’re on cup duty. Just have to keep turning that screw and winning the games we’re supposed to win. Star man is Virgil, but Robbo was great too and one pass he volleyed out wide late on after Brighton had cleared a corner was magnificent. He’s like what Marcelo would be like if he knew how to defend. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Wijnaldum; Shaqiri (Milner), Firmino, Mané (Keita); Salah:

Saturday Jan 5: Lots of interesting bits from Klopp’s pre-Wolves presser today. The 16 year old Dutch kid might play against Wolves, as might Curtis Jones and Rafa Camacho, who is a target for his former club Sporting Lisbon apparently. We might need him on Monday though because we’ve got no back up right back after Clyne was allowed to join Bournemouth on loan. Something doesn’t really add up here. Clyne apparently asked to leave, but why would he want out when there’s a chance of him playing a role in a title win and / or Champions League success? Ok, he’s not first choice, but he started against United and he’s been on the bench ever since. He’s not a million miles away from getting a game. Trent could get injured, Gomez is regularly injured, and Clyne might even be next in line at left back. He’s giving that up to go and play for Bournemouth? It’s not even a World Cup or Euros year, so it’s not like he needs to worry about an England spot. Just seems weird to me, but then Clyne’s entire situation for the past couple of years has been weird. There was barely ever any updates on when he’d be fit again after his back injury, and when was the last time he did any kind of interview with the TV channel? Usually injured players are on there all the time, hell, Ox is on there more than Peter McDowell, but Clyne has been nowhere to be seen. Like I say, just a very odd situation. He’ll be joined at Bournemouth by Dom Solanke, who made a permanent move there for £19m. Michael Edwards drives a harder bargain that Daniel Levy these days. Credit where it's due, we do great when it comes to bringing in big money for players we don’t want. I like Solanke though, he’ll be a good player for someone but it's been clear for a while it wouldn’t be for us. Just not a great fit for how we play. Klopp basically said we needed to do right by him and let him leave because if you want to attract young players to the club you have to show them that they’ll either get a chance or they’ll be allowed to move on. Keeping hold of Solanke would have served no purpose at this point. £19m though? Bournemouth are great aren’t they? Other snippets from today were that Moreno and Mignolet will both start in Monday night’s upcoming defeat at Wolves. Moreno is “an unbelievably professional person” apparently, and as for Mignolet, well Klopp said “I could write a book of all the good things I could say about Simon”. Yeah, and it’d be in the fiction aisle, amirite? Sunday Jan 6: Fulham want Origi and we want £25m. Neither is happening and here’s why: Fulham have got Mitrovic, Shurrle and Sessegnon, so they’re fine up top. They need defenders, not a centre forward. And as for us, well we’ve just sold Solanke so why would we let Origi go as well? Unless we’re bringing someone in of course, or promoting a kid. Bobby Duncan is making big progress but fuck knows where Rhian Brewster is. He was meant to be back in November and there’s still no sign of him and as far as I’m aware there’s been no updates. He’ll be at Bournemouth before we know it. It’s easy to say Clyne, Solanke and Origi are all expendable and won’t be missed, but I don’t like the idea of us coming out of a transfer window significantly weaker than when we went into it, especially when there’s so much at stake in the next five months. Mind you, I'm still pissed we sold arl Ragnar in the summer. Monday Jan 7: Wolves 2 L 1. Shite that. Proper shite. I had no problem with Klopp’s team selection and I can’t say I’m bothered we won’t be in the next round. I was prepared for a defeat and fully expected it, but I thought the weakened team would at least have a go. Some did but others clearly didn’t give a fuck and are just waiting for the season to end so they can leave. Lovren getting injured shows just why we can do without the FA Cup this year. Imagine if that had been Virgil playing and getting injured. Or Salah. Or Robbo. Bloody hell, the thought of us having to roll with Moreno in any kind of meaningful game fills me with dread. This should be his last game for us all being well. If Robbo needs a rest, put Milner there. Lovren being out for a while gives us a problem though. Gomez and Matip are a couple of weeks off at least, so that leaves Fabinho as the only option alongside Virgil. If anything happens to him? I think we’d see Hendo there, or possibly Gini at a push. Then again, I reckon even I could play there and Virgil would get me through it. Ki-Jana Hoever did himself a power of good tonight though. Fucking hell, that is one ice cold kid that. No nerves at all, and even on the couple of anxious looking moments he had there was no trace of worry or fear on his face. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a kid that relaxed and calm on his debut, it was incredible. No wonder Clyne was sent packing. This kid looks like he could play right back standing on his fucking head. Tuesday Jan 8: Pogba’s brother speaks out and says Mourinho was the problem at United. He’s probably right but any credibility he might have was shot to pieces by this comment: “Mourinho always wants to be the maestro, the centre of attention. Paul does not even think about this aspect”. Holy shit, I genuinely hope he’s saying that just to troll his brother, because if he genuinely believes that every single thing, big or small, that Paul Pogba does, is not done to make him the centre of attention, then he needs locking up as he’s a fucking danger. Meanwhile, Guardiola denies having the groundsman let the grass grow longer to slow us down last week. I actually thought when I was watching it that there was something not right with the pitch, as it looked slow as fuck and the grass was longer than usual. Apparently some of our fans have been accusing Guardiola of doing it to make life difficult for us to move the ball quickly. Come on now, Guardiola isn’t Tony fucking Pulis and I’m not buying the notion that it was his doing. He came out strongly to defend himself, saying “We want to cut the field all the time, all my career, 10 years as a manager. The better conditions for both teams, I never put in some trick about this. “Always when you do this, karma or something punishes you. You have to do the best for the opponents, for the game, respect the game and the rules. Ok Pep, you had me right up until “respect the game and the rules”. Say that again with a straight face. In other news, over at the Everton AGM…. Denise Barrett-Baxendale says Everton’s vision for next ten years and beyond is to be “challenging at the top of the Premier League and competing at the highest level in European Competitons”. And it’s my vision for the next ten years to get my golf game in shape and enter the PGA senior tour where I’ll win the grand slam of majors. Whose chances do you like more? Another delusive boardroom stooge, Keith Harris, says: We are hoping to put a spade in the ground early next year, we certainly will be in a position to complete within 3 years. It will be a fortress that clubs shudder to visit. Harris also said that Farhad Moshiri and him asked Arsenal Wenger which stadium does he dread visiting the most? “Goodison Park”, said Wenger. What he didn’t say was that Wenger dreaded visiting Goodison because the stadium is falling down, the away dressing room stinks of piss, and Duncan Ferguson is given free reign to roam around the hallways with his pigeons. Don’t ever change, Everton. Wednesday Jan 9: City put nine past Burton in the cup. So many things to take away from this. Firstly, the ground was empty. 30k apparently, but that’s bollocks. There might well have been more Burton fans there than City fans. Now I’ve said before that I’m not one for scoffing at clubs not filling their ground because as fans we’re being ripped off by our clubs and I’m not going to sit in judgement when there are empty seats. That being said, this is a bit different isn’t it? It’s a cup semi final. Yes, it’s a League One opponent, but City were in that league not so long ago, getting 35k for home games. They’ve been successful for a few years now, but it’s not exactly been decades of dominance has it? Are they bored with success already? This is part of what I was meaning when I wrote last week that Aguero has wasted his career playing for City. They’re a small club that has been artificially elevated by the financial backing of an entire country. All the money in the world can’t buy them fans or make them a big club. They know that, which is part of the reason why they’re so obsessed with us. The other thing people are debating is whether they should have eased up on Burton instead of continuing to pile on the misery. I don’t have a specific problem with them trying to score more goals, but I reckon most teams would have taken their foot off the gas once they reached five or six. City not doing that doesn’t surprise me because they’re knobs. Burton aren’t part timers though. If they didn’t like it they should have stopped them. If they felt like City were embarrassing them then fucking kick them, turn the game into a war. Don’t let them continue to play their pretty little passes and run up the score. I don’t feel sorry for Burton at all, but if they have anything about them they’ll bust some fucking heads in the second leg. Telling that Phil Foden couldn’t get a start even against lower league opposition when Guardiola is rotating his squad. No fucking wonder kids like Jaden Sancho and Bobby Duncan are getting the hell out of dodge. If Foden is as good as people say he is (I don’t know because he never plays so I never see him) he’d probably have 25-30 starts if he was playing for us. City will never bring kids through because they have so much money they can’t help but spend it on players they don’t need. Case in point; Riyad Mahrez. They didn’t need him, they’re struggling to find a place for him and his presence in the squad has made it more difficult for Foden. The other reason they won’t bring kids through is because Flat Track Pep doesn’t want to. He loves a stacked deck, he’s built his career on it. When he leaves City he's nailed on to end up at PSG. Thursday Jan 10: Where is all this Tarkowski talk coming from? Sean Dyche doesn’t know, he says it’s all news to him. I bet Klopp has no idea either, as there’s no way we’re in for Tarkwoski, and certainly not for the £50m being talked about. I don’t see it with Tarkowski at all. He’s another Michael Keane. Burnley’s defensive record this year has been garbage despite them playing defensive football. How good can he be? Basically a poor man's Harry Maguire, and he's not that good either. Other rumours today have us looking to bring Coutinho back. Now that's a rumour I can get behind. He had a stinker tonight as they lost in the Spanish Cup and their fans haven’t taken to him at all. Ok, if this is a possibility then I’d be all over it. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten the shit he pulled to get out but I’d happily bury that in the past if we could bring him back here. It would have to be at a cut down price though. We haven’t replaced him and if he came back he’d be a great asset to us, in midfield against the dregs of the league and in the front three or as an impact sub against the good sides. It won’t happen though as I just don’t think Klopp would spend that kind of money on him. If he was spending big, he’d sign a different type of player I think. Maybe I’m wrong though, as he did want to sign Nabil Fekir. The worry I have is if Barca sell Coutinho he’s going to end up in Manchester. Whether it’s City or United I don’t know, but I suspect both would be all over him like Juventus on a freebie if he was made available. Would we? It might depend on how desperate Coutinho was to get back here. Could he convince Klopp to give him another chance? Maybe, if he was humble enough. Jurgen once told him “Stay here and be successful and they will end up building a statue in your honour. Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more." Coutinho is now finding that out. Friday Jan 11: Ben Woodburn is back at Melwood, but not for long it seems. His loan with Sheffield United has been cancelled (I thought it was cancelled about two months ago?) but other Championship clubs want to take him. This is a crucial time for Woodburn as his career has stalled massively in the last 18 months. The first thing that needs to happen is a decision needs to be made on what his long term position is (personally I see him as a midfield player) and then whoever signs him needs to be playing him there. Sheffield United was obviously a bad fit for him so the club need to make a better decision this time. Another teenager who won’t be going on loan, at least according to reports today, is Rafa Camacho. The suggestion is that Klopp thinks he could have a role to play this season. Can’t see it myself, not based on the Wolves game anyway. It’s not that he was bad, it’s just that he seemed to play everywhere except right back. Whether that’s down to him or whether it was Klopp trying out some weird new system I’m not sure. I suspect it’s the latter, but the idea of using a teenage winger at full back in any meaningful game seems a bit mental to me so I’ll take this talk with a pinch of salt. That said, I might play him left back ahead of Moreno, as that lad's head is already back in Spain. Finally, it looks like Chelsea are making a move for Koulibaly and there are some who think we should rival them. I think he’s brilliant and the prospect of him lining up alongside Virgil is an enticing one, but Joe Gomez looks like he could be one of the very best if he can stop getting injured. We’ve got Lovren and Matip too, so spending big on another centre back is not going to happen, not this month anyway. Might be one to revisit in the summer if we move Lovren and Matip on. With Virgil and Koulibaly playing together we might never concede a goal ever again. If we spend big in the summer though I'd rather it was on Coutinho, but I'm probably in a minority there. .... and that was the week that was

The Reds have been flying since the start of the season; only suffering their first league defeat of the campaign against Manchester City on the 3rd January. Bookmakers have recently installed the Klopp’s men as the outright favourites for the Premier League title, but could there still be room for improvement? If you take one look at some betting companies’ transfer specials, you will see straight away that Liverpool are the favourites to sign various players. Including long-term Summer target Nabil Fekir. But which areas should Liverpool be looking to add further depth too? It’s hard to believe the Reds should be looking to add further quality to their side after a near perfect start to the season, but the FA Cup defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers highlights that there is certain areas for improvement. Manchester City excel when it comes to squad depth as they have an embarrassment of riches to come off the bench; something that Reds don’t have. Although Daniel Sturridge has proven to be a good back-up to the irresistible front three, he isn’t of the same quality as City’s Gabriel Jesus. Needless to say, neither is Divock Origi. The fact that Sturridge was relegated with West Bromwich Albion last season, just highlights his short comings. Granted he wasn’t fully fit for much of the second half of last season, but he didn’t make the impact that he, Klopp or West Brom was hoping for. A second striker would be hard to find. Especially when you think that they would need to be persuaded to play second fiddle to Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah. Jurgen Klopp would be sure to make a move should the right player become available, but the German has also proved to be shrewd in his transfer business since arrive at Liverpool. Klopp doesn’t spend big money unless it can be justified. The purchases of Virgil Van Dijk and Alison just prove this. These two signings were massive money signings but were undoubtedly needed, just looking at the Red’s defensive record this season highlights their importance. Another area in which Klopp may look to add depth is within the attacking midfield positions. He has already stated his disappointment with Naby Keita and his ability to transition to life in the Premier League. Klopp said: “I spoke to him. [With] Naby everything is fine. I am completely happy with him. Could he be a bit more confident in the games? Yes. Is he exactly the player in his best time at Leipzig? No, but he is still adapting - that is how it is" With that being said, Keita has shown glimpses of his best but with this being Liverpool’s best chance at the Premier League title, chances can’t be taken. Liverpool have missed that creative guile since Phillipe Coutinho moved to Barcelona last year. Hence why the club were so invested in bringing in Fekir from Lyon over the summer. However, the sum likely to convince the French club to sell their prized asset may differ from the price that Liverpool are willing to pay. Klopp may look elsewhere for a player that matches this description, with Aaron Ramsey also muted as a possible target; however, it looks likely that the Welshman will join Juventus in the summer instead of remaining in the Premier League. Defensive options are another area where the Reds may look to strengthen. The favourite according to bookmakers for this position is Burnley’s English international James Tarkowski. The 26-year-old has struggled this season, but last season’s performances saw him called up to the England set up prior to the World Cup. Burnley’s £50 million price tag may however put potential suitors off the defender. The January market is a tough window to make your mark, with prices even more inflated than in the summer, but should Liverpool identify a target that could win them their maiden Premier League title; you will be sure that the board would do everything possible to make that move happen.

Liverpool are entering one of the most important periods in the club’s history. This proud team has a stack of trophies to its name but the lack of a top flight title in the Premier League era remains an elusive piece in the Anfield jigsaw. The side returns from FA Cup duty with a four point lead over Manchester City who are their only genuine challengers at the top. With the transfer window open once more, the obvious question is whether manager Jurgen Klopp sticks with the squad that has taken him this far or whether he takes a gamble on a new addition in the hope of boosting that title challenge. If the answer is yes then the next question is who? Here are some names being touted around the gossip columns as the window drags on. Abdulkadir Omur It’s ridiculous to start a sentence with the words ‘if the gossip columns are to be believed’ as clearly they rarely get it right. However, the links with Trabzonspor’s Abdulkadir Omur have been active since the start of the week and talk of a £27m bid has gathered momentum. The 19 year old has been described as the ‘Turkish Messi’ in places but bare stats don’t quite back that statement up. There is additional talk of Newcastle getting involved with the winger and that may be a more likely scenario. He may be one for the future but this seems an unlikely link for now. Timo Werner At 22, Timo Werner is far more of a finished article and at a reported transfer fee of £36 million, he represents something of a bargain in the modern era. After a slow start as a teenager at Stuttgart, the German international flourished at RB Leipzig where he comfortably averages more than a goal every other game in all competitions. Anyone looking for football bets offers may now consider Liverpool, the new favourites, as the right punt for the 2018/19 title and, of course, there is Mo Salah banging in the goals with the same regularity that saw him capture the Golden Boot in 2017/18. There is that scoring support from just behind the striker too but could Klopp look back to the classic Suarez and Sturridge partnership and decide that another out-and-out goal scorer is needed in January? Nicolo Barella Another up and coming youngster believed to be on Liverpool’s radar is Cagliari midfielder Nicolo Barella. There are fewer rumours in this respect but like Abdulkadir Omur, he’s one for the future at best. At the age of 21, Barella is developing nicely with the Serie A side and is thought to be under the radar of a number of top European scouts. Napoli, Roma, both Milan clubs and, inevitably, Chelsea have been mentioned along the way so there is plenty of competition if this link is to be believed. It’s worth noting that he has already made four appearances for the full Italian national side so would command a high fee. That might not deter a club who is happy to either park a player or send them out on loan but at Liverpool, there is seemingly no immediate need. January is traditionally a quieter time for transfer gossip but it’s particularly slow where Liverpool are concerned this time around. That’s understandable given the team’s position at the top of the table but Jurgen Klopp still faces a tricky decision. Does he make a new signing and risk unsettling the balance of a successful team or does he stick with his current squad and keep faith in those who are targeting that first Premier League trophy?

James Milner has expressed a level of disappointment following Liverpool's defeat to Wolves in the third round of the FA Cup on Monday night.The veteran midfielder is renowned for calling it as he sees it. While there were a number of senior players rested for the game, and a theory that this defeat would aid Liverpool in terms of their league and European campaigns, Milner was having none of that.ESPN reported the vice-captain as saying:"I think when you're a team like us, with the players we have, you want to win every single game." In the league [we are in a good position], yeah, but obviously that's not what we've thinking about. "We want to progress in every game we play -- whether it's the Champions League, League Cup or the Premier League."Newcastle legend and current BBC pundit Alan Shearer was one of the critics of Jurgen Klopp's mass rotations for the game, calling it a "gamble" and saying " he was brought up watching Liverpool try to win every trophy and why should that change now." After having a season where everything was seemingly going to script, Liverpool have lost two games in a row for the first time in this campaign.While it is hardly what you call a full blown crisis, Milner knows it is important to get back to winning ways as soon as possible to prevent a level of doubt creeping into the ranks."You're never going to go a full season without having blips."I think at the start of this season we weren't playing our best but we were getting results."Back-to-back defeats now, which really isn't good enough for us, but you have blips in a season. "It's not about having those blips, they're expected and no team goes throughout a season without having them, it's how you respond and how you bounce back."Milner has been around long enough to assess a character of a squad and believes this team is made of the right qualities to turn things around.However he says actions not words, is what will get the job done."I think you've seen the character in the squad in the last few years and the players we have to know we will bounce back. "We have to show that, though it's easy saying it in an interview, we have to do it on the pitch at the weekend." Another ability of the veteran is being able to identity a talent, especially having been in the same position as Ki-Jana Hoever 16 years ago.He has seen enough from the 16 year-old Dutch defender to know he will be some sort of player in the future."Ki coming on after a minute and playing like he did [was] absolutely outstanding."He's going to be a top, top player. You can see that straight away -- his temperament, he's comfortable on the ball."Seeing someone like Milner give Hoever a big tick of approval would do wonders to the confidence of the kid.There is clearly a lot to look forward to in terms of the current senior squad, and as we saw on Monday night, there is a fair bit more to like as we cast a eye to the future.

First off, I really wanted us to win this game. Not because I’m arsed about the FA Cup this year, but because I just wanted us to win. I always want us to win and it would have been a real positive to win a game without hardly any of the regulars. Additionally it would have given us another opportunity to play some of the kids in the next round. Because make no mistake, I wouldn’t have wanted any of the starters playing. Not while we’re still in a title race. But we didn’t win and the truth is I won’t lose a second’s sleep over not being in the next round. Some will call that disrespecting the FA Cup or being a sky generation fan. That’s fine. Call it what you like. Presumably those who were so desperate to win the FA Cup feel Jurgen should have taken it more seriously and gone with a stronger side? Is he disrespecting the cup too? Personally I’d call it prioritising and being sensible, and if I were to criticise him for his selection (which I’m not) it’s that he didn’t go far enough and it cost us a starter for the weekend. In fairness to Klopp his options for resting players were limited due to injuries to both of the under 23s most experienced centre backs, and had Masterson and/or Phillips been fit then certainly Lovren and perhaps even Fabinho would have been given the night off too. Not everyone will agree with him but as far as I’m concerned his approach to the game was fully vindicated based on what happened with Lovren, who limped off with a hamstring injury after two minutes. Klopp didn’t want to play him but felt like he had no choice, and now he’s injured. Yeah, joke all you like about how “it’s only Lovren” or “at least it wasn’t anyone important” but we’re down to the bare bones at that position and this shows exactly why I didn’t want any first team players involved in the cup. Not this year. When one day we finally get that monkey off our backs and win the league, that changes everything, but now? This year? We’re better off out of it, with Klopp able to take his squad away for some warm weather training to prepare for league games while City and Spurs juggle cup commitments. Of course we need to win something but we’re in an exceptional situation here. We couldn’t be in a better position at this stage of the season to win the title, and we’re still in the Champions League. If ‘taking the cup seriously’ puts that even the tiniest bit at risk then for me it’s not worth it. That doesn’t sit well with some based on the flak that came my way on Twitter after the game. I don’t care. Sorry I'm not sorry. Going out of the cup doesn’t guarantee anything in terms of winning the title. I get that. We might end up empty handed and if that happens there’ll be people ragging on Klopp for not going all out to win either of the domestic cups. Personally I’ll be far too devastated at the fact we hadn’t won the title despite having a seven point lead at New Year to even think twice about the fucking cups. It would have been nice to win everything, but how likely is that? Very likely if we could field our best eleven in every game, but we can’t do that and therefore the key to any success we have this year is to keep our key players fit. Playing them in FA Cup games isn’t going to help on that front, just ask Lovren. So for me Klopp did the right thing. Yet despite everything I’ve just said about not being bothered about going out of the cup, bizarrely I was as angry watching this game as I’ve been all season. Especially in the first half. I couldn’t believe some of things I was seeing. Losing the game was never going to make me angry, but the lack of effort from some was inexcusable and there were things going on in that first half that I found hard to comprehend. I don’t know what the hell we were even trying to do. The formation was bizarre, I've never seen anything so disjointed, and the approach of some of the players left an awful lot to be desired. I’ll start with Sturridge, who was a fucking disgrace and was strolling around there like the whole thing was beneath him. Completely not arsed, and not for the first time either. He’s probably just counting down the days until he leaves now and hoping to get a few run outs off the bench to bag himself a medal if we win it. He's got the talent to actually make a telling impact between now and May and he's already made a big contribution with that goal at Chelsea, but when he's picked in games like this, he simply does not give a fuck. This is the problem currently though. The keeper, back four and front three more or less pick themselves now and the back ups know that no matter what they do they won’t force their way in. And THIS is the net result of it. Klopp speaks glowingly about the way these players work in training. Maybe he’s right, or maybe he’s just offering them a carrot to get something out of them. Based on this though… fucking hell. Moreno runs around and looks enthusiastic, I’ll give him that. But he jumped out of a tackle in his own box. IN HIS OWN BOX!! They call that a ‘business decision’ in the NFL. Where a player whose contract is running down will avoid taking hits in case it results in injury. That’s what I immediately thought when I saw Moreno’s bottle job, especially in the wake of his comments last week about how poorly he felt he was treated after ‘putting his body on the line’ for the club and getting injured last season. He wasn’t making that mistake again. Shame he doesn’t take the same approach to the other mistakes he repeatedly makes. Then there’s the Mig. I’d hesitate to say he could have done better as he probably couldn’t. Alisson saves both of those goals though, without question. The first goal is the prime example of what Alisson brings. Only his harshest critic would blame that goal on Mignolet because it’s not what you’d call an error as such. But his attempt at keeping it out was shit. One of the big differences Alisson has made is he makes saves that might not be in the running for ‘save of the season’, but they prevent this type of goal. So many goals we’ve conceded in recent years have been ones where you’d say “the keeper couldn’t have done anything”. Yet now we have a keeper who can do something and it’s highlighted exactly what we’ve been missing. I repeat, Alisson saves both of the Wolves goals in this game. The thing that annoyed me most about Mignolet though was how he played with the ball at his feet. I get that this is how our keepers are supposed to play and that he isn’t as accomplished as Alisson. It wasn’t his technique that was the problem though (his actual kicking was really good for the most part), it was the decision making. I lost count of the times he played the ball out to the edge of the box to a marked player. That’s not so bad when it’s an experienced pro like Milner or Fabinho, but when you’re giving it to a 16 year old kid on his debut and he’s immediately put under pressure by an opponent that smells blood, how fucking stupid do you have to be? It was just a mess all around though. Even Shaqiri looked thoroughly disinterested until Mo and Bobby came on and suddenly he was all bizz again. Disappointing that as I expect more from him. In mitigation though, he didn’t look as though he had any idea what his role was as there were times when he was 30 yards behind Camacho, who after a good opening 15 minutes at right back completely disappeared off the TV screen. Quite literally. He was so far forward the camera didn’t even have him in shot for most of the first half. Jermaine Jenas pointed it out a few times, mentioning on one occasion that he was in the centre forward position. You could put that down to inexperience and him naturally being a winger rather than a full back, but I don’t think it’s that simple. Klopp was on that side of the pitch in the first half and if Camacho was repeatedly out of position he’d have been talking him through it. The fact it continued into the second half tells me Camacho was doing as asked, but it sure as hell didn’t work as we were never able to get him into the game and I don’t remember him getting one cross in. He was nowhere to be seen in defensive areas either. This contributed to Milner trying to play about four different positions in the game. I felt for him. How come he was out there with the stiffs and the kids? What did he do to deserve that? He ran himself ragged at City the other day and he did it again in this game. It wasn’t a good game for him and he fucked up massively for the Wolves opener, but he’s only just back from a hamstring injury and sending him out there at all seemed an unnecessary risk to me, especially when he trying to plug so many gaps. I don’t even know if he was playing in midfield or as a third centre back. It looked like when we had the ball he dropped into the middle and the two centre backs went wide, with the full backs so far up the pitch they were halfway back to Merseyside. It was a bad night for Milner, who was booked early on and then tip toed around unable to put any tackles in. And what the fuck was he doing on that first goal? Getting caught in possession was one thing, but what happened after was unfathomable. I watched that in sheer disbelief. The lad in the middle for Wolves did a good job of blocking him out so he couldn’t go and close down Jiminez, but for the longest time it looked like Milner had no interest in going to him anyway. He went with the runner and completely ignored the lad with the ball, which was a terrible decision and something I’d have expected of one of the teenagers, not from the most experienced player in the squad. A bad night for him but he gets a pass because of the shift he put in. The biggest worry for me was undoubtedly the lacklustre display of Keita. Fucking hell lad, this was your chance to show you should be starting, and you come up with a performance like THAT?? Maybe one of the professional stat nerds can tell us what his "stepover to tackle" ratio was in this game, because I’d guess it’s around 50/1. Klopp must feel like Obi Wan with Anakin here. “You were the chosen one!!! You were supposed to bring balance to the midfield, not destroy it!”. He was the player I was looking forward to seeing most in this game and he was utterly wretched. His night was summed up with that scandalously shite overhit ball when he could have put Mo through for the equaliser. Get it together Naby because we need you, we’ve got a title to win here. And here’s something else I’m irked about. Where the fuck was Adam Lallana? “In the best shape since I’ve known him” according to Klopp a day or two before. And when we actually needed him on the pitch instead of warming the bench, just where the fuck was he? Injured. Again. Fucking hell. Must be the weight of that 100k a week salary weighing him down, because since he signed that he’s played about five fucking minutes. It’s become a trend now that whenever Klopp has to make wholesale changes like this, the squad players deliver a big old shit sandwich. Individually you can probably put most of them into the team with the first choice players and they’ll do alright, but any time the fringe squad are out there together they invariably deliver performances like this. The other top sides can make a lot of changes and still win but for whatever reason we can’t. It’s not a big deal this year for the reasons I outlined above, but going forward this is something that needs addressing. The poor showings from most of the senior players made things much more difficult for the kids. Curtis Jones started brightly but the longer it went on the worse he got, and he looked utterly lost in the second half. I’m a huge fan of his and he’s a special talent, but playing on the left wing probably wasn’t ideal for him and it might be a while before he gets another chance as he didn’t look anywhere near ready. No shame in that, he’s only 17 and has plenty of time. He’s an old stager compared to Ki-Jana However though. Fucking hell, that kid can play. He wasn’t perfect and there were a few difficult moments, but the composure and confidence he showed was absolutely incredible. Even his facial expressions showed just how relaxed he was from start to finish. Utterly non-plussed by the whole thing he was. Sometimes young players can look like a scared rabbit (Danny Ayala anyone?) but this kid just strolled out there and played as though he was in an under 18 game. You have to look at the circumstances here. Firstly, this is a kid who has barely even played u23 football yet. He’s only been here a few months and has gone from the u18 squad to training with the first team and then being picked in the squad for a game against Premier League opposition. Secondly, he didn’t start the game. He was on the bench but had no time to prepare for coming on because Lovren lasted only two minutes. That’s difficult even for experienced players as you’re not expecting it and haven’t warmed up properly. So he comes in cold. Not into a back four with Trent, Van Dijk and Robbo, or with Alisson behind him. No, he’s in a back four alongside a midfielder playing out of position, a teenage winger playing full back but who would go awol down the field for most of the game, and Alberto fucking Moreno. All things considered, Hoever’s performance was genuinely remarkable. Imagine how much better he’ll be when he has Big Virgil talking him through. No disrespect to Fabinho, who played well, but I’m not even sure he speaks English yet so communication with the kid was always going to be tough. I can’t speak highly enough of how Hoever played and his composure on the ball and ability to pass forwards suggests he’ll probably be used as a right back for his formative years until he fully develops. And that run he made past three players after dispossessing the winger in the box was fucking boss. The best part of it was the way he delayed his pass for a second while he waited for the space to open up. Absolute class. I might start watching the u23s again just to see this kid play. I haven’t mentioned Origi yet, and he deserves some credit for his goal which was a top quality strike. He also deserves credit for trying and for not looking like he thought the game was beneath him. He wasn’t good by any means, but he tried and was more than willing to chase back and help out. Fair play to him as it’s more than Sturridge was prepared to do. Maybe that will factor into Klopp’s thinking next time he needs to bring one of them on? His goal brought us back into the game and if we’d been able to keep it level for any length of time maybe we’d have won it. Unfortunately we were behind again after just five minutes. Good strike by Neves but Mignolet went down like a roll of lino. It wasn’t in the corner and it was only a few yards away from him. Yet not only did he not save it, he didn’t actually get anywhere near it. Impressive in it’s own way that. Shaqiri was within a whisker of levelling it again with a perfectly placed free kick, but the faintest of touches from John Ruddy diverted it onto the post. Hell of a save that. In hindsight maybe instead of starting with Sturridge Klopp would have been better just sending out one of the Academy lads in a Suarez mask to run around a bit and traumatise Ruddy? We never really looked like doing anything after that Shaqiri effort. Lots of possession but zero quality in attacking areas. It got better with Bobby and Mo on, as you’d expect, but I’m just relieved they both came through unscathed. Tell you something though, Wolves were fucking shit as well and this narrative about how well they’ve done to “knock Liverpool out” is pissing me off. We were horrendous but were within a centimetre of forcing a replay that on the balance of play we probably deserved. “Oh look at Wolves, they’ve had results against all of the top six”. No they haven’t, because this team was Liverpool in name only. We’ll never see that line up representing the club ever again, and hopefully some of the players in it are done now too, as if we’re in a position where we need to call on them between now and May then we’re in trouble. Star man is Hoever due to the exceptional circumstances he found himself in, but our best player was actually Fabinho I think. He should have done better on the opening goal when he dived in and didn’t win it, but otherwise he stood strong all night and will be a more than capable fill in alongside Van Dijk until Gomez, Matip and Lovren are available again. Two losses on the spin isn’t ideal but in my head it’s only one because this doesn’t count in terms of our situation. The important thing is we don’t lose in the league. Brighton away is a difficult game as they’re good at home, but we should win and it’s vital that we do. The City loss shouldn’t really cause the team to lose any confidence, if anything they should have grown in belief, but they must bounce back by going on another run, starting this weekend. Team: Mignolet; Camacho, Lovren (Hoever), Fabinho, Moreno; Shaqiri, Milner, Keita, Jones (Salah); Sturridge (Firmino), Origi:

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has defended his team selection for the third round FA Cup clash against Wolves which the Reds lost 2-1 at Molineux on Monday night.Dejan Lovren and James Milner were the only starters to keep their place from the game against Man City last Thursday. However the Croatian only lasted six minutes before having to be helped off with a Hamstring injury.That gave the opportunity for 16 year-old Dutch defender Ki-Jana Hoever to come on and make his senior debut.The teenage defender became the youngest Liverpool player to play in the FA Cup and third youngest to debut overall for the Reds (16 years 354 days). It must have felt like he'd cashed in his match-bonus-code.It has been a rapid rise for Hoever who joined the club from Ajax in the Summer and has won rave reviews when playing for the U18s and U23s.The manager said that Lovren wasn't scheduled to start this contest after having a extremely heavy workload over the past three weeks. However, due to the central defensive options being scarce at this time, Klopp had to go with the Croatian while central midfielder Fabinho was redeployed as a makeshift central defender for the evening.It is a position that the Brazilian may well have to occupy for the upcoming few games starting with Brighton on Saturday. The Reds are heavy favourites to win that fixture, and if you fancy a flutter then why not take advantage of a sign up here. Sky Sports reported Klopp as saying:"Dejan was not in the plans."He should have been only on the bench. But what happened and we had to change again."Dejan has played a lot of games in the last three or four weeks. Pretty much all the games. That was why he wasn't [going to be] involved here and then he gets injured."I am not sure what you would have said if I had started with Fabinho and Ki-Jana [Hoever] from the start. Maybe a few smart people would have said I didn't respect the competition."I changed a lot because I thought we had to not because I wanted to. "The problem was that we played a similar line-up in three tough games, so it was clear we had to change." Klopp was impressed with the composed debut of Hoever, and said in the kind of situation that he was faced with on Monday night, the age of a player doesn't come into the equation."It doesn’t make sense to bring in a 16-year-old boy from the start. You don’t bring him, you wait until he is completely ready, but he came on and did well." That’s how it sometimes starts - when you are really needed then it is only about if you are good enough and not how old you are. Raul Jimenez put the home team in front on 37 minutes, but Divock Origi replied six minutes after the interval with a pin-point strike that split two defenders and gave goalkeeper John Ruddy no chance.Liverpool only held parity for four minutes however, when the talented Ruben Neves was given time and space to fire home a rocket from 30 yards.Klopp brought on Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino for the last 20 minutes, but it was to no avail as the Midlands side knocked the Reds out of the competition for the second time in two years.Some traditionalists may bemoan the lost opportunity to still be in the running for the FA Cup, however the bigger picture aspect has to come into the discussion.Klopp has shown he is willing to prioritise something for the greater gain of the club, as shown in the earlier part of his tenure, and again last season.While ultimate success hasn't materialised yet, but we also haven't been in this position of strength for a long time.All things considered, a couple of exciting prospects got a true taste of senior football and some fringe players got a run-out.We move forward. Onwards to Brighton. This post is Sponsored content. +18 responsible gaming.