Liverpool fans already excited about ‘Isak winner, 90+6’ in the derby

Are those late Liverpool winners sustainable after all? Unlike Arsenal, this Liverpool side are never boring.

This is a belting Mailbox taking in lots of subjects but there is a theme: Everybody seems to think they are being picked on.

Send your whiny mails to theeditor@football365.com

Liverpool do it again

Last minute winners… completely unsustainable aren’t they, aye?
Adam, LFC, Belfast

…”Llorente it has happened again” no, almost. Yes it happened again five times in a row. It’s sustainable.
WAFF TOWN MAN

…I’m getting beta blockers before the weekend. Not sure my heart can handle this twice a week until May.
Minty, LFC

…Forwarding a recent mailbox submission as it’s the last time I use a subject line that’s getting too repetetive:

“Subject: Never in doubt

Think I’ll be sending that a lot this season.”
Aidan, Lfc (also dropping “Better lucky than good” although reckon we deserved this one…ish)

What if football is meant to be like this?

What if we’ve all been conditioned to believe that Guardiola-style strangulation and procession victories are what we should aspire to?

What if – and stay with me here – what if we lived our whole footballing lives in Fergie time? What if we lived or died by our sheer force of will to take the points in the last few minutes every single time?

What if this is how it’s meant to be – how it should always have been?

I’ll tell you what – I have never felt more alive than I do right now. I am so far past the exhaustion of Burnley 0 – 1 Liverpool. I am adrenaline incarnate. As light as a feather. I could dance on a tightrope across the Grand Canyon. I want my 7.30am gym session to start right now.

A wise sage once said that Liverpool experience football miracles, on a weekly basis, season after season. Christ alive, maybe we do. Maybe this is how it’s meant to be.

Bring on the Blues. Isak winner, 90+6. And you’ve never felt so alive.
Nick Glover, Scouser in Brum

Oh Diego

Watching Simeone lose it with the Liverpool fans reminded me of one Christmas years ago when my Gran got stuck in with the box of wine.
Jason G, Falkland Islands

…Diego Simeone is what you get if you order John Wick from Temu.

I’ll let myself out.
Rich

Happy for Arsenal to be boring and good

I’m an older Arsenal fan, I remember the chants of boring boring Arsenal from the 90s like yesterday. And you know what, I didn’t care then and I don’t care now. Do you know how many spankings we had to watch in the Wenger era because we ‘tried to play the right way’? Do you know how many pats on the head we got from rival managers who took 3 points off us?

Athletic lost twice at home last season, have been incredibly hard to beat. I’m sorry we didn’t go there and play champagne football. But we got the 3 points and that’s all I care about. Considering the stick we’ve been beaten with since Arteta has arrived is that he hasn’t won anything (they don’t count his FA Cup) – I think his pragmatism should be lauded. He’s trying to win something. Every ground out win means there isn’t an email the next day in the mailbox from you know who. And I actually like his emails!

So ‘cry more’ as the kids say. We’ve conceded 1 goal this season, to a world class strike. We had 3 brand new players up top, and our subs (something we’ve been criticised in lacking) came on and did the business. That looks like good management. Competition raises everyone’s levels.
John Matrix AFC

…Sorry, what is going on with all these negative Arsenal articles?

This would be the team that has played 5 competitive games, scored 11 goals, conceded 1, which was a fluke free kick away at the PL Champions.

But we have constant references to the failures of a new striker (3 goals in 5 games, getting more involved and livelier in every game) and now winger (1 assist in 2 games, known producer but a historical tendency for blowing hot and cold).

Bedding in new players is hard. Especially for systems that are more complex like Arteta’s. Why that’s an acceptable excuse for Liverpool but not us I don’t really get.

Dion, mate, I am sorry you’re not enjoying watching Arsenal at the moment, but this is the team that can win us the Premier League. Not winning close games sunk our year last year, along with the injuries- now this year we still have the injuries but we’re winning them.

Give it a bit of time and appreciate how well we’re doing missing some of our most exciting players.
Tom, Leyton

(Presume you missed this one about how brilliant that Arsenal squad is now – Ed)

Mikel Arteta does NOT have to win a trophy this season

I obviously have a lot of respect for Henry but everything he said on CBS on Tuesday was bollocks.

He mentioned you that you don’t set up to go to the big 4 (it’s the big 6 now) and play for a draw. He talked about his time before they won the league too in ‘02 after finishing 2nd 3 times in a row.

I’ve never been in a locker room. I’ve also never been on a training ground when a team is preparing for a game but I am willing to bet my life that there is no manager of a top 4 or 6 team, who goes into that kind of game to get a draw. I agree that the way you set up can sometimes give that impression, but there is no shame in admitting that a team is better than you and trying to play to their weakness. This was Arteta’s post match interview in 2020 after the Liverpool game:

“You can see how Liverpool build their squad and there’s no magic, you need to improve the squad with quality players, we need a bigger squad to compete in this competition. That’s the challenge. It’s a massive job. You only have to look at the difference between the two teams – it’s enormous. The gap in many areas we can’t improve in two months but the gap between accountability, energy, commitment and fight between the teams is now equal,”.

This is the coaching part of the job. You adjust and set up your team to give you the best possible chance of victory against that particular opponent. Whether they are better than you or not. To say a manager (especially a manager who has come 2nd thrice) doesn’t go for the win is insulting and makes no sense. One thing is for sure. You don’t want this league title more than Arteta does.

To also hear Henry talk about Gyokeres in the manner he did was funny.

• Henry is one of the best strikers of his generation. A technically supreme footballer and he needs to understand that 98% of strikers will never match up to his technical ability. This is not Gyokeres strength. His strength is chaos and it’s up to the team to learn how to use him better.
• He also didn’t win the champions league at Arsenal. In fact, a lot of people argue he cost us the final. So maybe he should learn to be a bit more gracious.

Finally, and I’ve said this many times, Arteta DOES NOT have to win anything this season. It’s not a right. There is nowhere in the laws of the game that says you must win the league the season after you come second. This is not how it works. Arsenal have been better every season than the last under Arteta. How many clubs (even the ones who win trophies) can boast of 5 years of consistently bettering the performance of the previous season? Arteta’s time will come. If not at Arsenal, then elsewhere. I certainly home it’s the former.
Damola AFC, Berlin Germany

The handball problem

I feel for the governing bodies when it comes to handball like the one given in the Madrid game because they’re really between a rock and a hard place.

I’m sure lots of people felt the handball was harsh and should have been let go. But what if the ball was going into the net for a certain goal and that handball prevented it? The penalty box handball rule is really designed for that scenario. Because if make it more lax and say actually we will let THAT type of handball go then you also can’t then punish it if that same type of handball prevents a goal later without also invalidating the rule you have.

As much as people get annoyed by it, it’s rare that it happens and at least it’s consistent. Can the player do anything about it? Not really it’s just bad luck, but bad luck is part of football. In fact it seems to be the consensus that VAR should go and if the ref fucks up then that’s just bad luck for the offending team.

You can’t fix the handball problem that people talk about because it doesn’t happen often enough to be an issue and creating any kind of wiggle room will simply give players greater opportunity to cheat.
Lee

Liverpool fans upset about something or other…

I see Ryan’s ongoing obsession with his belief that Arsenal really are the best team, and it’s only outrageous fortune and unfair application of the rules that has prevented them from global domination has seen him sending in a thinly veiled criticism of Liverpool’s late penalty at the weekend. And in doing so, he is trotting out the usual nonsense about the notion of deliberate handball.

Very few handballs are deliberate. For every Suarez V Ghana incident, which seems to be the only time Ryan thinks a penalty should be given for handball, there are a thousand penalties given for handballs that the rules argue are reasonably preventable. Everyone knows the rules now, that’s why defenders block with their arms behind them. That’s why Hannibal was immediately distraught at the weekend, because he knew he had broken the rules by flicking his arm out. That’s why no-one argued the toss with the referee.

Foul play in football rarely has anything to do with where is about to happen with the ball, but when the action does deliberately prevent a goal scoring opportunity, the punishment is worse because of the intent, the deliberate attempt to cheat.

Whilst we will never be able to completely rid the game of controversial handball decisions, I would argue that the current rule is as robust and transparent as it ever has been. It was a clear penalty at the weekend, and I haven’t seen one rational person suggest otherwise. I have, however, seen plenty of ABLs have a meltdown online about it.
Mat (being perennially second would mess with my head too)

(Genuinely no idea what this is referring to; no Ryan has written in about the Liverpool handball this week – Ed)

…Surprised to see you bother to publish a listicle of reserve 11s although it’s a silly bit of distraction and in Tickner’s wheelhouse.

But where is Connor Bradley? I can accept Isak being in the starting XI despite never playing a game. And Szoboszlai looks like a first choice right back over injured Frimpong. Unless Liverpool’s secret is that they’ve been playing 12 players and no one has noticed!

Start Frimpong and you have one of Szoboszlai, Wirtz or Mac Allister in that second XI with Bradley at RB. That’s enough to push Arsenal in to second. A familiar comfortable feeling for them!

Well done for Jesus being injured for both sides too!

Is the strength of the big 6 reserve sides actually a measure of how unbalanced the Premier league has become?
Alex, South London

…Arsenal have the best second XI eh? That eleven couldn’t hit a barn door with a banjo. You said it yourselves often enough that I would have thought you’d remember. I wouldn’t put that Arsenal eleven in the top five.
Niall, Annapolis

…Jason Soutar with the latest instalment of a Talksport like ‘hot take’ (about TAA having his hamstrings destroyed by Klopp) which is designed to encourage reactions (and therefore clicks) at the expense of insightful and engaging writing. Will Ford’s recent doozy being not far behind in the hot take stakes: ‘And Burnley may be seen as something of a last chance, mad though that sounds after four games, for Wirtz to prove that he’s worthy of a place in Slot’s best XI’. Sure Jan.

Back to Soutar. There’s the snarky bitching towards Liverpool fans before declaring that the debate had been and gone, despite getting the last word in like a sh1thouse.

There’s the erroneous use of Trent’s injury stats to back up a fallacious argument. Unless Jason wants to compare and contrast distance covered, sprints made and injuries developed across all PL players over the time Klopp managed TAA he’s just pissing in the wind and forcing a narrative.

And before you try to shut down debate by falling back on ‘it’s just an alternative opinion’ please read the statement in the penultimate paragraph:

‘It’s not that Klopp didn’t manage Trent carefully; it’s that his style of play has taken its toll on a player’

Seriously falling out of love with your website guys, you’re so much better than this.
James Outram

Liverpool fans protesting FAR too much about Man Utd

Matt Pitt hit the nail on the head with his reply to Mick T, yet another Liverpool fan (it’s ALWAYS a Liverpool fan) writing in about how United are really an average club, really, honest, if you think about it, really. They’re not that big or successful and it’s just a bit of a fluke that they’re a huge commercial and sporting behemoth. I keep reading this nonsense in the mailbox and it should be thoroughly debunked.

The argument is always some variation of ‘They’ve only had two successful managers’ amid years of being distinctly average and winning the odd cup etc etc. United won non-league title trophies in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s before regaining their league crown in ’93 and dominating for two decades. Many clubs would kill for the trophy haul we’ve amassed in the last 13 years as we’ve lurched from crisis to crisis.

Coming from Liverpool fans this is especially thick and rich, emphasis on the thick.

Let’s take post-war football into account – Liverpool had four titles pre-1945, United two. While United set about rebuilding Old Trafford and Busby began to build a team that became quite famous – you might have heard of them – Liverpool won the 1st post-war title. By the early 50’s United were on the way up, winning three titles before tragedy struck. Liverpool, meanwhile, slipped into the 2nd division in 1954 and stayed there for eight seasons. The clubs swapped their sixth and seventh titles between 1964 and 1967. Their initial golden periods were both led by charismatic Scottish man-managers who emphasised ‘pass and move’ and left the tactics stuff to their respective right-hand men.

Both clubs had ludicrously long dominant periods in domestic English football, followed by a long fallow period – Liverpool from 1973 to 1990, United from 1993 to 2013.

Howard Jones seems unaware of the irony of a Liverpool fan saying that the majority of United’s ‘major successes came in a relatively short space of time’ and helped to keep them prominent despite a subsequent lack of on-field success. First of all, this dynamic was reversed for Liverpool while United were dominating, and second, this was going on in the 70’s and 80’s too. United always got a hell of a lot of media attention, because they’re a very big football club that got very big at just the right time, like Liverpool.

You can think of that Liverpool dominance as basically run by the Shankly/Paisley axis, the mantle smoothly passed down to Fagan and Dalglish before the huge emotional rupture of Hillsborough. Their astonishing European success had been interrupted by the tragedy at Heysel, as United’s potential success in Europe in 50’s was by the loss of the Busby babes. The point i’m trying to hit you over the head with is that the post-war histories of these clubs are astonishingly similar. They run almost in lockstep. They both even claim to have been diddled out of a European Cup final by dodgy refereeing in games against the Milan clubs.

Massive romanticism and myth-making surrounds their coming of age as the two most dominant clubs in England, and why the hell wouldn’t it? But the myth that United aren’t really a big football club, really, because they’ve had periods where they haven’t been consistently winning the lot? While Liverpool have always been steadily successful? It’s completely ahistorical – a stupid thing that people say because they think it sounds intelligent.
Pablo, MUFC, Dublin

A defence of Aston Villa’s transfer dealings

I wanted to leave a comment on your drive-by on Villa’s transfer dealings but it got binned, so thought I’d send it to the moanbox.
Before anything else, why are the prices in Euros – aside from making the amounts look bigger? And sorry if this is a bit n** sp***-adjacent but a note in there to show which players have been sold, and how much for, would have been enlightening.

Otherwise: half the players on this list weren’t signed to actually play, they’re Monchi purchases intended to get some revenue on the books – why is Kosta in 9th?! SIJ and Enzo were put in by Juve as part of the Dougz deal, rather than players Emery was after; Dobbin was essentially a swap for Iroegbunam; Archer and JPB were academy players with buy-back clauses who’ve since been sold at a profit.

As for the actual footballers here: Lenglet was not McGrath, but he was an emergency signing and did approx 90% of our defending in a season we qualified for the Champions League; Zaniolo was a bit come and go, but he contributed a lot more than Morgan Rogers has lately. Considering they cost £0 to bring in – sorry, €0 – why are they ranked only a place above our ex-third-choice goalkeeper and below Axel Disasi?

There’s definitely a discussion to be had about where Villa’s money has gone and what has got them into so much PSR trouble – assuming F365 can suspend the ‘Villa need to stop talking about PSR’ thing – eg what happened when Purslow took over from Lange (the other side of Coutinho money). But phoning in a list from another website and then saying, erm we don’t know anything about these players, so here’s an opinion from *Stan Collymore*, is not the way.
Neil Raines