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Another week another VAR controversy as the Reds were held to a 2-2 draw at Brighton in a game that should have seen the hosts reduced to ten men.

 

TLW Editor Dave Usher is joined by Dan Thomas and Paul Natton to look back on an eventful game that the Reds should have won but could have lost. 

 

 

 

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Monday Oct 2:

 

That’s some u-turn from Neville isn’t it? He was venting about how bad this was in the immediate aftermath and then all of a sudden he wasn’t. And now he’s turned his guns on LFC because he doesn’t like the statement we pout out. A statement that was only saying the kind of thing he was. He’s a little fucking worm with zero credibility because he’s so full of contradictions and hypocrisy. I’d love to know who got to him and told him to tone it down on the refs. Shithouse. 

 

It’s not just him though. Some of the pro PGMOL bollocks I’m seeing from the media is genuinely bewildering. It feels like we’re taking on the tories or the met. You’re having to deal with the media they control too. I wouldn’t have thought Howard Webb would have had this kind of influence but I underestimated him. 

 

How has Darren England not been sacked already? How is the audio not out there? Why are they protecting him? I mean if this were a football manager doing a job this badly he’d be getting fucking hammered and no-one would give a shit about ‘duty of care’ or safeguarding his mental health. Fuck this shit. That England is one bad cunt. The audio of the whole game should be out there for public consumption. There is no reason not to unless they have something to hide.

 

In fact, why should we even need to request it like this? It should be readily available to listen to after every single game. If they don’t want to let us listen live, that’s one thing. But how come we can’t hear what’s said afterwards except for the exceptions made by Webb when he does his little self promotional show with Michael Owen where he selects which bits of audio we’re allowed to listen to? The last one they did should have included the Mac Allister red, as that was the most contentious decision and it was overturned. Instead we got to hear ones that Webb wanted us to hear so he could congratulate himself on their “process”. The audio from every single game should be available on request, starting with this one.

 

I’ve got far more questions than just what happened on the goal. I want to hear what he said on the red card too, and how he judged that as a clear and obvious error by the referee when even those pundits who think it might be a red card aren’t saying it with any conviction, and there are plenty saying it’s just the wrong call. So whether it is or it isn’t a red, it was absolutely not a clear and obvious error. Dodgy. As. Fuck.

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Well this will be short and sweet. Sometimes these reports are difficult because there’s so much that needs to be covered that I don’t really know where to start. The Spurs game last weekend for example. Then there’s this, which is equally difficult for entirely different reasons. 

 

Hardly anything happened, it was dull as shit but we won the game so there’s not even any reason to be pissed off. There’s not too much to be excited about either, it’s just basically a big whole of nothing really. And we need to get used to that because this is the Europa League experience. I think many of us had forgotten that as it’s been so long. 

 

When we think back on previous campaigns, we remember the Alaves final or the craziness of the Dortmund game. I couldn’t actually tell you who we played in the group stages of any Europa campaign we’ve ever had. Shit, I barely remember who we played in the Champions League groups last season. I think Ajax was one, but I wouldn’t put any money on it.

 

The point is, while we often think these games are going to be goalfests against teams we’ve never heard of, the reality is different. Look at our last game against Lask. Look at how Villa and Brighton have struggled to beat teams they should be dealing with easily. The Europa League is fucking shit unless you win it. Hopefully we will win it, but get used to uninspiring games like this. We might have one game where we smash the opposition but generally it will be like this.

 

The mad thing is that Klopp is actually picking strong teams and we’re still making hard work of it. I suppose there are two choices. And understrength team playing in fifth gear and being really up for it while maybe struggling to get over the line, or a strong team playing in second gear and struggling to get over the line.

 

Starting Mo Salah shocked me. I didn’t think we’d see Mo starting any of these group games. I know he only played a half, but it’s still surprising to me. Alisson too, although his selection was kind of forced upon Klopp due to Kelleher’s injury and Adrian not being registered.

 

Trent needs the minutes, Konate is currently behind Matip in the pecking order and Nunez had to play because of the injury to Gakpo. So I can see why all of those played, but Mo being involved and Doak not even getting on the field is strange to me. It’s not like it even worked. We weren’t good even with all of them on.

 

It might have been different had we taken some of the early chances we had. Maybe then we’d have got the big scoreline we wanted. We didn’t take the chances though and my boy Darwin missed an absolute fucking sitter. Incredible miss that, and a massive shame as it was a lovely move. He didn’t sort his feet out though and screwed his shot wide. Awful. Much better he does it in this one though than when it actually matters.

 

It was just a low key performance all around, except for Gravenberch who started brilliantly, disappeared for a bit, then came back into it again. I like what he brings to the table. He’s not like a Szoboszlai who is at the heart of everything, he’s more of a moments player, but whenever he had the ball he looked like he would do something.

 

He’s only played a few games but he’s had two assists and a goal already. It’s promising. I like how he’s able to receive the ball on the turn so he can immediately glide away from people. He brings something different to our other midfielders and is a bit of a wild card. The goal he scored was a simple one but it’s not that often you see our midfield players in those positions. That’s what I mean about him bringing something different.

 

He almost scored again in the second half when he cut in from the left and curled one towards the top corner, forcing the keeper into a good save. On a distinctly forgettable night he’s the one thing that stood out.

 

Not that everyone else played badly, it’s just that we probably have more intensity in training sessions than we had in this game. Konate and Quansah did well. It’s not like they had loads to do, but if they hadn’t done what they needed to then this game could have gone wrong in a hurry as the longer it went the more Union grew in confidence and at 1-0 the game was far from over.

 

Eventually we wrapped it up late on when Jota ran through and finished well, but even that goal was pretty unimpressive. Not the finish, that was good, but the way the ball ended up with Jota was scruffy as fuck. Both of our goals came from their set-pieces though, which is a big strength of ours.

 

The substitutions strongly hinted at what we’ll see on Sunday. Mo and Darwin were subbed at half time and we know they’ll be starting. Endo also went off, replaced by Macca. That’s interesting to me. I think Endo will start on Sunday and Macca will get a chance in the more advanced role that we signed him to play in. 

 

I’m looking forward to seeing him in that role as I can see Darwin benefitting from his skill around the box in picking out little passes. Trent is almost certain coming back in too, and once again we saw in this game that he spent more time dropping inside to centre back rather than joining the midfield. 

 

I quite like that as it gets him on the ball with a bit more space to pick out the runs of the forwards. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if either Darwin or Mo scored on Sunday from a Trent ball over the top.

 

I’m confident about that because I don’t think we can look at these Europa League games as any kind of barometer of form, either individually or collectively. They’re almost like training sessions. We’ll do better against higher calibre opposition, and we’ve got a couple of scores to settle with Brighton. I just hope the officials don’t get in the way.

 

Credit to their fans, they made the most of the trip they’d been so looking forward to and I thought their team gave a good account of themselves. It might be tricky over there, but hopefully we’ll be well qualified by then and it won’t matter what happens.

 

Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (Gomez), Konate, Quansah, Tsimikas; Endo (Mac Allister), Elliott, Gravenberch (Szoboszlai); Salah (Jones), Nunez (Diaz), Jota:  

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Would have been a perfect weekend that. City lost, United lost, Everton lost and we were set to go top of the table. Until THEY decided that wasn’t happening. Far too often we’re having to play against the officials as well as the opposition, but this was something 

 

It’s crazy how transparent it all is yet no-one will say it out loud. Manchester City’s owners are giving high paid side gigs to Premier League refs and two days after Darren England had been away on the Sheikh’s dime he did THAT to fuck over a team that was about to go above City in the table. Best league in the world? It’s more stage managed than WWE. We’d probably have more chance if Vince McMahon was writing the storylines.

 

But I’ll try to leave all of that out of this and just stick to the games, starting at Goodison as I think we all need cheering up this week don’t we? You can always rely on Everton to bring cheer when it’s needed most. 

 

The Blues had actually shown signs of life with wins at Brentford and Villa (in the cup) and this looked like a home banker. There’s no such thing with these bums though is there? They can literally lose to anyone, at any time, in any place. No Everton loss is shocking to me anymore. Not even this one. It was mildly surprising though, even I have to admit that. 

 

Luton took the lead in scrappy fashion when Morris hit the bar with a header and Lockyer flew in to block a clearance by Ashley Old and got lucky as it ricocheted into the net. Morris made it 2-0 with a nice finish after being picked out from a free-kick. He’s decent him, he looks a bit old school and you can see why he did well in the Championship. 

 

He reminds me a little of Troy Deeney and he’s the only Luton player who has posed any threat all season. You’d think Everton might have been aware of that and decided that marking him might be a good idea. Dyche being undone by set-pieces is always nice to see.

 

Calvert-Lewin bundled one in that was even scrappier than Luton’s opener but the Blues didn’t have an equaliser in them. Beto did have two really good headed chances and put both of them over the bar. In his defence, it’s difficult to keep headers down when you’ve got a two foot neck. One little flick of those neck muscles is like trying to hole a short putt with a driver. Can’t control the force coming off the club face.

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Promise we didn’t spend 90 minutes talking about the game! After a quick recap of the Europa League win over Union SG at Anfield, Chris Smith, Dave Usher and John Brennan turn their attention to the ongoing aftermath of the weekend’s officiating scandal. 

 

How have Liverpool played it so far? What needs to happen next to keep the pressure on? And the predictable rounding of the wagons from fans and media around the country. The lads also look ahead to a crucial-looking clash at Brighton on Sunday, which presents a chance to enter the international break on a high.

 

 

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Oh fucking hell, where do I even begin here? This is genuinely the biggest officiating scandal / catastrophe I can remember in this country. At this point, I don’t think there is anything I can say that is over the top or unreasonable, because everything is on the table here. When something this outlandish happens, you can’t rule anything out.

 

But before I get to all of that I want to talk about the lads. Because that won’t get spoken about as much as it deserves to. I’m fine with that because the focus absolutely needs to be on what the officials did and that should be the main talking point in any football related show for some time to come. I’ll get to all of that in due course because you won’t be surprised to know I have a lot to say about it.

 

But first, what a fucking heroic effort from our lads. I’m not sure I’ve ever felt prouder of my team than I did here. They were incredible and that is the most unjust defeat I’ve ever seen. The amount of shit they were having thrown at them, yet they kept fighting and fighting and refusing to yield. And they they lost to the cruelest of blows right at the death. Just heartbreaking, and yet it might just prove to be another thing that speeds up the development of this team as they become even stronger. You go through adversity and through it comes strength. We’ve seen it already this season and this is just more fuel they can use.

 

We’ve seen it already. The defiance from the players as they thanked the travelling fans. Darwin giving it the beans, pounding his chest and getting the fans going. Then he goes on social media talking about how “its us against everyone”. You’re damn fucking right it is.

 

I’ll call it now and I don’t give a fuck. We’ll win the league this season. We’re already fucking boss and we’ll get even better. If we don’t win the league it won’t be because we’re not the best team. It will be because of the kind of corruption some of us have always suspected was there and now is there in plain sight for all to see. If they keep fucking us then it’s going to be hard to overcome that. If somehow the heat from this means they have to start calling our games down the middle, then God help everyone because these boys are going to run all over everyone.

 

I kept saying last season how we’d lost the eye of the tiger. Well it’s back. This group of players are hungry and fuck, talented as anyone and now they’re motivated like nobody else. Brighton thought this weekend was bad. Wait and see what happens next week when we roll into town with a score to settle.

 

Spurs were being talked up a lot prior to this game. If it had stayed 11 v 11 we’d have tatted them. Probably by three or four at least. The signs were there, we looked like we could slice through them at will. Had it stayed 11 v 10 we’d have beaten them too. I could see that coming a mile off. Even with ten men we looked the more dangerous side and the gaps were there to be exploited. Darwin was ready to come on and finish them off, and then suddenly we were down to nine men and the plan had two change.

 

And even with NINE FUCKING MEN we weren’t in trouble. Alisson had virtually nothing to do after Jota’s dismissal and it needed a fluke own goal for him to be beaten. The way we defended was perfect right up into Joel got his feet into a mess. Spurs can take the points from the game but - and they may kid themselves and think differently - there’s nothing else they can take from this because clearly they’re nowhere near us.

 

We don’t take any points from it, yet I take much more confidence and belief from it than I had going in. This team is going to be special. Klopp knows it. The players know it. The fans are beginning to know it too.

 

So all of that needed saying first and foremost. Now to the rest of it.

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As the dust begins to settle on what happened at Spurs yesterday and new information has come to light on why exactly the Luis Diaz goal was not allowed to stand, we felt we needed to do a follow up to the post match pod.

 

TLW Editor Dave Usher is joined by Ian Brown and Stu Montagu to unpack everything that has happened since the game.

 

 

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How do you sum that up? The Reds have had their unbeaten record stolen after some questionable decisions by the officials plus one that may well be the biggest 'mistake' ever seen on a top flight football pitch in this country.

 

Dave Usher is joined by Paul Natton and Julian Richards to dissect an unbelievable game in North London in which the Reds lost yet still managed to lay down a serious marker in the title race. A fantastic performance full of heart, resilience and class may have ended in heartbreak, but this team is the real deal.

 

(The pod was recorded shortly after full time before we had the 'explanation' for why the Luis Diaz goal was not given but we'll address that in the next pod after the Europa League game)

 

 

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Interesting weekend at the top and a depressing one at the bottom. Those three newly promoted sides look increasingly like they’re going to be cast adrift at the bottom, especially if teams whose name starts with a ‘B’ keep shitting the bed against Everton. For Brighton last year, see Brentford this year.

 

Who saw that result coming? It wasn’t a fluke either. Everton played them off the park and fully deserved the win. It was such a shock that it got top billing on MOTD which might be the first time in Everton’s history that happened.

 

They took the lead from a set-piece (shocking, I know). Brentford cleared the initial ball in but you know what’s coming in that situation. Everyone knows. Except Brentford, seemingly. The whole world knows they’ll put a big ball up for Tarkowski to nod down. Brentford pride themselves in their analytics and leaving no stone unturned, yet they conceded a goal like this? When you play Everton the first thing you eliminate is Tarkowski getting his big head onto balls in the box.

 

The second thing you eliminate are the options available to him if he wins one of those big balls in the box. Doucoure is usually the main beneficiary of them, yet Brentford allowed Tarkowski to win a knock down and they left Doucoure unmarked to finish it. Fucking clowns.

 

McNeil almost doubled Everton’s lead and Doucoure was denied by the bar as the Blues piled on the pressure.

 

Brentford got back into it against the run of play when Jensen found the bottom corner after a lovely ball by Janelt. 

 

Beto missed a great chance to restore Everton’s lead and although it looked a bad miss I’m a bit concerned by that as it was a great run in behind and the dinked clip (which went wide) hints at a subtlety in his finishing that I wasn’t expecting. I’ll stick my neck on the line and say that he might be less shit than everyone thought.

 

Of course Beto himself could stick his neck on the line lengthways and cover every inch of it between the goal post and the corner flag. 

 

Lewis Potter then missed an absolute fucking sitter from a yard out just before the break, and Everton did a number on them in the second half as the Burnleyfication of the Blues was there in full effect. Tarkowski headed in a McNeil corner to make it 2-1. Defo seen that movie before.

 

In fact, I distinctly remember I would always write “Burnley scored from a set-piece (of course they did)” because that was pretty much the only way they could score. Everton are the same. Dycheball. That’s the only way they’ll survive though, a fact seemingly lost on a lot of Evertonians who wanted Dyche gone after their bad start. He’s the Obi Wan Kenobi to Everton’s Princess Leia. He’s their only hope, a lot of them just can’t see it. I’d love nothing more than for them to sack Dyche. Hopefully the cowboys trying to buy them will listen to the Grand Old Team forumites and get rid of him.

 

Calvert-Lewin wrapped it up after that Collins loser got caught on the ball. He’s shit him. He was shit at Burnley when they got relegated but for some reason Wolves bought him. He was shit for them too when they flirted with relegation, yet for some reason Brentford bought him. This bum has been bought for over £20m twice in a 12 month period. Modern football is mental.

 

Word of praise for Dominic Calvert-Lewin though. He’s a far bigger man than I am as he said afterwards “some of our own fans booed me off at Villa Park but today they’re cheering me because I scored. I know it’s just because they care and they want to see me scoring goals”.

 

No mate, it’s not. It’s because they’re cunts. They booed you off when you suffered a broken face trying to score a goal for them. They deserve no credit at all, but fair play to you for not taking it personally. I’d have been giving it the full Hulk Hogan “ear cupping” celebrations in front of the pricks. Like I say, bigger man than me.

 

Given the way the newly promoted teams are going it looks like we might need that points deduction to flush the Blues after all. 

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So is anyone detecting any patterns to our season, then? Slow starts? Check. Conceding single goals? Check. Dominant, front-foot, attacking displays? Check. Big impact substitutions? Check. 3-1 wins, even? Again, check.

 

This season feels like it's gone from the zero of last season to, if not quite 100mph, at least 80 in pretty short order. Excited again everyone? If not, you should be because I don't think we've got any right to expect so soon this level of entertainment and - more importantly - run of results, given the huge changes in system and personnel coming off the back of the most depressing campaign of the Klopp era.

 

Because it is, isn't it? An era. If you consider our ridiculous history of both great and dominant football, these years under Jurgen stand apart. Yes, we can quibble about the varying demands of football over the ages, but most professional observers acknowledge the quality of the modern game surpasses anything that came before and in Klopp we have a manager who not only navigates these choppy waters of state ownership and billion pound transfer outlays, but builds a battleship that's as fast and destructive and resilient as anything else at sea. And then, once the rust suddenly appears, takes the good ship LFC into dry dock and whips her back out again in short order ready to take on all comers once more.

 

 

An over-egged appraisal of where our season is at before we even enter October? Maybe. But if there's one thing we can surely all agree on, it's that these days under Jurgen have been, for the most part, overwhelmingly fun and if we don't enjoy the good times while they're here, more fools we. Because make no mistake: the season to date has been fun and there aren't too many signs of that waning.

 

Leicester arrived at Anfield on the back of an equally exhilarating run of form, relatively speaking, that has taken them to the top of The Championship, with a team which, while denuded of the continuing intermittent deadliness of Jamie Vardy, still retains numerous PL and international experienced familiar names worthy of some respect. Plus Conor Coady.

 

Let me get this our of the way now: my years of bewilderment at Dave's hatred of Coady were rectified at the final home game of the 21-22 season when, as "a massive Red"...

 

*Coughs* Bullshit!!! *Coughs*

 

...he proceeded to waste time from the opening minute of our final opportunity to go a step closer to the unprecedented quadruple we had in our sights and generally revelled in he and his team shithousing their way through the game. And that's before he joined Everton!

 

No, he's a completely self-obsessed prick and not anything even vaguely approaching my idea of a Red. Don't get me wrong - I wasn't looking for any favours from him in that match against Wolves (which we ultimately won, anyway). However, I didn't expect him to literally try and cheat us out a win that day and absolutely delight in doing so! And how any genuine Red - regardless of what's happening with his career - joins an Everton as embittered and shambolic as the current iteration and then continues to look in the mirror is literally inconceivable; ergo, he's no Red.

 

Anyway, I digress (been reading Dave for too many years, soz). The line up from Liverpool was almost exactly what I wanted to see in this competition: an almost completely rotated side which had eyes on the triple prizes of squad freshness, individual development and - most crucially of all - victory. I say "almost" because Curtis' inclusion was a surprise.

 

That said, it was a happy one given the fact that Jurgen elected to make him captain over a more established option such as Jota. This has been a huge season for one of my long term favourite players as he has emerged from what feels like years in a wilderness of injury and ill-fitting tactics to become a nailed-down first team player.  So to see him given what looked like further affirmation - and also opportunity to continue his growth into a serious talent firmly harnessed to the team - was genuinely delightful. And the fact that he was trusted with the Trent hybrid role speaks volumes about the esteem in which both his talent and intelligence are held by the coaching staff. 

 

We have a very proud tradition in this competition, despite it's numerous name changes, and I desperately want to put further distance between us and the flat-track bullies who've crept into sight in our rear view mirror as all time leaders on the league cup honours board. I admit there was a time when I was dismissive of the league cup. However, given what sports washing has done to squads in terms of size and quality for the top English clubs, it's not only desirable to go deep into the domestic and lesser European trophies, it's essential. We need the games in order to keep the entirety of the squad focused and fresh, whilst also retaining a keen eye on a fundamental aspect of our success under Klopp: player development.

 

So the game kicked off with a much changed line up of familiar faces and almost immediately hit a snag as Leicester broke against us by pressing Kostas, who was running towards his own goal, and exploiting his tendency to over-elaborate when trying to convince the referee he's been fouled. Look, it probably was a foul (it certainly looked as much from my spec on The Kop), but he's got to be cuter than that silly effort when trying to win a free kick - especially given the position he was in and the fact that so many of our players were higher up the pitch than him.

 

Curtis had a go at slowing the attack while cutting off the pass, but ultimately his back line/offside trap inexperience left him a little too deep and McAteer broke through to receive the pass and beat Kweev low and to his right. It looked very offside to me at the time but, while it's not absolutely conclusively onside, having seen the highlights, it was a welcome throwback to the pre-VAR footballing age.

 

I say "welcome" because I thought referee had a good game. There's something really refreshing about watching a game that's allowed to flow because my biggest bugbear with the new anti-time-wasting directives to have 100+ minute games is that it doesn't actually help a side like us which thrives on momentum and the flow of our game. Besides, despite the early set back, I had absolute zero concerns about the ultimate outcome of the match - and so it proved.

 

The rest of the first half saw us completely dominate Leicester with high-pressing, fluid football which, while occasionally dipping in intensity, created myriad opportunities for goals somehow thwarted only by the woodwork and desperate goal-line clearances. Key to much of this was the new triangle on the right hand side of Curtis, Harvey and Ben Doak with the prodigious teenager showing plenty of evidence of the potential height of his Liverpool ceiling by taking on numerous one on ones, putting dangerous crosses in and hitting the bar himself.

 

Other areas of the attack seemed less lustrous and I suspect that's why Jurgen called Endo over at the mid-point of the half to pass on instructions to Curtis, who then switched into the double pivot slot thereafter, curtailing that right side threat considerably. Certainly the attack seemed better balanced until half time, albeit slightly neutered.

 

It was in this period that the lack of regular match experience for much of the crowd became clear. I have no issues with good Reds taking a rare opportunity to get to Anfield as the regulars opt to save their money for the bigger games, even if they do betray themselves every time with the inevitable early applause for YNWA. What does irk though is a lack of patience in what they're seeing and an inability to, if not recognise the predictability of a Liverpool comeback (we almost never drop points/results at Anfield under Klopp), at least suspend their audible disbelief. That said, we went in at half-time a goal down and, in my mind at least, comfortably placed for a second half assault on The Kop end augmented, if necessary, by the big guns sitting on the bench.

 

And that's exactly what transpired when we came out for the second half. After just a couple of minutes or so, Gggggravenberchhhhhh (shout out to Chris on the pod for the pronunciation skills) received the ball under pressure on the edge of the area and defied the received wisdom about footballing "big men" to rapidly switch feet and play an incisive pass around a defender's attempt to close him down and into the feet of Gakpo. Cody then used his strength to hold off the defender and spin him to hit a great shot into the right hand bottom corner.

 

1-1 and that thing about classy grocks which I've wittered on about previously was starting to look like a theme, given the emergence of Szoboszlai not long afterwards to similarly impact the game. Ever since Arsene Wenger (from the time when he was good, rather than when he went all "tiki-taka tart") showed the way in the signings of Viera and Henry, it's always seemed clear to me that - give or take what will be obvious exceptions - modern top class sides shouldn't see power and pace as incompatible attributes with touch and intelligence in a footballer. If you can have everything in one package, why the hell wouldn't you?

 

And in the two new Dutch lads, plus Hungary's apparently god-like captain (not to mention Jarell Quansah - more on him later), that seems to be our new recruitment aim. To me it's an absolute no brainer and I think we're increasingly going to see the significance of these physical yet gifted players as Klopp 2.0 continues to emerge. 

 

On 64 minutes, the aforementioned Szoboszlai came on alongside Darwin to replace Gravenberch and Doak and the performance immediately moved through the gears as Darwin caused utter mayhem with his pace, energy, pressing and clever movement, thereby creating space for teammates all over the place. One such moment ultimately led to Szoboszlai's screamer as a clearance fell to Endo (finally starting to look like the experienced pro he is with a busy yet composed second half) and he immediately fed Dom to unleash what has to be one of the hardest hit shots Anfield has ever seen.

 

It was an absolute screamer into the top left corner that seemed to actually be picking up speed even as it billowed the net. The Stevie comparisons have started unduly early with this lad for my taste, but I don't see there's anyway to stop them given the way he's starting to impose himself on games and opponents with increasing frequency (witness the near-as-dammit mirror image effort on goal some ten minutes later in the game). It seems bizarre that he's only 22, so preternaturally mature is his reading of the game and deployment of his talent therein.

 

However, it's equally bizarre he has fewer than ten appearances for Liverpool so absolutely at home does he seem in a Red shirt and fundamental to the way this team now wants to play. I'm not going to eulogise him at length here as others are already doing so wherever you look in the LFC-verse right now. However, I will say this: no matter how excited any of us feels about him currently, I think we've barely scratched the surface of what he will eventually be for Liverpool. 

 

So at 2-1 it was clear to all that the result was in the bag and the only question remaining was to what extent we could turn our dominance into goals. That it transpired only once more should not detract from the overall quality of performance from a scratch side and especially not in the context of that final successful strike. Kostas took a free kick from a couple of yards outside the penalty area on the left hand side and the ball eventually broke to the right after a great effort by Harvey to intervene in what would have been a fortuitous Leicester counter-attack.

 

Quansah charged back at pace from his attacking position at the set-piece and bullied Justin off the ball before running into the penalty area and laying a lovely pass on for Jota whose finish was class personified as he judiciously flicked a back heel at the ball, hitting it perfectly into the far corner. 3-1 and that really was game over.

 

So, Bournemouth away next in this competition at the end of next month, which I'm a little gutted about for two reasons: firstly, I've really got a taste for seeing the full depth and breadth of our squad displayed like this and I doubt we'll see such a complete change before that next round, even allowing for the Europa League matches in between. Second of all though, it's frustrating that the next match is away as I get the sense that the significance of Anfield is going to show itself again this season and we all know that the more opportunities the players have to perform in front of their home crowd, the more confident and therefore effective they will become.

 

Before then though we go into consecutive tough away games in the league (separated by what should be a comfortable visit to Anfield for us by Macca's brother and his mates) that will give us an indication of just how ambitious we should really be this season. Spurs and particularly Brighton will present challenges of the kind we've not faced this season and together have the potential to really shape the campaign, should we emerge with good results from each match.

 

On the pod a couple of games into the season, I said that, contrary to what we'd all thought about the opening match of the campaign having been a good time to play Chelsea, rather Chelsea might come to regard it as having been a good time to have faced us. Given the way we have passed every subsequent test, moving through the gears as we do so, who would bet against a couple of great away wins now? I don't think we can regard either game as anything less than a real challenge, but I just get the sense that this is a team - and squad - that will continue to find ways to win.

 

The significance of the five substitutes rule is becoming apparent to all Liverpool fans now as Jurgen repeatedly deploys our attacking riches from the bench to deliver wins. Furthermore though, he is able to make in-match adjustments to our tactics in response to the problems presented by other sides and I think both factors are going to be significant over the next few matches and beyond.

 

I'm aware I need to rein in my default setting of overwhelming optimism a little right now as we're not even out of September yet. However, I think the summer business is starting to look far more astute than it appeared in the context of the switch away from Bellingham, the fruitless jousts with Chelsea and the left-field recruitment of a clearly far from first choice option for number six. Dom and, to a lesser extent, Macca, speak for themselves as signings, and Endo and Gravenberch have clear potential to be at the very least excellent value, if not more, based on what we've seen so far.

 

Of particular concern to me though this summer was the lack of action in signing a centre half. However, the previously never-mentioned Jarell Quansah has seized his pre-season opportunity and acquitted himself magnificently when called upon so far. He's another one who combines brawn and acceleration with touch and composure and I've been delighted to watch his low-key emergence as a viable squad option, even as I continue to worry about the availability of the senior centre halves we have on our books. 

 

So after the first eight games of the season, I don't think any of us could be happier given the mess of the previous campaign and the wild fluctuations in mood of the transfer window. This feels like an exciting bandwagon that's rapidly gathering pace and - hopefully - momentum. Entertaining matches such as last night's are very much part of the recipe; rather than these being an annoyance or a distraction, we need to see ourselves as favourites to win the trophy and be the first club to move into double figures with league cup wins.

 

Star Man is a difficult one given the quality of goals, the precocity of some of the performers and the fact that we were denied what could have been an absolute trouncing of Leicester. However, I'm going to go with Endo just edging out Harvey, Quansah and Dom, for producing what was, for me, a reassuring performance that showed me what I wanted to see from him from the outset. He's not going to be a world beater, but he can be a wise older head and leader whose ability to play a specific role can be the tactical foundation for the more mercurial talents liberally scattered throughout the rest of the squad to explode from.

 

And Saturday tea time? I'm going to go right out on a limb with this team and predict...

 

 - you've guessed it -

 

...3-1!!! Come on you Reds!!!

 

Team: Kelleher; Jones (Bajcetic), Konate, Quansah, Tsimikas (Chambers); Endo, Elliott, Gravenberch (Szoboszlai); Doak (Nunez), Gakpo, Jota:

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Another game, another 3-1. Four in a row now, although this one should have been much more as the Reds created countless opportunities that they didn't take.

 

The three they did take through Gakpo, Szoboszlai and Jota were enough to ensure comfortable passage into the next round and set up a date with Bournemouth.

 

Chris Smith is joined by Stu Montagu and TLW Editor Dave Usher to reflect on a good evening's work from the boys and to look ahead to a mouth watering clash at Spurs this weekend.

 

 

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October 19th, 2022. The Reds beat West Ham 1-0 at Anfield three days after beating Man City at the same venue to a) pull away at the top of the table? b) remain neck-and-neck in the Title race with City? or c) move on to 16 points after 12 games?

 

It was c). Yes, it was that bad. Indeed, The Reds would remain on 16 points after 14 games, having lost the next two to Forest and Leeds. An average of 0.875 points for each of the first 14 games.

 

So, with the obvious proviso that it’s still early days this season, how about an upbeat article on how The Reds have done so far, given that they’ve already reached 16 points on September 24th. And this season started a week later too!

 

One reason for this ‘positivity’ is the context of the summer. To say many of us were fuming with the farcical ‘work’ of the Club with regards to Caicedo and Lavia would be an understatement. Although the (para)phrase ‘to dodge two bullets’ now comes to mind. Add to that the unexpected departure of Fabinho, the trauma – for that is what it was – of Henderson’s betrayal, the departure of other iconic figures like Bobby and Milner and Reds could be forgiven for being pessimistic about the season to come. The fixture ‘computer’ didn’t do us any favours either, with tough fixtures – on paper at least – away to Chelsea and Newcastle and at home to Villa and West Ham.

 

And yet, despite all of that, The Reds sit on 5 wins out of 6 in the League, 6 wins out of 7 in all competitions. The unbeaten run in the League now makes pleasant reading. The last defeat was April 1st. Since then, 12 wins, 5 draws. 41 points out of 51. 42 scored, 19 conceded. Since that Leeds defeat at Anfield last October, we’ve won 12 and drawn 3 in L4. A sign of things to come? Let’s hope so.

 

‘Hope’, that revered yet pain-inducing adjective of all football fans. We’re all feeling it, at the moment, aren’t we? See, it’s the hope that gets you. It gets us all. In fairness, there are four solid reasons to be hopeful for the season ahead: the Europa League, the ‘old’ lads, the new lads and the bench.

 

First, the Europa League. None of us wanted to be in this, did we? It’s a sign of failure because it means you’ve finished outside the Top Four. Yet, it’s not the worst thing that could have happened us. You could almost describe out failure to finish in the Top Four as a ‘blessing in disguise’ (throwback to February 2003 when Gérard said that after out FA Cup exit at home to Palace!). Why so? Well, it’s not hurt us in terms of attracting top players. The financial impact will be manageable. But most of all, it will allow us tick so many boxes which should help us in the long-term.

 

What ruined The Reds last season was the previous season and its 63 games. We played every game we could have. Like in 2000-01. It’s almost impossible to replicate that. So a break from that intensity (if not volume) of games which The Europa League offers us should be welcomed with open arms. Last season, Alisson and Virgil started all six group games in The European Cup, Trent, Fabinho and Mo five, Harvey and Bobby four, no wonder we were goosed!

 

This season, The Europa League will allow us to tick several boxes: keep fringe players happy (Kelleher, Doak), nurse players back to match fitness (Konaté), try out players in different positions (Bajetcic), give others a chance to play together and grow in confidence (Luis and Darwin), rest senior players (only Virgil, Luis and Darwin started against LASK and West Ham). Despite all this, we should still qualify comfortably from the group and can then ‘park’ this competition until March. Not forgetting that Arsenal, United and Newcastle will have to deal with a ‘real’ Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday schedule until December.

 

How about the ‘old lads’, then? Well, Alisson has already been decisive on several occasions this season. Newcastle, Villa and West Ham immediately come to mind. Since Joe came on against Newcastle (to slot in at centre-back after Virgil was sent off), he’s been great, at centre-back or right-back. Andy, after a dodgy opening-day performance against Chelsea, has been his old self. Indeed, he’s played 90 minutes in every League game, along with Alisson and Dom.

 

Mo has been involved each time we have scored in the last 13 games through goals or assists. He was a level above everyone against LASK and has been influential against Newcastle, Wolves and others. Virgil and Joel also seem to be in good form. And as for Jota? Ee’ar, sport, it’s in the name.

 

What about the new lads? Well, one stands out, and that’s Szoboszlai. He’s played in every game so far and played 90 minutes in the six League games. He’s ace. Powerful. Fast. Tactically aware. Technically good. And most of all, in your face. As he demonstrated in the 90th minute, against West Ham, when 3-1 up. A fantastic player and key to how our season will go.

 

Macca has taken a little longer to settle in – through no fault of his own – but that pass for Darwin shows what he is capable of. Endo will be fine – he needs time. Gravenberch showed good signs against LASK, too. All in all, they’ve done really well. There is even an argument for putting Luis and Darwin in the ‘new lads’ category as they never really had a chance to play together last season, given the mess that it was. 14 goals already from our front five, 11 from out first-choice front three. It augurs well.

 

Finally, for all the worries – legitimate ones, might I add – that we had about the depth of the squad during the summer, the bench has been great for us this season. Gomez against Newcastle after the sending-off. Quansah, Jota, Harvey and of course Darwin in that same game. Diaz, Darwin and Harvey – again – against Wolves. Mo against LASK. Jota against West Ham. Everyone contributing. Everyone keeping everyone else on their toes.

 

Things are looking good. Six wins out of seven. A far cry from last season where we were at sixes and sevens. The next few weeks will tell a lot, but the previous few have told us a fair bit – mostly good.

 

John Brennan

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When we beat Villa a few weeks ago it was really impressive. Klopp was buzzing about it and it was a really good performance and result. This was better though. Why? Because while Villa are a decent team, they played right into our hands with their tactics. West Ham didn’t. They made it really hard for us but we stuck at it and eventually rolled over them.

 

We were really fucking good in this game, and we needed to be because West Ham were very impressive. Much better than Villa were. They’ll finish no lower than 8th this year and if they had a goalscorer they’d be pushing towards the top five. They gave as good as they got in the first half and it was only when we stepped up after the break that we were able to shake them off.

 

They started with a real spring in their step and I was surprised at how slick they were. Little one touch passes to play their way out of trouble when we closed them down, and some swift counters that caused us problems. Alisson needed to make a world class save to keep out Soucek’s downward header. Stunning save that.

 

Then Antonio headed miles wide from a golden opportunity. If you’re gonna talk the talk you need to walk the walk, but Antonio failed to back up his pre-match bravado. “I’m backing myself. We’ll finish above Liverpool this season”. Not with you leading the line mate. This was his big moment the chance to put the exclamation point on his boasts, and he shit the bed. Thankfully.

 

I’m sick of us conceding the first goal so it was nice that we avoided it this time. Thanks Michail, much appreciated.

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The Reds are up to second in the table after an impressive display to see off a good West Ham side at Anfield.

 

TLW Editor Dave Usher is joined by Julian Richards, John Gallagher and Dan Thomas as the lads look back on an enjoyable afternoon at Anfield and look ahead to the midweek cup game against Leicester.

 

 

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Monday Sep 18:

 

Szoboszlai recorded the third fastest speed ever recorded in the Premier League on Saturday. It won’t surprise you to know that Kyle Walker is top, although he wasn’t playing football at the time when he was clocked. He was running down the street being chased by his missus after she caught him hosting one of his “sex parties”. The point is though, he’s the quickest, we all knew that. Dom being top three though? Recording a faster speed than Salah or Mané ever did? That’s an eye opener. 

 

Hard to comprehend that he’s clocked a faster top speed than Adama Traore. What a fucking thoroughbred he is though. Remember when they used to get the fastest player from every club and then have them race each other for TV? They’d never do that now because of the risk of injury, but it would be boss.

 

Also today, we’ve been linked tentatively with a Japanese winger, Takefuso Kubo, at Sociedad. He’s on loan from Madrid, he’s 22 and described as, wait for it….. the Japanese Messi. In fairness, the comparison is more valid than most as he’s got a similar build and running style, and his game is very based on dribbling. I reckon there’s probably some legs in this as we might be needing to replace Mo in a year’s time. 

 

It would also partially explain the move for Endo. Get him in to help the player who actually might be a first team regular settle in properly. The lad does look really good but based on his YouTube compilations the thing that jumps out is that he’s going to need to  work on his end product. Mind you, if he does that he’ll end up staying with Madrid.

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I often fall into the trap of assuming these games will be easy. Occasionally they are, but usually they’re like this. Whether it’s Champions League, Europa League or the domestic cups, these games are often much more difficult than we expect them to be. So what happened here shouldn’t be surprising. 

 

The only thing that really matters in these Europa League group games is getting enough points to get to the knockouts while using as few first team regulars as possible. We got the result here but we did use more key players than you’d maybe ideally like. Van Dijk probably needed the 90 minutes, Diaz and Nunez less so. Thankfully we’re blessed with enough forwards that it doesn’t matter.

 

This was actually a good result in the end and a decent performance. It’s easy to look past that because of the dizzy heights we’ve been to in Europe under Klopp, but we won this easily enough despite some first half problems and falling behind yet again. You only have to look at the results of Villa and Brighton to see that it’s never easy when you make changes and you’re facing opponents who see it as their biggest game of the season. 

 

I didn’t even think the first half was that bad. We’ve played a lot worse than that. The only thing that was wrong with much of the first half was sloppiness in the final third. We controlled possession, kept the ball pretty well but we kept playing the wrong pass or a bad pass. We had a few chances but we would have had loads if we’d been less sloppy.

 

The pitch didn’t help. It was like a fucking ploughed field, especially that big strip nearest thing camera side. Kostas kept falling over or mis-controlling the ball any time it came to him. He was probably made up to get to half time so he could get over to the other side of the field. Mind you, everyone will have been glad to get to half time because despite what I said about us not playing that badly for most of the half, we got ragged as fuck the longer it went on.

 

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Once again the Reds fell behind early and once again they came back to win 3-1 as a Darwin Nunez penalty was followed up by lovely goals from Luis Diaz and Mo Salah to ensure the tournament favourites got off to a winning start.

 

Just like Jurgen Klopp we've shuffled our pack for the Europa League. Regular starters Chris Smith and Dave Usher are joined by John Brennan, who is looking to impress and force his way into contention for the weekend pods.

 

The lads look back on the game before previewing West Ham at the weekend, while JB reveals how he once nutmegged a former Manchester United player and that by rights he should have a Ballon d'Or on his sideboard. 

 

 

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I’m so glad that we’re good again as it makes doing these round ups so much less of a chore. Watching MOTD when we’re shite is a miserable experience and I feel myself becoming more bitter and resentful by the week.

 

On that note, Everton lost again. What a segue that was. If that segue were a footballer it would be Dom Szoboszlai. Actually I’ll leave the Blues for now as it was a Sunday game, so I’ll get to them in a bit.

 

Obviously I’m starting with Manchester United and their continuing misery. They’ve lost three of five league games and the two wins they have are basically down to VAR being in their pocket. The Wolves pen not given and the Rashford dive that was. Take those away and they’re down there fighting with Everton and the newly promoted clubs.

 

They’re not as bad as those teams and they’ll finish in the top half, but it’s fucking brilliant seeing all the turmoil and misery they’re having to deal with. Of course it’s all the fault of the Glazers. Fucking mingebags only spending more money than every other club in the league. 

 

Ok, in fairness a lot of that mess in on the Glazers, just not the reasons usually given. They keep appointing managers and letting them spend shitloads on players, giving out massive salaries, and then sacking those managers when they aren’t delivering. Wait, hold on, isn’t that what owners are supposed to do?

 

So basically their main culpability is in appointing the wrong managers. Sure, they’re lining their pockets by taking huge dividends, and I absolute get why why the fans hate them as I would too. Hating them is fine, but putting all of this mess on them is just taking the easy way out.

 

What about the players? What about the managers they’ve had? Is none of this on them? Did the Glazers force players to abuse women or to take to social media to slag off their manager? Did the Glazers replace De Gea with a clown? Did the Glazers turn Maguire into the biggest laughing stock in football? Did the Glazers decide Maguire needed replacing with a jockie?

 

I’ll start with him because even after well over a year I still laugh every time I see the little fella scampering about like one of the Ant Hill Mob, snarling and staring people down. He’s so laughable. It wouldn’t be funny if he was a full back or a midfielder, but because he’s a centre half it’s just fucking hilarious. I’ll never get used to it, it’s just proper funny.

 

I’m still waiting for Carra to apologise for apologising about him. He was right to begin with but allowed himself to be swayed from it after the little fella had a few good games and United fans got all chesty about him. 

 

He’s only getting away with it now because the keeper is so bad, Maguire is a social media punch bag and their forwards keep using women as a literal punch bag. The fact that United fans call him ‘the Butcher’ without a hint of irony just makes it all the more hilarious. What a club. Complete shitshow.

 

Was anyone even surprised that Brighton schooled them? It would have been more of a shock if they hadn’t. I think they’ve beaten them three or four times in a row now. You know why? Because Brighton are well coached, they work hard and they know what they’re doing with and without the ball. Except when they play Everton.

 

United are none of those things. They’re just distinctly average in every department. Their fans don’t get it though. Any time they have a decent run they convince themselves they’re on the way back. And then when it’s obvious that they aren’t, they dust off the green and gold scarfs and go after the Glazers. And it’s fucking great. I love it.

 

Their starting eleven is bad enough but its when you look at their bench that the true depths of their mediocrity becomes apparent. 

 

They started quite brightly in this game but as soon as Brighton got warmed up that was it. The opener came from Danny Welcrap against his boyhood club. A cross from the right was cleverly dummied by Lallana and not even Welbeck could miss that. Not with Onana in goal anyway. Any shot on target usually goes in.

 

The goal exposed a massive problem for United. I knew about it beforehand because I watch Goldbridge’s best bits after every bad result, and he’s constantly bemoaning how runners from midfield are killing them because nobody goes with them. Lallana just strolled into the box unnoticed and by the time someone picked him up that left Welbeck all alone.

 

The only threat they pose is when Rashford gets the ball, but even he’s a problem as he’s a greedy cunt who rarely passes, and he’s also a lazy fucker who never tracks back. He’s all they’ve got though really as the rest of their attackers are Everton standard.

 

Maybe the new lad will be better than that. He’s only young so he might develop into something. That’s if he doesn’t end up on an assault charge for leathering Rashford. You can see already he’s getting pissed off with how Rashford just wants to go for goal every time.

 

Hoijland thought he’d equalised in this game when he slotted home after a rare Rashford pass. The ball had gone out of play though, which explains Rashford cutting it back instead of trying to shoot like he normally would. The angle was so bad even he realised he couldn’t shoot from there.

 

Gross finished superbly to double Brighton’s lead as once again United didn’t pick up the midfield runner. Ten Hag then subbed Hoijland and the fans booed loudly. Presumably Joel Glazer has a hotline to the bench and ordered that one.

 

Joao Pedro made it 3-0 with a carbon copy of the other two goals. Ball cut back to a midfield runner who hadn’t been picked up and then Onana just letting the shot in. Like watching the same goal over and over, which prompted Goldbridge to describe United as “UK Gold FC”, which was good.

 

Hannibal pulled one back for them but even if he’d brought the rest of the A-Team with him they weren’t salvaging anything from this one. I saw plenty of people mocking Hannibal for over-celebrating his goal. Usually I’d be the first to pile on something like that, but that’s not really how I saw this. 

 

He was fired up and did celebrate, but it looked far more like him trying to gee up the crowd to try and inspire a comeback rather than him milking the moment by celebrating a goal despite them still being a couple of goals behind. It’s not like he ran to the corner flag or to celebrate with fans behind the goal. He was running back to his own half and screaming at the fans and waving his arms around to get them going, so I don’t see the problem with it.

 

It didn’t inspire anything though and Brighton should have scored more. You love to see it. The funniest thing is that Brighton were without half of their first choice line up and still battered them. They’ve got a decent shot at qualifying for the Champions League this season now that it’s five places. 

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As that brutal car crash of a first half unfolded I was trying to make myself feel better by concentrating on the excuses. We couldn’t take anything from this performance because it’s a massively changed line up from that impressive win over Villa, some of the squad had barely trained, it was an early kick off after an international break and so on. 

 

It wouldn’t have made the result any easier to take but it would allow me to dismiss it to a large extent and not allow it to cloud my judgement on the team and where we are headed. Similar to how having to play with ten men in two of our opening three fixtures made it hard to get a handle on what kind of form we’re in and how far along the road we are with the ‘new team’. What we saw in that first half was no real indicator of anything in terms of how the rest of the season would go. That’s the angle I was going for if it continued to go wrong.

 

Thankfully it didn’t. Klopp was largely culpable for what went wrong in the first half, but he recognised what needed to be done and he fixed it emphatically. He started the game with the wrong line up and the wrong system and we didn’t really have any chance. We’re lucky it was only a one goal deficit at the break, although had it been more I still feel that we’d have come back given just how massively things improved after Klopp righted the wrongs from the first half.

 

There were two massive errors made by Klopp to start this game. The first was starting Alexis Mac Allister, the second was asking Joe Gomez to be Trent Alexander-Arnold. This isn’t hindsight talking either as I don’t think any one of us would have asked Joe to be moving inside into that inverted role, and given what we knew about Macca’s exploits in midweek I’d say most were a little surprised he wasn’t on the bench along with his South American compatriots Luis Diaz and my boy Darwin.

 

Mac Allister played a full game at altitude three days ago. He needed oxygen before and during the game and he didn’t get back to Merseyside until 24 hours before the game. You could tell within a couple of minutes he was miles off the pace and at no point did he ever get to grips with it. He was like Fabinho's dad and in a half when most of his team-mates were also shit, there was no way we could hide him so he got badly exposed. Not his fault, I don’t think any less of him whatsoever as I don’t think he had any chance of putting in a performance. 

 

Klopp said as much afterwards which makes it all the more baffling that he started him. What’s the fucking point in Endo if we can’t put him in a game like this? If I was him I’d be well pissed off. Gomez was done no favours either with what he was asked to do. This system was designed for Trent, so if he’s not there then fuck it off and don’t over complicate things. Look at how Gomez performed in the second half compared to the first. Night and day.

 

It’s mind blowing that we saw him moving into those midfield areas. Not all the time, but it was happening occasionally. I felt sorry for him as he’s not familiar with it and he’s not suited to it. I like him as a right back, I think he’s improved massively in that role over the last couple of years but he was put in a bad spot there. He had a torrid first half, not helped at all by how bad Matip was alongside him.

 

It sounds daft, but alarm bells went off for me seconds into the game when Jota attempted a simple enough pass and put it miles up in the air. That set the tone for what followed. Sloppy, slow, totally lacking in any kind of intensity. Klopp said afterwards that the players just couldn’t physically do what they needed to do to make the system work, and he couldn’t change the whole team so he changed the system. Better late than never. 

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The Reds overcame a one goal deficit and a nightmare first half showing to come roaring back after the break to claim all three points at Wolves.

 

TLW Editor Dave Usher was joined by Ian Brown and Julian Richards shortly after full time to reflect on a classic "game of two halves" that sent Klopp's side to the top of the tale, albeit only for a couple of hours.

 

 

 

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Monday Sep 11:

 

A bit of discussion on the forum over a bit of clickbait Sky ran a few days ago where they had some graphic rating the strikers in the Premier League, and Darwin was in the ‘C’ category with the likes of 

 

Jay Bothroyd was one of the ‘judges’ and he said “When he has played he’s played the majority of games on the left, and when he has played as a striker I don’t think he’s played well. “We spoke about missing chances, and he’s missed loads of chances. I know pricetags, at £80m, I’m expecting him to come in and score goals, but he hasn’t done it in the Premier League yet. He has to really work on his composure as a striker.”

 

It’s easy to mock him for that but he clearly doesn’t watch us that often if he thinks most of his games have been on the left. He’s just bought into the narrative he’s seen and heard about how he misses loads of chances and doesn’t have composure. That’s partially true but it’s reacting to a relatively smaller size, and to say he hasn’t scored goals in the Premier League is nonsense because he has. His goals per minutes played is good. Not brilliant, but good for a player in a new league who came into a team that fell off a cliff. 

 

But there are loads of people, let’s call them morons, who have no idea how good Nunez is and how high his ceiling is. They’ll find out soon enough though, and when they do pieces like this one will get the ridicule they deserve. The most surprising thing about all this though was that I learnt that Bothroyd actually played for England. Fuck me, they really do hand caps out to anyone these days don’t they?

 

I remember growing up in the 80s and getting an England call up was actually a big thing. Steve McMahon was fucking tearing it up with us but it took a good while before he got a call up. Look at Tommy Smith too. Getting picked for England was really hard once upon a time. Now I find out Bothroyd got a call up despite only scoring *checks notes* SIX top flight goals. Or put another way, five less than Darwin has despite playing twice as many games. 

 

Saw a story today claiming we’ll move for Lloyd Kelly from Bournemouth in January. He’s out of contract in the summer and would be available for £20m. He ticks a few boxes. 24 years old, home grown, left back or centre half, PL experience. I don’t know if he’s any good or not though. He turned us down to join Bournemouth a few years ago but you can understand why young players would make the move that gives them the most playing time. In fact, I respect that as the easy thing to do is take the glamour move.

 

In other news, Paul Pogba has failed a dope test. Not surprising, he’s always been a massive do… ohhhhh they mean a drugs test. Yeah ok, not surprised by that either, half the games I’ve seen him play in he’s looked like he’s been tranquillised.

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The international break gives the lads a chance to look at how Klopp 2.0 is shaping up and whether the sequel can top the blockbuster original, we'll analyse THAT Jordan Horrenderson interview and preview the Wolves game on Saturday.

 

Chris Smith is joined by Dave Usher and Paul Natton to take some listener questions on the heartbreaking Liverpool games we could do-over, non-LFC players we'd have loved to see in the famous red, and United and Everton players we'd take if forced. We also give the current squad the infamous Brendan Rodgers 'envelope test', and pick the perfect LFC front three for the current side.

 

 

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Monday Sep 4:

 

Trent is out of the England squad and is expected to be out for two weeks. In other words, he’s out until our next game. Hopefully that’s the case anyway and this is purely about him getting out of England duty. If it’s not and he misses our next game, who plays right back? Gomez will be needed in the centre so who else is there? I keep thinking about this and can’t come up with anyone, so then I think it’s just me being old and I must be forgetting someone obvious, but I’m not am I? We genuinely have no other alternative aside from Gomez? Crazy.

 

Staying with the international break, and Big Red Ron has kicked off about Gravenberch not showing up for Holland. This is an absolute fucking joke. He’s a lad who has a dozen or so senior caps and a shitload of under 21 appearances. He just played for the u21s in the summer tournament and that really should have been the end of his career at that level. He has literally just moved to another country three days ago and needs to find a house and sort out all sorts of other things. He pulled out of the u21s to get all of that sorted and Koeman is hammering him, the silly fat tit. Trying to make it up to the Blues after his red Crimbo tree.

 

Meanwhile, it looks like that Antony cunt is going the way of Greenwood. Police in Brazil are investigating him after an ex girlfriend reported him for all manner of cuntish things. I’m shocked, I mean he looks like such a nice lad doesn’t he? Seriously, finding out he’s a real piece of work is the least surprising thing ever. I can spot twats a mile off, I’ve got a sixth sense for it and I’m hardly ever wrong. Man United should probably hire me to vet all of their potential signings, I’d save them a fortune. Because they paid £90m for this turd and pretty soon they’ll be suspending him and eventually letting him leave for free, like the other scumbag.

 

Tell you what, Ryan Giggs is lucky there was no social media when he was in his pomp or he’d have been kicked out at 21, the horrible fucking walking carpet.

 

Saw a report linking us with Mitoma as a replacement for Mo when he eventually leaves. Not really a surprise as he’s one of the best players in the league these days, but what did surprise me is that he’s 26. Honestly, I thought was about 22. He’s only been at Brighton a year or so, so where the fuck did they pluck him from and why was he still playing there at 25? Weird. He’s the Japanese Jamie Vardy.

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The Blues are off and running with their first goals and their first point. Granted, it came against one of the only teams who might actually be worse than them, but still, it was much needed.

 

They took the lead through Doucoure (from a corner, obviously, because y'know, ‘Dycheball’) but they were pegged back when new signing Cameron Archer levelled. His goal celebration is firing an arrow. I’d be appalled if it wasn’t to be honest.

 

Then on the stroke of half time hilarity ensued when Archer’s shot hit the post, bounced back out and hit Pickford on the back of the head before rolling back into the net. Is it me or does this happen to Pickford three times a season? Feels like he scores loads of own goals.

 

The Blues started the second half well and got back on level terms with a well worked goal converted by Danjuma at the back post. After that it could have gone either but it needed a world class save from Pickford right at the end to preserve a point for Dyche’s men.

 

Say what you like about Pickford, and I do, but he makes some incredible saves virtually every week. He’s their best player by an absolute mile and they’re lucky he’s thick as fuck and doesn’t realise that he’s far too good for them. He should be playing in mid-table, not fighting relegation every year.

 

Of the three newly promoted teams it’s the Blades who look like they have the most about them. Not because they’re any good, but at least they’re making teams work to get anything against them. They’ve been competitive so far, whereas Burnley have been absolutely pathetic.

 

Bulbhead Kompany said he wakes every day with a smile because he knows his team is getting better and adapting to the step up from Championship to Premier League. Hmmm, shipping five goals at home to Spurs suggests he’s talking shite.

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Massive win this in terms of how the fans can start to see this team. We’re still in that new stage with this group of players which means it’s difficult to know what we’re going to get. Throughout all the Klopp glory years there was a level of trust and confidence in what the players were going to serve up and generally we knew what to expect. We’re not there yet with “Liverpool rebooted”. How could we be, we’re only four games in.

 

The start of this season has been mad. Really up and down with some strange circumstances that have made it almost impossible to know who we are and where we’re at. A Jeckyll and Hyde display at Chelsea, a terrible start at Bournemouth followed by a decent enough recovery but then having to play with ten men for half an hour just when it looked like we were about to really click into gear. And then last week. A rough start followed by a show of great resilience, character and tactical acumen against Newcastle, but we did it with ten men for an hour so that told us nothing about how we’d fare in a game like this one.

 

It was hard to take anything from any of those games in terms of where we’re at and how we’re playing. This one though, this is the first game of the season we can actually judge based on what we saw. And it was really fucking impressive. There’s a lot to take from this game and we saw why Klopp was so bullish with his pre-match declaration that “I love this team. You will love this team too if you give it time”.

 

I don’t know if this team will reach the heights that Klopp’s first Liverpool side did, but I do know they’ll be fun to watch and we’ll enjoy watching them. The rebuild isn’t complete yet as there are still gaps that need filling, but Mac Allister and Szoboszlai are top class and we can see that immediately. There’s no bedding in period for them, they’re just ready made quality. 

 

Mind you, they did have a full pre-season here which massively helps. The way we handled our business after that left us short handed and Endo and Gravenberch will need time to acclimatise. The good thing is we’re not desperate for them to come in and immediately hit top form. We can be patient because we’ve got other options.

 

One of those, Curtis Jones, returned to the side for this game and while he didn’t do anything that made him stand out, he’s going to be a big player for us in this new set up, as he was at the end of last season. He presses superbly and never loses the ball. Ever. Considering how we want to play now, that’s a big deal. Most of our vulnerable moments come when someone (so far usually Trent) loses the ball cheaply and puts us on the back foot. Jones being on the pitch really helps us control the game, which then allows others to do their thing. Others like Szoboszlai and the strikers.

 

My boy got a start after his match winning cameo at Newcastle and he needs to stay in the side now. He’s such a massive threat and he’s got a really good understanding with Mo. They have had that from day one, but the opportunity to build on it hasn’t really been there because Darwin has been on the bench so often. They enjoy playing together though, you can see it.

 

For so long we had the false nine and the two wide men making diagonal runs in behind, but we’re a different team now. We don’t need to replicate that because Diaz isn’t Mané and Gakpo isn’t Firmino. Cody does share a lot of Bobby traits, but we have a new midfield now with different skill profiles and a different set up behind the forwards. We don’t need a locksmith to carefully open the door for others, we’re fine with a battering ram who can smash it in by himself.

 

To put it another way, we have two midfielders in advanced positions now, whereas previously we had none, so Bobby (and then Cody) would drop into that space to play between the lines. We don’t need that now, we need to stretch teams with runners in behind. Nunez does that brilliantly and I reckon opponents must hate facing him. Nobody likes facing pace and someone who runs in behind all the time. Him and Mo ran Villa’s high line ragged.

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