Razoray

Too many beers last night - me not Ali

5 of the wins have been against the bottom 6. The scored two late, late goals v Brentford to steal a win, and Wolves were robbed of a clear penalty st Old Trafford, on the opening weekend. They have just proved that they can beat lower table teams by the odd goal.

They really believed you can win the league in October. I blame the London based journos hyping them up. There are way too many Spurs fans among them with delusions of grandeur.

Was missing 3 of his first choice back four which is fair enough, they might mot be as solid at the back, but for a fella who said his teams would "give it a go even if they have 5 men" then why did his team have only 2 shots on target against Wolves when they were only missing 1 of their first choice front 6? Also, he was mising his attacking midfielder so he could have brought in a similar player in Bentancour to replace Maddison, but no, big Ange played Hojberg, one of the most defensive midfielders in the league. Not so easy to have a go is it, ya twonk. Best of luck against Villa without Bissouma, Ange.

Best player on the pitch, by a mile

If Gravenberch is out I'd go 442 and play Kelleher Trent Konate Van Dijk Gomez Jota Szoboszlai Endo Diaz Salah Nunez It gives a bit of width that we have been lacking, and while it reduces our ability to press high in the middle of the pitch, Brentford probably won't look to play through us much anyway.

The team v Toulouse was similar to the Lask away. The only differences were: Darwin played instead of Gakpo. Gravenberch instead of Mac Allister. Bajectic at RB instead of Gomez. Van Dijk and Konate played but that was to get them minutes, as they had been sidelined prior to the Lask away due to suspension and injury, respectively. He should shut the fuck up, as Klopp could make him pay if he believes that Liverpool should play a full strength team in all Europa games.

He was here for 2 seasons but only started in 3, after Van Dijk was signed in January 2018, all when we were rotating around Champions League knockout games, and one of those was at left back in the derby, 3 days before the home leg v City in the Champions League quarter final. He played one FA Cup game and four League Cup games while here. He started 3 champions league games in the group stages and did the Milner, last few minutes role, in a few of the knockout games in 17/18. He played the last few minutes of the home Porto game, one of the City games and both Roma games. He was one of four centre-backs in the squad in 16/17 and Gomez was injured so was 3rd choice behind Lovren and Matip, who weren’t exactly robust. He played a lot In 17/18 Gomez was fit but played a lot at right-back, with Clyne injured so Klavan still played a lot August-December. Virgil was bought in January and Trent emerged at right-back ahead of Gomez, so Raggy finished the season as fifth choice.

The Toulouse striker may well have been offside fotr the diallowed goal but he definitely clipped Matip's heel which caused him to fall over. Jota was booked for this v Spurs. I agree with the rest. Hopefully there is a bit of energy about us on Sunday.

They'd have lost the fucking plot and invaded the stadium, with the signing of Raggy Klavan, but he played 90 minutes for us in 30 games, losing only three times. Thats because he was a cog in a well oiled machine and not surrounded by a load of misfits.

Star Bar rep

One of your best.

Will Klopp replace Endo and Elliott early tonight if he plans on playing at least one of them (depending on the fitness of Gravenberch) on Sunday?

Their problem is neither their fanbase, or the executive of the club will countenance any type of proper rebuilding. They want success now but also want the shiniest, most expensive plaything that says that "this is Manchester United". When Klopp came here, he got us playing good, attacking football while fragile defensively. There was however a plan. Everyone could see that the team and squad were improving gradually with every window and his influence was visible on the team. He would never have bought a 30 year old Casemiro, an aging Varane, a selfish Pogba, a flaky Onana, a wanker type like Antony. Rather than buy good, solid, talented, young players and incrementally improve the team, they'd rather spend fortunes on big names and then loan the likes of Ambrabat, Reguilon, Sabitzer and Wout fucking Weghorst to fill in the gaps. Rather than tell Sancho, De Gea, Rashford and the rest, to fuckoff when they demanded £300-375k per week, they bent over and now the tail is wagging the dog. Sancho and the rest of the players know that they can stay and ride out another manager while earning fortunes.

We've done this in the past 2 January transfer windows with Diaz and Gakpo for Mane and Firmino.

Even besides the poor performances in games they've won, they have been extremely lucky. Wolves - Apology by PGMOL afterwards, for a non-penalty to Wolves. Forest - Lucky penalty award for Rashford Burnley - Burnley hit the post and had 62% possession. Palace - The only one they have played well in, against Woy's reserve team. Brentford - 2 late, late goals by a player the manager tried to sell in the summer Sheff Utd - No penalty given for a blatant push by Maguire. Winner from 27 yards by Dalot. Copenhagen - Survived a missed last minute penalty Fulham - Injury time winner

I've just seen that we aren't live on British TV on Sunday. Almost the worst part of Europa League

Kelleher Gomez Matip Quansah Chambers Mac Allister MacConnell Gakpo Doak Nunez Diaz Endo on for Nunez at half time.

Sevilla 2 nil down to Arsenal so 4th in their group so will have to win at least one of their final two games agsinst Lens or PSV to get 3rd

They've been able to hear the VAR discussion for a few seasons (at least two). It's not a two-way communication, they just listen.

100%. Even beside the moronic tactics of playing that high a line with 9 men, so zero pressure on the ball, Eric Dier and Emile Hojberg as your centre-backs, it physically tires the players. They could have played a low block, played on the break, and conserved energy, but didn’t, and conceded 2 in injury time. Gung-ho is fine when things are going your way. Funny (for us) when they aren't. If Jackson and Chelsea could finish, last night could have been 8 or 9. Hope Wolves batter them on Saturday

Trent played in his traditional right back role last season, until the Arsenal game in April. At that stage he had played 27 times and had just 1 goal and 2 assists. One of the assists was a long pass from the middle of the pitch, to Nunez at Newcastle (not wide right). The other was a cross to Ox at Brentford. The goal came from a run down the centre of the pitch in the 9-0 v Bournemouth. After Trent moved infield, in possession, for the last 10 games of last season, he assisted 7 times and scored once. He has 3 assists in 12 this season. Maybe, just maybe, Klopp knows that teams had sussed our way of playing, nullified it, and exploited it down our right, so he has changed the shape, so that we win more games, don't lose at all, and score a fair amount of goals.

I thought Arsenal were unfairly done over with the goal on Sunday but they could also have lost Havertz to a red. Burn should have got two yellows, Guimares should have got about 5 yellows and probably a red for the forearm. It is a bit suspicious though, that City and Newcastly rarely, if ever, are on the wrong side of calls. Arsenal were shafted (and PGMOL apologised) for 2 decisions that cost them points last season when they were City's rivals and with Kovacic staying on the pitch this season. Arteta could have nailed them last month when we were robbed v Spurs but the louder, and more often, the shouts for a reform of PGMOL/VAR by him/Arsenal/Wolves and whoever else, is fine by me. Howard Webb is a cunt.

I've read that a good few times now, after this game, and games we've won, this season. Since he moved into midfield in the Arsenal game last season, we have played 26 games in all competitions. We have won 19, drawn 6 and Spurs (I'll never acknowledge a defeat. It was either a win or at least a draw). Yes, we lack width at times in this new formation but when Szoboszlai, Mo and sometimes Trent share the width and overlaps, we are fine. I just thought that Mo and Dom lacked energy on Sunday. We probably left a lot on the field at Bournemouth. However, at the end of the day, the lack of width didn’t cost us against Luton. The poor finishing did. I'm not an expert on this sort of shite but we got 3.09 XG against Luton. Our average this season is 1.97. Even at home, where we are 100%, it is 2.37. We created chances, we didnt take them. In my opinion, we are a flawed team but our goalkeeper and attacking options paper over some of the cracks. The game is about goals, and if you are very good at stopping them going in at your end and putting them away at the other, you'll win most games, no matter how you play on the day. We played poorly, we created enough chances to win but didn’t take them. I'd imagine there will be a few days like that this season, but we will improve as the team grows and Klopp fixes the weaknesses. Whether it will be enough to win big prizes, we will see. Enjoy the ride. We have an exciting, young side that creates and scores a lot. We are on course for a mid-80s points tally. That should be enough to challenge for a title but unfortunately we competing against a club that cheats. We shouldn't hammer our players for that.

I see Ange is getting lots of plaudts for his post-match interview stating that we have to (eventually) accept the referee's decision. People are taking him totally out of context. He is saying they shouldn't spend so much time "waiting around" for VAR to decide. He is not some pure football man that agrees with all decisions. He doesn't have a leg to stand on about all the calls against his team last night, yet he did moan about the Romero sending off, which was a blatant red, and his side have been on the right side of calls all season. Wait until they get shafted. Lets see what he has to say then. Also, did anyone see why the Caicedo "goal" was chalked off? In the one clip we were shown, a Spurs player is blocking Vicario's view, not the offside Jackson. Compare that with the allowing of the City goal v Fulham, when Ake tried to play the ball in an offside position. I'm not saying the league is corrupt but....