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Kostas Tsimikas says the secret to his positive outlook is realising what a opportunity it is to be playing at one of the biggest clubs in World Football. Tsimikas who has made 73 appearances for the club since joining from Olympiakos in the summer of 2020 has made a lasting impression on the fanbase and teammates alike due to his ability to fit in seamlessly and connect with everyone. There is literally no ego with the 27 year-old, and what you see is what you get. Being a back-up is often seen as a difficult position to hold in a squad as you can go for weeks without seeing any significant minutes of action. But Tsimikas can see the bigger picture, he realises that in front of him is arguably the best left-back in Europe and his role is to keep pushing Andy Robertson to be the best player he can be for the success of the side. And in turn, that will help his own game. Currently the Greek international who has averaged just over 20 appearances a season in his three completed campaigns, is getting a sustained run in the side due to a shoulder injury that Robertson picked up on international duty. And as the Mirror reported, while Tsimikas is thriving with the opportunity, he can’t wait for Robertson to be fit again. “I always enjoy playing - even the bad games! I try to enjoy every moment because every game is a big opportunity. Of course, I am really enjoying playing more often now. For me, it is something very big to play for this club and I will give my best. “But I want Robbo - and Robbo wants me. It is not possible for one player to play all the games. Right now I am really enjoying playing and want to keep focussed and hungry for the next games. I always feel I can play. I’m not thinking when Robbo is coming back or who is going to play. ‌“I hope all the best for him to come back as strong as before. We will see, no-one knows. I just always try to be focused to try to do my job as best as I can. It’s important that everybody is fully ready, always. I think every player in the squad wants to play every time but, as I said before, you cannot play all the games." Tsimikas reflected on his early days at the club and says while it was a difficult time to adjust, he is thankful for the support he was given. “You need time to adapt. But the club believed in me, even when I didn’t play too much. Everybody needs time to find your best shape, but you must always enjoy it as much as you can at this club. ‌“The training sessions are very hard in order to keep yourself fit and, when it is your time, to be 100 per cent ready for what you do. Many times we’ve seen everybody who plays, me, Joe Gomez, always we are there. We have very good players and that is why we are in this big club. We fight every day, even when you don’t play, training is very hard, to keep yourself fit and when it’s your time, to be 100 per cent ready.” Another player in the same boat as Tsimikas is Caoimhin Kelleher and with Alisson out for a few weeks with a Hamstring injury, the Irish international will be given a opportunity and the left-back couldn’t be more happier. “I always chat with Caoimhin at the training ground and we always try to make fun. He always smiles. “For me personally, I feel very safe when he’s the goalie. I am really happy for him. To be at Liverpool it means he is a very good goalkeeper. That is why he is here.” https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/kostas-tsimikas-andy-robertson-liverpool-31581997 View full article

Curtis Jones believes that he is a player that can be trusted in any role that he is asked to play. It has been a challenging road at times for the academy graduate since making his first team debut against Wolves in the third round of the FA Cup in January 2019. Injuries have halted his development and in some cases having occurred in the most unlucky of fashion such as the eye injury he picked up in training in 2021 and then a lingering tibia stress reaction injury which greatly affected the midfielder in the first half of the 2022/3 season. With Liverpool’s midfield undergoing a much needed makeover in the summer and despite Jones only being in his early 20s, felt it was time that he took it on himself to become a leader in the middle of the park as he told the We are Liverpool podcast (per the Official Site). “I feel (the added responsibility) and I’m trying to sound like it as well! “There has been a huge change in the team and I’m one of the ones who has been here – it’s mad to say, I’m only 22 – but I’ve been here [since] 17. There’s lads who are coming in now and it’s their first time around the team, so I’m like an experienced one who has been around the whole of the thing for a long time. Jones believes that has led to Jurgen Klopp giving him more trust in the roles he is being asked to play and understanding the player he has become. “Even though I’m young I do feel like I’m one of the experienced ones and know how the manager and staff like [us] to go and play. “He’s (Klopp) spoken about it a lot the way I’m the first one to go and press and things like that. Now, I was a kid who came in and pressing and defending were never a thing for me! ‘No, I don’t need that part of the game. “Now that he’s picking up on it loads and he’s spoken about it, just goes to show how much that I’ve actually changed.” And it is that level of responsibility and respect which every player thrives upon and hopefully it will take Jones to a whole new level. “I feel I’m at a point now where he [Klopp] understands, ‘OK, we can bring him on if the team is getting beat because we know he can pop up with a goal or he can create something, or he can start in a big game because we know what we’ll get from him is going to be hard work, he will go and press, he won’t hide if the other team is on top, he will want the ball still, he’s not scared.’ “So, I feel like I’ve gained his trust. But I’ve still got a long way to go. “I’m on 100 games but I feel it’s just the beginning and I want to just carry on and hold the form and keep it going.” View full article

Luis Suarez has opened up on the conversation he had with Darwin Nunez last season when the young striker was struggling to adjust to a new country and league. At first glance, there was little doubt that the 24 year-old was blessed with a unique skillset, but it was just as clear that there was a rawness to his game and in many ways he was still learning his trade. His debut season had its share of peaks and troughs but at the end of a difficult campaign for the Reds, there was a school of thought that wondered if he was a good fit for this Liverpool team. Moving on to the current season and the Uruguayan looks a completely different player, scoring seven goals and added five assists in 17 games (all comps), playing with confidence and unshackled from the burden of expectation that comes from being the "big summer signing." The striker seems to excel in making the difficult look exceedingly easy and then missing opportunities that you would expect him to finish with no issues at all. Still that is what makes him the player he is, and just like his mentor, Nunez has quickly earned a big following amongst the Reds faithful. Speaking to AUF TV (via the Mirror), Suarez passed on some supporting words when they had a heart to heart talk. “He has potential, technical ability and physical power that he is demonstrating. As a teammate (at national level), I am not surprised because I knew, even When he had a bad time in Liverpool last year I spoke to him, in Liverpool they told me to talk to him. “I warned him and told him what English football was. He, with the heart he has, opened up and told me what It had happened to him at that moment, we talked about it. Also about the number 9 shirt in the national team, I told him that when I leave I want him to grab it.” “We are different, we are from different generations, and I am happy for the moment that he is experiencing in his club and in the national team." One person who has clearly seen a change in Nunez is his manager at club level in Jurgen Klopp. The language barrier was a considerable issue with Nunez admitting early on in that he did not understand the instructions from the manager. But just like his form, Klopp recently confirmed that things are a whole lot better on that front. “The first year was hard for him, and hard for me as well because you see this incredible talent, with massive potential, but it’s difficult to unfold it, because I’m a manager who needs contact to help a player. “It can speed up the process by talking a lot with a player. I was not able to do that because I don’t speak Spanish and he didn’t speak English. “His English is now much better – my Spanish is still not. But he’s settled in the team, when you see him around in the building everything is different” While scoring goals is undoubtedly a key factor in the success of a striker, so too is what they do without the ball, in pressing the opposition and winning back possession for their team, a element that made Roberto Firmino so good. Speaking after the Brentford win, Klopp said that Nunez is much improved in that part of his game. “Standout in this defending was really Darwin because it's all about [that] Brentford wants to play long balls, that's one thing, but you need to know when, and we can only influence that by one player, when you start the pressing from the centre you have to go for the goalie without getting the ball, they pass to the centre-half and you follow that, so the work-rate was insane.” View full article

Brentford manger Thomas Frank was glowing in his opinion of Mo Salah after the Egyptian maestro produced another goalscoring masterclass in Liverpool’s 3-0 win on Sunday afternoon. Salah hit double figures for the season after his two goals against the West London outfit. In the modern day sporting landscape, there is a trend to crown the next superstar well before they have paid their dues, but a couple of world class strikes does not instantly make you an outstanding player. Being consistently good may not attract as many headlines as the latest ‘flash in the pan’ but at the end of the day they are the type of players that make their team win honours. Speaking after the defeat, Frank was in no doubt about the class of Salah as Caught Offside reported. “Mo Salah… I don’t know if he gets enough praise. I think he is potentially the best player in the Premier League. In terms of goals and assists, what a level! (He) must be one of the best offensive players in the world, like not top 10, like top 3.” Not only is Salah sitting second in the scoring charts behind Erling Haaland, he is also in the top 10 in assists with four. Unlike Haaland, Salah isn’t blessed with the physical stature to overpower his opponents, but he is known as someone who spends countless hours in the gym to build up his core strength and it has paid dividends as when he is on the ball he is largely immovable unless fouled by his opponent which happens quite often. Klopp would be close to running out of superlatives for his star but once again highlighted his importance to the victory. “Exceptional. Just an exceptional player. He played a super game today. We all know how difficult it is against these two tall centre-backs, two players around him and all these kind of things, but how often he kept the ball for us and we could play from there - that was super-important - and then scoring two goals. “We had so many good moments in the first half where we scored but it was offside and things like that. Then in that moment, the composure for the first goal is insane. There is no doubt when the ball is in that area [that] in the end you see it on the scoresheet. A pretty special player. The Saudi League will be undaunted in their quest to land one of the finest Footballers of the modern generation. But for now as Liverpool fans we can continue to marvel at his consistent brilliance. View full article

Jurgen Klopp says it has been a tough week full of lessons that he hopes his players can benefit from in the long run. After last season’s campaign which was undoubtedly a failure compared to the high standards that Liverpool hold themselves to, there was question marks over what we would see this season especially with a changing of the guard in the midfield and a lot of experience departing. It has been a commendable start in the league with just one defeat in the most contentious of fashion to Tottenham and sitting just three points off the top. Likewise in the Europa League, even with a much rotated squad, the level of play has for the most part been a couple of levels above their opponents. This past week however has seen some ghosts of last season return, producing below average performances away from home against highly motivated opposition who are up for the battle right from the kickoff and the visitors have been unable to match that energy. It is something that needs rectifying if Liverpool has desires to fight for honours this season and the manager admitted that it is still a work in progress as the Echo reported. “Generally we are in a positive situation and it is important to learn to deal with that. There has been a lot of praise. There have been a lot of comments. I am happy with that for the team and individuals. But in these moments you have to be there. "It really feels games like Toulouse and Luton are a real learning curve, and not just because we are away. It was a similar atmosphere (at both games). That should not be a problem. We had that at Newcastle, for example, a real atmosphere (when Liverpool won 2-1). We have to learn. Is it part of the learning process? Yes. But it still feels not great.” The travel sickness in the league which haunted the Reds for much of last season has showed some signs of picking up with that Tottenham defeat the only one in six games along with two wins and three draws. But Klopp knows that depending on home form to carry the heavy load, (currently a 100% record both domestically and in Europe) is not sustainable throughout a long campaign if they want to fight on all fronts. “We can be a really good team. We have shown that. We have shown what we can be. But I want it now. “We cannot have what happened against Toulouse) We were not aggressive enough. It was as easy as that. They were much more aggressive than us. Yes, they play at home. Yes, they have their crowd. But now if we are thinking we need Anfield - we need Anfield anyway - Brentford will come and they be physical and we have to be ready.” View full article

Calvin Ramsey has expressed his delight in finally getting back on the park after a period of great frustration in dealing with a succession of injuries. The Scottish youngster is on loan this season at Championship club Preston North End and while he is yet to play a minute for the first team, he took a big step in the right direction by playing 45 minutes in the Lancashire Senior Cup against Accrington Stanley on Tuesday. The journey to this point has been an incredibly turbulent one. From the unbridled excitement in signing with one of the most iconic clubs in World Football, the 20 year-old has made only two appearances for the Reds after seeing his debut campaign cut short with a serious knee injury. After making the move to the Lilywhites in the offseason in the quest to gain some much needed first team experience, the fullback suffered a recurrence and had to come back to his parent club for treatment which saw him on the sidelines for another three months. Speaking to the Preston North End Official site, Ramsey documented his road back to fitness and why the only way is up from here. “I’m delighted. It’s been a tough year for me with a couple of knee injuries, but this time when I went back to Liverpool for my rehab I made sure I worked harder than ever. “I feel really good to be honest. I could have played longer [against Accrington Stanley], but it’s probably sensible in my first game back just to ease in and play 45. I just can’t wait to get started and hopefully play some first team games. I’m looking forward to it.” Ramsey said despite being in a new environment, he has been truly thankful for the support he has received. “(The timing of the injury) was probably the most difficult part because I was here for only a couple of weeks and I was getting to know the lads, and then suddenly I had to go away again for two or three months. “It was quite tough but I tried to keep in contact with a lot of them and was messaging them. They were asking how I was doing and stuff. It was good to keep in contact with them and I’m just glad to be back now. “It felt like my first day again to be fair but in saying that it didn’t feel that long. I think it was 12 weeks, but it certainly didn’t feel like that. I just want to get my head down now and crack on.” Preston have had a up and down season to date and after making a fine start with eight games unbeaten, they then went six without a victory before collecting three points in their last fixture against Coventry. They face Lancashire rivals Blackburn tonight at Ewood Park and Ramsey is hopeful that he may play a part. “Obviously my aim is to get in the Blackburn squad and get minutes, but if I don’t it’s a good chance for me to get a few training sessions in over the break, get my fitness up again and after the break it’s go-time.” View full article

Sunday sees Liverpool play one of the newly promoted teams for the first time this season in Luton Town. The Hatters have had a remarkable journey from the last time they were in the top flight of English Football in the 1991/92 season. From the depths of Non-League Football 14 years ago, the Bedfordshire club has slowly risen steadily and found themselves in a position that even their most optimistic fan would have not thought to be possible. The fact that their quaint little ground at Kenilworth Road is hosting the 19 time League Champions of England and six time European Champions is the stuff of dreams and will undoubtedly go down in club folklore whatever the outcome. @billymulley from the @OakRoadHatter podcast talks us through the long and winding journey as a Luton fan and why every game they play in top flight builds a sense of belief. It has been a very long journey to get to this point, so as a Luton fan can you tell our readers some of the ups and downs of Luton Town Football club and the monumental effort it has taken to reach the Premier League. Maybe highlighting some pivotal moments in time and some unsung heroes along the way? There are plenty of Town fans who are a few years older than me that could stop you off at every station of what has been an incredibly bizarre 30 odds years for the club. My Luton supporting journey started around the 2004/05 season where promotion to the Championship had been just achieved, and the only way looked up following a 10th-placed second-tier finish during the 2005/06 campaign. What followed was pure chaos, with a total of 60 points being deducted in just three seasons, which subsequently ended our stay in the Football League and welcomed us into the fifth tier of English football. Our non-league curse was finally lifted at the fifth time of trying, during a campaign where we amassed over 100 points and scored over 100 goals. From then on, we have managed to grind ourselves up the divisions and I truly believed the Championship was the pinnacle, however, we have continued to surpass expectations on a comparatively shoestring budget and have earned our right to welcome the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal to Kenilworth Road. In terms of the heroes along the way, our board lifted us from the dirt and breathed a new lease of life in Luton Town Football Club, so as much as we celebrate our success for our own happiness, we are ecstatic for the wonderful group of individuals that make up our hierarchy. Getting to this stage is one thing but being able to perform on a consistent level is another thing altogether. Taking out the first two games, your overall performances have certainly been competitive and respectable losing by one goal on four occasions. How do you believe Rob Edwards and his coaching staff can look to turn those narrow defeats into draws and wins? No Luton fan was under the impression that adapting to Premier League football would be as seamless as the other stages of our recent progression but what this club has in abundance is belief. As mentioned, bar the first two games of the campaign (and last week’s loss against Villa), we have competed exceptionally well, our defensive shape has largely been excellent and a few individuals are already returning some impressive displays. More so than in any other league in the world, Premier League games are won in both boxes and that is where Rob Edwards will be eager to improve upon. Tending to see little of the ball, we need to ensure that we are most productive in the final third, whilst we need to eradicate defensive mistakes and lapses of concentration when having to sit in and soak up pressure. While currently in the bottom three and with just the one victory, have you been pleasantly surprised by your ability to compete against clubs with much larger wage bills such as West Ham, Tottenham, and even Fulham. And does that give you hope that you can survive the drop? I have certainly been pleased with our ability to compete with those with much higher wage bills than ourselves but I cannot say I am too surprised. We’ve defied budgetary expectations for quite some time now, and even last season, we had a bottom six yearly wage bill, which is incredible when you factor in what was achieved. I still think there is better to come and we are evidently still in the adaptation process as things stand, but I firmly believe we can say we have been the best promoted side thus far. The Premier League is always evolving and the money around currently is somewhat off the scale. While it is a jungle and every team is for itself scrapping and clawing, is there a team either from the recent past or currently in the division that can provide the perfect sustainable template for Luton to follow and achieve their own goals? It is a really interesting concept when considering other teams as a ‘model club’, especially with Luton now providing clubs in the lower divisions with hope that Premier League football can be achieved without extremely wealthy owners. However, the beauty of our club is that we are never fully satisfied and there is always the notion that kicks of ‘what can be achieved next’, which is incredibly exciting for us fans. Subsequently, I look at two teams of being at the next step, and they are Brighton and Brentford. Both teams have scouted incredibly well and have taken data-driven approaches to spot talent on the continent and further, develop them, and then sell them on for mega fees. In terms of your squad, can you highlight a few of your key players that our readers may not be aware of and is there any player who has exceeded your own expectations when it comes to adapting to life in the Premier League? It would be incredibly disrespectful not to mention Chiedozie Ogbene first who has been absolutely fantastic since his summer arrival. Our ability to recruit quality free agents has been majorly vital in our rise but to continue doing this into the Premier League is remarkable. He possesses electric pace, excellent carrying abilities and against a team who like to commit lots of bodies forward like Liverpool, there is certainly scope for the Irishman to threaten in the attacking transition. Left-back Alfie Doughty has also made a seamless transition to the Premier League, whilst you would have imagined that central defender Reece Burke (who is now unfortunately injured) had been top-flight football for years. Goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski has looked better and better as the early stages of this season has progressed too. You have already hosted West Ham and Tottenham but it’s fair to say the standard and status goes up a few levels with the arrival of Liverpool to Kenilworth Road. As a fanbase how excited are you to be hosting the Reds and what sort of atmosphere can they expect on Sunday? It is the most exciting game of the season for me on a personal level, but I am also well aware that it is perhaps the biggest test thus far. Watching Luton as an EFL club over the last few years, there are not many case studies when it comes to Sunday games and how the fans respond, however, welcoming a club the size of Liverpool, under the lights at Kenilworth Road, I fully expect excellent noise levels, especially if we can start on the front foot and can cause some early issues. If money was no issue and you could sign any player from the Liverpool current squad to play for Luton, who would that be and why? Now this is a very good question! I think this is relatively easy when it comes to the other clubs in the traditional top-six but there are a few different ways you can go. From an offensive standpoint, you cannot look past Mo Salah whose numbers in the Premier League are absurd, however, defensive resilience is vitally important in what will be a relegation battle and that leads me away from the Egyptian King. In terms of tactics for this game you obviously want to contain the attacking power of the opposition as best you can but also play to your strengths so how will the coaching staff look to set up in your opinion? A lot will depend on the personnel available with Rob Edwards seemingly keeping his cards close to his chest when it comes to team selection and subsequently, how we will set up. Unlike the second half of last season where you knew how we were going to approach a game and who was playing where, we have had to be more creative to solve issues that have surfaced this season. Liverpool will see plenty of the ball that is for sure, but I think we will start pressing high with the intention of trying to force mistakes and get the crowd in the game from the onset. I think the left-hand side (if Ogbene and Doughty operate on that side of the pitch) will be a key area for us. These are not the games that decide the survival status of a team like Luton, but what would you deem as a respectable result? You have summed it up perfectly there. This is not a game that will determine whether or not we will survive (although 3 points would be very handy). After being dominated from start to finish against Aston Villa and managing to keep the score down to 3-1, losing by a single goal or two will be respectable, but I am ambitious (typically blindly) and will go into the game believing that we can get something out of it. For me, it is the performance that I am more interested in. Can we be brave in possession and threaten in the attacking transition? Can we step up and apply pressure and turnover the ball more than what we’ve seen so far in the Premier League? View full article

Jurgen Klopp says unlocking confidence is all part of being a top class striker and he believes Darwin Nunez is well on his way to becoming just that. Speaking ahead of Sunday’s clash with newly promoted Luton Town at Kenilworth Road, the manager says has been no benchmark set for the potential of the Uruguayan due to the unique skillset that he possesse as the Official site reported. “Darwin is No.9. He can play the wing as well and it all depends on how we want to work an opponent, where the space is, where you can unleash his full potential, things like this. "The thing is, last year, especially when things did not go particularly well, it was super-important that everything was set up perfectly and we needed a No.9 who defended the centre perfectly in a way Darwin was not able to do then. Now he can. “Now we are set up slightly different with a different confidence level, we used the full pre-season to get used to that. In that moment, when we are defensively stable, then he has to play from the centre. It is to make sure we are compact but we don’t have to judge all the different options of the opponent where they could go through. "We got used to Bobby [Firmino] and then Cody [Gakpo] stepped in really well and then all of a sudden Darwin’s first thing should be to stretch the formation and be there. The team needed stability there [last season].” A first season in a brand new league is never easy for any player, let alone someone with a language barrier to overcome and playing in a team who was suffering from a crisis in confidence and had clearly come to the end of a very successful cycle. While there is a school of thought that Darwin was a wrong fit from the get-go, he actually had scored in his first two appearances for the club against Man City in the Community Shield and Fulham in the opening game of the league season. But it was his Anfield debut from hell against Crystal Palace where he was given a straight red for violent conduct against Joachim Andersen which derailed the early part of his season. Gone was the opportunity to keep on building momentum with a three game ban the punishment for his undisciplined action and he did not score again for the Reds for a couple of months. Regularly ridiculed by opposition fans and questioned by some of his own due to the money that was outlaid for him, Nunez has certainly come a long way from those difficult early days and would surely agree to the notion that from adversity comes a sense of strength. When asked what has changed for the 24 year-old, Klopp said that putting the ball in the back of the net gives you a whole new outlook as the striker is averaging a goal every two games so far this season. “It’s the riddle of the life of a striker. You have a few goals already and it makes it easier. He always will miss chances but if you miss the first five before you score it doesn’t feel great. Now he has had a good start to the season and he has scored fantastic goals, different goals, all kinds of goals. He’s in a different moment.” Just like when he arrived at the club, Klopp does not want to put a ceiling on where Nunez can take his game. “The speed, the finishing skills, the desire he has… when he’s fit he is really fit so he can go and go again. You just don’t know where he will end up. He came in for really big money. It shows again that players need time. We forget that. “People always say, ‘How long will it take?’ but Darwin is here, Darwin is fully here and it’s different. It’s good for him.” View full article

This is really promising news for the young lad. He is really overdue some good fortune and it's great that he has been loaned to a club that are putting his needs before their own. Doesn't always work like that. https://www.lep.co.uk/sport/football/preston-north-end/liverpool-calvin-ramsay-transfer-news-preston-north-end-4395078

Ben Doak says there is no better club than Liverpool to learn his footballing trade. The 17 year-old who arrived at the club from Celtic has made a lasting impression with teammates and coaches alike due to maturity beyond his years both on and off the pitch. Despite his youth, Doak is seen as one of those rare talents who will be able to adjust to senior football with a minimum of fuss and while still not the finished article, when the Scottish U/21 star has played for the Reds, he has certainly not looked out of place. For a player coming through the youth ranks as Doak has done, normally the hardest man to please is the manager especially at a world class team such as Liverpool with the number of options at the disposal. Luckily Jurgen Klopp is someone who does not take note of birth certificates and if you impress him enough, you will get opportunities. Speaking last month, Klopp had no doubt he will make the grade. “Once Ben bursts into the starting side of it, he won’t look back. That will be him. He has progressed through every level very quickly. Every time he meets a challenge he is thinking what is next.” For the player concerned, Doak is learning from some of the best players in the game who give him honest advice as he explained to the Scottish Herald. “The older players at Liverpool, like Robbo [Andy Robertson] and Mo Salah, quickly remind me, ‘Listen you’re only 17, you’ve not done anything yet, keep grounded and keep working hard’. “My first few months when I was in and around it a lot, it was a bit “oh my god, that’s Mo Salah, that’s Andy Robertson. I was starstruck, but I settled in really quickly. They’re all really good. They’re all just normal lads.” So far Doak has made three appearances in as many competitions this season which includes two starts for a current total of eight for the club. The youngster knows that opportunities won’t come around every game especially when it comes to the quality of depth ahead of him but when the chance, he has to make the most of them. “I’ve had a lot of opportunities — much more than last season. I’m really enjoying myself when I get an opportunity but, at the same time, it can get frustrating because I’m not playing as often as I’m used to with the youth teams. I’ve just got to bide my time, but my time is coming. I’ve just got to stay patient." Doak says there are absolutely no regrets over his move to leave Celtic and knows that those in front of him walked the exact same path as he did when they were his age. "Without being disrespectful to teams up here, the level at Liverpool, a team that got to three Champions League finals in recent years, is incredible. “I look ahead and I know why I’m not playing, it’s because one of the best players in the Premier League is in front of me (Salah). “I have no reason to complain. I’m just trying my best to learn from him and all the others as well. They’re dead good with me, always taking me aside to tell me what I should be doing. They help me keep my head as well. "They know the situation I’m in. They were all the same as well, they’ve helped me a lot. The gaffer’s quite quiet. I think he knows that I know what he expects. I’m just trying to get on his good side and stay on his good side.” While it’s natural when you are young to be in a hurry to accomplish goals, it is a sign of the maturity of Doak that he is willing to be patient not just at club level, but for his first senior cap with his national team too. “ I’m not at all [thinking about the Euros next summer]. I’m just trying to take it day by day because if I start thinking that far ahead, it gets too stressful. I’d get too worked up, too frustrated. I can’t even think about next week.. “I have plenty of time to get better and I’ll get picked for that team whenever they think I’m ready.” View full article

Virgil Van Dijk has urged his fellow professionals to speak out about the pressing issue of the congested Football calendar. The Dutchman is one footballer who is not afraid to discuss issues that others may shy away from such as the difficulty with dealing with constant criticism and the toll it can take on you mentally. There will be many in the general community who will not shed a tear for footballers in their privileged position as they have their own battles against the growing cost of living and other everyday issues. Van Dijk is aware of the platform he holds and the perks that comes with that, but this is not the first time he has raised this matter, also speaking about it in regards to the ludicrous fixturing of Nations League games at the end of the domestic season. Back in his homeland ahead of a European Championships fixture against France, Van Dijk had a somewhat robust exchange with a local journalist on the matter as the Echo reported. “In England we believe that the calendars are too demanding. The players are paid well, but this should never be to the detriment of our health. "We keep having to play more and more games. We players should start saying something, contribute to a solution." The journalist named Valentijn Driessen then asked the Liverpool and Netherlands captain if less games meant a cut to his wage. Van Dijk did not like the premise to the question saying that “Because it shouldn't depend on my salary? And all the extra competitions? The Nations League? The money of that doesn't go to my salary. Dreissen pressed further suggesting that players get win bonuses if successful in those competitions but once again Van Dijk was sharp with his response. “These bonuses are not a guarantee." While it is a undoubted fact that top players from leagues across Europe get paid exceedingly well, it is also true that the everyday matchgoer and those viewing on subscription platforms would be paying for a product that foreseeably could rapidly decline in quality if players continue to be pushed to the physical brink. There are no literally winners in that. View full article

The Moises Caicedo saga will go down as one of the most discussed non-transfers in Liverpool history and while at the time it looked to be a bitter blow, the Reds may well have the last laugh. The Ecuadorian was viewed as one of the hottest properties in the summer transfer window and for a club like Liverpool who were undergoing their own midfield transformation, he was viewed as someone that would undoubtedly add quality as well as a pressing need in the holding midfield role. But they were largely seen as not having the finances to compete with the likes of Chelsea for the Brighton player which was also believed to be a similar reason for pulling out of the pursuit for Jude Bellingham However a few days before the new Premier League season kicked off, Liverpool surprised many in the game by putting a bid in for the player in the region of £110 million. After a month of frustration where Liverpool had been somewhat static and their rivals making moves around them, this saw unbridled jubilation for those fans and a belief that they could reclaim their place very quickly amongst Europe’s elite after a substantial dip last season. Manuel Sierra, the agent of Caicedo spoke to Ecuadorian news channel (Football sin Cassette (per The Evening Standard) in great detail about those crazy couple of days in early August. “ What happened is that in January [Chelsea] couldn’t pay. “They couldn’t go crazy because they had to go with one or the other, they couldn’t sign both [Enzo Fernandez and Caicedo] and I didn’t know what Brighton were going to ask for. Brighton were not going to sell even for £1billion.” While Chelsea was always viewed as the front runner, Liverpool’s bid certainly caused the Caicedo party to have a deep think about what to do next. And Sierra confirmed that Liverpool had been in contact a great deal during the first few months of 2023 but nothing since May before the mammoth bid came in. “The issue of not going to Liverpool instead of Chelsea was also questioned a lot. “The offers were similar in every way, the issue was a question of values, principles and of giving the floor to someone. When Liverpool’s offer arrived, Brighton were asked for time so that Chelsea could match it, they did, they surpassed it and he ended up at Chelsea because he had given his word to Chelsea for quite some time. “Liverpool were always interested. We had meetings between January and May but since May we didn’t hear from them. Of course we were surprised that suddenly they appeared with [an offer] that they had said they couldn’t do. At the end of the day, Sierra believed it came down to the fact that Chelsea’s interest never waivered. “It is very complicated, imagine that Jurgen Klopp is writing to you, that Liverpool are calling you, we are talking about something very big, one of the best teams in the world just like Chelsea - and with a more established and more stabilised project than what Chelsea have today which is a very ambitious project with a view to two, three years ahead. “When Liverpool came and approached in that way, obviously Moises got dizzy, I got dizzy myself, but Chelsea were by our side at all times asking us to go, they wanted an hour to tell Brighton that they could match the offer. They gave them an hour and it ended after two days” Business in the transfer market can be a real raffle, sometimes you may think you have got the player but it falls through at the last minute and vice versa, a deal may come from absolutely nowhere. Liverpool have been on both sides of the coin over the journey and while the disappointment was clearly evident early in the aftermath of the Caicedo rejection, the Reds pulled it together and made a couple more signings. While we have not truly seen the best of Japanese international Wataru Endo at this stage, the early evidence of Ryan Gravenberch is incredibly promising. And with the earlier signings of Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister fitting in very nicely indeed, it means that Liverpool have emerged as a better overall team than what they went into the summer with. And despite hundreds of millions of pounds spent, whether the same can be said for Chelsea and indeed Caicedo is well and truly up for debate. View full article

Jurgen Klopp believes we are now seeing a much more complete version of Darwin Nunez and outlined some of the reasons why as Liverpool claimed their fifth win from six games this season with a 3-1 win against West Ham. Much like many of his teammates, the Uruguayan endured a frustrating first campaign, never really getting any proper momentum behind him for a number of reasons. While he was never brought in as a finished product, there was stages when he looked totally lost and towards the end of last season, the manager detailed what Nunez needed to do to become a regular starter. A new campaign and all indications are that he has taken all that advice on board and returned as a player who is a consistent threat in all facets of his game and producing a end product having scored three goals in the league and another in Europe. Speaking after the victory (per the Mirror,) Klopp outlined the differences. “Darwin has made massive steps in the last few weeks. He is a threat. You all saw the goal, that was probably pretty good, right? That was really strong. “He was always available (as a target), it’s super important for us now that we have a ball player, chip the ball, get it on the chest and play from there, that’s how we scored the third goal at Wolves, super important for us. “The defensive work he puts in is probably the main difference. He always wanted (to do it) but it was less co-ordinated. Now that looks much better.” While there are plenty of aspects which are working smoothly in the early stages of this campaign, the one slightly curious aspect is the role that Wataru Endo has played since arriving. Just like the home game against Aston Villa, the Japanese international made a cameo appearance deep in the second half and has only made one start in the league since his signing. But Klopp is a master of not rushing new players to make an impact early in their Liverpool careers and explained his thought process on this occasion. “He needs to get used to the things here. Wataru is a super guy, very calm and very polite and that cost him the first two weeks, maybe. That’s now getting there. “He is not 30 or whatever and wants to get some people out of the way to get into the team, but he is improving every day. You saw that today, he is there, he will help us a lot, he will play games, he will start games and all these kinds of things. “It’s all good, he had already three or four games now for us in a very short period. That is what counts, it is not a short-term project. Wataru is a super-important part of the squad and I am really happy to have him.” https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/liverpool-west-ham-klopp-nunez-31017564?int_source=nba View full article