Mediawatch: Klopp struggling under Liverpool pressure?

Daniel Storey

Another new low?
Maybe, yes. You see The Sun have signed up Amy Christophers as a sports columnist. Mediawatch was not aware of Christophers prior to Wednesday, but she is described in The Sun’s own bio as a ‘former model-turned-sports journalist’.

So a sports journalist, then. Nobody describes Mediawatch as a ‘former administration assistant-turned-writer’, so why is Christophers’ former job important?

Well, you see why it’s important as soon as you go to The Sun’s football homepage, where Christophers’ column sits at the very top. It’s about the debate over Shahid Khan’s potential purchase of Wembley Stadium, and the potential investment in grassroots football.

Unfortunately, The Sun have included a small picture of Wembley surrounded by two larger pictures of Christophers, the piece’s author, in model shots. Click into the piece, and the first photo is also of Christophers in a similar pose. Of the five images in the article, five are of its author. A reminder: Christophers is no longer a model.

Mediawatch looks forward to this new era of Sun journalism, where they champion the image of their columnists rather than the pieces themselves. We’ve long thought about David Kidd in a mankini and Charlie Wyett topless with his finger in his mouth, so we’re all winning.

But seriously, what an absolute d*ck move. Giving work to someone attempting to forge their path as a sports journalist (in a world where chauvinism still reigns supreme) only to plaster pictures of them in various states in undress in order to sell the piece. It sells the image that women only have merit in this industry if they are considered attractive, and therefore marketable, by the men who employ them.

Mediawatch often gets p*ssy about things that don’t really matter. This does.

 

It’s all going wrong
You have to hand it to The Sun’s Neil Ashton, who listened to some pretty normal quotes from Jurgen Klopp in his pre-match press conference and decided that Klopp and Liverpool are in big trouble.

There’s no doubt that Zeljko Buvac’s absence comes at an inopportune time, but Ashton lays it on majestically thick. Nobody else in the same press conference seems to have got the same bad news memo as him:

‘Jurgen Strop’

‘Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp so moody’

‘Anfield chief was a different man without the Bosnian Serb coach’

‘Jurgen Klopp must walk alone at least for now when it comes to making the decisions – and he did not seem too happy about it’

‘Klopp, usually so happy to play up to the cameras, was in the mother of all moods’

‘…it is all gnawing away at him’

‘the pressure of the job looked like it was getting to him’

‘Klopp is feeling the pinch.’

A reminder: Liverpool have lost one of their last 17 matches and take a three-goal lead into the second leg of their Champions League semi-final.

 

On the same page
Ashton’s ‘woe is me’ piece on Jurgen Klopp is given a double-page spread on the inside back page in The Sun. The back page is given to football editor Charlie Wyett, he of the finger in mouth dream.

Wyett’s take on Klopp’s ‘strop’?

‘Jurgen Klopp believes his Liverpool gladiators are ready to go into battle and conquer Rome tonight. Ahead of tonight’s second leg, boss Klopp declared: “We will be ready. We are here to fight for our dreams.”’

You should probably have told your colleague, Charlie.

 

‘Formidable’
‘Bailly was in the frame for United’s next game against West Brom but was feeling unwell the day before the game and told by the club doctor to go home. Since then, Bailly has not been involved and his omission from the squad to face Arsenal raised eyebrows among his team mates and set off alarm bells among the fans.

‘Bailly was one of Mourinho’s stand out performers in his first season at Old Trafford but this term has been disrupted by injury and Phil Jones and Chris Smalling have formed a formidable defensive partnership in recent games’ – John Cross, Daily Mirror.

Jones and Smalling have started four matches together in just over four months; Manchester United lost two of those games and only kept a clean sheet in one. Formidable? Hardly.

 

Something wrong
“I think when a goalkeeper is a player of the season, it’s because something is wrong. Of course I would love goalkeepers to be recognised, to win the golden ball (Ballon d’Or), to be player of season in the Premier League because goalkeepers are lonely guys with a different shirt to everybody else.

“When they play phenomenal people forget, when they make a mistake, everyone remembers. That’s why I hugged David at the end of the West Ham game because no save, Antonio goal, no three points.

“Season after season the goalkeeper is player of the season, it means that something is wrong. Hopefully he’s not player of the season this season but hopefully he keeps making important saves for us like he did in last week” – Jose Mourinho, January 2017.

‘David De Gea has been crowned the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year for 2017/18. The coveted award is certainly in safe hands as the Spanish stopper has now won it more times than any other player in United’s history. It’s the fourth time in five seasons that De Gea has claimed the historic accolade.

‘There were more than 107,000 votes, with De Gea receiving two thirds of the final count (67 per cent). Jesse Lingard came second (10 per cent), while Romelu Lukaku was a close third (eight per cent).’ – ManUtd.com, May 2018.

Ah.

 

Keep following
Writes guest columnist Lothar Matthaus in The Sun:

‘I HAVE followed Edin Dzeko since he was in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim. He is an old-generation striker. He is not small and a speed machine but he is a good football player who can take the ball on the move and get into the areas that matter.’

Only problem: Dzeko has never played for Hoffenheim.

 

‘Just days’
‘Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson puts rivalries aside as he invites Pep Guardiola out for dinner… just days after his old club had handed title on a plate to Manchester City!’ – MailOnline.

It’s almost as if people can be humans outside of a football rivalry. Weirdos.

 

And again…
‘A Tottenham-supporting policeman put aside bitter club rivalries on Tuesday night, when he tracked down the stolen car of Arsenal icon Ian Wright’ – MailOnline.

It’s almost as if people can be humans outside of a football rivalry. Weirdos.

 

As easy as that
‘Liverpool transfer news: Alan Shearer predicts where Mohamed Salah will be next season’ – Express Sport.

Liverpool.

 

Recommended reading of the day
Ewan Murray on Steven Gerrard at Rangers.

Adam Bate with Simon Cox.

Rahman Osman with Thomas Partey.

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