Was Jurgen Klopp guilty of a clusterf**k with that Liverpool midfield v Manchester United?

Liverpool were rotten and it’s Jurgen Klopp who gets the blame after that sh*tshow on Monday night.

Send your views on this or any other subject to theeditor@football365.com

Klopp got it wrong but this is not a crisis
Oh Jesus, I really didn’t want to respond to that shit show tonight, but then I had to read an email from Knob, Dorset who hasn’t been seen in this mailbox since July, spouting about lucky Liverpool but still doesn’t actually say who he supports, riled me!

Your saltiness over your hatred for Liverpool is hilarious.

Let’s be clear, Liverpool haven’t shown up in the first three games, and playing Hendo and Milner was an absolute clusterf**k by Klopp. I’d have much rather he played Carvalho from the start, and maybe brought on some of the kids, but he didn’t.

How Fernandes didn’t get a second yellow after we scored I just don’t know. Oliver bottled it.

But, I’ve just read some comments below the mailbox which I agree with, namely Robbo has been stinking out this team, not only this season, but the end of last, and I think it’s time for the Greek Scouser to get a run in this team.

I’m not totally disheartened because we’re three games in, and have all our injured players to come back, as well as Nunez after his brain freeze last week.

Anyway, to United Supporters attacking a coach full of children going to watch your team, and chanting murderers at them, hold your heads in shame!

And for the no doubt emails from BadWolf and Super Sancho creaming themselves over the mighty United win, come back and talk to me in May.

And as for you Knob, Dorset, the mailbox is a better place without you!
Gronk (LFC)

Jurgen Klopp got it wrong
Kudos to ETH and his team.

But I believe Klopp’s team selection is our problem right now.

Yeah, the injury list is a long one.

But how do you explain starting Nat Phillips ahead of Joe Gomez against a team with a player like Zaha.

And today you’re starting Milner ahead of Fabinho against a team that will look to exploit your high line.

The most annoying thing is at half time, Klopp could have rectified that mistake, but he waited till when United were two up.
MICHAEL ETENG (CRS, NIGERIA)

Is it the shirt?
Disappointed that the better team won on the night.

A minor plus is that Carvalho and Elliot are continuing to show promise.

I noticed that if you stare long enough at the away jersey, you suddenly get a queasy feeling and the realization that it’s possibly causing our players to fall over.
DC (LFC)

A slow decline from Liverpool?
Watching the game last night (Man Utd took on Liverpool), I couldn’t help but be reminded of the 1-1 draw at Old Trafford between the two sides in October 2019. That afternoon, Liverpool were sluggish, United were organised and worked hard, sitting deep and breaking behind the Liverpool full backs to great effect- taking the lead through Rashford early on.

As the game wore on, Liverpool improved, and equalised through Adam Lallana, and went on to win the league.

Last night’s game had a similar feel, and very similar stats (especially possession, pass accuracy and total passes) .

But United won this time – so what’s changed? United are largely back where they were in October 2019-capable of giving a fighting, organised performance, forced to take a defensive posture against top teams, good on the break- so United have at best, been running to stand still for nearly 3 years.

Have Liverpool regressed? From that peak, probably, as they were arguably the best team in the world during that period. This (very small) decline normally doesn’t manifest itself against the likes of Southampton, but last season Liverpool failed to beat Chelsea in four attempts, Spurs in two, & Real Madrid just the once. They haven’t beaten City in the league since 2019.

This drop-off, small as it is, might make the difference between losing at Old Trafford and nicking a draw, or winning the quadruple, or falling just short.

You’d hope that this awful start is just an aberration, and not the acceleration of a slow, gradual decline, finally picking up pace.
Bryan Stokes

Congratulations Burnley
Sh*thouse your way through the second half when you’re ahead in the game, deservedly so to be fair, Liverpool were shit.

Biggest club in the world by your own admission but fake cramps and fake head injury from 50 minutes.

Pathetic.

How did your part-time protest get on? Let’s see if the media (Ahem 365) report fans throwing missiles at buses?
James Outram, Wirral

Wait, that was good from Manchester United
I’m not getting giddy as I know it was only Liverpool but, E110%H really is stamping his mark on this team. Brave selection, good spirit, plenty of energy, fight and, most of all, a desire to win. Again, it was only Liverpool but, nice to see for a change.
SB, Formentera

…3 points on the board, the first win of the season, 6 points behind the leaders, we’re back in the title race. Oh, and we leapfrog LFC in the table, as promised. Casemiro>Thiago. We’re back.
Melveaux

Lovely green shoots
Well, I said they were there for the taking. I prayed we’d pair Varane and Martinez (still too small?), I believed Malacia would keep TTA on his toes, I argued that McTominay was good enough and would pair nicely with Eriksen, I advised people to wait before saying Sancho was a failure, and I’ve defended Rashford against the ridiculous narrative that he was done and should be binned off.

Bruno proved me wrong, and I’m delighted about it. That’s what captaining is about. Communicating, leading from the front. Just cut out the diving and own goal attempts and you’re gravy.

Today, we saw what should be, and what can be if we stop playing the problem players, Maguire in particular but also Ronaldo.

Sure, like I said before, Liverpool were in a weakened state. Two main strikers down, an aging midfield from those that are fit (Elliot is a lovely player though, big fan) and a defence that’s ripe for picking with pace. That’s not our problem, of course. We’ve got a squad with a number of players who might as well be injured, so on balance it evens out.

But for the first time in a very long time, we looked like a team, rather than a collection of individuals waiting for someone to take a leadership role. I’m glad it was against Liverpool, but I’m just mostly glad to see it, full stop. Fizzing, I am.

And finally, thanks Salah for getting a goal to make all three of my players in the match get me points.
Badwolf (which way doth thy narrative point today?)

Garey Vance would like you all to read a mail he sent last Tuesday…
Jamie Carragher doesn’t think Lisandro Martinez can play CB in a back 4 in the PL on the basis of one fairly weak aerial display against Brentford. I vividly remember Carragher having some absolute nightmares but that’s besides the point. Taking the game on Saturday, Martinez was only partially to blame for one goal (the third), and I say partially because two United players were sleeping and out-jumped at the back post before Martinez failed to attack the ball with any conviction.

I’m pretty sure his lack of height hasn’t just occurred since he moved to Utd. In fact, I’d wager he has been this height for a while. Do people think that every other league is full of diminutive strikers? Or perhaps it’s only in the PL that people have the coaching nous and genius plan to target the smaller CB in the air? Or just maybe he has been overcoming his lack of height since he started playing and has made a bloody successful career out of it so far.

Last season in the Erdivisie he faced 4.7 aerial duels per game and won 3.3 of those (70%). To give a flavour of how this compares to some of those in the PL (aka the land of the giants):
– Tarkowski faced 6.2 and won 4.4 (71%);
– Duffy 5.1, won 3.6 (71%);
– Matip 5.2, won 3.5 (67%);
– VVD 4.4 and won 3.4 (77%);
– P Jansson 5 and won 2.8 (56%); and
– Maguire 3.4 and won 2.5 (74%).

So you can see that Martinez is not awful when it comes to aerial duels, in fact he is putting up decent numbers. And how many PL teams have strikers that are known for their aerial threat/prowess? It’s not like he’ll be coming up against Les Ferdinand or Big Dunc every week!

To finish off, I have a question for Carragher. Would one of the greatest CBs of all time, the last defender to win the ballon d’or, have been too small to play in the PL too? Because Cannavaro is only 1cm taller than Martinez and, no offence, at least ten times the player you were Jamie. So maybe give the guy a chance, although obviously Carragher won’t as he has an ulterior motive. As does Souness when he says he suggests Ten Hag could be sacked after 3 games. Wise up.
Garey Vance, MUFC