StevieMax

Thinking back to January - LFC have just gone out of the FA Cup to Wolves. Lovren has just got injured; Gomez is long term injured; Matip's recovering from the Napoli injury - so it didn't look good for the defence. Matip, even when fit & playing, just seemed to be Mr Injury Prone. So, Matip comes in, stays fit, and hardly puts a foot wrong as LFC go unbeaten from there on in (ignoring the anomaly in Barcelona) and in some games he's the pick of the defence. So good that when Lovren & Gomez get fit, he keeps the shirt - definitely a 9 out of 10!! PS Big Bird was also the nickname of another Joel - the West Indian fast bowler from the 1980s, Joel Garner, all 6'8" of him!!

You could also make the argument that a lot of the saves in the "great" category are usually as a result of who plays in front of the keeper - Smalling and Jones (for instance) are bound to give any keeper more chance to shine.

Big Div just looks so cool when the ball goes in - so nonchalant - like knocking one in on the training ground!

Great report, Dave. I must admit that Robbo was my player of the year (not named Mo) last season - but how do you overcome 40+ goals? Now 22 PL goals - that's easy-peasy! Robbo gets 10/10 for me!!

Dave, I agree that it's a tough one to say what to do next. I'd keep him if he wants to stay as he's a known quantity who clearly makes the squad better and hasn't sat around and sulked (and took the money). You didn't mention the parallels with David Fairclough - the winner v Everton (also 1-0) and the winner in a must win Euro tie as the clock ran down; both games at Anfield albeit not in the same season.

Besides, Trent’s attributes are different to Gerrard’s anyway. He doesn’t tackle as fiercely, his long range shooting doesn’t compare yet and he seems to be a calmer, less aggressive type of character on the field. He’s not as rash as Gerrard could be and is far less likely to land himself in bother with refs. Maybe his skillset is better suited to full back than midfield, time will tell on that. Fully agree with that, Dave. The only way I see Trent getting sent off is on a technical issue (the handball at Newcastle) or downright shithousery. PS No mention of Trent's Free Kick at Watford!!

Good use of "The Arsene Wenger defence"!!

Just watched the Inside Madrid video and realised that Dave hadn't commented on all those plastic flags. They must have been "single use" ones as I only saw them when the teams came out at the start!

Great report to end a great season. The report hit all the right notes about all the right people (even if Big Game James drew a blank). I'm made up for Hendo & Klopp especially. The defense was excellent and just carried on from the Barca second leg. Looking forward to the fanzine.

No mobile phones without Hedy Lamarr!! http://www.women-inventors.com/Hedy-Lammar.asp

In March 1972, Rodney Marsh was signed for Man City by Malcolm Allison for a club record £200,000. City were four points clear at the top of the table when Marsh was signed, but by the end of that season they had slipped to fourth. Many pundits criticised the signing, pointing out that Marsh was a maverick player ill-suited to Allison's well-drilled set-up.

The funny thing is that he’s on massive wages and has nowhere to go, because none of the big Spanish clubs need a keeper (or would pay what it would cost to get him). He can’t move anywhere in England either, so he’s stuck there, on his big fat contract, in a team going nowhere. His motivation has gone and it shows. I read in the press (Times probably) that United players like De Gea & Pogba will get a 25% wage cut if they don't qualify for the Champions League. But even that "threat" (more real than anything the Goblin might say) hasn't seemed to have made them care. I'm sure De Gea pulled his hands away from Richarlison's shot on Everton's first goal.

MOTD2's analysis was awful. No mention at all of the amount of times Salah has stayed on his feet and ended up with nothing. And they didn't even show the earlier incident when Hazard went down like a sack of spuds just inside our half and Oliver (quite rightly) said it was a fair tackle. First Hazard held his knee, then his shin and finally his ankle. After we had kicked the ball out so that the trainer could get on - only his shin had the benefit of the "magic spray". Whatever it was, it didn't seem to slow him down.............

I’d quite like the 85/86 home and away shirts with the Adidas logo on. In fact, they should just make that the new home and away shirts. Tell Nike to do one, let’s keep it old school. The ones with "Crown Paints" on them - I remember wearing a home one to the 86 Cup Final. If they bring those back, I'll grow my hair to look like Walshy.

Random thought: Whatever happened to Danny Drinkwater? He’s vanished off the face of the earth. I can’t even remember the last time I saw him. Well he's in the news today!! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-47864761 And just what is a "Chelsea player" doing living in Cheshire?