DirkDiggledinho

Yeah I'm with you there, and that's purely on a competition level without mentioning any of the many other ways it's getting sucked into the corporate void. I think back to the famous CL nights under Rafa and there's a magic and a humanity to it that's sorely missing now. Sometimes I think it must just be me getting older but I don't think that explains it entirely. I used to think Mitchell and Webb's pisstake was just overly cynical humour from two guys who didn't get football but I'm agreeing with it more and more with every passing year.

Same for me, been falling out of love with football for a while and watching us win our first league in 30 years with empty stadiums and silly piped crowd noise was probably the final straw - watching a season like this unfold certainly doesn't help. I agree with what many have been saying that the team are just knackered. Too many players either over 30 or approaching, having played years of heavy metal football and not able to run any more. That's in addition to a lack of creativity in midfield and the huge loss of Mané, being replaced by a player who seems too hot-headed and already out of flavour with Klopp. It's looking like a long hard season, but the sad reality is that the life cycle of this great side seems to be near to an end. It's time for a few changes.

I'm not shocked by this news, honestly. It's just another part of what we are seeing now in the world in general, a gigantic power-grab exploiting fear of a pandemic to destroy competition and hand total control over to the stakeholders. Independence and democracy gone and big business taking the reins in every decision. It started with fans being locked out of stadiums for over a year with no way back to normal put forward, just a "new normal", and this is simply the next step. If we stay on this road the sport and the club we all know and love is going to resemble a North Korean rally more than anything. Unpopular opinion I know. Rip me to shreds and call me a tinfoil nutter if you like, but that's what I see. The latest step in a bid to prohibit the plebs from having any involvement in the football clubs they love. Maybe they can buy some merch if they like, and they'll of course be able to tune in to watch the Super League via their Sly Sports subscription. It's a line in the sand for me, if fans are no longer allowed have any involvement whatsoever and we are inventing silly competitions out of pure greed I don't give a shit any more.

Maybe I'm paranoid but... fuck me they would have spend 15 minutes checking that and given offside with some curvy drawn on lines if it was us, both the Spurs players' legs look ahead of the play. But if it's them 10 second check and it's all fine??

I agree with the second part... cancelling all sports events even those behind closed doors just seems like being seen to be doing something especially with pubs, public transport etc still full of people. But for me the idea of it being chalked off completely doesn't bear thinking about. We'd go from one of the great seasons with what a lot of people were saying is one of the best Liverpool sides ever to trophyless and mentally broken as a football club (for god knows how long) in the matter of a couple of weeks. Maybe getting awarded a title for an incomplete season is a bit of a damp squib but it's a hell of a lot better than the alternative.

Look it isn't ideal but would you rather that or the whole thing is voided when we're 6 points off?

Probably the fairest outcome in the circumstances. Of course oppo fans will try to say it's a "fake" PL etc but that in some ways would make it funnier. It has to be acknowledged, that's the main thing. It's also probably highly likely the CL will be binned, meaning we'd stay the holders, which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

I genuinely wonder if the remit for Klopp this season was just to be ok-ish with a tiny squad and try to maintain top 4 and CL until we cash in on one of the big 3 next season and reinvest the money. At the moment this doesn't look like a team motivated to win things. We should have come out firing but instead we're twiddling our thumbs.

It's the same midfield that was sometimes uncreative but always solid last season. It was never this much of a liability.

Why are we so porous in defense. How the fuck is this happening? They've been running rings around us all half. We were never even close to this bad last season. May be early season rustiness but I'm worried. Continue this shite and there won't be many clean sheets for us.

Maybe, but there is that "bills to pay" quote from that presser that seems to suggest otherwise. Who knows. People forget though that last year Klopp was fully prepared to stick it out with Karius until Alisson unexpectedly became available, so this whole financial prudence and "wait for the right man or buy nobody" attitude does seem to be coming from Klopp, at least partly. That's not to say the owners aren't tightarses as well, but it seems that it's at least not 100% on them. Where I disagree with a lot of people is in thinking that this is in any way as clever or shrewd as is made out. Can you imagine the difference last year with another 9 months of Karius? Alisson's won us countless league points already and directly kept us in the CL with that save v Napoli, but if Roma had never softened their stance on a sale I fail to see the logic in keeping a shite keeper way below the standard just because our number one pick wasn't available. Similarly now while it's true our team is the strongest it's been in many years, it's only one or two injuries from falling apart, and not investing in players because exactly who we want isn't available doesn't and never will make sense to me. If we get as lucky with injuries to key players as we did last season it could still be a great year, I just hope the summer doesn't end up as one big regret.

Very fortunate with injuries last season. As we saw with the likes of the Wolves game last season beyond the first XI there just isn't much there. Would be foolish not to bring anyone in on this evidence, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

I hate the defeatism that goes on here sometimes. For me we were reasonably large underdogs going into the Madrid game last year given we were up against serial winners and also some of the biggest snides in football, masters of the dark arts. On another day we might have won the game, but in the end it panned out as expected with Ramos doing his usual thing and our dodgy keeper showing exactly why we would sell him in the summer. With that in mind, there's no reason to go into this game with a negative expectation in my opinion. Instead of repeated champions with top European pedigree we are up against a side that has won nothing of note in decades, never mind the European Cup. Spurs will need to show real steel against us to win it, and there's every chance the occasion will be too much for them and they'll crumble on the night. The final losses should actually act as a significant advantage if our team is as strong mentally as they have shown for the rest of the season. We've been there, suffered defeats, got on with it and got stronger. They haven't, it's all new territory. Could we lose this game? Yes, of course, Spurs are a very good team. But I think you'd be a fool to say we're not favourites and I think that's good reason to be confident and happy until Saturday night. If it doesn't go our way I'll cry about it then, but there's no reason to label this other than what it is: a good final opponent and a huge opportunity.

I really hope so, but the Spanish vultures will be circling around our front 3 in the likely event we don't win anything. City are going to spend as usual, so one step back could set us back years.

Yeah but in fairness you also have the Pickford howler and resulting Origi goal, the last minute OG vs Spurs, the Mahrez penalty miss etc. City haven't really been fortunate, they've played incredibly well. It's just deeply depressing how such a club can be allowed to have a stranglehold over the league.