Liverpool FC Team Talk, Gossip, Rumours 2024/25

Salah wasn't injured. It was agreed between Egypt and Liverpool that Egypt wouldn't call him up for the last internationals

April Games

• Could change to Sunday depending on other fixtures

He's 23 years old. He has 6 goals in 9 games against the top 6 this season and has scored in a number of big games over the years including against us. 41 goals in 37 CL games including knockout games. You're comparing him to players who have had great careers and retired, which I think is the issue here. Very few players in history have had his impact at his age.

My instinct is that will be the week that determines whether we become champions or not.

We need Konate back for next Sunday v Man U. Quansah is being found out a little I think (great stand-in though).

Looking forward to it already.

Liverpool v Sheffield U (5-0)

Man U v Liverpool (1-3)

Definitely.

Even if we don't beat Utd, you'd feel winning those three could do it.

I see a few SNIPES at Quansah on here over the last 24 hours.

I thought he was good yesterday. Brighton attacked that right side a lot for the first hour especially, and overall himself and Bradley held up well. He's still green enough, and a fit Konate is critical to our chances, but credit to the lad. He's doing very well at a very elite level. Unlike at city or arsenal, he doesn't have 3 other centre backs and 2 holding midfielders protecting him, so he's done very well with what he's been asked to do IMHO.

I'd start Quansah against Sheff Utd to make sure Konate is fully fit for Sunday

My point is that it's by far the least threatening of our nine remaining fixtures. Obviously things could go wrong but if we don't beat them with a league title at stake, we just don't deserve to win it.

I seen that as well, now i did miss the first 25 mins of the game but i thought he did well for the rest of the game, maybe i missed him messing up in the first 25 mins?

City's only four losses this season have happened when the Rodri wasn't available. Players who get 10 yellow cards in their first 32 Premier League games get banned for two games. City have played 29 games so far. Rodri has eight yellow cards, and if he gets two more in City's next three games, he'll have to sit out for two games, which would be a massive blow to them, and a big plus for us. But seeing as Rodri seems to be immune from getting cards from Refs when he should, I'm 100% certain he won't be booked twice in next 3 games. How can I be 100% certain, I'm either psychic, or something stinks with the refs and City.

..

Fouls in both cases, no cards needed, win win :)

Which is a bit facetious of course - but if VAR could look at the Doku one and decide it wasn't even a foul, let alone a card, then it's an extra step to be giving a card to Macca for what you call a similar high boot.

Curtis Jones is back in full training this week afaik

'Arsenal held a five-point lead after game 29, they ultimately finished five points behind City.

History does at least provide a target to aim for. There have been five instances of a team holding no more
than a two-point advantage after game 29, who went on to win the title, and they all collected a
minimum of 20 points over the final nine games, with 22.4 the average.
The teams in this position who failed were Chelsea 12/13, and Manchester United two years earlier , who took no more than 19 points from the run-in.

So 20 points is at least a starting point for which to aim for in last 9 games '

Another new appointment looks likely.

He could be the replacement for Vitor Matos who has been responsible for the program to bring the best academy players through to the first team squad.

Apparently it's an FSG role related to the second club. Maybe they are looking at buying a Portuguese club?

Anthony Taylor, from 15 mins down the road from Old Trafford, appointed ref for Sunday. Ffs.

You wouldn't see Barca v Real Madrid ref'd by someone from Madrid.

It's mad that the PL put themselves into these situations. I'm not saying that Taylor will do something stupid or make a wrong decision on purpose but every decision he does make will get magnified more because of where he is from and who is playing.

Why isn't Oliver, or any referee not from Manchester or Liverpool taking charge of the game?

I can't imagine Ferguson putting up with this back in the 90's.

It's very unprofessional and a clear conflict of interest.

who said anything about a card? he just claimed it was a foul, which they both were.

Also I get that they're all hypotheticals and everyone's just gonna "but what about X incident" ad infinitum but I feel like there's a difference between "If it was a foul and if there was a yellow card given then that player could be suspended for the following game which may influence the result"

versus

"If we got a penalty in the final minute of a 1-1 game against our title rivals"

Generally, no (though obviously we're not one hive mind)

I think most fans of all teams agree that refereeing is an utter farce at the moment. We've been affected by three very significant calls - the VAR communication mixup against Spurs which likely cost us 3pts, the Odegaard handball against Arsenal which is arguably a 3pt swing with them, and the Doku penalty call, which is also a three point swing

I genuinely don't think any fan of any team would argue in good faith that they were correct decisions, and if you reverse them you're probably looking at us having a ten point lead, so it's massively significant

Obviously other teams have had bad calls, we've had some lucky calls (though I honestly can't think of many) but those three really stand out

Corrupt? I don't think so, I just think the implementation of VAR is utterly inept. The mistake against Spurs highlighted how uncoordinated and unprofessional they are, they other two highlighted how their plan A is to agree with the ref, protect their mate, rather than aim for the correct decision

Add to all of that that refs are flying off to the middle east on lucrative side contracts where they're being paid by City's owners and you can see why people call foul. But, at best (and, I think, most likely) they're just not doing their job well at all, and it's disproportionately affected us compared to City and Arsenal this season