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Saturday Nov 14: Robbo has a tight hammy and won't play for the Scots this weekend. Why is he still even there? Get him back here to rest up for the weekend as he’s the only regular back four player we still have available. Scotland have qualified and these games they have left are meaningless. Fucking get back home, son. Also today, Man City have complained to Sky about Keane’s criticism of Kyle Walker. I have a few thoughts on this. Firstly, City are the worst bunch of cry babies in world football. It comes from the ownership and filters right the way down. They don’t deal with any kind of criticism very well at all. There’s a massive whiff of “how dare you, don’t you know how rich we are” about them when it comes to things like this. That said, I’m putting myself in their situation and wondering how I’d want us to react if, say an ex Everton player, had made similar comments about our right back. Would I want us to complain to Sky? Maybe, I’m not sure. It’s not really an apples to apples comparison because no Everton player has the kind of gravitas and CV that Keane has. The reason I mentioned Everton and not Man United (or Keane in particular) is because Keane is to City what Everton would be to us. If an ex Everton player was as scathing about one of our lads as Keane was about Walker, I like to think we wouldn’t complain to Sky but it would just be a collective “you played for Everton and won nothing, pipe down knobhead”. City can’t really throw that one at Keane so they’ve gone running to his bosses, the fucking grasses. For what it’s worth, as I said at the time I thought Keane was harsh on Walker because although he is indeed an idiot and a car crash, those are just isolated, albeit fairly regular, incidents and in between those incidents he’s City’s best defender by a mile. Kyle Walker is a really good player who is semi-regularly prone to really shit moments, but Keane was talking about him as though he’s some kind of Phil Jones tribute act. The one thing that is indisputable though is it was fucking hilarious. Come on, even those of you that hate Keane must have laughed when he was asked about how well Sadio had done and he replied “yeah but he’s up against an idiot”. That was funny. If you didn’t laugh at that then you probably have no sense of humour and enjoy Mrs Brown’s Boys. Meanwhile, Evertonians are talking about Bramley Moore again. I’ve said it before, but there is not even the tiniest part of me that thinks Everton are getting a new ground. From day one I’ve thought it was never going to happen and I still feel like that now. I don’t think it’s possible to condition my brain to accept the idea. They’ll be playing their first game in their new stadium and I’ll still be thinking it’s some kind of hoax. Except they won’t, because it’s not happening. Sunday Nov 15: Oh no, Ray Clemence. That’s incredibly sad. I remember reading a while back that he was ill but then we didn’t hear any more about it so you tend to just assume things must have been going better. Sadly not this time. I’m fairly sure I saw him play live but it will have been right near the end of his time here and I was just a kid so I don’t remember anything about him really. My first memories of watching us are with Grobbelaar in goal, and it’s quite funny whenever I look back at season highlights from that time because, let’s be honest here, he was fucking shit. An absolute liability. At the time I bought into the whole ‘look at Brucie, isn’t he eccentric’ narrative, but it’s only when I watch the videos now I see how bad he was. Sure, he made some incredible saves and was astonishingly agile, but he cost us so many goals that I’d say we won all those trophies in spite of him, not because of him. With Clemence, it was the opposite. Reliable, dependable, brilliant. Absolute fucking joke he had to split England time with that stupid curly headed fuck Shilton. I always thought Shilton was shite but in fairness that’s skewed by me not really seeing him when he was in his Nottingham Forest prime (apparently he was brilliant back then) and therefore I’m judging him on his England career. I always thought he was fucking useless and in recent years he’s really shown himself to be a bad knobhead, but I’ll always be grateful to Shilton because of the part he played in one of my favourite childhood memories. The Hand of God would never have happened without him having concrete in his boots and it warms my heart that his repugnant little Boris loving, Brexit obsessed heart is still broken by it and it will haunt him until his last breath. God bless you, Diego. Back to Clemence though, he walks into any all time Liverpool XI and although eventually Alisson might take that spot (he just needs the longevity really) for some older Reds no-one will ever eclipse Clem. Rest in Peace, Ray. Monday Nov 16: So now Hendo has a problem. This is a fucking farce now. I’m not even blaming Southgate. It’s easy to have a go at him (and God knows I have plenty of times) but he’s got a job to do and has to worry about that. If he leaves out our players then he has to do the same for the other clubs who are in Europe too, and before you know it he’s picking a team full of bums from Everton, Sheffield United and Burnley and he’s on the managerial scrapheap. And when I think about it, I don’t even blame England specifically for Gomez getting hurt. I blame international football in general. Organising all of these international matches in the current situation we’re in is negligence of the highest order. I know others may disagree and that Joe’s knee was ready to go and it could have happened at any time, but I’m convinced that Gomez wouldn’t have been injured if he’d been at Melwood, I mean Kirkby. I don’t even know what to call it so I’ll go with New Melwood I think. I can’t prove it, I just think the disparity in players getting injured while with their countries compared to when they’re with us is pretty fucking big in relation to the time they spend there. So yeah, I say Gomez was injured because he was with England but I can’t blame Southgate personally for it as what’s he supposed to do? He’s got games he needs to try and win. It’s not his fault, it’s the soft cunts who insist on these games being played even though we’re in the middle of a global pandemic and players are being run into the ground with the amount of games they’re playing in a shortened schedule. I don’t know how bad Hendo’s injury is but there’s defo going to be some risk if we play him against Leicester. Not only that, but we have to look at the rest of the season too. If we keep playing these lads twice a week now it’s going to hurt us in the long run. The sports science nerds know far more about it than I do and I’m sure they know what they’re doing, but it must be really tough for Klopp even picking a team right now because he’s got to be concerned about putting too much strain on the players. Wait, David Coote is on VAR this weekend??? Fuck. That. It can’t go unchallenged. I’d even go as far as refusing to play the game until he’s removed. Officials have a duty of care to players, and that cunt failed in his duty when he allowed Pickford to stay on after one of the worst tackles we’ve seen in many a year. Forget the other times he’s screwed us, that one alone is enough reason for us to say ‘never again’ and demand that the cunt is not allowed anywhere near our games. Tuesday Nov 17: And Robbo is going to play for Scotland tomorrow night. Great. He couldn’t play at the weekend because of stiffness in his hamstring after playing 120 minutes in midweek. And now he’s going to play another 90 tomorrow night when we’ve got Leicester at the weekend. It’s a fucking joke. Again, I don’t blame Steve Clarke for it and I don’t even blame Robbo for taking the decision to play. He’s the captain, he probably feels he needs to set an example. The fact is that international football should have been fuckied off completely during this pandemic. Moving on, and is it just me who doesn’t give a fuck about all these behind the scenes features on the new training ground. I couldn’t possibly care less about it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m fine with the move and I’m not shitting on it, I just don’t really have any need to see training pitches and beach volleyball courts and the canteen. I’m glad they’re all there and training centre is the best it could be, but I don’t have any interest in seeing it. Maybe others feel differently and want to see all that shit, fair play if so. I just think it’s pretty dull. I do like that there’s a “James Milner Door” in there though, that’s class and also very fitting. You wouldn’t name a suite or a lounge after Milner. He’s functional not flashy. He does the job but a lot of the time you don’t notice. Naming a door after him is perfect. Wednesday Nov 18: Watched the inside training video on LFCTV today and it was pretty alarming. Basically it was Milner, Matip, Div and a shitload of kids. Now I know most of the lads are on international duty but it’s disturbing that Thiago and Fabinho still aren’t back out there. Ox is still doing gym work inside too. I thought he’d be back by now but I should have known better as they’re always out longer than we’re told. Fucking Thiago still not being out there is really demoralising though. How long is he going to be out? If he doesn’t play this weekend (and if he’s not training by now then he’s got no chance) it’s going to be getting on for 7-8 weeks since that Richarlison tackle. Why aren’t they telling us anything about it? All we’ve heard is that he didn’t need an op and they’ll wait and see when he can come back. Honestly, I don’t think I’m ever going to get over that fucking derby game. No matter what we go on to achieve this season or in the future, the anger and resentment of that game is never going away. Fucking dirty Everton cunts. I think I hate them more currently than I have in my entire lifetime. I also watched another video on LFCTV today. Don’t judge me, but it was a tour of the new training ground! Now calm down, I still stand by everything I said yesterday and I still have no interest in any of it. I only watched the video because it was Ox doing the tour and he’s a natural in front of the camera and he's fun to watch. He somehow made a tour of the training facilities almost interesting. He’s defo working on TV when he finishes, and not necessarily in football either. He’s better than most of the presenters you see on TV now. If Dion Dublin can do it then Ox defo can. Him and Robbo could replace Ant & Dec. That's if Robbo ever leaves Trent. Wingmen is class, we knew Robbo was hilarious but it's really brought Trent out of his shell more too. Thursday Nov 19: Well whaddaya know, there was a Thiago sighting today. A photo of him inside Melw… ok this is gonna take some getting used to… New Melwood was published by the club’s social media and the implication was “look who’s back” and they showed one of Fabinho as well. They weren’t on the training pitch though, so until I see them doing Rondos or standing in a big circle and singing Happy Birthday to one of their team-mates in Portuguese (or maybe Spanish, in Thiago’s case - although weirdly in my head he’s always been Brazilian and I don’t associate him with Spain at all), then I’m not getting excited. I tell you something weird. For some reason I just can’t imagine us ever losing a game when we have Thiago, Hendo and Fabinho all on the pitch at the same time. Even without Virg and Joe at the back, I really believe with those three in the middle of the park we aren’t losing to anyone. I have nothing whatsoever to base that on, but it’s how I feel. I can’t wait to get Thiago back especially. We’ve only seen little teasers from him so far but he’s going to help us dominate games even more so than we have been doing. He just brings an added dimension that could completely change the way opponents have to prepare for us. And with the weakened defence that’s going to be important. Coote has been removed from VAR this weekend. Presumably we kicked off. I hope so anyway. Friday Nov 20: Klopp seemed really subdued in his press conference today. Usually he’s all laughing and joking and giving off hugely positive vibes, but he wasn’t like that today. He actually looked sad. Maybe it was a result of being asked about Mo’s antics at his brother’s wedding as his first question. It was a fair question and one Vinny O’Connor probably had to ask, but it’s not something Klopp was ever going to want to discuss. He didn’t say much and he rightly said that anything he said to Mo is not for public consumption, but you can tell he was proper pissed off about it. He mentioned that last summer a friend of his re-organised a birthday party just to co-incide with when Klopp was going to be in Germany, but at the last minute he decided he wasn’t going to go because of the risk. Why even bring that up if he didn’t feel let down by Mo? It’s blatantly obvious from today that Salah didn’t have permission to go to that wedding and that Klopp feels let down by it. The rest of the presser was basically him having to talk about injuries, so that wouldn’t have helped his mood either. Hendo and Trent are defo out tomorrow but Fabinho and Thiago “we will see”. So they’re out too then, because he’s been saying “we will see” about Thiago for six fucking weeks now. Even Rhys Williams has had a knock this week, apparently. It’s gonna be like this all season, I just hope it isn’t just us who get hit so hard by it. Leicester have been in a similar position to be fair. They’ve had as many injuries as we have but they’ve won six on the spin so it’s not really being talked about, which is credit to them really. The only time Klopp had his usual sparkle was when he was asked what makes Jamie Vardy so good. Klopp fucking loves Vardy. He probably loves him even more than I do, and he’s easily my favourite non-LFC player. He’s criminally under-rated I think. I mean I know everyone thinks he’s really good but he’s way better than that. He’s a genuinely great striker but because he plays for Leicester, hasn’t had much of an international career and was playing non-league until his mid-twenties, I reckon it’s overlooked just how great he is. Klopp knows though. Hopefully we can keep him quiet on Sunday but it’s going to be tough with whatever makeshift back four we are able to throw out there. It might be a case of us just trying to score more than we concede rather then trying to concede less than we score, if that makes sense. I’m not saying we should be thinking of winning 5-4 or 4-3, but there might be times when that’s what we need to do. On the bright side, Fabinho is back in full training and all the international lads were back out there too so it didn’t look as threadbare as it did the other day. I’m worried about Sunday though. Leicester are great on the counter attack which can be problematic for us, and I think we’re one game away from the Anfield record aren’t we? Imagine Brendan being the one to fuck that up on us. Would be worse if it was Hodgson I suppose, but smug condescending Brendan is the worst Brendan. No-one needs to be seeing that. He’s unique in the sense that he’s much worse to watch when he’s won than when he’s lost. He’s probably the least cuntish manager out there after a defeat as he handles it brilliantly. When he’s doing well though my skin crawls watching him. If he beats us this weekend the telly is going off immediately at full time and not going back on until our next game. Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, but I got a baaaad feeling about this. and that was the week that was…..

On Sunday evening, Liverpool resume their quest for back-to-back Premier League titles with a clash against Leicester City at Anfield. After an international break which would have caused Jurgen Klopp more stress and anxiety than your normal league fixture due to players getting injured left, right centre, he comes up against a opposition full of confidence and currently sitting atop the league table. In a season where unique results have been commonplace, this fixture shapes as a fascinating test for both sides. Can Liverpool overcome their injury and illness setbacks and display their famous mentality. Or will Leicester get a major scalp and prove to those doubters that they are a legitimate title threat? We spoke to the team at @FIRST4LCFC about the evolving nature of their squad and the incredibly consistent form of Jamie Vardy. It was a bitter end to which was for the most part a very promising campaign for the Foxes. What lessons do you think Brendan Rodgers would have learned from that late collapse? So far it seems like he has diversified his tactics. During Project Restart, it seemed everybody knew how we were going to play. Obviously we had injuries and suspensions which didn’t help, but also during the matches if our tactics weren’t working he would not have anything else to go to. But this season so far it seems like we have multiple ways of playing and credit goes to the players as well as we have multiple guys who can play three or more positions on the pitch and help us keep the opposition on their toes. Man for man, this Leicester squad seems to have more natural talent than your Championship winning team which from the outside seemed to be built on tremendous team spirit and belief. What do you believe this group needs to take that all-important step to true title contenders? It has to be for us to stay healthy and be consistent. With a young team like ours, you will have absolutely incredible runs of multiple games won in a row to periods where it seems like we can’t even get a point. Just look back to last year when we won 8 games on the bounce and then went on to win 6 in 22 games to finish out the season. A lot of that had to do with injuries with Pereira, Ndidi, Maddison, and Chilwell all getting injured for a considerable amount of time during the end of the season. In your honest opinion, did you ever think that Jamie Vardy would continue to be as consistent as he approaches his mid 30s and how long can he remain at his peak? As long as he stays fit he can absolutely be consistent for a couple of more years. He is one of a kind and we all thought 2-3 years ago that this year you would see the decline of his production but year in and year out he looks to be getting better and improving in different parts of his game. So to answer the question we really don’t know how much longer he can remain at this level. It could be anywhere between one to four more years with him in this kind of form. Brendan Rodgers has always been an ambitious manager looking to better himself. With the team he has built, do you think he now sees Leicester as a long-term project? We all hope so, with over 10 players under the age of 24 we all definitely hope to see him stay and keep developing this squad. It seems everywhere on the pitch we have a young player if not starting but definitely being developed and if he can stay with this squad and keep getting into Europe there is no doubt I see us as a better job than say United or Arsenal right now. How has Rodgers managed your Europa League campaign so far. Do you think he will be attacking it with the intent of winning it or will he look to use the whole squad with such a hectic schedule this season? So far it has been brilliant with 3 wins in 3 games and especially the last game against the best side in the group, Braga, where we dismantled them 4-0. But the most impressive thing about BR is that the squad rotations with the injuries are seeing us keep up our productivity in both the EL and the PL in terms of the different players playing. There just seems to be no drop-off no matter who plays or where they play. I think if we clinch top spot in the group you will see us use more of our reserves, especially with the Christmas period coming. You will also see these games as times to get players like Pereira, Ndidi, and Soyuncu back to speed and fitness coming back from injuries so I think you will still see the entire squad used. Can you talk a little bit about your young full-back James Justin. He seems to have come a consistent member of your starting line-up since the re-start in June? He is absolutely incredible for a player his age in a position that especially in football nowadays is a big part of your team. His versatility just stands out as he can play anywhere in the defence as well as be a wing-back and even was spotted playing a little bit in the midfield this season. And the fact that he is 22yo and with players like Fuchs, Pereira, Morgan, Evans who can keep teaching him and helping him develop his game, just screams out that we recruited another diamond in the rough with him. Liverpool will be without some key players on Sunday evening but still have plenty of quality on the pitch. With that said, how do you believe your manager will approach the fixture? I think that we will stick with what we have been doing with a 5-3-2 to start. It just gives us so many different options to play out of that formation. We can sit back defensively but if we want to attack a very injury-riddled backline of Liverpool we can send our fullbacks forward and have the likes of Vardy, Maddison, and Barnes still upfront. But if we have to chase the game we still have a guy like (Roma loanee Cengiz) Under who is very direct that we can put him in the attack and go to more of our traditional 4-3-3. Have you got a prediction for this fixture? For some reason, all these injuries for Liverpool still scare me as I think you will play with nothing to lose and all the pressure is on us. I’m thinking of a goal-fest but every time I seem to predict that it turns out to be 0-0 or 1-0. But I’m predicting a 3-2 Leicester City win with us going 3-1 up and then Liverpool snatching one in the last half hour and really taking the game to us.

You probably live and breathe football (specifically, the Liverpool Football Club) if you’re reading this article. In that case, you might well be wondering how you can enhance your enjoyment of the sport, beyond simply watching it on the television. As fun as this is, sometimes you want to engage a little more. No worries. We’re here to provide Liverpool football fans with some tips for doing exactly this. Read on to find out what they are. Educate Yourself on the Subject Now, we know that ‘education’ and ‘enjoyment’ aren’t often used in the same sentence. However, we do believe that by learning more about football, you can engage yourself more when watching it. And so, we recommend educating yourself on the subject. This includes teaching yourself different terminology, strategies, tactics, moves, etc. You’ll never be able to passively watch football again after learning about them. Suddenly, you’ll be able to analyse what the players are doing and planning on the field – predicting the action before it happens. This will further enhance the spectating experience; highlighting why exactly football is so often called the beautiful game. Have Fun with Sports Betting Some football fans say that sports betting can enhance the experience of watching the games, too. When done safely and responsibly, this is a great way to make the matches more exciting to watch and feel like they have higher stakes. You can either place bets with your friends for a laugh or use websites like Mobilebet Casino if you want things to be official. Whatever you decide, make sure to have fun and always be responsible with your money. Join the Local Fan Club Though football is fun to watch on your own, the sense of community and team spirit is probably the best part of supporting any club. And so, if you want to share your passion somehow, then you should join the local Liverpool fan club. This means you can meet like minded people who will have the same interests as you. You can talk for hours, speculate as much as you like, and discuss the latest news. Football fans have made friends for life by attending these clubs. Having someone who shares your enthusiasm is the ultimate way to enhance the experience of watching football. Immerse Yourself in the Atmosphere Don’t just watch football games at home. We encourage you to get out there and properly experience what makes the matches so brilliant – the atmosphere! Seeing a live game when surrounded by people can make everything so much more exciting. You cheer together, cry together, complain together. It’s amazing. The same applies to watching football in a stadium. In these circumstances, the atmosphere is unrivalled. It’s like seeing your favourite musician perform in person; a transcending experience. These are our top tips for enjoying football even more than you already do. So, what are you waiting for? Start getting involved in the community and boosting the team spirit.

Saturday Nov 7: You’ve got admire the Echo’s ability to somehow link events happening anywhere in the world to either Liverpool or Everton. They’ll drag a footy story out of literally any topical event. Whats everyone talking about today? The US election. Can the Echo get a footy story out of that? You betchya. “Donald Trump defeat may accelerate FSH merger plans for Liverpool”. Fair play, keep those clicks rolling in! Headline in the MEN today meanwhile. “Bernardo Silva identifies advantage Man City have over Liverpool”. Is it money? I bet it's money. It’s money, isn’t it? Defo has to be money. I’m not clicking because fuck the MEN and fuck Bernardo Silva, the little rat, so I’m just going to assume it’s money and leave it at that. Speaking of fucking terrible headlines though, how about this from the Daily Star; “Southgate phoned Pickford over Van Dijk torment but England will suffer the most”. WHAT. THE. FUCK!!!! Where do you even start with that? I’m sick of this ‘poor Jordan and how he’s suffering’ narrative we’ve been subjected to for weeks now. HE ISN’T THE VICTIM HERE YOU SILLY CUNTS. In fairness the Daily Star seem to understand that. Unfortunately they seem to believe the real victim is, erm, the England national team. All these fuckers seem to be forgetting that Virgil is looking at probably close to an entire year out of the game. Meanwhile, Elliott impressed again for Blackburn. He’s getting rave reviews so far which is great news. There’s a chance this kid could be one of those generational talents. An Owen, Gerrard or Rooney type prodigy. You can’t always be sure at that age as great 17 year olds are not always great 21 year olds, but Harvey seems as sure a thing as you’re likely to find. Another kid we have high hopes for - even though he’s older than Harvey I think and is still playing in the u18s - is Layton Stewart and he scored again today. He’s been in great form this season and it’s worth tuning into the u18 games on LFCTV just to watch him. Quality forward who isn’t just a goalscorer, he’s a good all around player. We might see him in the FA Cup this year if the draw is favourable. Sunday Nov 8: City 1 L 1 First half was a great advert for the Premier League, the second half was boring as fuck. Probably a few reasons for that, including tiredness and the amount of respect both teams have for each other. We went at it like a bull out of the gate to begin with and we caught City off guard with the 4-2-4 set up. We only scored once though and that was never going to be enough. City levelled and then eventually figured out what we were doing and adapted accordingly. After that it was just a big stalemate. The point is better for us than them though as they were the home side and they’re behind us in the table. It’s not a bad point for either side though really, especially as City must be looking at our growing injury list and fancying their chances of catching us. Trent became the latest casualty today and we won’t see him for at least a month and probably more. Guardiola had a rant about it afterwards and he was spot on really. Him and Klopp are still pissed off that the five subs rule wasn’t sanctioned by the rest of the league. That chat they had immediately after the whistle was about that apparently. They shook hands and then Klopp just went off on one about the five sub things and they seemed to be in lock step about it based on what Guardiola said afterwards. Guardiola’s rant kind of felt like he was talking about more than just that though. “The rest of the world all do it one way but this country knows better”. Feels like a bit of a brexit dig that, which I’m all in favour of too, so well played there Pep. In terms of the five sub thing, he was pointing out the amount of injuries that we’re seeing and he referenced what happened today as evidence of it, citing the loss of England’s right back as evidence as to how we aren’t protecting the players. He’s right, even if he did call him Alexander Trent-Arnold. I can forgive that as for years my Mum called him Terrence Trent-Alexander, while my Dad just calls him Arnold. So now the lads all go off to play internationals and we know someone is going to come back crocked. My money is on Gomez because he’s ripe for an injury right now. He’s played every game lately with no rest. If it’s not him, it’ll be Gini. But it’s most likely Joey G because that injury would hit us hardest and that’s just the way things have gone. Monday Nov 9: No news on Trent’s injury yet but early suggestion is 4 weeks. Given how we usually drip feed injury news and break it gently, don’t expect to see him for a couple of months. Calf injuries are bastards to overcome anyway as when you think it’s gone and you try and run, it can go ‘pop’ again. I remember it happened to me once. Not playing footy, I actually did it walking through Ormskirk pushing Adrianna in her pram. It was six weeks before I could play again. I actually thought I was over it after a couple of weeks and gave myself a late fitness test on the Thursday afternoon ahead of TLW footy that night. By fitness test I mean I tried a little sprint in the garden, and it just went again. So Trent needs to be careful with this is all I’m saying. Mind you, I didn’t have a whole team of sport science geeks helping with my recovery, so maybe Trent can get back a little quicker than I did. Meanwhile, Brazilian ‘wonderkid’ Tete who plays for Shakhtar, says he’d love to play for us. Well he can fuck off, and here’s why: “I always dream of playing for Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, as I mentioned. But the special affection I have is for Barcelona. It’s a team that I’ve always followed since I was little, since I was a child. I used to get Barcelona shirts, Messi shirts. So that passion grew every day and the affection I really have is for Barcelona.” The days of us being a stepping stone for South Americans to get their ‘dream’ move to Barca are well and truly over. We’re the destination now, get with the programme kid. Besides, unless he wants to play for free he can forget Barca as they’re up shit creek and can’t afford a paddle because they’ve wasted so much money on flashy outboard motors that don’t work. Tuesday Nov 10: Lot of talk today about the end of Melwood and there were plenty of ex players sharing memories on social media. One caught my eye and it pissed me off. Fernando Torres. I don’t like how since he’s retired he’s really hammed it up with the whole ex player “I love the Reds, me” routine. It annoys me as he doesn’t have the right to do that. Luis Garcia does it and I’m like, ‘yeah you’ve earned that, knock yourself out’. Djimi Traore is another, and again, I’m like ‘good for you Djimi lad’. Torres though? He fucked us off to go to Chelsea, even though at the time we had major beef with them after facing them so many times in big games. Alonso, Mascherano, Suarez and Coutinho all left us to go to Spain’s big two. Not everyone is going to be ok with that, specifically the way some of them forced their way out, but none of them went to rival English clubs and all of them performed well right up until the point they left. So Torres can get to fuck. He downed tools, left for a team we hated and now that he’s retired he’s wanting on the LFC Fam gravy train. I don’t even blame him for that. He’s hardly going to be looking back on his time at Chelsea with much fondness and wanting to to feel their love. Retired players who’ve played for us want to be associated more with being a former Liverpool player than they do any other club they’ve played for, so Torres is no different in that regard. The difference is how so many fans seem willing to welcome him back in with open arms. When things get back to normal he’ll be playing in those legend tour matches with Paddy, Vladi, Garcia etc and fans will be kissing his ballsack. It doesn’t sit well with me and I absolutely resent how the club’s social media is up his arse while completely shunning Michael Owen. “Happy Birthday El Nino!!” “On this day in 2009 El Nino scored this goal” “Ooooh look at El Nino, isn’t he sexy with his blonde hair”. Get. To. Fuck. Owen is a Liverpool legend who won us trophies and then made a series of bad career choices, but who repeatedly tried to get back here only for circumstances to continually thwart him. Torres was a great player who won nothing, threw his toys out of the pram and fucked us off for a bitter rival and is now giving it the “oh I loved my time at Anfield”. Fuck off. Owen > Torres and that’s a hill I’m happy to die on. Come and fight me up there if you like, I’ll take the lot of you on and I’ll never back down on that. A youthful u21 side lost 4-2 at Port Vale. Liam Miller scored twice but the game was a dead rubber anyway after defeats to Tranmere and Wigan. It’s hard for the lads as those teams are playing most of their first choice line up and we’ve got a rag tag bunch of teens and lads (like Miller and Van den Berg) who missed out on loan deals. Van den Berg was fucking brutal tonight. Even with the centre half crisis we have he’s got about as much chance of starting a game as I have. Wednesday Nov 11: Carra was on Adrian Durham’s show yesterday and I thought this was quite interesting on Firmino. “I don’t think Firmino was in great form last season. Even though Liverpool won the league and when you win the league you are winning week after week and certain things get masked. “Firmino didn’t score a Premier League goal at home until the last home Premier League game against Chelsea. Now, Liverpool fans are educated enough to know that Firmino’s role in this team is to not be scoring goals. “But even the actual pressing stats when I looked at them. They weren’t at the numbers they normally are. It doesn’t mean if Firmino goes and Jota starts then that’s the end of Firmino. He’s not playing well. You have ups and downs in your career. Just sit on the bench for three or four games.” The reason I thought that was interesting is because we all know his goalscoring hasn’t been up to scratch for a while, but we generally overlook that because we know how important he’s been due to other things he does, such as pressing. I’ve seen with my own eyes that he’s giving the ball away a lot and some of his passing has been woeful, and I know he hasn’t been scoring. I did not know his pressing numbers were down too though. This might be a more serious problem than I thought. He’s in a proper slump and it doesn’t appear like he’s actually doing ANYTHING to the level we’ve become accustomed to. If he was playing at the level he was two years ago then he’s such a special player that he’s worth changing the system for. Right now? He isn’t, so let’s go back to 4-3-3 and stick him on the bench until he’s worth a place again. Meanwhile, Gomez is injured in England training and it might be serious. I hate being right all the time. It’s both a blessing and a curse. Be interesting to see who gets the call first though, me or Sepp Van den Berg. Thursday Nov 12: Gomez has had an op already and is expected to miss at least five months, which is good news according the press because…. wait for it…..he might still make the Euros. Honestly, talk about tone deaf. All those press reports mentioning how it’s good news for England, it’s just trolling us isn’t it? Fucking insensitive pricks. Fuck England, the important thing here is how it impacts us. And I’ll tell you how it impacts us. It fucks us. Big time. It “hasn’t been ruled out” that he might feature for us before the end of the season but I’ll tell you here and now, that’s not happening. He won’t play again this season because it’s a really bad injury. Five months is the best case, but that doesn’t take into account how difficult it is to come back from this at the level you were before. We won’t see Joe until next season, which means we will see a lot of Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams now, because there’s no way Matip is going injury free until January, Fabinho is already out and we don’t know when he’ll be back (hopefully Leicester but would you be shocked if it was another month?), so we’re down to the bare bones. I know a lot of people will say this injury was always going to happen and it’s just a co-incidence that it happened when he was with England, but I don’t buy it. Our players get injured too often on international duty for it to be a co-incidence. I think this is the third time it’s happened to Joe. It’s just negligence, they don’t look after our players as well as we do. England are the neighbour that borrows your lawn mower and returns it in a hundred pieces. They’re the Homer Simpson to our Ned Flanders. Scotland qualify for the Euros after a penalty shoot out win. I’m really happy for them and not just because Robbo is captain. I’ve always felt more affinity with Scotland than England, but then I have more affinity with Outer Mongolia than I do England so that’s not saying much. I like Scotland though and it’s about time they were involved in a major tournament. When was the last one? Euro 96 is the last one I remember. Kinell, that was over 24 years ago, or put another way, half of my life ago. So yeah, great for Scotland but I tell you what, my hatred for VAR just continues to grow by the week. It needs fucking off and tonight showed exactly why. Not even because of any decision that was made. No, even without VAR getting involved tonight showed just why it needs fucking off as we had the deflating sight of the Scottish keeper unable to celebrate saving a pen that sent his country to the Euros because he was having to wait for confirmation from the ref that VAR wasn’t going to say his foot had moved an inch off the line. Eventually he got confirmation and celebrated, but fuck me this is just shit isn’t it? You could argue that it’s the rule about keeper ‘encroachment’ that needs changing, but nah, its the video that needs fucking off because it’s encouraging this busy bastard, jobsworth approach to every decision, whether it’s keepers on penalties, scandalous ‘offside’ decisions or handballs, all of this nonsense can be traced to the introduction of the video evidence. Because they can be so precise now, they are being, and it’s proper shit. VAR is just killing the emotion in the game and I hate it more than anything I’ve ever hated in football. With the possible exception of Richarlison. Friday Nov 13: More talk about us signing Alaba in January. I saw that Boeteng is also out of contract in the summer. Would Bayern sell him? I’m not his biggest fan but I can make a good argument as to why he would be the best signing we could make in January. Boeteng has the physical attributes needed to play centre back in England and he has a wealth of experience playing at the highest level. He’s still got plenty in the tank and he’s used to playing in a team that plays a similar style to ours. In our current situation bringing in a player like him would be as good as we could hope for. My gut feeling is that Alaba has already been tapped up, and if it is him then sound. January feels like a long way off though as players continue to drop like flies. Today’s bad news is that Mo has Covid. Not really surprising considering how he was carrying on at his brother’s wedding the other day. No social distancing, sat on someone’s shoulders as a big load of them are bouncing around the dance floor. I’ve got mixed feelings on this because I feel as though all of the players will get it eventually and there’s an argument to be had that if we can stagger them out that’s the best way to do it. Sadio had it and missed a game, but Bobby, Jota and Mo were all available. So now Mo will miss Leicester but the other three are (so far) available and after this Mo is in the clear and won’t get it again. So it’s not necessarily a bad thing that he got it now, during an international break, rather than in the middle of a four games in ten day spell. However…. when you consider how careful the clubs are and how vigorous they are with testing and trying to avoid people getting it, it must be a bit galling for Klopp to know that as soon as they leave Melwood they’re likely to get it. Shaq tested positive on an international break. So did Naby from what I can remember. And now Mo. I wouldn’t say I’m pissed off with Mo and how reckless he was at his brother’s wedding, but it is a little disappointing. Put it this way, I can’t see Hendo or Milner doing that. and that was the week that was….

So we’re not top anymore then. You can blame me for that after all the piss taking I did last week about Everton and their short stint at the summit. We're still in good enough shape like, so let the rest have their little moment in the sunshine, just like Everton had. There’s every chance we’ll be back up there sooner rather than later, whereas ‘Don Carlo’ & his little band of dirty bastards have as much as of going top again as Jordan Pickford has of appearing on Mastermind or getting a Christmas card from Big Virg. Speaking of Pickford though, the man who’s arms are almost as short as his attention span was back between the sticks as ‘high flying Everton’ took on ‘struggling’ Manchester United at the Pit. Incredibly, once again he somehow got away scot free after a wild challenge on the opposition centre back in his own box. This time he dropped a high cross at the feet of Maguire and then took a big wild swing and missed the ball, kneeing Maguire in the stomach. Absolutely nailed on pen yet once again he escaped punishment. Is this one of those new bullshit rule changes, like the handball and offside? The Pickford can do whatever he likes ruling. It’s actually incredible what he gets away with. I don’t know how he does it but it would be an interesting experiment to see just how far he can go before some kind of punishment is applied. At this point I’m thinking he could take an assault rifle onto the field and mow down half the opposition line up and still get a pardon from VAR. This would have been a good game to test that one out, but might I now suggest the Man City game instead? Anyway, Bernard gave Everton an early lead with a weak as piss low shot that somehow squirmed past De Gea. Embarrassing being beaten by a shot travelling at a slower speed than a turning Maguire. He’s proper shite that Bernard but it flies under the radar because he’s Brazilian so people just assume he must be good. They see him playing shite and just think “must be an off day. He’s five foot two and he’s Brazilian so he must be boss”. If he wasn’t Brazilian he wouldn’t even have a football career. If he was born in Rochdale or Grimsby he’d never have got past the opening trials. You can get away with being that small if you’re dead good, but you can’t be dead small and bang average and expect to have a top flight career. Unless you’re South American that is. For whatever reason, in this country we’re so easily taken in by that shit. “Oh he’s really small and he’s Brazilian, that must mean he’s brilliant at footy. Plus he’s got tattoos and wears number ten. This is so exciting!! SIGN HIM UP!!”. Seriously, if Bernard wasn’t Brazilian would Everton have a) signed him in the first place or b) kept him around even when it quickly became clear that he’s fucking rubbish? The answer to both questions is “hell no”. I’ve just checked his numbers as it’s exactly like I thought. In three years at Everton he’s scored five goals and has five assists in the league. He has eight yellow cards though. Interesting considering he’s not in the team for his tackling. Just shows he must be snide little cunt as well as being shit. An attacking player who gets more bookings than goals? Fuck me, Everton are so easily fooled. They’ve got a catwalk model in midfield who can’t play for shit but they think he’s the bees knees because he’s handsome and has Barcelona on his CV. They paid £45m for Alex Iwobi because they wanted him to be Wilf Zaha and they’ve got this tiny tattooed turd masquerading as a Brazilian number ten. He’s done a hell of a job convincing Everton that he’s a Premier League level footballer though when the facts show he’s an attacking player who scores maybe two goals a season. He’s stealing a fucking living. He's like a Tory MP or a VAR official. Completely failing at his job but not held to account by anybody, least of all the Everton fans who, hilariously, still think he’s good. An attacker who never scores is as much use as a glass hammer. You know why Everton bought Bernard? Because they saw Coutinho across the park and thought “we want one of those”. Well he is as close to being Coutinho as I am to being Tiger Woods. I play golf. Tiger plays golf. Coutinho plays football. Bernard plays football. And there the similarities end. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, 1-0 Everton. That’s as good as it got for them and their lead didn’t last long. The game saw Portuguese Gylfi take on original Gylfi. Portuguese Gylfi came out well on top. He arrived unmarked to head the equaliser and then he made it 2-1 when his cross eluded Rashford but crept in off the far post. Everton pushed for an equaliser but never looked like getting one and they got done on the counter in stoppage time when Fernandez teed up sub Cavani to make it 3-1. Solskjaer was FUMING afterwards though. It’s the angriest I’ve ever seen him. It was funny really, he’s the least intimidating angry person I’ve ever seen. It just made me wonder how his players keep their faces straight any time he’s kicking off over a bad performance. I imagine when Ferguson would kick off no-one would make eye contact with him because they were terrified. With this clown you don’t make eye contact because you wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face. Why was he so angry after a good win? Because he said that his boys were “set up to fail”. And for once, not by his own tactics. No, he was angry as shit that they had to play on Saturday lunch time after an away game in Turkey on Wednesday night. He’s 100% right too. It’s daft and it’s unfair, especially in a season like this when players are dropping like flies due to the shortened pre-season and condensed fixture load. United should never had to play this fixture so soon after an away trip to Turkey but this is the kind of shit that happens to all of us. The good thing here is he kicked off about it after a win, as it carries far more weight than if they’d lost, when it would have been seen as excuse making. Good for him speaking out as strongly as he did, because it feels as though it’s nearly always Klopp fighting these battles alone. I’m happy for Ole that United won because there had been talk that he was one game from the sack, and none of us want that. He’s at the wheel man, he’s doing his thing. And long may it continue. United are nowhere near as bad as they’re being portrayed while Everton are nowhere near as good as the hype they’ve been getting. United are basically what we were for the best part of thirty years. There’s enough talent there for them to beat anyone but they’ll never have the consistency required to actually win the big trophies. The league position they’re in now is nowhere near where they’ll finish. Just like Everton. Remember a few weeks ago when Everton were top and the pundits were falling over themselves to praise them? All but one pundit that is. “Don’t be getting too carried away with Everton just yet” he said. And since then, they haven’t won a game. Roy Keane knows. One last point on Everton. Both my Mum and Dad are absolutely convinced that the only reason Ancelotti took the Everton job is because he’s going to hand it over to his son in a year or two. I didn’t know this, but his son is the assistant manager there alongside crazy Duncan and they reckon he’d never have lowered himself to managing Everton unless he knew he was setting things up for his lad to get on the managerial ladder. Worth keeping an eye on that one. Elsewhere, there was more VAR / Offside lunacy as my boy Bamford had a goal ruled out because he was pointing where he wanted the ball and his elbow was offside. Leeds trailed at the time to a Scott Dann header but thought they’d levelled with another deft finish from this season’s big surprise package. This was just so, so bad. It just makes me angry and sad what they're doing to our game. They're killing it with this shit. Bamford's feet were miles on (and he scored with his feet, not his fucking elbow) but because he was pointing and his outstretched arm was marginally closer to the goal than the arse of Kouyate and the heel of another defender, he was adjudged to be offside. A bitter pill to swallow that. Or if you like, some very Bad Medicine. Whoever it was came up with this rule and whatever twats okay'd it want shooting. Line them up, shoot them and then present the still photo of Bamford with his arm stretched out as exhibit A of evidence for the defence. Sadio and Virg at Goodison can be exhibits B & C and there are countless others too. Whoever these cunts are they are fucking ruining the game. I can't stress this enough. It’s unforgivable. It was bad last year but somehow they managed to make it worse. Leeds were robbed of an equaliser but more importantly I was robbed of another opportunity to piss you all off by throwing in Bon Jovi song titles while eulogising about my boy Paddy. Or so I thought. Palace went 2-0 up with a stunning free-kick by Eberechi Eze. You could say he… made it look Eze. Oh come on, that was an open goal and there's no way I wasn't tapping that one in. So 2-0 down and suffering a real sense of injustice, but you can’t keep a good man down and lo and behold Bamford then burst through onto a flick on and smashed the ball into the net to get Leeds back into it. So having trailed by two goals it was now a case of “whoa we’re halfway there” but sadly for Leeds the rest of the game was no Bed of Roses. Palace went 3-1 up with an incredibly fortunate goal. Header Costa tracked back to block a cross but the keeper had committed himself and the ball deflected off Costa and squirmed in at the near post from an almost impossible angle. Ayew made it 4-1 after one of the Leeds defenders dropped ten yards behind everyone else to play him onside. Leeds have done great so far but this is what people who watched them a lot feared would happen. They play great football, score plenty but they were always going to concede shitloads. Along with West Brom they now have the worst defensive record in the league having conceded 17 goals already. Palace continue to just baffle me. They’ve won 4-1 here and still managed to not look very good. I just don’t know how they get the results they do but Roy must be doing something right. Across London, Sheffield United briefly threatened an upset at Stamford Bridge as McGoldrick gave them an early lead. It didn’t last long as Kev Abraham’s scuffed shot drew Chelsea level and Chilwell stole in to make it 2-1 soon after. The Blades’ goal led a charmed life at times but eventually Thiago Silva headed in to make it 3-1 and give them breathing room. “No finesse Timo” missed a sitter when he went went clean through and lobbed the ball wide. Next time he went through he reverted to type and just smashed it as hard as he could and this time it went in. You know who I hate as a pundit almost as much as I hated as a player. Tim Cahill. The twat. When he’s on MOTD I just forward through to the next game as I can’t be listening to anything this bitter little ballbag has to say. Prick. Speaking of pricks who will be forever stained by their Everton past, Davie Moyes had a very fortunate home win over Fulham. The Hammers led through Soucek (as I’ve said before, he seems to score every week this fella) but Fulham were awarded a penalty deep, deep, deep into stoppage time. I'm sure you know what happened next as it got a lot of coverage. In general I’m not a fan of Panenka pens, especially now that the rule changes mean the keeper can’t really commit himself quite as early as he needs to have a foot on the line. You run the risk of the keeper just standing still and catching it, or even if that doesn’t happen you may have to change your mind at the last second when you see he isn’t diving. So no, Panenkas are not something I’d be on board with but there is a time and a place and I’d never say never. The 9th minute of stoppage time, 1-0 down away from home and playing for a team who desperately needs every point it can get to even have the very slimmest of hopes of staying up… yeah that’s neither the time nor the place, and if I’m Scott Parker I’m telling that Lookman tit that he’s watching from the stands for a few weeks. That was all about him wanting to look cool and putting himself above the team. Yeah he looked devastated afterwards but so he should. He let everyone down there because he wanted to show off. His team-mates must have been disgusted. Moving on, and Southampton went top of the table with a win over Newcastle. Adams went close with a good curling effort from 25 yards that gave that Darlow tit the chance to make another camera save. Honestly, he’s fucking ridiculous this cunt. Just watch him, it’s pathetic. He’ll make the save then the legs are thrown up in the air and he’s giving the whole ‘look at me, aren’t I boss’. I think I’d rather have a keeper who doesn’t dive at all than a wanker like this flinging himself all the place unnecessarily just to try and look cool. The Ademola Lookman of goalkeepers this fucker. Funny thing is, about 5 seconds after that save he was picking the ball out of the net after Adams volleyed it past him. Prick was probably still asking the cameraman behind the goal "whay aye man did ya get that one pal?" Walcott should have made it 2-0 but he was shot wide because he’s Theo Walcott. The flick by Djnepo to send him clear was sensational and had Walcott scored it would have been a goal of the month contender just because of the pass. He didn’t score though and the pass will be forgotten as a result. Nice one Walcott, you absolute bum. Bednarek went close with a header from a Ward-Prowse corner but it was straight down the throat of Darlow, who of course parried it and then threw his legs out from under himself to make it look spectacular. I HATE THIS CUNT WITH A PASSION. Armstrong fired in number two after a mistake by Longstaff and Newcastle didn’t have any kind of effort until the 86th minute when McCarthy made a great save to deny Joelinton. Fucking hell, Danny Welcrap is at Brighton now. I feel as though there can be few things more depressing as a football fan than Danny Welbeck showing up at your club. It’s almost like an acceptance of defeat. He’s utterly pointless. He’ll be injured of 50% of the time and shit for the other 50%. He had a great chance to give Brighton the lead when Lallana played him in but he shot straight at Pope. Then he went through one v one, mis-controlled and was again denied by Pope. SHITE. It ended 0-0 but Brighton had two handball shouts turned down. One was similar to the Cancelo one against us and the other was not too dissimilar to the one Gomez was penalised for. The first was a shot that hit the elbow of the defender. He had his arms across his chest and it wasn’t given. The second was a cross by Lallana that hit the hand of a player five yards away. His arm wasn’t outstretched but it wasn’t by his side either. It wasn’t a pen but I don’t see how this was less of a handball than the Gomez one. Burnley will be glad of a rare point but they just can’t score. I feel as though one of them or Sheffield United will put a run together and the other is going to stay like this for most of the season. Really hope it isn’t Burnley who go on a run. Onto Sunday now, and Southampton’s stint at the top was short lived as both Spurs and Leicester leapfrogged them. Fuckin’ Spurs. Another poxy late winner after an uninspiring display. No team is benefitting more from the lack of fans in stadiums than Tottenham are. They’re just Mourinho’ing the shit out of games and he must be loving this. Not that he gives a shit what fans think anyway, but players oftn do. Now they can carry out his instructions to the letter without being jeered and heckled by their own fans. West Brom were piling on the pressure in the second half but they couldn’t score. They hit the post and Lloris made a brilliant stop, but right at the end Kane popped up to win it with a deft header. Shite from the keeper and the defenders had dropped far too deep. Bilic said West Brom need to be more streetwise and dirty. Once you’ve been touched by Everton and all that. Leicester went ahead from the spot after a scandalous handball decision. There is absolutely nothing the defender could do to avoid that but Anthony Taylor went to look at the screen and then pointed to the spot. Vardy did the rest. Leicester got another pen soon after and this one was definitely not controversial. Wolves young left back (the French kid who scored last week) clearly brought down Justin. This time Vardy did not do the rest, as Patricio guessed right and made the save. Tell you one of the most surprising things of the season so far to me. The complete lack of any impact made by my Boy Adama. Wolves are completely wasting his talents and he’s probably getting more and more frustrated by the week. He’s either on the bench or playing wing back. The good thing is they’re also killing his transfer value, which might be catching the interest of Edwards and Klopp. Leicester held on for the win (their sixth in a row) and they come to Anfield next. I’m saying nothing. So finally. Arsenal are still Arsenal then. After all the fawning about them last week, especially by Cahill who was going waaaaaaaay overboard about his mate Arteta, it’s good to know that there are some things in life we can count on. The sky is blue, water is wet and Arsenal will be Arsenal. I only wish we could have got to see Roy Keane rub Cahill’s nose in it after all that bollocks last week when they were on Sky together. Arsenal got fucking battered by Villa. BATTERED. The 3-0 loss flattered Arsenal. Now you may say that as Reds we aren’t in a position to take the piss out of them on that front, but yeah I will take the piss from our lofty perch as Champions. Besides, us losing a game is a one off, they’ve got four league defeats already. Arteta is pulling an Andre Gomes on Arsenal. He’s getting all this great press based on…. I’m not sure. He’s done ok so far but if he hadn’t been putting the cones out for Pep’s training sessions at City would people be kissing his ring as much as they are? Are Arsenal really THAT much better than they were under Wenger and…. fucks sake, I’ve sat here for 30 seconds trying to remember the name of the Spanish fella Arteta replaced and it just won’t come to me. I don’t want to google it as this shit does my head in. I can picture his face, I can hear his voice but can I fuck remember his name. It’ll come to me eventually. McGinn scored in the first minute but it was disallowed for offside against Barkley, who was adjudged to be interfering with play due to being in the keeper’s eye line. I don’t actually know what I’d give on that one. He is directly between Leno and McGinn and therefore is a distraction, but the keeper wasn’t saving that in a million years so did it really make a difference? I think I’d probably give it but that wasn’t a black or white decision. Villa’s opening goal was… well from their point of view it was brilliant but from Arsenal’s it was pitiful. Grealish and Barkley were toying with Arsenal out wide. The defenders just stood around watching them flexing and posing over the ball, giving them all the time they wanted. Eventually Targett ran forward to join them and Barkley fed him with a lovely reverse pass that allowed him to fizz the ball across the face of goal and Saka put through his own net at the back post. Watkins made it 2-0 from close range a stunning first time volleyed cross by Barkley on his left foot. Arsenal had about nine players in the box and Villa had two, so that goal just shouldn’t happen. Barkley and Grealish were taking the absolute piss at times, passing it to each other across a crowded box and generally just looking like they were in a training session. They had swag, as the kids say. Ian Wright described it as “If Villa were walking down the road they’d be John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever. They had IT today”. He’s right too, which is mad because we’re talking about Aston Villa. Grealish tormented Arsenal all night and another great run from him led to Watkins making it 3-0. The Arsenal Fan TV crew took it about as well as you’d imagine… "Now we've got to sit through two weeks of shit Gareth Southgate. Fuck you!" Hahahaha. So yeah, we’re back where we were a few weeks ago with me saying “I think Villa might actually be good you know”. I’m not sure about that but I am sure that Grealish is absolutely fucking brilliant. He could play in any team in the league, including ours, but it’s kind of refreshing that he’s stayed with Villa. If he keeps playing like this though he’s just going to become far too good for them. Unai Emery!!!! Thank fuck for that.

Sending a player out on loan is a terrific way of gaining some valuable first-team experience. It can also be an effective way for out-of-favour stars to work their way back into the manager's plans. Premier League sides such as Liverpool, who often possess bulky squads, tend to use the loan market effectively, and there have been numerous successes over the last five years. Twelve players have temporarily departed Anfield this season, and they've each enjoyed varying amount of success. Ben Woodburn has been unable to feature regularly for Blackpool due to illness, whereas 19-year old Morgan Boyes hasn't featured for Fleetwood since the beginning of October. However, others have knuckled down and made the most of their opportunity, and we take a look at the progress of three of these future stars. Sheyi Ojo Unlike his teammates Ojo and Elliott, Adam Lewis' move to Ligue 2 club Amiens went fairly under-the-radar. Despite a mixed start, which saw him largely restricted to appearances from the bench, the 21-year old has now firmly established himself as a regular starter in northern France. He's played a full 90 minutes in four of his last five appearances, with Amiens keeping three clean sheets during that period. The switch of coach has certainly worked in Lewis' favour with new manager Oswald Tanchot opting to put his faith in the on-loan youngster. He has looked confident and assured in the French second tier, and is clearly benefiting from getting some regular first-team football under his belt. Liverpool have some superb talent in their squad, and although very few of them are likely to be thrown in at the deep end anytime soon, Jurgen Klopp clearly recognises the importance of allowing his players to experience the hustle and bustle of competitive football. The club's loanees continue to flourish outside of Merseyside and they are likely to return to Kirkby as far more rounded and experienced individuals.

We usually lose here so this is a good point. The onus is on the home team to win these fixtures, particularly when they’re behind in the table, so it’s a better point for us than it is for City. So I’m not disappointed or upset by this, especially as neither side deserved to win the game. The result is fine, the performance was ok and it’s a point gained on the last couple of seasons. That said, we probably should be winning this as, whisper it, Man City are really not that great anymore. They’re still good, on their day very good even, but they aren’t great. If you look at that eleven that took to the field against us, man for man we’re considerably better in most positions, even without Van Dijk, Fabinho and Thiago, who all would have started had they been available. City just aren’t as strong as they were. De Bruyne is phenomenal, Sterling is always a danger and Jesus is a constant goal threat. Other than that their side is very ‘meh’ these days. Still better than most and very easy on the eye, but there's been a big drop off from where they were and where they are. It’s the name and reputation they’ve built up under Guardiola’s time there that scares you rather than that actual line up they put out these days. So really, if this game was played ten times I think we probably should win maybe five or six minimum, with the rest mostly draws and maybe one or at most two losses. So why didn’t we win this then? Lots of reasons but first and foremost because we didn’t make it count enough when we had them reeling in the opening 25 minutes. That was the time to make hay while the sun was shining, but we only scored once. City were always going to come back into the game and have a spell of their own so we needed to get ahead before that happened. Klopp’s surprising team selection caught them on the hop and they couldn’t cope with it in the early stages. All the talk beforehand was whether it would be Firmino or Jota starting but Klopp shocked everyone by picking them both in what was virtually a 4-2-4 formation. Call it 4-4-2 if you like and at times it was, but that’s as close to 4-2-4 as you’ll see in the modern game. Firmino wasn’t playing deep, he was in a traditional front two alongside Mo. That was the big surprise to me. He wasn’t playing a deeply withdrawn striker’s role and he wasn’t a number ten in a 4-2-3-1, he was playing as a second striker just a little bit off Mo. City weren’t prepared for it and we tore into them early on. As Neville pointed out on commentary, virtually every single pass we played was forward as we tried to get in behind them at every opportunity. I loved that. There are two ways to play against City. Let them have the ball and counter attack, or just play direct and get in behind their high line. Playing the first way doesn’t really suit us that much as we’re a front foot team. So the all out attack philosophy is something I’m well on board with. I liked what Klopp tried to do and it worked brilliantly for a while. We led through a well taken Salah penalty after Mané had turned Kyle Walker in the box and been brought down. That was some lovely football on the left. Lots of quick, intricate passing and direct movement that City couldn’t cope with. Roy Keane was absolutely scathing of Walker at half time and it was fucking hilarious. “Mané’s done well but he’s up against an idiot” is arguably the best bit of punditry all season. Closely followed by “I keep hearing that he’s playing well but I don’t see it. He’s torty years old and he’s a train wreck”. I see why Walker gets the stick he does and he does make mistakes but I think overall he’s pretty good and not the disaster some make him out to be. He’s often got a mad moment in him but he’s City’s best defender and he gets them out of trouble a hell of a lot. So I thought Keane’s criticism was over the top but still fucking hilarious. I didn’t think it was especially bad play by Walker in the first instance when he got turned. He just got tricked by Sadio and thought he was playing a one two with Robbo. Instead of playing the return pass though Mané turned and Walker was beat. Dangling the leg out like that was poor judgement though and yeah, kind of typical of what we often see him do. The goal had been coming since the start though. We looked dangerous every time we went forward and Bobby had a couple of early half chances he couldn’t quite convert. Actually, I should probably mention that City wanted a free-kick just before we scored. Sterling was on the attack and was bumped by Jota but he stayed on his feet because he wasn’t in the box. His intention was obviously to keep on running, wait for another challenge in the area and then claim a penalty. That’s what he does. Nevertheless, that was defo a foul and the ref should have pulled play back and given it. He didn’t though, he waved play on and a minute or so later Walker is bring down Sadio. City’s players were angry and confronted the ref but that’s standard stuff for them as they’ve never seen a decision they couldn’t dispute. In this case they had a point though as that was definitely a foul on Sterling. The boy who cried wolf perhaps applies here. The first moment of danger for us was self inflicted as Gini got caught in possession which allowed De Bruyne to get clear on the right. As you’d expect, he delivered a great ball across the box that found Sterling, but Alisson stood big and made a good block before Matip hacked clear from near the line. That brief scare apart it was all going well for us but then one lapse in judgement cost us. I knew we were in trouble the second Gini chose to charge out to close down Walker and left De Bruyne all alone in the middle. You could see that problem develop almost immediately and I actually gave an audible “oh no Gini” as soon as it happened. A few seconds later the ball is in the net. Call it sour grapes if you like but I don’t think Jesus meant that touch at all. Maybe I’m not giving him the credit he deserves and I'm biased because he's permanently got a face like an over indulged kid who's finally been told he's not having ice cream for dessert and he doesn't know how to deal with it. He annoys the fuck out of me because he always looks hard done by and is constantly complaining about something. On a scale of punchable faces he's somewhere in between Jacob Rees-Mogg and Richarlison. So yeah I think it was a lucky touch and he mis-controlled it. He reacted very quickly and finished well with a toe poke, so fair play to him for his sharpness but I don’t believe he meant that touch that wrong footed Trent. Doesn't really matter if he meant or not though does it? I thought Matip could have blocked that if he’d actually made a challenge. It was a timid effort from him as he could have thrown himself in front of it and made a block, but instead he tip toed in there and arrived too late. Probably a lack of match sharpness, which is understandable. Overall he was fucking boss though and it’s great having him back, for however long it may last. As for Gini, I think Carragher’s explanation of it at half time is probably spot on. Usually, in the 4-3-3 system we always play, Gini’s job would be to fly out there and close down the full back if Mané wasn’t in position to do it. So what he’s done is just muscle memory, it’s what he always does. In that split second it’s understandable that he’s made that decision but really he needed to just let Walker have it and ensure the pass to De Bruyne wasn’t on. By and large we did a good job of restricting De Bruyne, but he got in down that right hand side again soon after and it cost us a penalty. I knew it would be given even though clearly that should never, ever be given as a penalty. Unfortunately the cunts in charge of making rules are doing everything they can to kill football, and they’re succeeding. Kev the Red missed the pen so I can say this without it sounding like I’m just angry about it costing us a goal. Football is becoming almost unwatchable because of what the law makers have done with offside, handball and VAR. It’s genuinely shit and it’s ruining games. The penalty given against Wolves earlier that day was a fucking disgrace too. Then there’s the ludicrous offside against my boy Bamford in the Leeds game the day before. This isn’t football. It’s shit. They’re ruining the game with their traffic warned like overly officious, jobsworth fucking bullshit. I’d love to get these cunts in a room and… I don’t know, blow it up. Honestly, these faceless, nameless, busy bastards have taken a great sport and made it almost unwatchable. There is literally nothing Joe Gomez could have done to prevent that ball hitting his arm. In fact, you can see he actually did everything humanly possible to avoid it. His arm isn’t stretched out to make himself bigger. It’s in a natural running motion, but when he realises the ball is heading straight for it he actually pulls it back into his body, turns his chest away and almost manages to avoid being hit by the ball. I’m not going to have a go at Craig Pawson for giving the penalty because I’d be willing to bet if you were able to talk to him privately he’d say it’s not a penalty in a million years and he didn’t want to give it. But he has no choice. Not just because the VAR probably told him he has to give it, but because he himself knows that this is the fucking bullshit that the lawmakers want now. I would like to know how the Gomez one was any different to the Cancelo incident in the second half. VAR looked at that and did nothing. Why? The ball hits Cancelo’s elbow. It wasn’t deliberate, he tried to pull his arms into his body, but it hit him on the elbow and it was a goal bound shot. So how is that not a penalty when the Gomez one was? Of course neither of them should be penalties in a normal world, but this isn’t a normal world. It’s a world where stupid cunts are allowed to make stupid rules that everyone can see are just fucking stupid. Football is basically just a microcosm of normal society I guess. I’m so disillusioned with it all right now and it isn’t specifically about decisions that have gone against us. I mean yeah, that hurts more on a personal level (and there have been some fucking stinking ones) but it’s more than that. It’s the game as a whole. I’m genuinely distressed and irritated when I see a goal disallowed because Bamford is pointing where he wants the ball played and his arm is deemed to be offside even though his feet are on by about a fucking yard. How is that good for the game? I’ve mentioned it before, but I was even fuming when Lindelof conceded a pen for handball a month or so back. It was scandalous and I didn’t even care that it was Man United. This shit is far bigger than club rivalries. It’s about the game we all love and how it’s being ruined by cunts who seem to have no idea about the sport that pays their mortgages. Anyway, thankfully De Bruyne put the penalty wide otherwise we might be talking about another Goodison style screw job. That first half had been played at break neck speed and there were chances at both ends. We had the better of it and Emerson was incredibly lucky to see a shot from Trent squirm loose and under his legs but somehow stay close enough to him that he was able to dive on it ahead of Jota. Just prior to that we had a glorious chance to score when Henderson’s incredible pass over the shoulder of Diaz sent Sadio clear. Ederson came out and for a split second the right foot chip was on as Mané cut inside, but he took an extra touch and the chance was gone. Eventually he worked it to Mo who played in Trent for the shot, but if Sadio could have got that chip away what a goal we’d have been talking about. Ederson got away with another erratic moment in the second half when he needlessly parried a deflected Salah shot straight to Jota, but unfortunately by the time he got it under control his shot was weak and lacked conviction. Frustrating. Jota didn’t look anywhere near as lively as he has done of late, but a lot of that may have been down to the amount of defending he was expected to do, especially after the break when City were much more in control than they had been. We didn’t really do anything in the second half and I thought Klopp should have changed it and got an extra midfielder on. I liked the initial idea of blitzing them with four forwards, but when Guardiola rested to it and changed City’s shape to combat it, that’s when we should have gone back to the normal 4-3-3 I felt. The four up top was worth a try and it certainly caught City on their heels to begin with, but I don’t think I want to see it too often. I thought Firmino played ok and I don’t have anything negative to say about his performance. What I would say is I don’t think he’s special enough that we need to change a tried and trusted set up so we can keep him in the team. He’s either in a front three on merit or he’s on the bench. In fairness to Klopp I think his hand was forced a little by Thiago and Fabinho being out. Do we really think he’d have picked this team if either or both of those two were available? I doubt it myself. After half an hour of this game we lost the initiative. I wouldn’t say that City had it either, but they did take it away from us and after that it was just an even contest. I thought the forwards got a bit wasteful in possession and the rest of the team were trying to hit them too early instead of playing through City a bit more patiently. I’d have switched Jota and Mo at half time. Putting Salah on the right would have forced Cancelo into staying back more and given him a lot to think about, while we saw in midweek how dangerous Jota is running in behind. We definitely overdid that early ball over the top or into the channels and it gave City no trouble in the second half. They were waiting for it and cut it out time after time. You know what this game really needed? Thiago. He’d have made all the difference to us in a game like this. Hendo and Gini were outstanding (although Gini did caught on the ball two or three times) in terms of the ground they covered and how they used the ball, but having an extra man in there would have made it so much easier for them. Ideally that would have been Thiago, but Fabinho was a big miss too. Eventually Klopp changed after about an hour, but surprisingly it was Big Shaq who came on for Bobby. He was good. Very neat and tidy and he helped out defensively too from that right sided position. We just weren’t particularly dangerous anymore and in that second half it looked like both teams were playing not to lose rather than to try and win. City probably pushed harder than we did, but they seemed mainly concerned about not over-committing and filling spaces to prevent us hitting them with our speed. Whatever changes Guardiola made to combat the early storm we unleashed certainly worked and both teams kind of cancelled each other out in the second half. Trent went off with what looked like a torn calf and was replaced by Milner, who did a great job against Sterling. Doesn’t look good for Trent that one as calf injuries are absolute bastards to overcome as when you think it’s fine it often isn’t. Everyone is going to have to get used to this though as players will be dropping like flies over the next few months. This is why Klopp wanted five subs but it was foolishly voted down and now this is going to be the norm. The smaller clubs felt the five subs would be an advantage for the bigger clubs, but it’s actually not. If anything it’s the opposite. You’ve got some teams like, say, Burnley for example, who play the same eleven every week and have very little squad depth. That’s why they didn’t want the five subs, because they can’t bring Shaqiri, Milner, Mahrez, Jesus, Greenwood, Pogba etc off the bench. Understandable, but what happens in the Christmas and New Year period when their players are fucked and starters are pulling up with torn hammy’s all over the shop? The teams with the deeper squads will be able to cope better than the Burnleys and Evertons of this world, but the five subs would have helped the smaller clubs keep their starters fresher. Anyway, there’s nothing we can do about that now and Trent is just the latest casualty of what is likely to be a long list. This season is going to be a war of attrition as much as anything else. We’ve lost Virgil, there’s been no sign of Thiago since the derby and now Trent is going to be out for a while. Keita and Matip are back, but for how long? Presumably Ox won’t be too far away now and hopefully Fabinho will available after the international break. Star man is tricky as no-one really stood out that much. Sadio was good, Robbo was Robbo, Gomez and Matip played well but I’ll go for Hendo I think. I wouldn’t argue if any of you say it should be one of the others I just mentioned, but if I had to pick one then it’s the skipper, but only just. Alisson deserves a mention too as we needed him to be alert on a couple of occasions and he was. Some of his kicking was shite though. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (Milner), Matip, Gomez, Robertson; Henderson, Wijnaldum; Jota, Firmino (Shaqiri), Salah, Mané:

Saturday Oct 31: L 2 West Ham 1 Sound that. Difficult game, not at our best, dug in and willed our way to the three points. That’s what Champions do. It’s what we did for most of last season. It felt like most of the games we won during that record breaking run last year were single goal wins. I know they weren’t, were did have some comfortable ones in there too but there were loads like this one. It feels like we’re getting back into that groove now. Nice that we’re actually getting penalties again for fouls on Salah. It felt like there was a period of about 12 months where it was open season for defenders to do whatever they liked to him without any punishment. What brought that on? The media and rival manager witch hunt every time he was awarded a pen. And look, it’s happening again tonight. Even though it’s a clear foul and the West Ham player a) didn’t complain when it was given and b) apologised for the mistake on twitter afterwards, we’re still being subjected to absolute bollocks from pundits claiming it’s not a penalty. Even Souness was at it, which is disappointing as he’s normally one of the better ones. He was talking so much shit that Micah Richards stopped laughing for once in his life and was looking at him like “ok mate, whatever”. Then you had baked bean head Shearer talking absolute fucking nonsense on MOTD. It’s easy to dismiss this and say it doesn’t mean anything, but it does. It creates a narrative and eventually it can influence people’s thinking. It’s basically a Daily Mail front page blaming all the ills of the country on immigrants and refugees. Your hear something reported often enough that eventually it can influence your thinking without even realising it. It’s not a co-incidence that Salah stopped getting pens when the narrative became about him diving all the time. The same thing happened to Suarez back in the day too. I wouldn’t mind if it was the same across the board, but Kane and Sterling are literally throwing themselves to the ground without any contact on a weekly basis and fuck all is ever said about it. Mo won’t get another pen now for six months, you just watch (hopefully that reverse jinx kicks in on Sunday) . So, here’s something from today that I found interesting. For the first time in ages the twitter mole who posts the team got it wrong yesterday. He had Thiago and Williams starting. So what happened there? Are the club onto him and feeding false info? Because Nat Phillips said that he knew he was starting on Thursday but clearly the mole didn’t. This feels like a sting to me. We’ll know on Tuesday if we get early team news again. Sunday Nov 1: Normal service is resumed as Everton lose their second game in a row and they can kiss goodbye to ever being top again now. Well, they might do it again at the start of a season, but you’re never going to see a situation where they’re top after, say, ten games. They had their little run, got typically chesty about it and now they’re back to being Everton. They’ll never learn will they? All that “Spirit of the Blues” thing was setting themselves up for a massive fail. I mean come on, the lyrics are “we don’t know the meaning of losing”. You’re Everton. Losing is what you do. It’s who you are. It’s like Steve Davis running around singing “I don’t know the meaning of snooker”. All it took was four games for them to completely forget who they were. FOUR FUCKING GAMES! They’re utterly mental. You’d think after being so shit for so long, and living with constant disappointment and misery, that they’d at least have they guard up a little bit and be somewhat sceptical that it might not last. But no, they go wading in, running their mouths and writing cheques their team can’t cover. When we spoke to one of the lads from Grand Old Team ahead of the derby and asked “what is an obtainable goal” for them this season, instead of saying “well most of the traditional top six look a bit unconvincing this year so maybe we can grab a European place or possibly even sneak into the top four” he said “Don’t laugh…. to be Champions”. Honestly, they’ll never, ever learn. “Don’t laugh?” Come on, lad, some things can’t be prefaced with that. It’s like Del Boy looking into the camera and telling us “don’t laugh” before he went arse over tit in that yuppy wine bar. My mum went right off on one about them today. I don’t even remember what instigated it, we were talking about something completely unrelated and the next thing she’s telling me how horrible Ancelotti is and always has been. I’d said Everton had changed him and she said he’s always been “vile” and his Napoli team were dirty nasty scumbags. Then she said how every single Everton player was horrible. I was like “Oh I’m not sure I’d go that far”. “Tell me one who is ok then” she challenged me. “Leighton Baines wasn’t too bad and Seamus Coleman seems like a decent lad” I replied. “Noooooooo. Baines is your typical bitter Evertonian. I saw an interview with him once and they mentioned Liverpool and he got all defensive wouldn’t even say the word. As for Coleman, I felt sorry for that lad when he got injured but he’s been a right snide ever since he came back. He’s a dirty little thing him.” Then she went on about Pickford, Richarlison, Delph, Calvert-Lewin (she’s hated him from day one, even before the dive against Lovren) and Rodriguez for a bit before again challenging me “Name me one who you can honestly say seems alright? You can’t. Even with Man United there are some who are inoffensive and don’t bother me. Every team will have one or two that you can’t stand but with Everton it’s every one of them”. And you know what, I couldn’t actually name one who doesn’t annoy the fuck out of me. None of the established ones anyway. They’re all varying degrees of snide, dirty, bitter little bastards. I don’t mind Doucoure but he’s only been there five minutes. Michael Keane might be the least offensive of the regulars but I always feel he’s got a two footed lunge in a derby game in him so it’s only a matter of time until he’s on the list. I wasn’t bothered too much by Mina until I saw him acting like a complete cunt today when Wilson was getting ready to take the pen. So yeah, I can’t actually name one who’s ok. So the Everton game today was funny, as was United losing to Arsenal. The best bit about that was Keane afterwards. He said Ole is probably going to be gone soon but he took issue with criticism that he isn’t motivating the players. Keane was fuming about that and (rightly, in my view) claimed that players should be motivating themselves and that he never needed any manager to motivate him. The best was when Cahill started pontificating about how great Arteta is what a great job he’s doing with Arsenal. It was embarrassing how overboard he was going just because it’s his mate and the contempt from Keane was palpable, he kept saying “how many games have Arsenal lost this season?” and Cahill kept avoiding the question. Keane just sat there shaking his head, looking away and generally fuming. He’s great, he should be covering every game on every channel like Micah Richards does. My favourite bit was later on when they asked what Man United need and he sneered “Mikel Arteta as apparently he’s the new messiah”. Great stuff. Monday Nov 2: Wow. I’ve seen some shitty articles and headlines in my time, but this is right up there with the worst of them. Tony Cascarino, fucking hell. “Salah’s dive shamed the memory of Nobby Stiles and the game he loved”. Has there been a more Brexit headline all fucking year? It’s a disgrace on so many fucking levels. I mean the absolute fucking nerve of this fucker. Where to even start. Salah’s wasn’t even the most contentious pen of the weekend. Harry Kane and Jack Grealish to name two were much worse. Callum Wilson’s was similar to Mo’s. Yet one is shaming the game and the other three don’t get mentioned in the headline. There upstanding Englishmen and one dirty cheating foreigner. Shaming the game? Please. This game no longer has any shame and Cascarino never had any to begin with. This is a fella who had an international career based on fraud. And I don’t mean Harry Maguire type fraud where he somehow managed to convince the world he was an international class defender and not just another Lewis Dunk or James Tarkowski. No, I mean an actual fraud who lied about being eligible to play for a country that he had no right playing for. Bringing Nobby Stiles’ death into a discussion about penalties is really fucking low. Millwall cunt. Speaking of low, Ryan Giggs is arrested for allegedly smacking his girlfriend around. I’m shocked. Shocked I tell ya. It’s not like he has history for anything like this. Oh wait, yeah he does. Didn’t he get nicked back in the day for hitting that Davina bird he was seeing in a nightclub or something? He’s a real piece of work this fella. Can’t see Wales sticking with him now. His career in football is surely over now. Tuesday Nov 3: Atalanta 0 L 5. Holy shit, how great was that!! It’s not even that we won 5-0 that has me so excited right now. It’s the way we did it and the throwback to the footy of 2018 when we were just blitzing our way around Europe fucking annihilating teams. We’ve evolved a lot since then and we’re a more well rounded, mature team these days. But it’s great to see that we still have this football in us when the opportunity arises. Atalanta’s gung ho style obviously helped as we won’t be able to run in behind most teams the way we did tonight. It’s hard to run in behind a team camped on the edge of their own box, which is what we face most weeks in the league, but you know who doesn’t camp in their own box and who does leave loads of space in behind. Man City, that’s who. And we play them next. As much as Klopp loves Bobby and will want to show faith in him, he can’t possibly change this front three now, surely? Jota is playing so well currently that he’s outshining Sadio and Mo, and they’re both in great form too. The difference tonight was huge. Having three players running in behind rather than two was just too much for Atalanta to cope with. How would City deal with that? I don’t think they could, to be honest. This front three would create loads of chances against them and the key to the result on Sunday is whether we are clinical enough to take them. And again, that surely means Jota starting as he’s in lethal form right now. I’m also buzzing about how the kids played tonight. Jones and Williams both did really well. It’s mad as they were both playing in the kids CL a couple of years ago (Curtis was playing it last year too while Rhys was playing non-league) and now they’re in the senior side together. This was Jones’ best display of the season so far and he looked more like himself tonight compared to how safe he’s been playing recently. Starting games regularly will only help him as he’ll be more comfortable and won’t always be thinking he has to do something special to impress. He kept it simple tonight but still played the right passes forward when they were there. The one to set Mo clear for him goal was brilliant, even if he didn’t get the credit for it he should have. As for Williams, he’s played, what? Four games now? And I’ve barely noticed him. I can’t really think of anything specific he’s done and that’s brilliant for a teenage centre back throw in at the deep end. To be able to just slot in and not be noticed is really difficult, but he just does the job with the minimum of fuss, wins his headers, keeps it simple, and looks calm as anything. We might have a really good one there. Also, no leaked team news again so I think the mole has been squashed. Good. I don’t see the fascination with having to know the team the day before anyway. Just wait until it’s announced a n hour before. It’s not like it influences our lives in any way, is it? Wednesday Nov 4: The Mancs lose in Turkey to a PL “Legends XI” including Skrtel, Ba and Rafael. I’ve genuinely never seen anything like that first goal they conceded. Not in the first half anyway. It can happen late on when you need to throw everyone forward in desperation, but I’ve never seen it happen like that so early in a game. I honestly didn’t think it was possible for a top flight team to do that. My daughter has been playing a team for about five years now. Even when they first started, when she was seven and not one of them in the team had the first clue about footy or even had any interest in it, yet even then, when they had a corner the girls at the back would decide who - if any - of them would go forward and who would stay back. I’d see it all the time. Adrianna would usually go forward because she was basically the only kid on the team not scared of heading the ball (even five years later not much has changed!). But sometimes, if one of the others had gone forward I’d see Adrianna and the other defender look around and then go and mark the forward on halfway. Even seven year old girls knew that you can’t just send everyone forward and leave the opposing striker all along on the halfway line. Yet that’s what United did. It’s easy to rip into their crap defence and blame Maguire, but this isn’t on the centre backs as those lads are entitled to go forward and assume that there’ll be a couple of team-mates covering. Whoever normally stays back (Wan Bissaka for one I assume as he’s next to no use in the opposition half) fucked up massively and gave us one of the funniest moments of the season. Could have done with them not losing this though as the heat is really being cranked up on Ole now. He might not be at the wheel for much longer so here’s hoping they can snot the Blues this weekend. On the transfer rumour front today, but of a mad one as for some reason people are talking about Haaland coming here. Firstly, why would he leave Dortmund so soon after joining when things are going so well for him there? Secondly, he’s gonna want some kind of serious wedge. Thirdly, we’ve got Jota now, so… Seriously though, I’d love to sign Haaland but just don’t see where he fits in, especially with Mbappe coming next summer. Thursday Nov 5: Fuck all happening today so I’ve got nothing to say. Ok, I tell you what. Here’s something that happened today and I reckon it’s the same for everyone on the planet other than Billy Joel and his most dedicated fans. So one of his songs came on the radio today and I was like “yeeerrrs, this is boss this one”. So I’m singing along and it basically went like this… baba didi bababa duwadidi oompapa doobabadidi babababa Marylyn Monroe… umpapapa baobab duwawaa ooolalah something something bababa England’s got a new queen… we didn’t start the fire, it was always burnin since the world’s been turning… And on it goes, lots of mumbling and humming interspersed with “children of thelidimide”, “Belgians in the Congo”, “British politician sex” and a few choruses. Other than that, no-one has a fucking clue about any of the other lyrics but we still sing anyway as it’s catchy as fuck. Tell me I’m wrong? So yeah, slow news day! Actually I’ll ring my mum and ask her about that Kane / Lallana penalty last week. Should be interesting because she hates Kane even more than she hates poor Adam…. Ok, so she sided with Lallana as I expected. Used the word ‘vile’ to describe Kane, which is standard. One of the main reasons she hated Ads (I’ve taken to calling him ‘Ads’ because it makes her skin crawl) was because he was always injured but today she said “We’ve got a few other invalids for me to pick on now. He’s old news”. I know she’s got beef with "Kiter" so he’ll be one of those ‘invalids’ she’s on about, and Matip will defo be another. I daren’t ask if she’s already got Thiago on the shitlist though as that’s a bit arlarse if so. He’s had Covid and he’s been crippled by that twat Richarlison, so it’s unfair to lump him in with the stiffs just yet. Friday Nov 6: Ok, so this is concerning. Still no Thiago. Anyone else getting the feeling we’ve been lied to and they knew all along he was going to be out for weeks but they wanted to keep it quiet? Could be that they didn’t want to add to the bad news after Virgil, or maybe they’re trying to keep the opposition guessing. There’s no way he’s been 'day to day' though like they’ve been telling us. He hasn’t trained yet and it’s been what, four weeks since the derby? They defo knew it was more serious than they were ever going to let on to us. All Klopp is saying now is that he didn't need an operation and they just had to see how long it took to settle. He’s not joining up with Spain so if he is ready for our next game (which I’m betting he won’t be) that would have been a six week lay off. I hope that’s all it is. Fucking Everton, the dirty shower of bastards. It’s a big game between two of the ‘big six’ this weekend so you know what that means? Combined XI’s all over the fucking internet. They’re everywhere, and they’re usually complete abominations. In terms of this weekend, it’s easy. It’s ten Liverpool players plus De Bruyne, as no-one else from City is getting in. Neutrals can make an argument for Sterling and that's ok, I’m not knocking him as his record speaks for itself, but why would you take him over Mané or Salah? Jota is the first name on the team sheet by the way. I just hope he’s on Klopp’s this Sunday. Finally, Trent is tipped to become ‘the best right back ever’ by a true legend of the game. Sounds great right? Yeah, only that legend of the game is Cafu and he said pretty the same thing about Flanno back in the day, so… *shrugs* He might be right this time though. and that was the week that was….

On September 19th, 2020, Liverpool completed the signing of Diogo Jota from Wolves on a five-year deal. At the time of the announcement, the fee in excess of £40 million raised eyebrows throughout the footballing world. Although many knew of Jota’s capabilities, questions were asked about whether the reigning Premier League champions had overpaid for the Portuguese winger. Yet, despite concerns, Jota’s opening displays for the Merseyside club have given the impression that he’s long been a Liverpool player. He’s seamlessly fitted into Klopp’s all-action system without any difficulties. So, let’s take a look at the latest gem that the Reds’ recruitment team unearthed. Hitting the Ground Running According to a report from The Athletic, which is cited at Football365, Liverpool pursued Jota over other targets - such as Watford’s Ismaila Sarr – because of the structure of the deal. The article states that Wolves accepted an initial payment of less than 10 percent of the total transfer over the next 12 months. Not only that, but the 23-year-old brings an element of versatility that others perhaps wouldn’t have offered. According to Jota’s profile at Transfermarkt, he's played 123 games from the left wing, 44 in a supporting role, 41 as a central striker, and seven down the right-hand side of the field. In his first ten appearances in all competitions for the Premier League champions, Jota found the net on seven occasions. Moreover, the goals that he’s scored have thus far been match-winning contributions. Against both Sheffield United and West Ham, the 23-year-old netted second-half winners, which could prove crucial if Liverpool are to retain the league. As of November 4th, Klopp’s team are priced at 2/1 to win back-to-back titles with Premier League betting come the end of the season. Giving Klopp Different Options Outside of the Premier League, Jota has also been the leading player in Liverpool’s assault on the Champions League. After finding the breakthrough against FC Midtjylland on matchday two, the 23-year-old followed that up with a top-class hat-trick away at Atalanta. This outing in Italy has greater significance than a player merely finding their form. For the fixture, Klopp started Jota ahead of Roberto Firmino, and that decision paid dividends. It goes without saying that Jota will continue to be a first-team regular on Merseyside, but he now has genuine competition, and Klopp has impactful options at his disposal. Because of the versatility of his offensive players, he has the luxury of tinkering with his system without having to alter personnel. Jota’s early form at Liverpool showcases that he should be in the starting side, although that’s not a guarantee because of the club’s embarrassment of riches. The Best Problem for Any Manager to Have Klopp will likely be the envy of his fellow managers having taken the calculated gamble to sign Jota. The Portuguese international does, however, give the German coach a selection headache. That said, when a player is on the run of form that Jota is enjoying, there are few better problems in football for a manager.

It seems only a few weeks ago the transfer window was slamming shut, but we’re only a month or so away from it reopening and the rumours are already starting to hit the headlines for most Premier League sides. Liverpool are no different and with Virgil van Dijk out for a significant portion of time, the club may be in the market for defensive reinforcement. But who are the players currently being linked to a move to Anfield? Erling Haaland Haaland hasn’t been at Dortmund a year, but there are regularly rumours that he will move on to a bigger club, with the most traction seemingly coming with a move to Liverpool. 101greatgoal sport’s news have published a number of rumours about a potential departure, and in recent days, Cristoph Freund, who managed him previously claimed that Haaland will end up at Liverpool. The Norwegian has been in terrific form once again for Dortmund, scoring 10 from 10 so far this season, to add to his 16 from 18 last term. It’ll be a huge fee to get him, but with the star aged just 20 the best is still to come from him. Ozan Kabak Schalke’s Ozan Kabak is reportedly being earmarked as a suitable replacement for Virgil van Dijk, and it’s likely that if they were to go for him, they would land their man. Jochen Schneider, who is Schalke’s sporting director recently said, “We are still in economically challenging times, which you can see from the fact that this season may have to be played to the end without any spectators. I cannot and do not want to rule out anything.” That has left the door open for Klopp to go for him, with £20million expected to be the bid for him, slashed from an initial asking price of £40million. It seems the sensible choice, with Kabak only 20. It’s believed Liverpool have been in regular contact with Schalke so we can see this one getting over the line in January. David Alaba Bayern had been in talks with David Alaba about a new contract but with those breaking down the club are now looking to offload him in January. The 27-year-old is being monitored by Jurgen Klopp, as well as a number of other clubs, and he could be another to fill the boots of van Dijk in that central defensive role. He’s played in this position most recently for Bayern, although is perhaps best known for his work at left back. He’d be a hugely useful addition to Liverpool’s squad, adding extra depth across the defense and midfield and joining former teammate Thiago Alacantara will certainly be an appealing challenge for him. You get the impression though that this may be a saga that runs on, with Real Madrid and Barcelona also reportedly after him alongside Manchester City. That could bump up the price and ultimately prevent him from boarding the flight to Liverpool. Either way, he’s on his way out and he’d prove a perfect fit amongst Klopp’s men.

Back on top then. Despite everything that has happened so far this season, all the setbacks, all the criticism and the doubts thrown our way, we’re back on top after another eventful weekend in which Everton took another step back towards the mediocrity in which they’ve resided for decades, United delivered a pitiful showing against Arsenal and Harry Kane further enhanced his claim to be the league’s biggest cheat. But the main takeaway from the weekend is we’re back on top of the pile again. I’m taking nothing for granted and I’m not claiming that we’ll stay there indefinitely, but it does put some perspective on where we’re at considering all the mad shit we’ve had throw at us over the past month. To come through all that and still be looking down on the rest says a lot. All the talk of us crumbling without Van Dijk and how it opens the door for all the other challengers. Yeah I don’t really see it. Other than Man City, exactly who are these ‘challengers’ supposed to be? Everyone is dropping points and from week to week it’s impossible to predict the results as there’s always at least one mad scoreline we didn’t see coming. Actually this week was fairly predictable but that’s not been the case too often since footy returned. It’s so topsy turvy that City might not even be the biggest threat to us and I’m open to the suggestion that the biggest challenge might come from elsewhere, but until that materialises I’ll just continue rooting against City, not least because I despise everything they stand for. May as well start with them I suppose. They had an uninspiring but relatively comfortable 1-0 win at Bramall Lane. Kyle Walker’s low drive from 25 yards settled it and City had the better of the chances without ever really getting anywhere near top gear. Walker didn’t celebrate because he comes from a family of Blades fans and his parents still live in Sheffield. That’s just reminded me, remember when they sold him to Spurs and then just immediately plugged in another Kyle at right back as his replacement, and Spurs went and bought him too? What the fuck was his name? *googles* Kyle Naughton. He’s at Swansea now. Fair play to him, he’s made a good living for himself as a Kyle Walker tribute act. He’s got a long way to go before he reaches the level of James McCarthur though, who started out as a jarg James McCarthy at Wigan only for the roles to be reversed years later when they were re-united at Palace. McCarthur is now the headline act and McCarthy is… I was going to say he’s the By Jovi to McCarthur’s Bon Jovi but neither of those bums are worthy of such a lofty comparison. McCarthy is the Kyle Naughton to McCarthur's Kyle Walker. Lundstram had the best chance for the Blades when he fired just over in the second half. They’re not scoring goals and they’re losing every week but their performances suggest that it might not take much for things to around and them to start picking up some wins. They're competitive, they just create fuck all. Brewster hasn’t had a sniff of goal yet because they aren’t creating chances. Shearer picked out a load of instances where Brewster was ready to make a run but the ball just didn’t come into the box. This is the one thing Shearer is good for these days. He can highlight stuff like this as well as anyone but ask him to break down a penalty incident or a red card and he’s almost as bad as his pal SuperDan. I’ll get 'Right Said Fred' in a minute though. Hopefully the Blades can sort that out and Rhian can knock a few goals in, because if he’s not finishing chances he’s not doing much else. He looks a terrible fit for that team at the moment through no fault of his own. It’s like hiring Jamie Oliver for a dinner party and then not letting him cook. “Yeah Jamie, I know cooking is what you’re good at but I was thinking you might just stand around and watch while Lundstrom, Berge and Baldock take turns at burning toast instead” As for City, I have lots of thoughts on them but I’ll say nothing more as we play them this weekend and I’m not going to risk jinxing anything by talking them down. I’ll say they’ve got more than enough quality to beat us if we aren’t at our best and I’ll leave it at that. By the way, watching MOTD now to do this round up so I thought I’d watch the disallowed Jota again to see if I could spot the foul by Mané on Ogbonna. I couldn’t, even though the commentator is showing a slo-mo and saying “does Mané foul Ogbonna? I think he does you know”. Am I going crazy here? It’s like one of those photos with the dress and you see it as one colour and everyone is else telling you it’s another and you think you’re the victim of some elaborate wind up. I’ve watched it over and over and over and I can’t see what people are telling me is happening. Sadio doesn’t even make a challenge on Ogbonna but it’s just being accepted that he fouled him. I was hoping Danny Murphy would be able to clarify it for me because if he’d said it was a foul then I could just put this to bed and move on, knowing there is nothing wrong with my eyesight and judgement. If he’d have said it was no foul, however, then that's time to worry. Unfortunately Murphy left it to Shearer to dissect so I'm not really any the wiser. Of course Shearer said it was a foul, just like he insisted that Massuaka’s kick on Salah wasn’t. I’ve written elsewhere (the West Ham match report I think) that Murphy is wrong on virtually every single incident he has to comment on, but Shearer is only marginally less shit. Their ability to assess situations accurately clearly departed along with their hair back in their mid 20s. It’s no co-incidence to me that the best pundits all have hair while the bald ones are the least trustworthy. The same applies to referees too, with Collina being the exception that proves the rule. Think about it. Howard Webb, Steve Bennett, Mike Dean, Anthony Taylor, Lee Mason, Dermot Gallagher, David Elleray…. all bald, all shit, all complete cunts. Want further evidence? Ok, Clattenberg only became a top ref after he had his hair transplant. Bald refs and bald pundits have terrible judgement when it comes to assessing incidents in football matches. It’s science. The prosecution rests, your honour. Anyway, back to the footy. Burnley’s woes continued as they lost again at home to Chelsea, who looked pretty good to be fair to them. Maybe things might have been different if Burnley had converted an early chance when Ashley Barnes went through on goal but lobbed the ball miles over the bar as the keeper raced out at him. He got clattered by the keeper after he got his shot away and it’s interesting to me that not only was no foul given but nobody even appealed for it and the commentators didn’t mention it. I’d have defo been wanting a foul there if I was Barnes, but it’s a known fact now that Burnley aren’t allowed penalty kicks so maybe they’ve just given up even appealing. That was dubious though. There was a pen given a few weeks ago when a defender slid in and brought down an attacker after he’d hit a shot (or cross, can’t remember) so what’s the rule with this? If an outfield player comes in late and clatters someone after a ball is released it’s nearly always a foul, so how come keepers always get away with it? I’m not even saying I think this should definitely have been a penalty but there’s a big inconsistency there in how these things are interpreted. Barnes had to shoot earlier than he’d have liked because the keeper was launching himself at him. He massively overhits the attempted lob and a split second later he’s clattered into. I think it’s a foul you know, but that’s never getting given for Burnley. Man United maybe, but Burnley not a chance. Ziyech scored on his first league start to put Chelsea ahead. I don’t think Pope covered himself in glory on that. Not saying he should have saved it but he should be getting closer than he did as his balance was completely on the wrong side. Zouma then powered one in with his face from a corner and Werner wrapped it up late on the break. Burnley just don’t score goals and unless they can address that they’re in big trouble. Losing to Chelsea doesn’t really matter. They should lose to Chelsea and anything else is a huge bonus. It’s the fact they never look like scoring that should concern them most. Chelsea have so many quality attacking players that more often than not they’ll be able to overcome the handicap of having Fat Frank as their manager. Ziyech, Pulisic, Mount, Werner, Abraham, Havertz, Big Handsome Giroud… they’ve got loads of options now. Thiago Silva has helped to shore up their leaky defence of late too. I’d be really worried about them if they had a manager worthy of the name. Elsewhere, some French teenager Wolves have taken on loan gave them the lead at home to Palace before Daniel “Jota MkII” Podence then made it 2-0. They’re trying to pull a Kyle Walker / Kyle Naughton thing here hoping we’ll send some more cash their way, although to be fair Podence looks boss and if we did sign him it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea based on the little I’ve seen of him. Palace offered virtually no threat but they thought they had a lifeline when Boly tripped Van Aanholt in the box, but the penalty decision was nullified by an offside in the build up. To add to Hodgson’s woes Milavoijevic was then sent off for serious foul play. Awful decision. He wins the ball and catches the lad’s shin on his follow though, but the Wolves player is coming in from the side so what’s he supposed to do? When the player is facing you and go in like that, then yeah fair enough it’s dangerous and can be avoided, but this wasn’t that. The Wolves player wasn’t there when he won the ball and he came in from the side after and got caught inadvertently. Dreadful decision and he’s banned for three games now after their appeal failed. What a joke. Onto Sunday now and Villa got spanked again. I hexed them good and proper with that “Villa might be good you know” comment the other week. Southampton, looking sexy as fuck in their Peru tribute away kit, took them to the cleaners and raced into a 4-0 lead before it got nervy late on and ended 4-3. Vestergaard powered in a header to give the Saints the lead but this takes me back to what I said in the Burnley game with Barnes. This goal came from a free-kick out wide that was awarded when Targett slid in to try to block a cross from Walker-Peters. He didn’t get there and then made contact with the Southampton full back after he had massively overhit the cross. The challenge didn’t cause him to hit such a bad cross, it was just a bad cross. What the Chelsea keeper did to Barnes was far worse than this but apparently one is a foul and the other isn’t. Theres no consistency. The challenge by Targett didn’t really impede Walker-Peters from making the cross but Barnes had to take his shot earlier than he wanted because the keeper was flying at him. Double standards working in a keeper’s favour again. They can basically do whatever the fuck they want now without any punishment. Come for a cross but miss the ball and punch someone in the head? No problem. Clatter a striker after he rushes a shot to avoid the impact? No problem. Two foot someone and snap every ligament in the knee causing them to miss the entire season? Yeah go on, you’re good. When people say keepers are overly protected in the modern game they’re usually talking about not being able to challenge them on crosses, but this is the real fucked up thing where keepers are concerned. They just aren’t held to the same rules as everyone else. Southampton doubled their lead when they awarded a free-kick 25 yards out. Any time Ward-Prowse is stood over a free-kick like that I expect him to score. He’s lethal from there and this one flew over the wall into the top corner. And then he did it again to make it 3-0. The second one was incredible because it was right on the edge of the box and he got it up and over the wall and down again about four feet below the bar. It’s hard enough getting it just below the bar from that close, but to get it to dip that much was just stunning technique. Ings then made it 4-0 with a screamer that went in off the bar from the corner of the box but he would later go off with what looked like a serious knee injury. A horrible, worrying sight after everything he’s been through. It didn’t look good for him at the time and it’s been reported that he does need an operation, but thankfully it’s only 4-6 weeks and not another ACL injury. Villa pulled one back through Mings and then Grealish won a late penalty when he made the most of a swinging leg from Diallo to win a penalty. Not sure there was even any contact as the Saints player pulled out of the challenge as Grealish arrived, but hey! *points in opposite direction* Look! Mo Salah, what a cheating cunt eh? Watkins converted the pen and Grealish pulled another one back deep into stoppage time, but Southampton held on for the win. Bit of a weird one though really as three of their goals were absolute worldies and the XG numbers had Villa looking like easy winners. They were 4-0 down and hadn’t even played that badly. A far cry from the other goal fest they were involved in a few weeks back, eh? When I think about us conceding seven at Villa the first thing that comes to mind now is how funny it is that none of their fans were there to see it. I’m not even arsed about what happened anymore as it might actually be exactly what we needed. So any time I think about it the main takeaway I have that their knobhead fans didn’t get to witness it in person and inflict their world famous “Brummy wit” on us. I can picture it now, them singing “can we play you every week” and thinking they’re being so funny and original. They make me cringe, the unfunny cunts. They’re the absolute worst for that kind of thing. Singing “sign on” and then patting themselves on the back like they’re the first ones to do it. Fucking losers. The late Sunday night game saw Spurs overcome Brighton thanks to a late winner from substitute Bale. That penalty that Spurs got was a fucking outrage though. Not only is it not a penalty, it’s a foul to Brighton and should be a yellow card for Kane for dangerous play. He isn’t making a play for the ball, his only intent is to back into Lallana and then throw himself to the floor looking for a foul. The problem is, you can’t be doing that shit when a player is off the ground because it’s dangerous as fuck. It’s not ‘clever’ and it’s not ‘winning a penalty’, it’s just bad shithouse move that deserves a suspension. Lallana could have broken his neck there depending on how he fell. I’m not even joking. If you’re in the air and someone takes you out like that you can land in all kinds of horrific ways. I see it in the NFL all the time when a receiver goes up to make a catch and he is tackled as he’s off the ground. You can easily land on your head or bust a shoulder or a rib. Lallana was lucky that he didn’t fall too awkwardly but for Kane to be given a penalty for that is outrageous. What makes it even harder to take is when the commentators and pundits are all like “Lallana went into the back of him, it’s a penalty”. Get the fuck out of here with that shit. I looked on social media and fans from clubs right across the country were saying the opposite and calling it like it was, so how come so many fuckers who are being paid to talk / write about it are all getting it completely wrong? Son and Kane both then attempted blatant dives to try and win penalties when there was zero contact at all. No surprise to me, these two cunts are right up there with Sterling, Richarlison and Fernandez when it comes to this kind of thing. It annoys the fuck out of me that Sir Harry can cheat on a weekly basis with fuck all being said, but as soon as Mo is awarded a penalty we get the Spanish inquisition over it and the incident is analysed from 50 different camera angles as the narrative is spun to “well there is contact and he is kicked, but is that really a foul?” I can make a case that Kane is currently the best player in the league. I can make an even stronger case that he’s the biggest cheat. Did MOTD2 focus on the terrible dive? Did they fuck. The night before though we had the two talking baked beans going on about how Salah going down too easily and how he wasn’t actually fouled. Kane does this shit constantly and he’s never called on it or subjected to the level of scrutiny Mo is. We all know why and it fucking stinks. My boy Lamptey equalised but that goal shouldn’t have stood either as there was a clear foul by March on Hoijberg in the build up. There may have been the tiniest bit of contact on the ball but Hoijberg still had control of it and was wiped out. Utterly mental that Fabinho was penalised for a foul last week while this was deemed ok. Mourinho wouldn’t comment on that incident afterwards because him saying “that was a foul” isn’t going to change anything and if he were to say what he wanted to say he’d be charged by the FA. When he pressed on whether he thought it was a foul he just said “I miss my old football. Football the way it was, but with goal-line technology”. Amen to that. Fuck VAR, it hasn’t improved anything and it has defo taken away far more than it has brought. Mourinho was right about that, but then he came out with this fucking nonsense…. “Harry Kane win a penalty?” Mourinho said. “Perhaps you’re speaking about players at other clubs, and they do it and they do it so well, but for sure you’re not speaking about Harry Kane. Harry Kane was in a position to control the ball in a dangerous position and Lallana comes in, a very dangerous action, and commits a foul. Lallana was reckless. He made a mistake. Speak about Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, clever guys where somebody blows on them and they are on the floor. Speak about those guys, not Harry Kane. And if you thought that was bad, here’s what the slobbering goon himself had to say “I tried to put my body in between the player to shield the ball and he jumped into the back of me with quite a bit of force”. What a pair of duplicitous, lying cheating fucks. Mourinho and Kane are made for each other really. Son too, he’s another horrible little shit. Anyway, Bale replaced Lamela and headed a late winner. Harsh on Brighton, who continue to look like a decent little outfit. Potter knows what he’s doing and has a chance at bigger and better things if he keeps going the way he is. There is also the possibility that he ends up being the next Eddie Howe of course. Could go either way at this early stage. Some have been talking Spurs up as potential title contenders. My initial, instinctive response to that is always “are you forgetting that they are Spurs?” but Mourinho has experience of winning and that front three they have is potentially as good as anything. Kane and Son have been sensational and if Bale can stay fit (for once in his life) that’s a scary looking frontline. They’re flawed elsewhere and you can never overstate the influence of ‘Spurs DNA’ so they’re up against it, but that forward line is better than anything other than our own and if Bale has the impact he did when he was there the first time around then theirs might even be better than ours if we didn’t have Jota. But we do have Jota and he’s boss, so that makes ours better. The biggest game of the weekend was at Old Trafford where United lost 1-0 to Arsenal. Fuck me, United are hard to get a read on aren’t they? It’s not that they’re completely shite, because occasionally they look brilliant, but you just don’t know what you’re going to get from them. A few days before this they destroyed Leipzig 5-0. Rashford and Greenwood looked sensational and their fans will have been thinking “ok, we’re onto something here” and then they go and lose like this to Arsenal. And it’s not just that they lost, it’s that they were fucking awful. Arsenal weren’t even that good, but they didn’t need to be as United were just so meek and toothless. Remember those colossal battles these two had when Ferguson and Wenger were at each others throats? Two superpowers, the best two teams in the country, huge personalities and strong characters going to war and battling for the biggest prizes. A rivalry for the ages…. and now look at the fucking kip of both of them. They’re pathetic. Aubamayeng got the game’s only goal from the spot after Pogba had brought down Bellerin. All the stick Pogba gets about not working hard enough or helping out defensively, but he clearly knows he’s a liability and is just trying to play to his strengths and not his weaknesses. When he has to help out in his own box this kind of shit happens all the time. He said afterwards “I was out of breath from running just before and I made a stupid mistake”. Fuck me. A midfielder is so out of breath from a bit of running that he makes a stupid foul. Yeah, he shouldn’t be asked to defend because he’s a fucking liability. The closest United came to a goal was when Elneny deflected a cross onto the face of his keeper and it bounced off him and hit the post. That summed up how inept United are that the only time they looked like scoring was when an Arsenal defender and keeper were playing pinball wizard with each other. Much is being made of the fact this was the first time in 29 attempts that Arsenal have beaten a ‘big six’ club away from. I almost feel like this shouldn’t count because United were so bad and the stadium was empty. And despite this, if pushed I’d still back United to finish above Arsenal come the end of the season because they have better players. If they had a manager that knew what he was doing they wouldn’t be this wildly inconsistent, but this is a good thing because if it was shit all the time they’d fuck him off. The occasional Leipzig type performances are the best thing that can happen because they delude themselves into thinking they’re making progress and it makes it easier to overlook the just as frequent turd butty displays like this one. They were also hilariously inept in midweek against a team I’d never even heard of prior to this week, so they need a bounce back performance just keep Ole safe. This weekend they play Everton and I genuinely hope they win 10-0. I’m not conflicted in any way about that. United aren’t any threat to us but if they keep losing then maybe they hire Pochettino or someone and they might become dangerous. So yeah, let them do just enough to keep them fooled into thinking Solksjaer is on the right track and if that means them battering the Blueshite then it’s a double win, because fuck Everton. I hope they don’t win another game for the rest of their shitty fucking existence. The sheer fucking arrogance of them after they won a few games to start the season was a real eye opener. They don’t know how to handle winning, it’s completely alien to them. Which is ironic given they got a song to the top of the charts that contained the lyric “we don’t know the meaning of losing”. Yeah, and Neil Ruddock doesn’t know the meaning of boozing. Everton wrote the fucking book on losing, the absolute fucking losers. This brings me onto them and their hilarious loss at Newcastle. The portrayal of Pickford as the victim of the Van Dijk debacle was ramped up further this week as Ancelotti left him out and it was reportedly due to the stress he’s been under following death threats by the Redshite. What a fucking scabby, shitty, bitter little club they are from top to bottom. Fucking rats. Pickford was dropped because a) he’s shite and b) they were playing Newcastle, which means he’s likely to do something mental like letting a goal in because he’s too busy mooning at the “Howay the lads” banner on the seats behind the goal. Rodriguez was missing too, apparently he’s still suffering from being fouled by…. yep, you guessed it, Virgil. Never mind that he completed the full game after suffering this apparently serious injury. Never mind that he trained the next week and then played 90 minutes again. No, we’re expected to believe that he missed the game because of a tackle that happened weeks ago and hasn’t caused him to miss any time since. Whatever injury he has is fuck all to do with the derby game. They could have returned to the top if they had beaten Newcastle but they shit the bed and after winning their first four games they haven’t won in three games now. I believe that is called “normal service being resumed”. Don’t. Know. The. Meaning. Of. Losing. That massive fraud Andre Gomez conceded a pen when Callum Wilson got in front of him on a near post corner. Wilson himself converted the spot kick and then he bagged his second goal with a back post tap in following a cross from his old Bournemouth running mate Ryan Fraser. Wilson was booked before he took the pen for pushing the ball into the stomach of Yerry Mina. Incredibly shit decision that. Mina was in his face, trash talking and trying to put him off while they waited for VAR confirmation that it was a pen. Since when has that been ok? Wilson was entitled to react to that and it’s out of order that he’s getting booked for having to do a job the ref is supposed to. Add Mina to the ever growing list of horrible Everton cunts. Calvert-Lewin prodded in at the near post in stoppage time to set up a tense finale but Newcastle kept them at bay, helped by a nice little tip over the bar followed by standard camera pose by Darlow. Newcastle are dull as fuck but they’re picking up points and they have more threat in attack than most of the teams around them. I can’t help but like Almiron you know. I probably owe Rafa a bit of an apology on that one as I took the piss for ages about how much he spent on a forward who never scored and who looked like a worm with eyebrows. He hasn’t been worth the money they paid but I can see why Rafa was drawn to him as the lad never stops running and he’s hard not to like. He chases everything and works his nuts off. He’s a tidy little player too, he just doesn’t score enough. I like that front three Newcastle have though. It’s obviously not top class but Saint Maximin, Wilson and Almiron is really good by bottom half standards and fun to watch when Bruce actually let’s Newcastle attack a little bit. Finally, Monday night saw Leicester smash Leeds and move into second spot, just a point behind us. Its like last year all over again. Hopefully we’ll destroy them at their place and send them spiralling back into mediocrity again. Vardy unselfishly teed up Barnes for the opener and also claims an assist on the second as Tielemans scored from the rebound after Vardy’s header was saved. Dallas pulled one back when his cross eluded everyone and then Hernandez hit the bar as Leeds almost equalised. That proved decisive as Vardy scored Leicester’s third and Tielemans added number four from the spot. Brendan was all full of beans afterwards, joking with Pochettino (who was in the Sky MNF studio) and generally just being all Brendany. You know, when his team loses I find him to be very likeable, dignified and classy. He handles it well and rarely comes across like a twat in the way a lot of managers do. When he’s had a big win though he kind of makes me squirm. It’s not that he’s shouting from the rooftops about how great he is or anything like that. It’s hard to explain really. It’s not that he does anything bad, he just gets all… I dunno… happy and overly talkative and it makes me cringe a bit. Well I thought that was it all finished then but I’ve just checked through and realised there was no mention of Fulham. It seems they played West Brom on Monday and they won 2-0, but I had no idea. It was presumably before the Leicester / Leeds game but I’m not going to waste any time looking for highlights of that as let’s be honest, who actually gives a fuck? All I’ll say is that despite my low opinion of Fulham I’m not surprised they won because this was basically a Championship game masquerading as a Premier League fixture. They were both in the Championship last year and they’ll both be back there next year. Fulham might not be quite as useless as I thought though and I’m no longer convinced they’ll finish bottom, because West Brom might be worse.

This was 2018 all over again and I couldn’t be happier. I really loved this, I’m buzzing off it as it was a proper little trip down recent memory lane. For all the success we’ve had in the last two seasons in terms of fun and excitement there’s still a part of me that longs for the wild, crazy, blitzkrieg style footy we had on the way to reaching Kiev. Of course I wouldn’t swap the trophies for anything and I don’t dispute that we’ve become a much more well rounded and resolute team since then, but 2018 was a shitload of fun and the football we played that year was incredible, especially in the Champions League where we broke all kinds of scoring records. This was like that. So much fun, genuinely thrilling stuff. I don’t know how much of this transformation into the old ‘Red Arrows’ was a result of Atalanta and their naive as fuck “attack attack attack” approach and how much was down to the way we played. It’s probably a big dolloping of both. I’m not going to say too much about Atalanta as I don’t know enough about them. I’m told they’re really good and their record over the last couple of years is impressive, so this is clearly a great result. It’s how we played that has me so happy. You’re probably as bored with reading my well documented concerns with the front three as I am about writing them. Turns out that all it needed was to replace Firmino and problem solved. Kidding. I’m being flippant. It’s not that simple and I don’t want to be disrespectful to Bobby because I love the guy. The difference between this front three performance and what we’ve seen for most of the last 12 months was massive though. Atalanta’s wide open approach obviously helped, but it’s not just that. At least that’s my gut feeling. It just looked different. Right from the start. It felt like we’d score every single time we attacked and they just couldn’t cope with having three players flying at them and trying to get in behind. It’s only one game so drawing any definitive conclusions would be stupid, but there was enough here to make me wonder if Bobby’s tendency to drop deep is actually starting to hurt rather then help us. By that I mean have we been found out? Are teams playing us differently because they’ve had three years to figure out how to slow down our front three? The decreasing numbers from them certainly suggests that’s the case. The easy conclusion was to put it down to Bobby losing form, but what if it’s not his form and it’s instead mostly a tactical issue? Having Jota up there is almost like having a second Mané in the team. They’re very similar. Not identical, but very similar. They both want to run in behind but can also come short, they can use both feet as well as their head, both have pace and intelligence and when you combine the two of them with Salah and the constant menace he provides it’s going to be too much for most teams to handle. Recently it’s been a front two in all but name as Bobby drops deeper and deeper every week. I’m tempted to go back and watch some highlights of 2018 as my memory might be deceiving me but I feel like he spent much more time running forward whereas now he always seems to be coming back the other way. Even after he came on in this game we almost conceded when he dropped all the way back and lost the ball 30 yards from goal. That isn’t happening with Jota because he’s so much higher up the pitch, pressing from the front and stretching teams in behind. I don’t want this to seem like I’m scapegoating Bobby because it might be as much tactical than anything else. When he used to drop deep he was able to find space, turn and link with Sadio and Mo. Now when he does it he invariably seems to have a defender right up his arse and more often than not has to lay it off backwards or sideways. That’s not his fault; teams are just playing us differently. He might actually get a new lease of life playing in a front four, who knows. But right now he’s fourth in the pecking order and he’s going to have to really up his game to get back in, because how can you leave out any of the others now? Jota is just dynamite. He’d already gone close to a brilliant goal before he gave us the lead. The deft finish was class but it’s the run that allowed Trent to slide the ball in behind the defence. Bobby isn’t making that run, he’s coming short to get it into feet. Just sayin’. The one he’d missed earlier would have been a glorious goal as it was a lovely move and great skill by Jota to skin the defender. Unfortunately the keeper was out quickly and made a good low save. Michael Owen made the point after the game that as a striker he’d have been onto that keeper immediately because he could see from that very first chance that he goes down too early. He highlighted the other goals we scored and said that our forwards had all picked up on it too. This is why I like Owen as a pundit. It’s fashionable to slag him off for being boring but it’s just not true. He usually brings good little bits of insight from a striker’s perspective that you don’t get from most pundits. I enjoy listening to him and I think he’s really good at his job. So there. Stick your ‘Michael Owen the pundit’ criticism where the sun don’t shine. Anyway, as we saw, the second time Jota got in the keeper was down early again and he dinked it over him to put us ahead. It wasn’t long before he added another. Once again, a lovely finish, albeit a completely different type of goal to the first. I loved this one more for how bright he was than for the actual finish itself. He’s just lurking on the shoulder of the defender, looking all innocent, all the while pointing to Gomez to tell him where he wants the ball. As Gomez shapes to pass, Jota darts back quickly to make sure he’s onside (he was onside anyway, but this was still great awareness) and then runs into the space. The ball from Gomez was good but the first touch from Jota (or “Josh” as my Dad is still calling him) was even better and that allowed him to cut back inside and beat the keeper at the near post. Clinical as fuck that. We had several other chances to increase our lead too as we tore through Atalanta at will. The early ball in behind to the three runners was doing them every time and given the way we were playing at no point did I ever think this was going to be anything other than a big margin of victory. The second half was hugely entertaining. We were devastating on the break but Atalanta gave it a go and had chances of their own. Alisson made three saves and they were denied by the post. Just a really fun game of football to watch. We defended very well, both as a back four and collectively as a team, but Atalanta still posed problems and Zapata could have had himself a hat-trick. The one that hit the post was a great effort. The other two were well stopped by Alisson but smacked a little bit of him just smashing it as hard as he could and hoping for the best. There was a lot of talk about him before the game but based on this I’m gonna say he’s not very good, but he is difficult to play against. It was interesting that almost all of his best moments came against Gomez rather than Williams. I’m not reading anything specific into that as it felt as though Gomez was picking him up most of the game and Zapata didn’t come into contact with Williams too often. I might be wrong on that though. I barely noticed Williams really, which is a big compliment to him as ordinarily you’d expect a teenage centre back to stand out in a game like this for all the wrong reasons. You don’t really see him though. He just does the job with a minimum of fuss and in the games he’s played so far this season he’s been surprisingly good. By that I mean that he’s virtually come from nowhere and looks completely at home. He was a top player in the youth team but you don’t expect a kid to go on loan in non-league and the following season be holding his own in the Champions League. I am surprised at how well he’s done and long may it continue. Imagine if he turned out to be boss. Him and Virg together would look like father and son. So yeah the defence did well and the forwards were part of that as they chased everything and put Atalanta under constant pressure. The midfield were great. Gini and Hendo produced the type of performances you’d expect from them but how good was Curtis? Everything he did just oozed maturity and confidence. The only moment of youthful exuberance was the yellow card he got for over-stretching after running into trouble, but he was fucking quality otherwise. He had a big hand in two of the goals too. He was involved in the Jota hat-trick goal as he kept his cool in his own box to get his head up and pick out Sadio on the left. Jota went haring off through the middle and Mané produced a perfectly timed and executed through ball to send him in. Lovely calm finish too. Curtis then had a direct assist himself when an Atalanta corner was cleared to him on the edge of the box and he knocked the ball over the top for Mo to run through and score. He didn’t get enough credit for that pass on BT as they suggested he was just knocking it forward somewhat hopefully. He wasn’t. One of the replays showed him having a look to see where Mo was and then he delivered a perfect pass with his left foot. As you know, there’s nothing I love more than those fast break goals from opposition corners. They’re just fucking thrilling to watch. It wasn’t great defending to leave Mo with that kind of situation, but they were 3-0 down and chasing the game so it was understandable they’d take some risks. They did the exact same thing late on too and Mo went flying through from his own half again. This time he was denied by a great save, but there’s nothing that gets the pulse racing like Mo sprinting the length of the field following an opposing set-piece is there? In between those two Mo counter attacks we scored a fifth goal through Sadio. Mo was the provider with a nice through ball, but how sweet was that finish? Fucking brilliant that. The front three were on fire all night and could easily have had more. Sadio had been denied by a full length dive by the keeper in the first half and Mo almost scored from near the half way line. He should have played Sadio in there but in a game like this when everyone is full of confidence and we’re scoring for fun, you’re always going to get players trying speculative stuff like that and he was a whisker away from one of the greatest European goals we’d have ever scored. Not sure Sadio will have seen it that way though! I was a little surprised how long it took Klopp to start emptying the bench and resting people. But we got Milner, Keita and Firmino on for Robbo, Hendo and Jota, and a bit later Neco and Tsimikas came on for Trent and Gini. All the subs did well and Bobby had a couple of chances that were blocked by defenders. It felt like everyone was desperate for him to score and at one point even Mo spurned a shot and passed to him. I know, imagine that! So 5-0, three wins from three and no goals conceded yet. We’re virtually through now and one more win in the next game will allow Klopp to give everyone the night off in the two dead rubbers that will follow. All eyes now turn to Sunday and the game at the Etihad. We owe them one after what happened in the game after we’d clinched the title. They celebrated a little bit too much after that one I’d say, so some lessons maybe need to be handed out this Sunday. It won’t be easy, especially without Van Dijk, but it looks like Matip will be available and maybe Thiago too hopefully. City will give us problems defensively but the big key for me is can they cope with our forwards if they play like this? It’s a definite ‘not a fucking chance’ for me, so that’s the key to the game. If Jota starts with Sadio and Mo, and any one of them (but hopefully all three) have their shooting boots on then we should win. It’s about taking chances though. These games always start out even but in the past we’ve been wasteful and it’s cost us. When we have taken our chances we tend to score in bunches. It’s the toughest game of the season because City are the best team we’ll face. We’re better than them though and they should be more fearful about this fixture than we should. It all comes down to being clinical, so this was an idea way to warm up for that one. Star man is Jota, but you knew that already. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold (N Williams), R Williams, Gomez, Robertson (Milner); Henderson (Keita), Wijnaldum (Tsimikas), Jones; Salah, Jota (Firmino), Mané:

I could just post last weekend’s report and change a few minor details, because this was eerily similar. We fell behind, we equalised shortly before half time (in the same minute, I believe), we had a goal disallowed by VAR and then we scored the winner soon after. It’s a great win. Not one that any of us will be reminiscing about (unless you’re Nat Phillips, obviously) but despite that, it feels like a big one to me. They all are I suppose, but this feels like it was really important. This whole week has been. It’s ben a big test and we’ve passed it. We lost Virg and all eyes were on how we’d cope. It’s been a bit of a struggle at times but the lads have dug in and won three games in a week. And guess what, we’re back to the top of the league again. Not bad considering some of the mad shit we’ve had happen. West Ham have been in good form but the loss of Antonio hurt them even more than us not having Virg. West Ham lost 75% of their goal threat with him being out. It’s not just the goals he scores, it’s the threat he provides when he’s on the pitch. They’re as close to being a one man team as there is in the league (along with Palace) so this was massive for them. Basically, they can’t replace what he brings and it feels like the first break we’ve had all season that he was missing. In Antonio’s place was Haller, a player who started his West Ham career well but has struggled since. Still, he was being marked by a lad making his Premier League debut, so it’s only natural that we’d have some concerns and West Ham might fancy their chances. As it turned out, the Hammers got absolutely no change whatsoever out of big Nat Phillips. He was tremendous and by the end of the first half Haller had more or less given up. Phillips just battered him into submission by winning header after header until eventually Haller just stopped challenging for them. Surprisingly, the weak link was alongside Phillips where Gomez made an error that allowed Fornals to give the visitors the lead. Let’s be fair here though. The goal wasn’t completely down to Gomez as it was a bad goal all around in terms of positioning and being alert. We allowed them to get a cross in too easily and there was no-one anywhere near Fornals when the ball dropped to him. The header from Joe was shite though. I don’t know why he didn’t just head it back where it came from instead of heading it to the edge of our own box. Get it away from danger. That’s just basic stuff. That one error probably puts an overly negative slant on what was otherwise a decent enough performance from him. We actually defended well throughout the game although West Ha had two or three decent chances. I think we often read too much into things like that though. How often do you go through a game against Premier League opposition where you prevent them from creating ANY chances? Hardly ever happens, and I don’t care how good you are. You’re always going to give up two or three chances a game even when you defend well. We occasionally look a little vulnerable but in general terms we’re defending pretty well most games. It’s not been perfect by any means but no-one is keeping clean sheets in lockdown footy. It’s quite funny really. That Villa debacle means that we’ve got the worst defensive record in the league (even worse than fucking FULHAM!!!), yet guess what? We’re still top. Funny old game. So yeah, we went behind and the first half was a bit of a grind. We had a lot of the ball but couldn’t really get in behind. It was partly due to us not moving it quickly enough and partly because it’s really hard playing against a well organised side with a back five and four in midfield. There’s hardly any space in the final third. The last thing you want to do is fall behind to a team like that as it just makes them sit in all the more as they have something to protect. We found it hard going but I no longer worry too much in these situations because the lads generally find a way in the end. They did it last week in similar circumstances and they did it once more here. The penalty sort of came out of nowhere but I did feel like we were gradually turning the screw on them the longer the half went. It’s not like we were creating loads but it felt like there was more urgency and we were pushing them further and further back. I honestly can’t believe there’s been so much debate about the penalty. I can only assume it’s because it was Mo (there’s always a big fucking debate any time he gets a pen and fuck all is said on the countless occasions he doesn’t get ones he should), but there’s been so much nonsense spouted about this from people who ought to know better. I expect Moyes to complain about it because he’s never seen a decision go against him that he didn’t dispute. He’s Everton to his rotten little dour miserable fucking wrinkled core. So when he says it’s not a penalty I just laugh. Classic Moyes. It pains me when Souness agrees with him though. As a rule, Souey is one of the better pundits and is far less prone to talking bollocks than certain others, such as Danny Murphy for example, who I’ll get to in a minute. It’s an absolute, stonewall, 100% foul and whether Salah fell ‘naturally’ or not doesn’t come into it. Yes, Salah could have stayed on his feet. Yes, he threw himself to the floor to draw attention to the foul. Yes, he made a meal of it. All of this can be true and it is still a fucking penalty. Nothing about what Salah did changes the fact that he got his body between the defender and the ball and that the defender recklessly had a swing and booted him on the foot. I mean shit, the lad himself even apologised for his mistake on Twitter afterwards. He didn’t dispute it at the time either, because he knew. I’ve made this point before but why should the attacker stay up in that situation? He was impeded by the foul, albeit only minimally in this instance. But that kick on the foot causes him to check his stride if he stays up, so why should he allow the defender to gain that kind of advantage? None of the teams we play against play that way, so why would we do it? I don’t want my forwards staying on their feet when they’ve been fouled and I’d bollock them if they did. Why should we play by a set of rules that literally no-one else does? You get nothing for being honest on the pitch. That’s just a stone cold fact. If you stay on your feet it just allows the ref to ignore it. It takes a brave referee to give a penalty when the attacker stays on his feet. And Danny fucking Murphy. Jesus Christ. The hypocrisy. What he said about Salah was the polar opposite of what he said about Harry Kane in a similar situation not so long ago. He’s gone from “everybody does it, it’s the way the game is” to “you don’t want to see that in the game”. I hate this because I don’t want to not like Danny. I’ve always liked him but he just makes it really hard these days doesn’t he? Here’s the thing with Murphy. I’ve heard him on the radio loads and when he’s talking about situations in his own career he provides some genuinely interesting and valuable insight. I enjoy listening to him when he’s giving that kind of insight. His problem is when he’s commenting on something he’s seen and he has to break it down. He’s nearly always completely wrong. It’s almost impressive just how consistently wrong he is. You’d think he’d be right occasionally just on the law of averages, but no. If Murphy says it’s a red card, you know it’s not. If he says it’s not a pen, you know it is. If he says offside, it’s going to be on. He’s so fucking useless at this shit he could be in a VAR room and none of us would know the difference. Ah yes, VAR. It fucked us again. I didn’t celebrate the goal because I was sure Sadio had fouled the keeper. When I saw the replays I was less sure he had but it was a 50-50 call and therefore I knew it would go against us, because it usually does. As it turns out, he doesn’t technically foul the keeper as he slides underneath him, but you can definitely argue that the keeper was impeded by the challenge and if the goal had been ruled out for that I could have understood it even if I’d probably feel a little aggrieved. Thing is, it was disallowed for a foul on the defender though, which I don’t get at all. I watched the replay five or six times and not once did I think there was a foul on the defender. Maybe I was too fixated on looking at the challenge on the keeper that I missed something, so I’ve gone back and looked again and I still don’t see it. There is no foul on the defender. Not even close. In fact, the only reason Mané ends up going in on the keeper is because Ogbonna leans into him and moves him away from the path of the ball. Not illegally, I should add, it’s just good defending, but I don’t see how Mané can be penalised for a non-existent foul on a defender who was leaning into him. As soon as VAR told Kevin Friend to have a look it was obvious what was going to happen. I thought Friend had a good game and if he’d blown the whistle for a foul on the keeper I don’t think anyone could blame him. At full speed on first viewing it looked a clear foul. It sticks in the throat that it was disallowed for something that didn’t actually happen though. Incidentally, we had another penalty shout in the first half when Cresswell blocked off Mané, but that was just good defending for me. Never a pen so no complaints there. As I say, Friend had a pretty good game I thought. We’re getting used to these VAR knockbacks now though and the players seem to be able to shrug them off. They did it last week and we got the winner from Jota soon after, and history related itself again. Jota was fucking brilliant when he came on. So too was Big Shaq. That disallowed goal came after great work by both of them, and it was those two that combined to win it soon after. The ball from Shaq was perfect and Jota finished it confidently. It’s a lovely goal. Those two had replaced Jones and Firmino to give us a bit of a kick start. Once again, I thought Curtis played within himself and seems to be more concerned with playing responsibly and with maturity than he is about expressing himself and making things happen. The one time he did try something it was a terrible decision to shoot from 25 yards while off balance and with his weak foot when there was a simple pass on to slide Mané though. Dreadful that. Otherwise he was neat, tidy, diligent and never gave the ball away. I understand why he’s reigning himself in and long term it’s probably a good thing. There’s a happy medium to be had though as currently he isn’t offering any real threat or creativity when he plays. Until recently any time he was on the pitch he’d be in the final third trying things, getting shots away, being positive. The last few games though he’s been too safe. He can do the things Shaq has been doing but until he starts doing them again Shaq should be ahead of him in the pecking order. Not that I have any problem with Jones getting chances, I’m all for it in fact, but he maybe needs to be coming off the bench rather than starting though at the moment. As for Jota, he’s fucking brilliant. I love him. He fits this team like an arse in a bucket and he hasn’t needed any settling in period. We’re talking Salah and Van Dijk levels of instant production. We don’t usually see that as it normally takes time. The impact he made in this game was huge. He scored, he had one disallowed, and he basically ran West Ham ragged. He’s so direct and positive that he brought a dimension to our play that just wasn’t there until he came on. He has to be starting from now on. There isn’t a case to keep Bobby in there any more. Not one good reason. It’s not just the lack of goals and assists, it’s everything. Generally most of us don’t judge Bobby solely on those things. His place in the side was always assured because he made everyone else around him better. His unselfish play, clever movement and relentless pressure was a huge part of what made us so great. Is any of that even the case currently? He’s a passenger most weeks. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s poor form or maybe it’s just that the opposition have learned how to nullify him. I’m not clever enough to suss that out. What I do know is that Salah and Mané aren’t better with him on the pitch anymore. They look just fine without him and probably look even more dangerous with Jota. So if Bobby isn’t bringing out the best in those around him and he’s doing pretty much fuck all himself, what reason is there to keep him in the team? Nostalgia? It seems like a bit of a crutch now to say he should be playing because he’s integral to our style. Maybe that style has been found out and needs tweaking, or maybe Bobby is just woefully out of form. Either way, we look miles better with Jota playing so next week at City I’d love to see Mo through the middle using his pace against that dodgy backline, and Jota and Mané either side of him. I doubt it will happen. We’ll see Bobby starting again because of his work off the ball and his experience of playing against City, and no doubt he’ll be hooked after 65 minutes as seems to be the case every week now. In the meantime we have Atalanta away. Tough game and it’s one we could afford to drop points in really. It would be great if we didn’t but I’m not sure we can keep churning out win after win every three days. If something needs to give I’d rather it be in midweek than next weekend. Presumably Rhys Williams will play in Italy as Phillips is ineligible. I wouldn’t want to see either of them play at the Etihad so hopefully Matip will finally declare himself fit for that one. He’s been out a long time for what was initially meant to be a minor muscle problem. If we had to call on Phillips I’d have some concerns because City present an entirely different challenge to a David Moyes team. It’s similar to how I felt about Big Soto when he was here. There were some games when you’d want him in there because he’ll win his headers, be aggressive and stand up to the physical battles. Where you didn’t want him was on the back foot trying to deal with fleet footed, tricky forwards that would twist and turn him in the box. That’s how I feel about Phillips. We know he can deal with the alehouse teams and big physical strikers, but how would he cope when isolated one v one against Sterling or Mahrez? Hopefully we don’t have to find out but I tell you something, I’d happily see him starting games against half of the teams in this league. He brings us something that we don’t have without Van Dijk or Matip. If he’d played last week then McBurnie wouldn’t have been having his own way with every ball in the air. Phillips loves those duels and he seemed to get his head on everything, including the faces of any opponent who got in the way. What I like most about him is that he knows his strengths and weaknesses and he just played his own game. He kept it simple in possession and just did the basics. And the way he was cleaning everything out attacking those long goal kicks was just great. There was one just before half time that had me cheering. He just went up and smashed through everyone and headed it back 30 yards upfield. Loved that. He’s the star man by some distance. I was worried that Carra had jinxed him when he gave him man of the match with a few minutes left to play and West Ham going full alehouse, but it went the other way as he actually became even more impressive in the closing stages and was clearing everything that came into the box. The towering header to clear a corner kick right at the end was fucking boss and I’m just really pleased for him. Imagine how he must be feeling today. He thought he was leaving but no-one wanted him badly enough to make an acceptable offer. He had four players ahead of him, while everyone was also talking up Williams and Koumetio. He was the forgotten man but all of a sudden he was needed and he answered the bell big time. Whatever happens with him in the future he can always look back on this game with pride. I have a feeling we’re going to see a fair bit more of him though, even when Matip and Fabinho are back. We’ll need to rotate and I can definitely envisage scenarios where he’s brought on late when we’re about to face an aerial bombardment. Klopp loves that tactic of getting a third centre back on for the last few minutes, and Phillips looks perfect for that because he wants to go and head everything that comes near him. So all in all, despite all the problems we’ve had to deal with and all the obstacles that have been placed in our path so far, here we are top of the league again. We’ve got things to work on and areas we need to improve but we’ve also got half a dozen players due to return in the next week or two as well. Having Matip and Thiago available again will be massive for us. Those games like this when we need to unlock a packed defence, we can have Thiago and Shaqiri both around the edge of the box trying to pick out Salah, Mané and Jota. That’s going to take some stopping. I just hope we can through the game in Italy with no further injuries and then let’s get stuck into those FFP dodging, bus attack whining, human rights violating, LFC obsessed Manc fuckstains. Team: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Phillips, Gomez, Robertson; Henderson, Wijnaldum, Jones (Shaqiri); Salah (Milner), Firmino (Jota), Mané:

Saturday Oct 24: L 2 Sheff Utd 1. Not going to say too much about the game as it’s all covered in the match report. It’s a nice little win for us this because we’re having to deal with a lot of adversity at the moment and the lads have done well to come through it. What I want to talk about here though is Henderson’s post match interview. Fucking fantastic. He was asked about the heavy fixture load and said “We do have a tough period coming up, yeah, but we love playing football. We want to play these games,” he explained. “If you look back a few months ago and were sitting in the house during lockdown, couldn’t go out…we’d have played football every single day if we could.” “There are a lot of things going on in the world and it’s tough for people sitting at home. These things have a huge impact on people. So we really have to try and put a smile on the face - even if it is just for tonight. So for us, it is physically demanding, but we are used to it. And we enjoy it. We will use all the lads in the squad, everybody is needed for full season. But you have to enjoy it - I love playing football, we love it, enjoy it.” You’d run through walls for that lad wouldn’t you? Imagine saying that a few years ago though, you’d have been laughed out of town. He was always a nice lad, a great pro and a good example to everyone, but now he’s the ultimate fucking leader. He just gets it, doesn’t he? A lot of footballers are in their own little football bubble but Hendo just seems to know how people are feeling and what his responsibilities are. It would have been easy for him to complain about the number of games and the injuries we’re getting but he knows how entitled and tone deaf that would come across. So instead he goes the opposite way. He’s fucking great. Because the other players all take their lead from him, so when he’s thinking something you know they all are because he’ll make sure they are. The influence he’s had on our recent success is fucking massive and goes beyond his performances on the pitch. He sets the tone for everything. A couple of my mates have been saying for a while he’s the greatest captain we’ve ever had. At first I think it was a little tongue in cheek, but by the time he’s finished it’s something you might be able to make a really strong case for. He won’t have won the most trophies, he won’t have been a Superman type who took the team on his back and won games almost singlehandedly, but in terms of the all around complete package of leadership on and off the field and setting the example for everyone else to follow, he’s got to be right up there. Sunday Oct 25: Sick of hearing all this victim shit from and about Everton. If it’s not Ancelotti crying it in it’s pundits expressing their sympathy for Pickford. Today it’s Kevin Phillips. “Let’s not forget that he has got to live in that area as well. It reminds me of the situation when Stephen Hunt crashed into Petr Cech and it resulted in Cech having to wear the head guard. A stigma becomes attached to you, whether you meant it or not. I am sure Pickford did not mean it. It was a clumsy tackle. I am pretty sure he is upset because he seems like a different guy.” I doubt he’s losing any sleep over it to be honest. He’s probably upset that he took so much flak when it happened, but this notion that he’s upset at the thought of Van Dijk not playing again this season is ridiculous. I doubt he gives a fuck, because why would he? Footballers see this kind of thing as just a risk of the job. I’m sure he felt bad when it happened and his apology was sincere, but don’t be telling me he’s even giving Virgil’s situation a second though because he isn’t. I don’t expect him to either, footballers need to be selfish and single minded and worry about their own game. I’m just sick of this ‘poor Jordan, he’s a victim in this too”. Phillips also said “Now he has to live in that area and it is like Sunderland and Newcastle. You are either red or blue. Half of the city will hate him and the other half will put an arm around him.” Ironic really, because that was also the case prior to him ending Virgil’s season. Only difference is the roles have been reversed. Elsewhere, Harvey scored for Blackburn and had a cracking game apparently. It’s his first professional goal, which is nice. It’s going to be fascinating to see how he does there, because he’s still only a baby really. Today’s reported transfer target is Upamecano from Leipzig. £40m he’d cost, although if we want him we should just send Naby back there in part ex and call it quits. No idea if he’s any good or not but I don’t sweat stuff like that these days because it’s clear that Klopp, Edwards and the staff know what they’re doing. You know what they won’t be doing? They won’t be doing what Mark Lawrenson suggested they do. What’s that, I hear you ask. Wait for it, he’s only gone and suggested we sign…… Conor fucking Coady. Jesus Christ, Lawro. Not you as well? ‘If Liverpool are going to pay big money for somebody in January, they want absolutely ready-made. Conor Coady has had loads of shouts and he is a very good organiser who has played lots of games in the Premier League.’ Firstly, there is no ‘ready made’ replacement for Van Dijk because he’s the best in the world. Coady isn’t even the best at Wolves. But because he shouts and points and organises people (which he does very well to be fair, he always has done and he is a natural leader) that means he could come into our defence, playing with our high line? Fuck me, I can’t believe how many intelligent people can’t see why this is a terrible idea. If he wasn’t a Red and an Academy graduate, would anyone be saying we should go for him? I’d rather have Eric Dier, and I think Eric Dier is shit. Monday Oct 26: Big debate on MNF tonight about Project Big Picture. As I said last week, I have no idea what it is because I couldn’t be arsed reading about it. I have a but more of an idea now because I watched Carra and Neville discussing it and making some fantastic points about this and also society in general. I don’t think allowing the owners of the ‘big six’ to be calling the shots is good for football, but at the same time I take issue with all the flak the big clubs are getting over this and how the rest of the Premier League clubs are being made out to be paragons of virtue only interested in the good of the game. FSG are in it to make money and a lot of their actions won’t go down well. They’re an easy target because they own one of the biggest clubs in the world, but you know who’s worse than FSG? Half the owners of teams outside of the ‘big six’, that’s who. Take West Ham for example. As Carra pointed out, they were banging the drum for ‘null and void’ so they could avoid relegation. That would have fucked over clubs in the Championship, and in turn other clubs right down the scale as promotion would have been denied for everyone. Bottom line here is that most clubs are only ever going to act in their own interests and the big clubs are far from being the worst, they’re just the most high profile. The lower league clubs seem to be siding with the big six because it benefits them, so they’re looking out for themselves too. And I get it up to a point too. If you own Liverpool and your club is bringing in the highest viewing figures and raising the profile of the Premier League more than anyone else (which we are, currently, and were to some extent even when we were shit) then you’re not going to be happy that non-entities like Burnley, Fulham and Everton are getting the same share of the revenue. It’s also valid to not be happy about yo yo clubs like West Brom, Norwich and Fulham having the same say in how things are run when they spend half their time in the Championship. But if you’re an Everton or Villa and you see a massive gap to the top clubs due to the financial advantages they have then you’re not going to be on board with anything that makes that gap even wider. I think the only conclusion to be drawn here is that basically all parties involved are self serving cunts looking out for their own interests and as such we’ll never end up in a situation where everyone is acting for the overall good of the game, the fans and the clubs in the lower leagues. The best we can hope for is the least shit option, which we probably won’t get because the world just seems fucked right now. Tuesday Oct 27: L 2 Middjytyyjlaalnd 0 We won and that’s the only thing that matters. No-one remembers group games in the Champions League anyway unless it’s the sixth game and you need to win to qualify. I remember the Napoli game with the Alisson save, and I remember “Cushioned header for GERRRARRRRRDDDD” but generally group games don’t survive long in the memory. This one will be forgotten by next week. It was bad. Not terrible, because we never looked like losing the game, but it was bad. Especially the first half. The attacking play was non-existent but we weren’t bad at the back. They played well to be fair. We were a bit better in the second half and the opening goal was lovely. As I say, there’s no point reading anything into how we played as the hectic fixture load we have now means there are going to be loads of games when we look way below par and the only thing that matters is getting a result. Save the great performances for the knockout stages and the big league games. That being said, I do want to see more from the fringe players when they get a chance. Bobby has been shite for ages so there’s a real chance for Taki to stake a claim and he just hasn’t done it. It’s frustrating. Going into the game there will have been two things we wanted. Three points and for the centre backs to come through unscathed. We got the points but we lost Fabinho, which is a big problem. Williams doesn’t look scared by first team football though so that’s a good thing. No idea if he’s ready to play or not, but he looks like he believes he is and that’s half the battle. It was nice to see Lallana on the BT coverage tonight. I dread to think what my Mum made of it and I deliberately didn’t bring it up when I spoke to my Dad after the game. It’s a good job he’s as deaf as a post as he’ll have been subjected to two hours of constant snide remarks about Lallana’s outfit and how he looks like he’s just stepped out of a salon. Speaking of my Dad and his terrible hearing though, look at this from the other day…. I spoke to him a bit later and he said he still had that horrible sick feeling and hadn’t gotten over the fright. I felt really bad for him but it’s still fucking hilarious like. Wednesday Oct 28: Seen some reports today linking us with a January move for Alaba, who is out of contract in the summer. I doubt Bayern would let him go but he’s a class player so I wouldn’t turn my nose up at him. Not sure he’d be much of a replacement for Virg though as he’s not the most dominant in the air. He can play anywhere though so he’d strengthen us for sure. Another reported target is the son of Lillian Thuram, who plays up front for Monchengladbach. He scored twice against Madrid this week apparently. Didn’t we try and sign his Dad back in the day? Or am I getting confused with Desailly? We defo tried to sign him and Lizarazu, but not sure about Thuram. For what it’s worth I doubt we’ll sign this Thuram either, although I guess if Divock goes we might be looking for another forward. Speaking of Origi, Newsnow was splattered with stories about him today. Some had him leaving on loan while other ‘news’ reports consisted of tweets from fans moaning about Klopp saying that Div had a good game last night. Don’t know who annoys me more, the shitty websites who churn out this crap, or the fans who give them the content to do it by bitching on twitter. So what if Klopp said Origi had a good game. We all know he didn’t, he was proper shite, but Klopp isn’t going to say that is he? He’ll always be positive about his players, especially one who rarely plays but has never moaned or rocked the boat and only ever been a model pro. We know he’s shite but come on, we don’t need to say it on social media, not after everything he’s done. Also today, Pickford reveals that he’s hired bodyguards to look after his family because he’s been getting death threats. Get. The. Fuck. Out. Of. Here. Is there anything more pathetic than social media death threats? If you’re gonna kill someone you’re hardly gonna tell them on Instagram first. He hasn’t had death threats, he’s just been subjected to some dickheads talking bollocks. Still, anything to make Everton look like the victims in all this, eh? Cunts. Thursday Oct 29: Klopp has a bit of a dig at Brazil boss Tite after pulling Fabinho out of international duty. “I'm not sure if Tite's too worried because he plays him never so he will probably now not sit on the bench for the next three international games”. It is weird like. He’s the best holding midfielder in Europe and he’s playing for arguably the best (or at worst, second best) team in the world. That’s Brazil though, they’re a fucking law unto themselves. There’ll be players in their squad from mid-table teams in Croatia and Japan. Shit, they even have Everton players in there. Probably why they don’t win any World Cups anymore. More clickbait on newsnow. “Hamann names three factors that could hand Tottenham the title.” I can only think of one to be fair, and that’s if the the other five members of the ‘big six’ were wiped out of existence. Even then they’d probably finish behind Wolves or Leicester or someone. They are Tottenham after all. Meanwhile, that injury that Virg inflicted on poor “Hamez” has flared up again. Some fucking weird knock this one. Not bad enough to stop him playing 90 minutes in the derby, but bad enough that four days he was described as a major doubt for the weekend. Not bad enough to stop him playing 90 minutes again though. Yet here we are four days later and they’re pulling the same shit they did this time last week. Hilariously, it’s described as ‘swollen testicles’. I don’t even have a punchline for that. Everton fucking trumping me again. Friday Oct 30: Klopp says Virgil’s op went as well as it possibly could, and for some reason people are taking that to mean he might be back before the end of the season. His entire knee had to be re-attached, there’s no way he’s back before the end of the season. In fact, if he’s back for the start of next season that’ll be a big bonus. Look how long Ox was out, with virtually the same injury. I honestly think that because Virg walked off and didn’t look in any real pain at the time that people aren’t realising just how bad it is. He’s not coming back this season. Not a fucking chance. Klopp also said that Fabinho is out for tomorrow and probably longer. It was obvious when he went off that we weren’t going to see him again until after the international break. So unless sick note Matip finally declares himself fit, we might have to take on City at the Etihad with young Williams at centre back. Still, on the bright side at least all their centre forwards are injured. Meanwhile, the team for tomorrow is out on Twitter again. Thiago and Rhys Williams both starting in what is otherwise the side you’d expect. This annoys the fuck out of me to be honest. It’s never wrong so whoever it is that is putting it on social media is getting it from someone at Melwood, or they themselves are based at Melwood. Thing is, the team news is on a strictly need to know basis and none of us fucking need to know until the team is announced. The only reason someone is sharing that on Twitter is to get themselves more followers and feel more important, because there is no other reason to do it. It’s always spot on so how long before the opposition get wind of this and prepare their team accordingly? Moyes probably knows already now that we have an untested teenager at centre back, when it would have been much more beneficial to spring it on him an hour before kick off. So if we lose tomorrow it’s on this attention seeking cunt who keeps leaking the team. Ok, so I decided to ask my Mum what she thought about Lallana being in the studio the other night. The reply was more or less what I expected…. ....and that was the week that was.