Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

Gonna lose my mind, they shouldn't have even been in a position to score in the first place as we should have had a corner.

If we can pick up 2 league wins this week and we should the league is going to be looking alot better for us. Players needed that yesterday, they needed to believe we are still a top side. There is just too much quality in this squad to be playing like we have been.

Send Toby over, he trained himself to be as good with his weak foot as strong, I think he said an hour a day, no mention of how long it took but it was easy.

I meant to ask but my brother, a Utd fan, was going nuts over the amount of injury time played in the second have. Why was there ten minutes allowed did something happen or was it just because the ref is from Manchester?

I wouldn't usually be an advocate of moving him there, but Klopp might be forced into using Trent as a right hand side midfielder over the next couple games. Maybe dependent on the fitness of Konate.

There is no natural LW in the squad now, and I don't really want to see Carvalho, Nunez or Bobby out there. We've seen a 4-4-2 at times in recent games and I think Elliott could play in the left of midfield with his left foot, with Robbo providing the pace on that side. Trent on the right, backed up by Gomez. A bit of a lack of real pace there though on that flank

Something like

Ali

Gomez Konate VVD Robbo

Trent Fabinho Thiago Elliott

Salah Nunez/Bobby

As I wrote that out, it seems extremely narrow.

I doubt UEFA or the French authorities care or will take any notice or try to do better in the future

Gutted for Jota, he ran himself into the ground yesterday, just starting to get into a rhythm and he's out again.

The hype around Haaland for the game yesterday was OTT from Sky, everytime he touched the ball Tyler waxed lyrical. Like he's some sort of super human, the lads had no problem handling him.

Great to have Robertson back yesterday he is still no.1, the greek can't make those overlapping inside runs.

I thought we'd lose.

I knew that we were still a good team, but I likened it in my head to the build up to the Anfield game with no fans, where we got trounced 4-1.  We knew we weren’t as good a team as City then, and there was a similar feeling now, even though we don’t have quite the same problems personnel-wise as we did then.

So yeah, I genuinely went into this with no expectation of a result.  And I mean that with absolute sincerity.  Then the team sheet came in, with Gomez, Milner and Elliott on our right hand side, and I thought it was made for a pasting.  Foden killed Milner last season, and he’s better now, with a cyborg to play off too.

But then this team proceeded to show me something I thought they may have lost.  Don’t get me wrong - they didn’t need to show me anything.  They’ve proven themselves multiple times over, competing consistently against one of the most financially doped sporting projects ever put together, managed by possibly the greatest of his generation.  I’d happily argue that this group of players is top 5 of the PL era.  And people can fight me over that.

But they showed me that the team is not dead.  It is not completely past it.  It still needs a refresh.  It still desperately needs help in midfield.  It may still struggle against good defensive teams - we won’t be able to play the same style as yesterday against everyone - but it’s still capable of being what we know them to be - intense, precise and clinical.

Milner had his best game in 3 years.  The timing of his press on Foden was inspired.

Van Dijk, with a little more protection due to us playing a few yards back, and with his defensive and midfield partners closer to him, was simply incredible.  It highlights what we normally expect of him.  He makes being a regular CB look so easy it’s frightening.

Gomez had his best game in years.  Again, the timing of his pressures, and the timing of his covering of Milner in behind was unreal.  Smacked the ball as hard as he could at Bernardo at one stage, which gives him an extra point from me.

Elliott, who I thought would get torched, was intense and disciplined.  Worked so hard that Salah could be closer to the danger areas.  

Jota, the same on the other side.  Basically ran himself into a leg injury covering KDB.  By 70 minutes, KDB was done, and it was his terrible free kick into Alisson’s arms that triggered the long ball to Salah.  It was so bad, Salah could see where it was going mid-flight, and set off accordingly as he knew what Alisson could do given the time.

Salah, honestly.  The man showed who the superstar still is.  Enough said.  There was no way he was letting Ederson save two of those.

Klopp deserved his red.  You can’t be doing that.  But Pep also deserved at least a heavy warning.  Something about Liverpool turns him and Arteta into unhinged madmen.  He was out of his technical area multiple times, on the pitch, screaming too.  When Taylor went to check VAR for the disallowed goal, he, his staff and players were hounding him all the way there.

What the game did for me was give me belief again.  I believe we’ll get top 4.  I believe we might even pip Spurs or Chelsea to top 3.

But I also believe there is a trophy in this season for this team if they play it right.  I didn’t believe that before yesterday.

Now get that fúcking midfielder in January, and let’s give them the best chance possible.

it's not even what he says.

he has this ability to sound really interested and excited about the game he's watching, but he also knows when to shut up. he lets the stadium do a lot of the work for him, especially for goals.

The likes of Tyler, and a few of them on Sky, feel the need to narrate the reaction to a goal. Drury tends to let the reaction inform him of what he should say, or whether he should shut up. he never ruins it with a downbeat tone at the wrong time, or hyper cliched twaddle.

At a guess I would say Mo should be top 5?

I am actually going to guess he will be 4th?

Could be way off but we will see

Have been busy all day so only catching up now. So have I this right? Man City released an official statement blaming Klopp for City supporters singing songs about Hillsborough and damaging the concourse with graffiti?

Just reading that Taylor has ref'ed 4 games between Liverpool and City and has only awarded one foul on Salah in those 4 games.

Salah finishes 5th

Liverpool finished second in the team of the year.

City won team of the year.

Madrid finished 3rd really should have won as they did the league and European double.

No need for a panorama investigates, Trent not covering Junior was what went wrong!

..

TLDR version: "he sure exposed himself to be clueless"

Neville is a businessman. Everything he does and everything he says is with a view to making money.

Neville is also a Utd fan. So everything he does and everything he says must be run through that filter. I wonder why he doesn't like American venture capitalists? Because Utd are owned by a family of them, and they're not successful, therefore they're evil.

To be fair to City and Pep, we must confuse the bejaysus out of them. Take away the fact they've not won the European Cup over the last 5 years, it's fair to say that this era has been won by them so far.

But we are the only team that Pep hasn't been able to shake off in his managerial career.

Mourinho got him once with Madrid, but that was it. José went by the wayside as he always does. Pep had the greatest team ever assembled, with the original and best cheat code of football - prime Messi. And he dominated, mostly winning leagues in a procession.

At Bayern, he obviously dominated. He won Leagues without really trying.

In England, everything is there for them to dominate in the same way. He's with a financially doped monster, who can buy whatever they want whenever they want. He's arguably the greatest of his generation. He's added arguably the greatest striker of his generation, to the greatest assister of his generation. They can obliterate everyone, and have done for 4 or 5 years.

But there's that one team, whose net spend doesn't even scratch the surface of what the Manchester clubs have spent, lead by a crazy German, who has turned Van Dijk, Salah, Fabinho and more into footballing greats, at the home of a 'madhouse' as Pep calls it. He can't seem to kick us from the sole of his foot. even when it makes no sense, this team manages to show his up. you can tell from his interviews about Liverpool. when he says we're his greatest opponent, I believe him. when he writes his memoir, he'll devote chapters to us.

As a club, City are desperate for relevancy, and their fans know it too. they desperately try to antagonise Liverpool and their fans when they travel to Anfield because they need the hatred. It needs to be manufactured, because in any real sense, nobody cares about their successes, other than it's a shame that human rights violating financial doping has allowed it to happen. so the fans do whatever they can to make us hate them, because in their heads, that's what a rivalry is. The 'competitive rivalry' is not enough.

anything I heard from the ground suggested the chants were among the worst and most consistent ever heard at the ground ... never mind the vandalism and graffiti. The club and some of its fans have been so spoiled and become so entitled that their moral standards are in the sewer.

I don't want to get too boisterous or knee-jerky after the big result at the weekend. But there is an opportunity now to go on a run of games, picking up some wins and claw back some of the points difference that is currently ahead of us in the table. 

Quietly, Liverpool have had a tougher run of opening fixtures than the teams at the top of the table. Even including the Chelsea game which was postponed, Liverpool have still played the teams in position 1,2,5,6,7 in the table after 9 games. Have not played any of the bottom 6 yet. 

Man City have played the teams in position 5,6,8 and have played the teams in 20,18,17,16. Their games against Spurs & Arsenal were postponed, which will be tricky games whenever they are played. 

Likewise Arsenal have played the teams in position 3,5,8 and have also played a lot of the mid table teams. 

I wonder is there going to be a bit of a shift in the points gap when the fixtures and games played even off before the World Cup? Liverpool need to aim towards winning 4 of their next 5 and seeing what they can take from the 5th

West Ham home

Forest away

Leeds home

Spurs away

Southampton home

Might just set us up for good 2nd half of the season with Diaz & Jota to return. Get the gap closer to 7/8 points and who knows what can happen with re-arranged fixtures and the top 4/6/8 capable of taking points off of each other. 

Add to that, having seen how poor Man City looked without Haaland this season in the one game he missed, they could struggle a bit when his injury problems inevitably arise again.

Probably not enough to catch them, but this World Cup will change everyone's season so drastically. Some will benefit, others will suffer so if we're lucky, we could be in the hunt for trophies next spring. The title is still gone in my eyes though, I just can't see us closing that gap.