Arne Slot given no credit for Liverpool title; Salah is a ‘cheat code’

All Arne Slot did was not cock things up and watch on as Mo Salah won the title, apparently. But is this a ‘one and done’ title?

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Credit where credit is due
And it’s not due for Slot. Come on! Klopp would have walked the league with this Liverpool side. Even Ten Hag would have mostly won the league with Liverpool. Sure, Slot did not f*** things up, and is doing the best he can with what he has. And for that, you gotta give some credit, but not for the title.

In the end, there is just 1 reason that Liverpool are going to win the title, and it is because of one of the best, most consistent and underrated players of the world, Mo Salah. Underrated because you don’t see him talked in the same line as Mbappe, Lewa, Haaland Vinicius et al, but he is miles ahead of them and has done it in a bigger league, against the best of them and in a consistent manner.

Without Salah, Liverpool don’t finish in the top 3. I read somewhere that he is directly responsible for 31 points for Liverpool this season. Which is an insane stat. I truly wish that we (Manchester United) can get a player that is half as talented and dedicated as Mo Salah some day soon. He is a cheat code to win.

On the other hand, may he retire soon and his form drop off a cliff next year. I’ve hated to see him win things for Liverpool but I love to watch him play. No one else genuinely compares. He is the one player I wish never came into the Premier League. Ever. The best I have seen in over 25 years of watching football other than 2008 Ronaldo at MUFC.

Also, the reason that the title is all done and dusted in Feb, and Liverpool fans are feeling a sense of calm is that there is no City chasing them. It’s Arsenal, who are never in their entire lifetime going to be able to close a 11 point lead. They are perennial losers, and if Liverpool lose 5 matches, Arsenal will somehow manage to lose 6. So stay stress free. The title is yours. Well done.
Aman

Big Midweek: Tottenham v Man City, Mo Salah, Man United, Arteta, Barcelona v Atletico Madrid

One and done?
Liverpool’s inexorable march to the title reminds me quite a lot of Fergie’s last title win at United. That too was a once-great side, going to the well again and coming up big, powered by a world-class forward on a singular mission to the deliver the crown. That season too, the title was pretty obviously only going to one place by Xmas, in large part because all the competition were total dreck.

What I do find interesting though is how this throws forward. My response (perhaps optimistically as a United fan) has been that this is a bit of a ‘one and done’ title.

Both Liverpool’s fullbacks, for different reasons, will need replacing, Van Dijk is getting to that age where they’ll need to start picking and choosing his games, Alisson is starting to creak and Salah is either going or not going to be as productive next season (not a sleight, he’s set the bar daftly high this season). As such, a regression to the top four chasing pack feels inevitable, however…

I don’t see where the improvement in the competition is going to come from. City and Pep look done, and I don’t think he or they can fix it in a single summer, charges or not. There’s just too many major cogs (de Bruyne, Stones, Silva, Ederson to name just four) that need replacing. Arsenal feel like they’ve missed their chance under Arteta. I might be wrong, but I think the process might have just about run its course. Beyond that, it’s the circus/clown show/exploding bin fire (delete as applicable) trio of Chelsea, Spurs and United.

What does that mean? Possibly a return to normality for a season or two. After the nonsense of the 95+ points minimum seasons we’ve had under Pep and Klopp, things might go back to how they were; low to mid 80s being enough to the win the title. Not every single dropped point being cause for panic or inquest. Given the strength of the teams below, like Newcastle, Villa, Brentford, Bournemouth and Brighton, it feels eminently possible. I hope so, because for all the setting of new standards, it’s been bloody boring.
Lewis, Busby Way

MEDIAWATCH: Liverpool have won ‘stagnant league’ but Salah a ‘shoe-in’ for Ballon d’Or

Liverpool have had loads of injuries too
I’ve seen multiple teams fans talk of injuries.

Lots of teams have lost key players to injuries this season, which has affected their form and play. City, Arsenal, Spurs fans have been the most vocal on the topic of injuries and they have a point that they have lost key players to injury.

This has also been cited as one of the reasons for Liverpool strolling to a title (probably) all these teams had injuries and lucky Liverpool didn’t have any.

Except for the first third to half of the season Liverpool played with their back-up keeper, had no left back and when they did come back they’ve both been very poor, both right backs in and out with injuries forcing Quansah (a CB) to fill in there, Konate, Gomez all constantly in and out the team as well

I could also mention Jones, Diaz, Gakpo and McAllister have all had time on the sidelines too. The reason nobody talks about Liverpool’s injuries is because we carried on winning anyway. If City win every game without Rodri nobody mentions their injuries either.

There is also the constant narrative that take Van Dijk and Salah out we win nothing. Well yeah, obvious. Take Henry and Vieira out of Arsenal they win nothing. Take Ronaldo and Modric out of Madrid they win nothing. In fact take any team’s best players out and they win nothing. What is that comment supposed to mean? It’s ludicrous to say “well if we take away your best players you’d be nothing mate!” Of course. But the same is true of literally any team in football history.

Further on the topic of Salah I’ve seen people suggest we are a one man team because he scores and assists most of the goals. Were Barca a one man team when Messi did that? How about Arsenal when Henry did that? If you’re finding yourself making excuses for other teams and only applying that to Liverpool perhaps you have a bias. But even if it were true you’re basically admitting Salah is the best player who ever existed because he can single handedly beat 11 players on his own.

Salah is hugely important , nobody is denying that. But he doesn’t score those goals without the rest of the team playing the way we do. If you don’t believe me then ask why he didn’t single handedly win us the title in any of the years we didn’t win it?
Lee

Too big to go down?
Firstly, there is no team in the land I’d rather beat to the title on the final day of the season than Manchester United (preferably by a fluke own goal in the 95th min). They inflicted deep cuts on my young and fragile mind during the nineties and noughties. Hell of a team, one f***ing hell of a manager.

Rather go toe to toe with them than Man City or Chelsea. No offence to those clubs or their fans, not your fault. Just how it is and always will be. Buy your place at the table with dirty money, you’ll always be regarded in a certain way.

How big does a club have to be to not go down though? There are warning signs from history…

Imagine Gary Neville trying desperately to justify that Utd are still the biggest club in Europe while they fight for fourth spot in the Championship. It would be glorious and hilarious.

The red flags are writ large across Old Trafford these days (as Johnny Nic laid out eloquently). Discontent at the rift between (various different strands of) ownership and fans is obvious and palpable.

Amorim seems like a proper manager, I find myself liking him. Yet, he is hamstrung by previous costly mistakes and is already issuing warnings that Man United (f***ing Man United?!) have to sell before they can buy in the summer. I’m no financial expert, but even given the profligacy of recent years… “no money” seems utterly insane.

For what it’s worth, I reckon the new manager will get a few hungry kids in to get a tune out of and start turning it around next year. Challenge for the lower European places at least.

Maintain this current form though, or even have a dip… ? Anyone over 20 who isn’t a Utd fan will be pissing themselves laughing (and we’ll explain why to the kids).

And I’ll, reluctantly, wait at least another two seasons to beat them to the title on the last day by a flukey own goal.
Spoons, Lfc

Ratcliffe: Another billionaire d***
Enjoyed John Nicholson’s Ratcliffe rant, although a bit disappointed he didn’t conclude with a “you’ll be hanging from the lamppost” prophecy.

I suppose it’s no surprise that Sir Jim has turned out to be just another billionaire d*ck, in fact an almost perfect example of the type. But even Manchester United fans had a right to be hopeful. Without hope there’s no point in football.

One striking thing about the Ratcliffe regime is its utter utter failure in public relations. Billionaires tend not to worry about such matters, since they normally don’t need to think about the little people. But football fans are supporters, not customers, and those two things are worlds apart. INEOS is as opaque in their approach as they can possibly be, where exactly the opposite is needed.

I’m a neutral where United is concerned, but if it were my club, I’d feel a lot better if Ratcliffe or some minion were to speak frankly with fans on a regular basis, explaining the financial situation in detail, talking about limitations and possibilities, and generally giving supporters a feeling that we’re all in this together.

But that would mean not being a d*ck, and that may be beyond Ratcliffe’s capabilities.
Peter G, Pennsylvania, USA (give Amorim at least a full 2025/6)

Show some respect, John…
Huge disrespect shown by John Nicholson to the Man United players in his recent article. John suggests that they should go on strike until Radcliffe is gone. John, do you not realise that these brave boys have been withdrawing their labour ever since Radcliffe took over? They’re fighting the good fight, attempting to slay the capitalist behemoth from the inside.

Every week they are out on the pitch, hammering the machine and tearing down the very walls of the system. They won’t rest until Man United are lingering in the depths of the Championship, before a new red flag is raised above the Theatre of Dreams. So show some respect John, don’t dismiss the efforts of these brave boys. They have been on strike for the past 18 months.
Mike, LFC, Dubai

Coming back to Dave…
A response to Dave from this morning’s mailbox.

Sure perhaps the club needed streamlining. But suggesting that the cuts that are being made are going to keep the club sustainable for the future are ridiculous.

Do you know what would have saved the club much more money? Not massively over paying for players. Not massively over paying players. Not extending manager contracts and then having to pay them off. Having to pay off another club for their manager. Having to pay off Newcastle for Ashworth, only to then pay off Ashworth months later.

The reason people are pissed is that the true reason the club are in such a state is incredibly bad decision making. And while people on less than 30k a year are loosing their jobs, the failing board, failing players and failing managers all continue to earn millions.

The cuts INEOS are making will save maybe 15 million. That’s how much they paid for Amorim. That’s less than a quarter of what they paid for Antony. Do you get where I’m going with this?

If INEOS weren’t f**king up so badly they wouldn’t need to cut 450 jobs and turn Carrington into a literal soup kitchen.
Will

…I get where Dave is coming from re the latest decimation of ordinary people at Manchester United. It is necessary for cold, amoral businesses to make cold, amoral decisions from time to time. It’s a symptom of capitalism, a credo that looks likely to strengthen its stranglehold on the general public for the foreseeable future. Ratcliffe can see the books, and clearly he doesn’t like what he sees, so he is sacking another 200 people.

What Dave might be missing here is that the same Ratcliffe gave a contract extension to a moribund manager, who had been misfiring (save the odd cup) and had a year left to try and demonstrate that he was the man for the job. What did they think, that he would be whisked away by another club?

And then there was Dan Ashworth, who may have left early into his tenure because he did not support the appointment of Ten Hag’s replacement, a manager whose tactical instransigence has taken the team into an appalling tailspin.

To get rid of Ashworth, Ten Hag, and his staff cost £14.5m, or to put it another way, the average salary of about 315 people.

Let’s not even mention the £200m that they spanked on players in the close season. Some may come good, of course, but some are clearly doomed to failure already.

So while Dave is correct to point out that these cold, amoral decisions do indeed have to made on occasion, he is missing the part where this cost cutting is necessary because of dreadful (and somewhat incomprehensible) mistakes made by the very man who is now putting ordinary servants to the club the sword that he sharpened.

United are fecked. The Glazers fecked them, and now the apparent saviour appointed to circumnavigate the business practices is fecking them.

All Ratcliffe knows is figures. He hasn’t got a clue how to run a football club, but people like Dave can’t seem to see that, in fact he still talks about him like his is the club saviour. He clearly isn’t.

I’m not even sure I’m enjoying it any more. It’s a parable for the interesting times that we are living in.
Mat (I see Arsenal fans are still losing their minds in the letters and comments)

…I read Dave, Manchester’s mail about how people should both accept the removal of job perks (like free meals and travel to away games etc) and also criticise it at the same time. I’ve no desire to get into an argument with Dave about his points, but I’d like to make a point in return: Ratcliffe is cutting costs all over the place that will largely mostly affect the salaried workers to save Utd from financial ruin. What about the £14million spaffed up the wall – by Big Jim – to pay off Ten Hag’s contract? How many free canteen meals would that have paid for? How much smaller a dividend are the Glazers now taking to help the club?

You can’t screw over the common person in the name of saving the club whilst still spending/wasting and pocketing vast sums of money. Whether or not most normal businesses would even have those employee benefits is irrelevant – Utd did but have removed most of them and sacked staff so they can continue throwing millions down the shitter on over-inflated player fees and wages.

I’m a Liverpool fan and the football side of me is loving the calamity that is Utd these day, but as a fairly mature (in age at least) adult, what Ratcliffe is doing is wrong and he is a huge cockwomble for doing it.

I’m sorry you’ve suffered redundancy Dave, but that in way means Ratcliffe is in the right and the staff at Old Trafford should just accept it. ”Oh well, redundancies happen in the ‘normal’ world, I’m sure I can make a living on OF.”
”I doubt it, Alex”
Clive (LFC)

System of a down
Just to come back on Jeremy Aves’s mail, I take your point Jez and bow to your superior wisdom on Colchester Utd’s folly a couple of years back. There are certain styles/systems that some players might struggle with, and you have given some fine examples. But we’re talking about footballers at the highest level, being asked to shift from a back four to a back three and, you know, keep the ball a bit rather than running around like a bunch of headless chickens.

The main difference is in central defence. Modern day FBs are basically wingbacks anyway, Amorim plays with two CMs, two number 10s who have license to roam, and a number 9 – these are not outlandish positions. The likes of Garnacho and Zirkzee are actually showing some signs of improvement in the 10 – arguably Zirkzee’s best position and Garnacho can float wide into space. Amad has been great in there all season (and at WB). As for the back three, this suits Maguire who has played there for England. There should be no reason why top CBs cannot play in a three; a high line in a two for a CB without pace would be an issue (as you pointed out re Terry in his later career), depending on how good the cover is.

As for Teddy Sheringham, oh if only we had him now as one of our 10s (or even better, can you imagine Cantona in there?!!), he may not have filled the Henry role too well but stick him in the Bergkamp role and he would fit right into that system. So, I suppose the point is yes certain players will never fill certain roles. But at the very least we should expect defenders to be able to defend and attackers to be able to hit a barn door – the system itself doesn’t change that!
Garey Vance, MUFC

Arse Ham?
Having seen yet another season of abject failure in North London maybe it’s time for ARSEnal and TottenHAM to merge into one club and become ‘Arse Ham’.

Arsenal have only won 1 trophy in the last 8 years, Spurs 1 in the last 26. Surely it’s time to call it a day?

A combined 120,000 watch these muppets pretending to be elite footballers week in week out in a grand exercise in metropolitan futility.

Both clubs need to accept that occasionally being quite good is not worth anything in football. Both clubs are an embarassment to the city of London. Arsenal are the 3rd biggest club in England but have won just 6 league titles in 72 years and have a paltry Cup Winners Cup to show for scores of catastrophic surrenders in Europe (sorry but the Fairs cup is not recognised by UEFA). Arsenal’s choking bottlers have lost 4 out of 5 European finals. In contrast Liverpool have 9 major European trophies, Chelsea have 6, Man U 5 and even Spurs have 3!!!

Surely a new merged club of ‘Arse Ham’ would bring the trophies London has been lacking since Chelsea went down the toilet. It’s the only way North London will see any kind of success during the remaining 75 years of the 21st century.

Make it happen Stan and Dan!!!
Ben Teacher