gkmacca

Excellent performance. Some gorgeously quick and precise passing late on.

To be fair, it IS a football match, not Songs of Praise. I'm always happy to not hear songs until we're close to winning

A good half. Jota - he has his off-days but my god, when he's on form he must be terrifying to play against, he's just lethal. Thrilled for Bradley - imagine where he'd be if some fans had got their wish and we'd signed some new right back - probably somewhere like Bolton, losing all self-belief, to a chorus of 'I told you so's'. Nunez I won't comment on - we all know what to say.

Nice to see SOME player touch the sign. With this lot they treat it as if it's bloody kryptonite.

'Okay, It's LFC v Chelsea, so what pundits should we get, you know, for balance and relevance?' 'Well, Rio...' 'Manchester United, no connection with either club, hates LFC, fair enough'. 'And maybe Joe Cole?' 'Keeps saying how he regretted ever signing for LFC? And wished he stayed at Chelsea? His club? Sounds ideal. Can we possibly move the game to lunchtime on Saturday...?'

At least his refusal has spared any new manager the soul-draining horror of having to sit through monotone 'deep dives' of targeted players. This is like some weird revenge of the nerd - the most boring speccy idiots get to be depicted as though they deserve statues outside the stadia. The bloke we already have in situ is supposed to be worshipped by the nerd community so I suspect we'll get by well enough without St Michael returning.

Not a bad first half. Pretty much what was expected for a cup tie against a lower league team - dominance but a bit of a lack of bite. Gomez looking like the most grown-up player on the pitch, Bradley looks really assured at this level. More pace and precision in the next half.

Cut the mustard.

You can read a book and she can gaze at her own pictures.

I suspect one of the main reasons it's such a blow is the fact that Klopp managed, amongst so many other things, to make football seem like a proper sport, a proper game, and above all else proper fun again. At a time when so many were absolutely pissed off by the hyped-up tribalism, the obscene amount of money being used to buy success and the increasing pomposity and inasanity of the various governing bodies, Klopp made you just enjoy the sight of fast and frantic footie again. There are a few other managers around who might offer a similar tactical sophistication, even excitement, but they won't bring that simple unforced joy of playing the game. Not even Shanks, Paisley, or Kenny offered that to the same extent. That's an irrecoverable loss.

I hope Jurgen takes the Germany job. I cannot believe he'll be able to resist coming back after a year out - he didn't last that long the last time he took a break. To get a manager that good tactically, and in terms of man-management, and also a magnificent human being who got the club and the city so well - you may as well hope for another Beatles. 'Now and then I miss you' - how apt.

The thing that worries me about that is it's going to be phenomenally draining emotionally between now and the end of the season. Every win will be pumped up and any setback absolutely demoralising. We'll all be shattered come the summer. It won't be impossible to find a good replacement - Paisley took over from Shanks - but the change of mood will take some getting used to. I'm hyper sceptical of any claims to charisma - it usually just serves as an analytical shrug of the shoulders - but Klopp's ability to charm the players, the club, and the whole red half of the city, and masses more scattered all over the world, has been truly astonishing. I doubt we'll ever see that kind of appeal ever again.

He's earned the right to make this decision and time it when he wants. It's still shattering. What an incredible privilege it's been to have him associated with the club. What a human being he is. I just hope we can find someone who'll move the team on in the right standard and style, but what an absence he'll leave behind.

Decent performance, some great passages of play, very professional. Another Chelsea final? Feck's sake. Wake me when it's over. But well done, those players, it was a fine effort.

Thanks for sharing. I wasn't writing about Verstehen. I was writing about the risible moaning both players articulated and/or encouraged about our supposed insufficient reverence towards them as fans. So another issue entirely.

I can see why Gini is still there. He wasn't appreciated enough here. Over there, the 1,809 people who see him regularly really show him the full and proper respect. Same goes for Sadio - Senegal have judged the 2,196 people who watch him every other week are much, much, more respectful than we ever were.

His heart's in the right place. A security box in Liechtenstein.

Not for me. I always hated his attitiude. And I truly believe he's one of those people who only gets pleasure from seeing others lose - all the shushing, all the mocking, all the sneering, all the throwing away of the medals. Winning didn't make him happy, only seeing others fail to win did that. So when he can't see enough of that misery, there's nothing but misery for him. Deep down he's still the PE teacher with the clipboard, the outsider who needs a safe carapace of hate around him to exist in that environment. When you have to drag that persona around with you for so long, it must be draining. It must be like having to appear in panto all year long.

The ghost of Don Revie must have been drenching in ectoplasm in ecstasy at that performance. What a shite-spewing side they are. If the sports hacks had any integrity they'd seize on that god-awful eye-holding farce in the first half as just one example of what they got away with. We should go there and batter the shite of them.

Nothing remotely unexpected, given how they play and what injuries we've got. Sorry to spoil the narrative, but that's the truth. Fulham absolutely despicable with that booking - shameful stuff. Classless booing of a young kid who brought in a good fee for them. Typical. Once again a ref decides that keepers can't be booked until at l;east the 75th minute: if they're wasting time, they're wasting time. 'Respect' and all that - earn it. Second half - up the pace, exploit their own cynicism and get them done.

Yes. I guess the word 'stay' hasn't been covered in Remedial English yet, unless you're talking Advanced Camp, but, well, stay with it.

Graham Potter or whomever the ref actually was just epitomised why PL refs don't deserve any respect. He ignores every act of GBH by Arsenal pretty much the whole match - thus causing huge frustration - and ignores blatant key fouls such as on Gomez in our area - ditto - then, when players are tired and driven crazy by his insane behaviour, he started booking pretty much anyone who doesn't try to kiss him for his decisions. It's no good the PGMOL searching for an incident to 'prove' the world will implode unless all refs are given a cake after the games - these people are shockingly awful, and do not deserve great respect.

A good day for LFC, a sad one for BBC Sport, a tragic one for Shearer. Serves Arsenal right for wearing toilet paper instead of their proper kit, and then shitting it. If only Konate can get fit and stay fit he's a world class defender.

Oh, the gooners are late coming out. What a mastermind Arteta is. They should be 60 up by now. Shearer: ‘Neither team will want a replay’. Mainly because no one wants to hear you again, you daft twat.

Mo has misplaced about a hundred* passes this season. *'A hundred' calculated by the Shearer method of seeing two or three things and then saying a hundred.