Jota yes…but let’s talk about this Liverpool midfield…

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Oh Diogo
Can I just say what’s on everybody’s mind?

Diogo Jota, W.H.A.T. A. S.I.G.N.I.N.G.

Can see Firmino returning to Bundesliga or being unveiled by Ancelotti as Everton’s new signing come next season….
Raúl H. García (Strictly business Bob!) LFC YNWA-1892

 

Liverpool in control again
As a Liverpool fan it would be easy for me to gush over the performance last night and in particular the star names, but it was also great to see the clean sheet. This mail was also partly inspired by the Troy Deeney/Neil Custis ‘third best defence in the league’ thing. Had Liverpool had a different 6 people in front of them, who weren’t able to protect them the same way, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have a clean sheet in the Atalanta game. This is why defending a player (Maguire in the above case) on the basis of how many goals they concede in a season is just plain ignorant. So much of those statistics depends upon what is happening in front of them. If your team sits really tight in front of you, then that really helps those defenders with a turning circle like the Lucitania. If, on the other hand you dominate possession, and make it hard for the opposition forward players to get a chance even to look up when in control of the ball, you get a performance like Liverpool put in against Atalanta.

The three central midfielders – as so often for Liverpool – was the lynch-pin for that performance. They used the ball intelligently, they closed down all of the passing angles for a team who are incredible at finding those angles, and they allowed the creative players to flourish, and pick the passes (and score the goals). This is why most Liverpool fans have just smiled and nodded when being told that their midfield is their weakest area. It’s the cornerstone that everything else is built from. Not to say Thiago doesn’t have us drooling in anticipation, but he is probably, after all, the best midfielder in the world.

It was really pleasing to see that level of control back to the side after having had it against Arsenal and Chelsea and then lost it again almost immediately after.
Greg, Taunton

 

Eight Liverpool conclusions
1. Where else to start but with Diogo Jota? I was delighted when we signed Jota, but I’d be a liar if I said to you I expected this much, this soon. I very much saw him as a back-up for the front 3 who could work his way into the first XI in a couple of years. That view has been blown out the water already, and Jota surely has to start against Man City now.

2. The man left out in that situation is obviously Firmino, and this clearly wasn’t a good night for him personally. His replacement was immense and when he did come on, he didn’t really contribute. All Liverpool fans love Bobby, but you have to pick on form, not favour, and Firmino just hasn’t been at it recently, either for his goalscoring or his link up play. No one is saying he is now Jota’s permanent back up, but for the next game I’d be amazed if Jota didn’t start.

3. Nat Phillips? Rhys Williams? Doesn’t matter. It’s a testament to both that they’ve managed to come into the team and look assured and composed. It will be interesting to see who Klopp goes with on Sunday, whether it’s one of these two or the returning Matip. If it is one of the youngsters, a full 90 minutes for each this week will have done them the world of good.

4. The fact that these young players can come into the team is a testament to Klopp. The atmosphere he creates is so positive for every one of his players. He never complains about injuries and never criticises the squad players a la Mourinho. Every single player is made to feel valued so when someone like Van Dijk is injured, whoever comes in to fill the spot feels trusted to do a job.

5. Speaking of Van Dijk, I think that tonight proved that the impact of his absence has been overstated. It’s not that he isn’t a hugely important player, he is. But the articles and pundits constantly state that he is Liverpool’s most important player. The one player that we can’t afford to lose. He isn’t. That’s Alisson. He was fantastic again tonight, making several important stops. But it’s more than that. He commands the defence, he generates confidence and he makes it so much easier for everyone else. If you offer me a team with a Van Dijkless back 4 with Alisson in goal, or our first choice back 4, playing in front of Adrian, that’s an easy choice. The Villa game should prove that point.

6. It’s fantastic to see the development of Curtis Jones. Trusted to start our two most difficult Champions League games and he is repaying Klopp’s trust. Clearly he still has lots of development to do, but he looks a real talent and really adds depth to the squad.

7. Speaking of squad depth, seeing Matip, Tsimikas and Keita on the bench was really encouraging. With Fabino and Thiago both looking likely to be available after the international break, the supposed injury crisis is looking like less and less of an issue.

8. For a group that looked tricky on paper, Liverpool are absolutely crushing it. Our two most difficult games are already out the way and we’ve won 3 from 3. Win one of our last 3 games and we’ll top the group. If we can do that against Atalanta in the next fixture, we’d be able to rest players in the last 3 games. That would be a real luxury in a highly contracted season.
Mike, LFC, London

 

And this Liverpool is missing two key players…
This is Liverpool in crisis. We’re missing the best centre-back in the world and one of the best defensive midfielders too. This side can only get better as the fluidity improves between that front three and as players like Jones acclimatise to being a part of the first XI in a proper way. Also we played a centre back tonight who has played more Champions League football than Premier League.

Jota was obviously sensational. I’d argue that he’s already looking like a bargain. I’m almost worried that clubs next summer will automatically ask for more money when we come in for players because they’ll assume Michael Edwards knows something they don’t.

Mané and Salah will be away for AfCON in January I think so this next two months has to be a period where Firmino gets some rest so that he can get back to his best when we need him most.

I wish we were playing the Man City that started this season. Over the past few weeks they’ve improved hugely so this weekend will be an enormous game and it’s still impossible to predict even with Liverpool looking very good today. It’s also very unlikely that they will play right into our hands the way Atalanta did today.
Minty, LFC

 

 

Pogba has fooled the whole world
First time I’ve written into you and I thought I would say what I really think regarding Paul Pogba.

It’s a cold, wet Sunday morning on a bumpy pitch that we have just had to remove a flock of sheep from. We all warm up as normal which means Guy, our chief skills man is in the centre circle doing his knock ups, round the worlds, catching it on his neck, letting the ball roll down his back before backheeling it back over his head and proceeding to do another 100 knock ups. The opposition look on in awe as his wizardry. It’s a scare tactic that we always used.

Then the game kicks off and Guy spends 90 minutes running around like a like he’s late for work and can’t find his car keys. Falling over, air kicks, hacking people down, passing to the old bloke by the corner flag who was only out walking his dog. We’ve all seen it, there is always that one player who when warming up, dazzles with his exceptional ball skills, only for the game to start and you realise why he is playing in league division useless. Sure he’ll bang in a worldy from 30 yards one day, but there is more chance of him banging in the back of his own net, or causing grievous bodily harm to some 16 year old who is only playing because his dad got too drunk the night before.

I honestly do believe this is exactly what Paul Pogba is. He is our Guy, looks great in training doing his keepy uppies, looks great in every non game situation, but put him in a game environment and, he is Guy. I don’t remember a single game where he has produced anything of note. People say the second half against City, which kinda says it all really. 45 minutes some 3 years ago is the highlight of his Man Utd career.
Yes he went away and won 4 league titles with Juventus, but, look at the Italian league and look at the players he was with. Have Juventus missed him at all? They still win the league without him so I guess not. Buffon raves about him and I can only guess that the actual standard of 95% of Serie A is the equivalent of our bottom half Championship/ league 1.

He was part of the French team that won the world cup, scored in the final. One of the worst quality world cups we have seen for a few decades I might add. Kleberson won the world cup and he wasn’t very good. An Italian in 1990 by the name of Schillachi lit up the World cup, named 2nd in the Ballon d’Or but was never even close to being World Class and was basically never heard from again in such glowing terms. Look at who Pogba was playing with, I could have played in that side and hid the fact that I have a metal rod in my left leg and duff knee in my right. It goes unnoticed if you are in a side full of stars, you too become a star with no substance or justification.

I even struggle to see a footballer in Pogba. In the four and bit years at Utd, he has fallen over quite a bit, I’m sure there is a Youtube clip of his first Manchester derby, stumbling over the ball like drunk falling in slow motion. He’s lost possession quite a lot on the edge of his own area, passed to a team mate more than 10 yards? not a lot. When ever he gets an assist the pundits go crazy saying it’s a world class pass. No, it’s just simply a pass that if a bloke from Fulham did the same then nothing would be said.

Gary Neville is losing the plot and dare I say it, even more respect with his admiration for him. Constantly saying that Utd need to get the best out of him because he is our only real world class player. Gary, what are you on about? How long have we got to wait before we see the real Paul Pogba? sadly I think we already have. If after so many years, you are still trying to find his best position then he obviously doesn’t have one. It’s like we are playing with 10 men every time he plays. Against Arsenal he was by far the worst player on the pitch and that’s without the school boy tackle for the penalty. We can all point fingers at Fred and McTominay saying they gave it away but you can at least see they were trying to play the ball forward. When you have Pogba just ambling around not giving you an outlet, it does limit your choices. I’m sure even Lindelof had a go at him on Sunday in the second half for not giving him an option. Pass it to Pogba though and you know he’s going to lose it by trying one of his telegraphed little flicks and turns. It’s actually quite embarrassing to watch. He should be embarrassed watching it back, game after game after game.

He must have the best PR and marketing team on the planet. They have taken this kid a few years ago and built him up into being a huge footballing god. It’s genius really. They have fooled us all. Would any side in the PL take Pogba on his Man Utd showings? He’s talking about going to Real Madrid, which is hilarious considering they are in a total mess right now and he would still struggle to get in the side. There is more chance in Utd, being the contract masters they are, giving him a new 4 year contract and coming out with the excuse of “It’s to preserve his market value.” A mind boggling thing to do considering he’d be on over a million a month in salary plus at least 3 points lost every 2 games he plays. Just cut the loses, because there will be a big one and get rid of him.

There is a clip of him when Utd played Derby. In the tunnel before the game, Rooney is there for Derby and Pogba is captain. There’s Pogba trying to laugh and joke with another Derby player and when he looks at Rooney as if to say Hello, Rooney totally ghosts him. You can just imagine what Rooney is thinking. “You’re Captain of Man Utd, you are about to go out and play for my old club, the club I hold the highest goal scoring record for, the club I almost played my entire career at, the club I captained and won everything with. And your acting like a child, like it’s a big joke. Oh how the standards have gone, I’m glad I’m out”

Pogba is nothing more than a fake footballing fad, and a terrible dancing Instagram annoyance. He is a terrible dancer btw. He’s 27, not an 18 year old kid who has just had his first sip of tequila and just bought a smart phone. If it wasn’t for the fact he has a genius team behind the scenes tweeting him, instagramming him, getting him highly undeserved sponsorship deals that he only gets because of his contract with Utd, then nobody would care about him and for certain, nobody would be calling him World Class.

Surely there isn’t still some people who believe the Paul Pogba hoax……is there?
Mark, Mancunian living in a sunny place

 

Let him do an Ozil now
I’ve been thinking that Pogba has been getting a lot of stick for a while now, well not anymore. He should do an Ozil or Bale. God knows we can afford it. From all my days playing football the coaches have had a pretty set way of selecting players, those whom were tall and could hoof a ball or smack it really hard usually ended up in defence,those who were fast but didn’t necessarily have any control ended up as strikers, the ones who were energizer batteries and could go on and on and didn’t listen to instructions so the coaches wanted near to manage them yup they were wingers and finally for you to play midfield you had to have control, some basic skill, could pass basically the ballers. Pogba really can’t keep hold of the ball and along with our other defensive midfielders makes our midfield useless.

It would have been wiser to play Mata (Who Fernandez Loves) or Van der beek (Who i don’t recall losing the ball when he came in) in hindsight but i was watching the highlights yesterday and saw Pogba dance his way past two Arsenal players and pass the ball to no one in particular on the wing…he’s a jinx in the matrix and not in a good way so yeah let him get paid to stay at home then once his contract is through or someone who’s madder than us can take him.
Aleki, Kenya

 

Where’s Angel Gabriel?
Having not watched every Premier League minute I can’t argue with Matt Stead’s top ten players of the Premier League so far

However I have watched every minute of Arsenal. A team that has played Liverpool, City and United away and also Leicester at home. They are also the team that currently has the best defensive record in the Premier League. Our issues have been at the other end of the pitch. Surely one of our defenders deserves some credit. My vote is Gabriel. Is he our Van Dijk-esque signing?
Steve (AFC – Adelaide)