terry symes

I actually felt sorry for Fabinho after that tackle. He knew what he'd done and look devastated. Not the fact that he may have hurt the lad. More the realisation that he's now a yard too slow on everything. Almost like it had dawned upon him in that moment that he was finished here.

Totally agree on the Rashford goal scandal. I wrote this in a group chat when I watched it.. Just seen it. Absolute disgrace. Pass is clearly intended for him, he runs towards the ball, defender does his job in playing him offside. If the VAR official don’t think he’s interfering with play he should never have a job in football again and if it’s the rules then these suits who don’t understand the game need to stop changing them. Worse than the Salah goal last week. Turned out VAR didn’t get involved - any idea why not?

Ok. Slightly pedantic. Transfermarkt has it as €80, so £70m. Think my point still pretty valid.

The thing is with Darwin is that the price tag will always be mentioned - and probably justifiably so. It’s not necessarily lazy to say that he misses chances and forget the good things he does. Are you allowed to be a work in progress when you cost £80m or whatever we paid?? If he was a 30 / 40m signing in the mould of Diaz, Jota, Gakpo then I could understand it. But I don’t want an uncut gem for £80m. I want someone to come in and replace Mane’s 20+ league goals a season. By all means he still might, and if he works on his finishing then sound. But at the moment it’s dreadful, he miskicks the ball far too many times for my liking and he seems really lacking in game intelligence - typified by the amount of times he doesn’t hold his line correctly. Similar to your man Werner in that regard! Hopefully it all comes, and what a player he will be if and when it does. BUT, I think it’s justifiable to have some reservations at the moment. Yes of course he does good things, and makes things happen - but so he should, shouldn’t he?! I honestly thought we were just signing an out and out finisher - something which would have probably got us over the line last season. Think that’s where my struggles with it are.

Doesn't keep bias out of it though. The guys in the portacabin can still decide what they want. Even with offside calls they can draw those poxy lines wherever they want to. "It’s here to stay, I know that, I’m just saying I enjoyed the lack of VAR here, it was like the good old days. I suspect I’m in a minority though." Would genuinely blow my mind if you were in a minority. The actual viewing and enjoyment of the game is infinitely better.

The 'foul' on Saka reminded me of the one not given against Origi away at Old Trafford. 9 times out of 10 they're given. And now with VAR there's absolutely no excuse. I don't even think they checked it! Same as the foul on Kane not given. There's an argument it was outside the box, although i think it probably lasted long enough to deem that it continued inside the box. But compare it to some of the penalties that have been given in the tournament and it's an absolute stone waller. If either incidents had happened to Messi or Ronaldo they would have 100% both been given

Genuinely still can't get over that Gabriel handball against Jota that wasn't given when you see all the shit handball decisions that have been given since. Jota tries to take the ball past him and he literally stops that from happening by using his arm. It wasn't a hopeful shot that may or may not have hit the target. it wasn't a hopeful cross into the box. He was one on one and had it not hit his hand he'd have been in on goal.

Spot on review. The goal before half time was huge for us because I can only truly relax when we have a 2 goal lead at the moment to be honest. Obviously it’s unreasonable to expect to not give up any chances against us. But what concerns me are the number of clear cut chances we allow. It was at least 4 against Southampton, and we were grateful to Ali for keeping us in the match with some unbelievable saves. The same went for the Spurs game, which of course is more understandable, but again there were at least 4 or 5 gilt edged chances. Hopefully the break allows us to work on whatever it is that is making it so easy to create clear chances against us. PS thought Harvey was exceptional. Such class and composure on the ball for someone so young. Struggles with the physical side but I’m hoping that will come.

Most, if not all, of our games have had the feel of the type of chaotic ones we had under Rodgers and the early days of Klopp. It really reminded me of that Swansea game years ago when we got back to 2-2, but lost (i think). We were never ever in control of the game and not for one second did i think we'd hold onto the lead. We wouldn't have deserved to win. I don't even think we deserved a draw to be honest. It's impossible to pinpoint one thing, but it's really concerning times. It's definitely not player specific. We're just so slack and half arsed all over the pitch. Henderson for the first goal was appalling for example. Virg and Matip for the last. Top players devoid of confidence taking wild swipes at the ball in pure panic. I still think they're leggy, the energy and the press simply isn't there, meaning we're so easy to play through. But why?!? We're unrecognisable. Even the goals we score aren't Klopp Liverpool goals. There's no real passages of attacking play. The goals are just sort of happening. And i know you're desperately holding out hope for Darwin (we all are) but even though it was a 6 minute cameo my God he was awful. The header was dire, the needless foul he gave away (even though it was soft as hell, he didn't help himself) and the failure to release Diaz quicker was so so poor. Maybe i'm being too harsh but i expect so much more for however much we paid for him. He didn't do one thing right. I'm still 100% rooting for him and in no way am i writing him off - but safe to say i'm worried.

Yeah it was crazy. And the flag wasn't raised at ANY point!

One moment that had my blood boiling was when Mount was offside, went for the ball initially but then realised he was miles offside so walked away from it, allowing another player to take over. We basically stopped playing, assuming the lino would put his flag up. Anyway, the lino never put his flag up and the ball was switched to the other side and it culminated in them having a decent chance - it either went wide or Ali saved it - I can't remember. I then thought 'Ok, it's that appalling new rule and the lino will now put his flag up' but he still didn't! No idea whether it would have counted or not, but I was fucking fuming at the time. I read your Villa report and then this straight after and your assessment of the Watkins offside for their goal reminded me of this Mount moment. It needs fucking off. Well VAR in its entirety needs fucking off but especially this delayed flag bollocks.

Think that's a very good point. We really didn't take advantage of the position of power we were in after winning the CL then the league. I know finances obviously dictate, but that's where United were so good under Ferguson. They never stood still in terms of changing and improving the squad. One of Klopp's criticisms (if it can be called that) is that he is maybe too loyal to players and I certainly think there's an element of truth in that. The fact the likes of Origi, Chamberlain, Keita etc are still here and haven't been improved upon is incredible really. But then that's what sets us apart from City, Chelsea and Man U i suppose. It's the financial situation we find ourselves in.

I agree Dave, i don't think that was a foul on the keeper in a million years. I don't care if 'you see them given' or 'it would be given in any other country' - they shouldn't be, as what is the attacker meant to do? Not go for the ball? This game worried me, and reminded me of the Brentford game. Both centre halves were so casual and weak. We dominated possession but every time West Ham came forward they looked like scoring. Same with set pieces. The year we won the league there seemed to be a real desire and hunger to keep clean sheets and that, weirdly, seems sorely lacking at the moment. They were bullied.

Still unfathomable to me that Gini was allowed to leave, leaving us with midfielders that you just cannot rely on to be consistently fit and available. Ox and Keita are consistently injured, (or just not up to it, but that's another matter). Never anything serious, but a few weeks here and there meaning they're always needing to get up to speed. Thiago has struggled with injuries in the latter part of his career. Let's be honest, he's missed a fucking lot of games for us now since he's been here. Fabinho and Henderson never come through a season without missing fairly large chunks. Milner is 36. You need a consistent 2 out of the 3 playing and we will never get that without a Gini - Mr Dependable, as you put it. Yes we have 8 centre mids on the books, but surely you'd rather have say 5 that you can actually rely on? You'd have thought they'd have learned from the centre back situation last season but clearly not.

You know who’s usually boss in these situations? Big Game Gini. I couldn't agree more with that and said it during the game. He was made for a game like that, one where he could put his foot on the ball and calm things down. We missed his experience, and i think we will for all the big games this year in the league and Champions League. I sort of understood why the club took the stance they did, but i'm still not on board with it. We're a fraction into the season and we're already missing him because an adequate replacement wasn't brought in. Thiago will always miss games with injury. Same with Keita and Chamberlain, and even then there's a case they're not up to it. That's 3 with questions marks over their availability and reliability. Yes we have Curtis (and Elliott) who are top talents - but do you want them starting in huge games like this just yet? Against the bottom half of the league you can throw in anyone of them alongside 2 of Henderson/Fab/Thiago but i think we'll struggle against the top teams. Gini's nous and knowhow will be sorely missed. Although it didn't help Trent was injured as maybe Milner could have been in the midfield

"He’s not exceptionally sick and he’s not going to be scoring 30 goals a season" typo or you just down with the kids now?

People will say “don’t let them win” or “why let them stop you supporting England?”. If you can compartmentalise it and put that to one side then good for you. Seriously. I’m not being facetious. If you want to support England then do it. I respect your right to do it. Hopefully you respect mine to not. Think you have nailed it there to be honest. I'm a Liverpool fan, but was born and raised in the south (Kent). I have always supported England in major tournaments and will continue to do so. I am totally ashamed by the large portion of the fanbase who continue to embarrass the rest of the country with their behaviour, but that won't stop me in supporting the team. I, like many others, don't identify myself with those 'supporters' and it's important not to tar everyone with the same brush. I was absolutely gutted at full time because i'd have been made up to see everyone genuinely happy. Not the nobhead, nationalistic 'fans' or band wagon jumping MP's. I don't care about them. But to see my friends and family happy, especially after the past 15 months, would have been great. It would have done the country the world of good.

First time i've commented on here but literally couldn't agree more with your take on the Robbo penalty incident. First time i've written on twitter regarding it too (read twitter but never have the energy to respond to stuff!), but was compelled to by the Salah v West Ham comparisons i was reading. Absolutely bang on.