Liverpool ‘Clown Car’ arrives on schedule as European Super League is re-evaluated

Liverpool are a clown car, Manchester United are a car crash, and maybe the European Super League wasn’t such a bad idea after all. There’s even a defence of Ange Postecoglou in a proper Makes You Think box of mails.

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Re-evaluating the Super League
I think it is fair to say that there has been a lot of dissatisfaction with the Premier League this season. Liverpool and Forest will be having a great time, but for the most part it has been staid, boring, robotic and predictable.

VAR dominates discussion, men in middle age cosplay as club cheerleaders giving “analysis” on the main broadcasters where content is king, match going fans are getting fleeced more than ever before, officiating has never been worse, quiet stadia across the land and players who have played too much football, leading to injury and knackered players, therefore diminishing “the product”.

Astonishingly, I am starting to believe that we would all be better off if the European Super League had gone ahead.

We are told that the domestic cups don’t matter anymore (haha look at little Newcastle parade the League cup lol pmsl rofl etc), we know that City will be back to win every title in the next 5 years after this slump (oh look, PSG stormed to the title again. What a coincidence that these state funded clubs keep achieving such unprecedented success eh?!), relegation is a formality for the promoted teams (and universally, fans of all promoted teams start to miss the championship after a few months bobbing about in the “best League in the World”), and the hardcore supporters of clubs are being priced out more than ever, with owners preferring  day trippers who want an experience and will spend hundreds on their big day out in the club shop (get ready for NFL style pricing in the next decade for seats at the “Big 6” clubs).

Top flight football in England is lifeless and soulless, its roots torn up in order to build a soccer theme park.

So the next time the Super League rolls around, let those selected clubs (one of which I support and have been a season ticket holder at for decades) join the circus. Who knows, there might be fewer games, and with no relegation the teams might be inclined to attack more? The Champions League is entertaining week in week out – maybe we should give it a go?

If those teams left the Premier League, then football in England would need to get itself in order and work out how to distinguish itself. How about cheaper tickets to encourage full stadia (the plastics will be off the to the Super League) and therefore get the atmosphere back? Scrap VAR – that is for the mechanical and robotic copy of football in the Super League. And anyone can win the league – it is an open book! Viewers will love the unpredictability.  Right now, Forest and Villa would be battling it out for a title, whilst you only need to look at how fun the FA Cup semis are this year (with one obvious exception).

All the fears that people had about the Super League – no excitement, no atmosphere, money being too important, diminishing of achievements, greedy owners, too predictable, scrapping of tradition – are all already rooted in the Premier League right now. The only way to save top flight Premier League Football is the introduction of the Super League.
John (too many brackets in the main text already) Foster, Brighton.

A wing and a prayer
The current situation at Manchester United remains fairly extraordinary, to me at least. Yes, things have improved in some areas and it’s starting to take some sort of shape, with the same issues clear to see.

However, colour me naive, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a club appoint a manager who so misaligns with the strengths of a squad to the degree that the best players in that squad become redundant and sold.

A manager is important but surely so is building around your best players. This is not the same as a manager not rating a player, because that happens all the time. But Amorim has no use for an entire position – wingers – which has been one of the things United have long been associated with. We started the season with four; by the end of the season we’ll have one who has been moved to play as a 10.

There is no doubt that Garnacho and Rashford (and indeed the flying Antony) don’t suit Amorim’s formation. But it’s hard to really say Amorim suits United either. Instead of flying wingers who are free to attack, we have wing backs with very specific remits. Instead of an extra attacker we have an extra central defender. When looked at like that, it’s a pretty negative system-focused set-up. And in the process, we lost a lot of the potential attacking threat. Is it old fashioned? Maybe. But as other discourse has identified, the tide turn against systems may be coming.

As much as I don’t rate Garnacho in this system, I don’t rate the system more than I don’t rate the player(s).

Even though I have faith that this will come to a level of good, this feels like the same level of seismic screw-up that appointing a mid-table manager to take over a league winning side was; a move that did more to destroy United than Club 115 ever could.

And, if it doesn’t work out and win leagues – literally the stated objective – the squad will be left without any players in probably the most in-demand and expensive position to replace that virtually every other manager requires.

I’m at an age where I can step back and watch this play out without losing sleep over it. Which is handy, because I fancy we’re in for a drawn-out car crash.
Badwolf 

Liverpool Clown Car
So the clown car finally arrived *checks watch* on matchday 31. I want to say, “Told you so,” but instead I’m gonna say, “Told you so.”

Matchday 31 is the point where we fall off, like last season, snatch draws and defeats, and the challenge ends. This season has more drama, can Arsenal make up the points or will Liverpool fall faster. Stay tuned!

The jury’s still out on Slot. Positives – warra first year, eh? New league, aced the exam. Reinvented Gravenberch. Negatives? Uses the same players til they drop. No rotation. Zero trust in non-first 11. No clear style of play. Hail Mary’s have no strategy nor plan. No man management.

Sure, a handful of you may disagree, but poke holes in what I said rather than, “We’re in first place y’know.” Through stubbornness, a lack of imagination and not fully utilizing the squad, we have lost to PSG, lost the League Cup Final and now lost to Fulham. The first 2 losses killed dreams, let’s hope this 3rd one does not.

FSG cheaping out on signings are coming back to bite us, but who’s to say Slot will use dem new signings anyways. Thank God Arsenal is still in the Champions League, hope they will take their eye off the ball for at least 2 games.

We ain’t win nothin’ yet.
Vinnie Pee

In defence of Ange
I read the mailbox headlined Even Postecoglou fans want ‘Ange Out’ as Spurs belief evaporates and felt moved to offer an argument for keeping him.

Firstly, the injuries. They’ve broken our season. We lost our keeper, our defence, half of our midfield and our main striker. No team would have done well in those conditions.

Secondly, it is not Ange’s fault that Kane is gone and Son is an aging shadow of his glory years. I love Son, but it’s time to move him on.

Thirdly, even if we’ve underachieved this season, I don’t think we’d ever be in the conversation for top four, measured against Liverpool, Arsenal, City, a Forest team that have been outstanding, and with Newcastle and Chelsea improving. Best case scenario, this Tottenham squad is seventh.

Finally, I approve of the focus on youth buying and development, Bergvall et al. These things take time.

Give Ange another season. Let him build. Be patient as we transition from the Kane/Son/Lloris era.
Sam E