dave u

Luton are missing ten first team players. Arsenal always seem to play teams who are under-strength, it's irritating as fuck.

You may have a pair of aces, but you're still a joker.

Klopp praises David Moyes all the time too, should we hire him? Klopp has never said anything critical of another coach, he's always complimentary even with the ones he's got beef with.

Yeah agree with all of that. Virgil wasn't doing it all the time but there were a few occasions when he was pressing higher up than Endo. It did seem to work well, although I think that joke booking he got was a result of it (might be wrong, but I think he was chasing back after pressing someone).

Doesn't have to be like that, but at the same time when you've built a squad to play a certain way and signed/brought through players to play specific positions, it's a bit stupid bringing someone in who will immediately want players of a different profile for specific positions. You do that, and the guy you bring in is shit, it's a slippery slope. A big part of why Everton and United are so shite is they have squads filled with players signed by different managers for different styles who were quickly sacked for being shit. As a hypothetical, I'm not down with this fella (or whoever) coming in and saying "I don't want Robertson and Kostas, sign me Ait Nouri (just as an example), and there's no room in my midfield for Trent or Szoboslai as they don't fit the profile of player I like for my system". We let him do what he wants, he turns out to be a bum and next summer we're replacing him with someone else and the cycle then continues. Fuck that. We're onto a great thing here, I want someone to come in and keep that going and build on Klopp's legacy, not destroy it.

Would rather we didn't bring in someone who is basically going to rip up what we have in terms of system, formation, style, personnel so he can do things his way. I want someone as close to Klopp's set up as possible to just carry on what we're doing and make the transition smooth. Don't want some cunt coming in and saying he doesn't fancy Robbo or Trent or Szoboslai because he can't shoehorn them into his fucking rigid three at the back set up. So if it's this fella, I hope he's flexible and open minded.

Darwin wasn't booked. I always thought Taylor was a red manc and tweeted something a couple of years ago when he was appointed for our game with them. Goldbridge replied to it and said United fans were more upset than we are because they're convinced he's a City fan and he gives them nothing.

True to a degree, as without winning the connection wouldn't have happened. Houllier was a walking soundbite though, he came out with loads of inspirational stuff and he definitely "got us" in a way that most others wouldn't have.

That one I thought he held onto the ball too long and then went down easily because he knew he'd lost it. He was fuming though, so maybe he was pulled down.

The linesman defo should have spotted that, because they're really good and don't get much wrong. When I watched the highlights I called offside on the first view, as it was obvious and isn't one of those tricky ones in open play when one player is running towards goal and the last man is either stood still or moving the opposite way. This was a bread and butter decision for any decent lino and he should have flagged as soon as Kelleher made the save. As for our two penalty appeals, there's no way we were ever getting them. They were fairly soft, but softer ones were given this weekend. Coote was never going to give either of them though and with Tierney on VAR there was even less chance of them being given. I don't really have much of a grievance with either. The Mo one in normal speed did not look like a penalty at all from where I was sat, but after seeing the replay I think it's 50-50. Mo doesn't get those though.

No-one will be happier than me if Richard Hughes is writing a book in a couple of years time entitled "how to win the Premier League without Jurgen Klopp"

"Other players regularly complained too about Nagelsmann's training style and the way he would constantly shout instructions from the sideline during games. The sentiment among a considerable portion of the team was that their coach came off as a know-it-all. Coupled with off-the-field actions, such as leaving his wife and entering a relationship with a local reporter from tabloid newspaper Bild, and subsequent rumours about information being leaked by Nagelsmann, he was left in a tough spot." Basically a German Brendan Rodgers then!

Yeah, but any other member of that 'team' could be replaced and we'd still carry on being successful, as we have.

I dunno, it wasn't me that Klopp confided in. I've just heard that it's well known in the club that Klopp doesn't like him. I don't want him as manager either, partly because Klopp doesn't like him, but mostly because you do.

I blame Rodgers for that. He was the first one I remember going on about "low block".

I read somewhere that he's still working for them but they've said they've got no problem with him also doing what he need to do for us in terms of finding the new manager etc. You don't get that very often, but it would speak a lot to how much trust they have in his integrity.

They annoy the fuck out of me. However, I would say that - despite the long rivalry we've had with them over many decades - Arsenal fans generally aren't proper nasty, spiteful cunts like Chelsea, City and United. They don't tend to go down the tragedy / poverty chanting route much, if at all. So I don't hate Arsenal fans, even the 'Gooners'. They're not cunts, they're just absolute cringey bastards. The most embarrassing fans on social media by a mile, smelling themselves like no-one else, always trying to compare their players with ours (or City's) and generally just being really fucking weird, like spotty teenagers who base their football knowledge on FIFA ratings and describe footy players as 'ballers'. Arsenal are the worst fans in the world for that kind of shit and they do my head in, but they tend to not act with any spite or malice in them and in the grand scheme of things, annoying as they are, they're generally harmless.

Wouldn't surprise me either, especially if Trent moves full time into midfield.

That bus you've been driving since 2009, is there room at the front for me?

Kind of sounds a bit like what we said about Wijnaldum for a while. He's just got different responsibilities in our set up, but I think the attacking quality will start to shine through soon. I think playing midfield for us is so much about the pressing and the defensive side of things, it takes players a while to fully get that so that's where their focus is. It looks like he's got that side of it nailed down though and he might explode over the next couple of months.

I said basically the same thing in the diary the other week. Laughable that nerds like him and Edwards are swanning around like they made Liverpool great again, when they all owe their reputations to the brilliance of Klopp. Not saying they didn't play a part, or that they weren't good at their jobs (they might even be the best, I'm not knocking their knowledge or methods), but without Klopp we'd have achieved nothing and nobody would talking about these number crunchers and they certainly wouldn't be releasing books with titles like that.

You'd have to ask him. I've just heard Klopp thinks he's a knobhead and doesn't like him.

He's already favoured them over us once, albeit the circumstances were not quite straightforward. It seems pretty obvious that he's been given the nod and the wink from them that he can take over from Ancelotti. If that doesn't happen, I'll gladly apologise and I'll give him credit for his loyalty to Leverkusen and for his professionalism in wanting to finish the job he started. I just don't think that's why he stayed there. The timing is unlikely to be this good again where the vacancy is there and he's in a position where he's available (relatively speaking, I know he's under contract). I'd never give him the opportunity to say no again, this is a massive snub in my eyes and I think a lot of our fans are underselling us. I've seen people saying they can see why he'd choose Bayern over us, and loads see Real Madrid as a "can't say no" job. Fuck that. The Premier League is the biggest, most popular, most glamorous league in the world and we're the most iconic club in it. A club in fantastic shape with everything there for a manager to be successful and to be idolised like nowhere else. A club he professes to love and has said felt like "home". Talk is cheap, Xabi. He should have been walking over broken glass to come here, but he isn't, so for me the story is finished, or at least it should be. If it were up to me, I wouldn't even let him come back to play in legends games now. He can watch on telly with his mate Torres.

Klopp can't stand him, and Klopp's a pretty damn good judge of character. That's probably why he's not getting much traction.