Liverpool have gone ‘full Woodward on meth’ but fans are optimistic

Did Liverpool have a nightmare transfer window or have they actually emerged stronger? Are they Man Utd in disguise?

We also have thoughts on Arsenal, Aston Villa and Newcastle. Send yours to theeditor@football365.com

 
Crazy football idea; it will never catch on
A bit left field I know, but instead of constantly spunking loads of money on new stuff, how about some of the teams try to get some of the players they already have to play a bit better?
Shunt LFC

Actually, Liverpool are stronger after transfer window
I wonder if LFC err more towards winner than loser in the transfer window; They are leaving it stronger than when they entered it.

For the first team, there’s two brand new wingers (one who’s already scored) to replace someone so disruptive the press were calling for him to be benched before Christmas, last season. A shiny new centre half the fans have seemingly strongly taken to, to replace one so bad he was not-far-off picking up the ball and throwing it into his own net.

In regards to absentees, LFC started last season without Isak and Frimpong; They’re starting this one without Ekitike, Bradley and Leoni, and none are first choice and with the latter two, the squad has more options to cover such as Araujo. The kids like Rio and Trey are a year older.

You can of course make the logical argument that the squad is an absolute stinking mess, but the counter could be the guy charged with fixing that was so utterly cack-handed any further ‘improvements’ could have set the team back further years than he’s already cost them.

Yes, VVD being 36 means Jurgen-style pressing football with a high line leaves the back door wide open. Yes Wirtz, who’s composed mostly of paper bags, ineffectively leads the press at the expense of Szobozslai who won a league title in that position. Yes replacing a playmaker in Trent, with someone who’s never played as a fullback, has oddly not worked. Yes the club have been linked with a central midfielder every summer for 3+ years and embarrassingly failed at every turn, and the only effective midfield in that time was under Slot’s possession based football because he absolutely knew they were ill-equipped in quick transition.

It is quite true that they didn’t fix those problems this window. But they didn’t make them bloody worse either. Minty may be so angry at Gakpo, but he’ll have to suffer the player who the media have said has been LFC’s best performer in the games so far, and will be taken by a team challenging for the title. A winger swapping sides has never worked at Liverpool, if you ignore Sadio Mane. So Iraola is better equipped than the last guy, and no-one died this summer.
Tom G

…I mean it. I think Liverpool had a good window. Assuming we’re sticking with 4231…

Alisson’s staying and we’ve signed a highly regarded young keeper for not much up front (but with lots of add-ons)

Kerkez at LB is just fine. He was in the team of the season the year before last and is still young. He’ll work well with Barcola. Tsimi vs Robbo of the last couple of seasons isn’t a massive downgrade and Chambers did well enough in pre-season to get cup games.

Jacquet and Araujo provide CB cover and quality (love Ibou but he was all over the place last year) and Leoni’s coming back. Gomez can cover CB whenever fit

RB is the weakest point but we’ve got plenty of options in Frimpong, Bradley (when back) Gomez, Araujo and Sboz.

We don’t want a DM. If we wanted to replace Fabinho we’d have done it by now. Grav, Mac, Sboz, Endo and Nyoni (and McConnell) for the two CM spots is fine. Another body might be useful, but that’s fine.

The three last year was Gakpo, Wirtz and Salah with a bit of Chiesa and Rio. Now it’s Barcola, Wirtz, Gakpo, Munoz, Rio and Chiesa. That’s definitely better. Barcola is an improvement on what Gakpo provided on the left last season and putting Gakpo on the right will work just fine.

Up front we have Isak who is fit again and Hugo when he’s back, along with Koumas and Danns from the U21s who can get cup games.

That’s a good mix of youth and experience, with a few players who should improve given they’ve had a year to acclimatise. Iraola tends to get his teams improving once they’ve adjusted to his methods, so we should be good to push on now. I’d like us to trust our young players a bit more – we all made a lot of winning the League Cup with a bunch of kids on the pitch, so I’d be happy to give them more of a shot.

Salah’s replacements were Isak and Wirtz who arrived last year. Was clear that that had been the plan before the 24/25 season but that Mo was so good we couldn’t not offer him a contract. Once his form started to dip we clearly offered him to other clubs (hence the comments he made) and then we agreed a mutual termination.

Would I have liked us to sign a stone-cold success at RB? Sure. But it’s hardly the end of days that we didn’t. It’s a very good first XI and a strong squad. Barring serious injury issues I would expect us to be there or thereabouts in the league come the end of the season and have a good run in the cups.

Might all go wrong and I’m sure I’ll be reminded of this if it does but we should at least be fun, which is what it’s all about really!
Tom, Andover

How did Minty forget Wirtz?
How did Minty forget Wirtz?!?! Last summer he was future GOAT material, now he’s the bad smell emanating from the rotting tooth you hope no one notices when in public.

Honestly, football is is just f***ing weird. When something is going well everyone is quick to attribute greatness in perpetuity to their club, owners, players, DoF, scouts, etc… When it isn’t going perfectly – now after seemingly only a single game in 26/27 – everyone is terrible and the club is doomed.

The reality is that football is overwhelmingly influenced by unpredictable factors. Human assets, emotions, resilience, luck, weather, referee coming off a coke bender, player got a rape case behind the scenes, geopolitics, corruption, The guiding hand of THE RED CARTEL (lol) and the fact it has no predictable market dynamics or follows traditional market operating procedures. Price discrimination & collusion are legal for example and tapping up now seems like a pre-requisite to all deals?!?!

– player X for dogshit FC would cost £10m
– for the red cartel he would cost £50m
– for the book-cooker FCs, the player costs whatever is required to balance the dodgy books of all parties involved.

I wouldn’t be too worried if I was a Liverpool fan. They have bought absolutely f***ing horrendously from a position of strength, comically so in fact, but in a year or two everyone will forget. AND being a founding RED CARTEL member means you actually have heritage and a large, loyal indoctrinated fanbase and that’s the only thing that will help survive the coming Prempocalyptic implosion.

Liam Delap will go for £100m after banging in 3 in 68 for whoever. Joao Pedro will go for £200m+ to Man City then £250m+ back to Chelsea and repeat until the books are suitably cooked. 24 year old left back Lee Bland, will go for £95m after getting an assist because he’s English and somehow proven. Messi will come out of retirement and sign for Oil Monarch FC to settle a multi-billion $ tax fraud case. Kushner Rovers will get promoted from the Isthmian straight to the Prem due to a ruling that never gets made public. Infantino will be on the board at Chelsea having bought 10% from Big Boehls and the GLP1 lottery winner will be announced during the last of 8 hydration breaks on the Super Sunday PREMIER WORLD MATCH OF THE WEEK! TM.

And it will all just seem normal.

Modern football is just a clown car top to bottom, sadly this has coincided with the actual football being shit too but that will hopefully change one day. Liverpool maaay have been run well but more likely it was just 90% Salah GOATing his tits off one last time similar to RVP for United. There’s simply too much fluke involved in football to guarantee sustained success at the very top. ‘Good’ ownership these days either requires luck, once-in-a-lifetime talent, and/or corruption/cheating or a bit of those plus lower expectations than being at the top – your proverbial B teams.

In my wildest dreams, I didn’t think Liverpool would go full Woodward-on-meth but it’s happened. The final turning point will be when the Premier League and Integrity-115 FC announce a private settlement with no admission of guilt and the riots that ensue. Only then may the rat lords fear the money drying up so a reset will be necessary.

But don’t forget Wirtz Minty, he’s the epitome of win & lose the window. I say go all in and make the f***er captain and release the branded Wirtz ballet pumps. Don’t forget to talk about how the stitching down the side represents something to do with working class people or some shit YAWN.

No joke though Liverpool will be fine eventually but this is funny, bet you love Spurs right now. Who’d would have thought Woodward would leave such a lasting impression. I thought Arnold buying Antony would be the last fateful tribute act but there’s like 13 Antonys in the league right now.
Moses
(End Wirtz censorship! The proletariat deserve the truth!)

READ: Which gaping Premier League holes were filled or neglected after wild transfer window?

Glass half-full Arsenal thoughts
To say I am disappointed in Arsenal’s transfer window is a stretch, too many outside noises? Did I want Vini? Yes, if not for anything to rile rivals, my first choice will have been Kvara, but that was never happening. Did I want Alvarez? No, his numbers where similar to Gyokeres last season, and he wanted to go to Barca. Did I want Rodgers? Absolutely not? He is not a winger, but a perfect left sided 10 as shown in his early games at Chelsea. Is there any one else? Not sure. Barcola gives me Gervinho vibes (maybe it’s the face, or maybe it’s the terrible finishing added with insane dribbling ability). The rest are just numbers.

When we signed Eze, me plus a few other Arsenal fans felt he was the answer to our left wing problems – We saw him as superior to Martinelli and Trossard. Injuries and loss of form for some key players took him to the middle. I have never been comfortable with him in the middle (to be fair, never been comfortable with him on the left either). Bottom line, I think we are covered, he and Tzolis can sort out that left wing, Saka and unfortunately Madueke got the right, with help from Dowman, Harvertz (sadly), and Gyokeres (he got 15 goals from January – not sure many Premier League strikers has 15:goals in all competitions from Jan 2026) got the front covered. Merino and Odegaard got the forward midfielder covered. MLS, Zubimendi, Guimares and Declan got the central midfield sorted, I am not sure I need to analyze the defense … There should be a law banning us from buying anymore defenders.

Is it the window I wanted? No. Can we get 86 points from this guys? Yes, hopefully more. Can any another team get more than 86 points? Not my problem. What other teams do. Who they buy, not my problem. Can we take points from every premier team? Hopefully, Yes.

It’s funny, we face low blocks 80% of the time in the EPL, even Pep’s Man City, Liverpool and Man Utd pulled low blocks at the Emirates last season, got their results and where praised. The average starting positions of our centre backs was significantly higher than any other team in the EPL, but the UK Media has pushed a narrative around us, and everyone runs with it. This Hypocrisy is stunning, we will find ways to win.. that is our only prerogative, as with every other team that comes to the Emirates. There should not be an accepted style of play for Arsenal and another one for other teams

Aston Villa lined up a low block, and got no shot on target, and we face criticism for not been attacking enough? Have you seen the heat maps from that game?

As ever, I am hopefully for the new season, as with every other fan in every club, I hope we win all the titles available (no fan should tell me they are not hoping otherwise, that will make you a liar, and not a fan of said club).

The UK Media runs with the narrative that Liverpool the previous year and Arsenal last year won because rivals where weaker. That is not a smart talk. The EPL gets harder every year. Too much money. Tottenham were 17th, but they spent £300m plus on new players.

Every one has the spending ability, quality players are in all the teams, unlike before…quality coaches in all clubs.

Unlike before where the top 4 had monopoly of top players, where Big Sam’s Bolton rested players to play a big club because there was no hope of winning. Last year of you snooze against wolves they will take points off you. Big teams did not get weaker. Smaller teams got better, and the gap has significantly narrowed.

Wishing myself a wonderful 2026/27 season watching Arsenal.
Kufre, Nigeria

…A lot has been made of Arsenal’s transfer window being a disappointment because we failed to land the elite left-sided player or striker many fans wanted. While I would have loved to see Vinícius Jr. or Julián Álvarez arrive, I actually think this could prove to be a blessing in disguise in the long run.

Hear me out.

First, the club was right to target elite players in an attempt to reach the next level. There’s no fault in that. However, there are lessons to be learned. The most obvious is that when it comes to competing with Real Madrid or Barcelona for top South American talent, very few clubs stand a chance. The history and prestige of those clubs, combined with the fact that many young players grew up idolising stars who played there, gives them a huge advantage.

Vinícius would likely have come primarily for financial reasons. Would he have been fully motivated? Álvarez appears to have his heart set on Barcelona. Again, how committed would he have been? And even if he had joined, there is every chance he would have left when his preferred destination came calling.

Arsenal could therefore have stretched their finances significantly for two players with little genuine attachment to the club.

Instead, we now have Eze, Madueke and Gyökeres, all of whom joined last season and have had time to adapt to Arteta’s system. The coming season will give us a much clearer picture of what they can offer.

Another important factor is injuries. Arsenal suffered one of the worst injury records in the league last season, second only to Spurs. With the exception of Saliba, most of those key players are now back. Although some players have departed, the club has added quality in defence and midfield. Myles Lewis-Skelly and Max Dowman are also likely to feature more prominently, giving the squad greater depth and allowing for better rotation, which should help reduce injuries.

The one area Arsenal still lack is genuine pace on the counter-attack. However, many teams defend deep against us, meaning that attribute is not always essential.

Finally, there is still the January transfer window. In recent years, some excellent players have moved during the winter market. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guéhi are examples of players whose stock rose significantly after January moves. Perhaps Eli Junior Kroupi could be an option for Arsenal if he returns to his pre-injury level. He is young, talented, hungry and has already shown that he can perform in English football.

There is still plenty for Gunners fans to be excited about. COYG!
Michael O

How to actually compare overpays
You are driving me crazy with this overpays comparison thing. Let me ask you a question. If I buy 2 things: an Apple (the fruit) and a 4-bedroom flat in Mayfair (the expensive locale in London)– and I tell you in both cases I overpaid by £100k, are these 2 transactions equal amounts of crazy to you? Similarly, if I founded Ethan F.C. and I buy two players: Kylian Mbappe from Real Madrid and Lyndon Dykes from Millwall and I respectively overpay by 5million EUR and 4 million EUR do you think the bigger overpay is the one for Mbappe? Do you think paying 205million for Mbappe is a ‘bigger’ overpay than paying 4.8million for Dykes? Cause your current overpay comparison says Yes.

The point being that the size of an overpay isn’t simply its amount – the true ‘size’ is how big that amount is compared to the market value of the thing in question. If we want to make any sort of meaningful comparison this is what we need to be comparing.

The equation we’re looking for is (Overpay Amount / Market Value) * 100 – this will tell us, as a percentage, the relative size of an overpay. Comparing those tells us that I overpaid by 2.5% for Mbappe and 500% for Dykes. Do you see how much more illuminating that is? How it clearly shows that my deal for Mbappe was shrewd and the one for Dykes batshit?

Here’s hoping you do.

Corrected list by percentage overpay:

Anderson: 23.27%
Fernandez: 31.03%
Tonali: 35.43%
Barcola: 38.86%
Rogers: 52.15%
Palestra: 63%
Fernandez-Pardo: 71.53%
Mbaye: 83.33%
Fernandes: 99.06%
Savio: 150.84%

Ethan

(We understand the methodology but you have just used that equation for 10 transfers; now do it for the hundreds completed in the transfer window and come up with a real list – Ed)

Villa, PSR and the double standards in football finance
Is it not because of PSR that Aston Villa have had to put release clauses into contracts, keep inviting Chelsea suits into the boardroom, and apparently insist on turning Donyell Malen into a Ballon d’Or contender?

The reality is that Villa are operating under UEFA’s financial and salary restrictions. They are effectively in a sell-to-buy situation, and cannot bring in players on significantly higher salaries unless they first offload existing wages.

The consequences of that are pretty stark.

Villa cannot simply offer Youri Tielemans a new contract to remove the release clause that was perfectly understandable when he signed. They have had to operate in the rather bizarre world of doing business with Chelsea. They have had to sell Malen in order to bring in another striker because they cannot simply carry both. And then, having created the funds, they have had to take a calculated punt on Alejandro Garnacho.

This isn’t poor planning. It is the consequence of the financial rules Villa are being asked to operate under.

What I find far more difficult to understand is the lack of scrutiny being applied to Manchester City.

Here is a club facing 115 charges, while there has also been reporting in the Financial Times about the UAE and its efforts to put pressure on the British Government to ensure that restrictions affecting City do not materialise.

At the same time, City continue to operate at a level that drives up transfer fees, player salaries and agents’ fees across the entire market. They have spent around €500m, and yet the conversation around financial sustainability seems remarkably selective.

How is this not highlighted every single day?

If PSR and UEFA’s financial rules are genuinely about protecting the sustainability and competitiveness of football, then surely the biggest clubs operating at the very top of the financial pyramid deserve at least as much scrutiny as Aston Villa trying to navigate the rules underneath them.

Because ultimately, it is the supporters who pay for this arms race.

Transfer fees go up. Wages go up. Agents’ fees go up. And ticket prices go up with them.

Villa fans are being told they have to sell players, manage wages, accept release clauses and make difficult compromises because of financial regulations.

Meanwhile, the clubs at the very top continue to operate in a completely different financial universe.

I would genuinely like to see Football365 start asking why this disparity receives so little attention.

How can Villa’s attempts to comply with the rules be scrutinised endlessly, while the wider financial influence of clubs such as Manchester City on the entire football economy barely receives the same level of daily examination?

The disparity is becoming impossible to ignore.
Paul

And add Newcastle..
A few weeks ago I wrote into the mailbox in response to Dave Tickner telling Newcastle and Villa to follow the Spurs blueprint, a Villa fan wrote in at the same time and it sparked quite the discussion in the comments, with 365 readers of ‘bigger’ clubs essentially relaying the exact same ignorant points back to us.

So here we are at the beginning of September: I mentioned back then if you checked the genuine mood rankings of actual fans (rather than comments and replies on Twitter), we were quite excited – it’s funny how that then translates into an excitable start of the season isn’t it?

Over the past 2 summers we’ve lost nearly all of the ‘marquee’ players + the manager in our squad, and taken at face value that looks horrendous – and that’s what everyone seems to do, just take it at face value. I was getting irked at Howe’s football even in the season before last when we won a cup and qualified for the champions league (by the skin of our teeth). Unless we could swarm teams by shifting the ball out wide or be carried by Bruno, we were found out, and that carried into last season. We needed a fresh approach and a transformation.

Newcastle got good too quickly. As fans we went from Mike Ashley’s soul-sucking approach to a a rejuvenated club and city, and we got FAR too attached to the players that followed, and we’ve all collectively needed to learn that trading needs to happen, and FWIW I think we’ve traded well: this is a non-biased and non-hindsight reflection on what we’ve lost:

Isak – Best striker at the club since Shearer, hit his form in streaks, was perfectly suited to how we play. Will forever have niggles and looks off the pace – maybe it’ll return.

Tonali – had a brilliant cup-winning season. The crowd fed off his energy to be constantly running. Tonali is not a passer/Pirlo type (he even said this himself), he’s more of a cultured Gattuso. Passing is not great, but when he’s on it, he lifts the team – I genuinely don’t think he’s ever really bothered about much. Just wants a nice life sipping coffee and to head back to Milan

Gordon – again, peaked in Champions League with more space and the cup-winning season. Miles off it last season, I don’t begrudge his move, go well, perfect example of getting a lot out of a player and then selling him

Bruno – absolutely devastated. He deserved his move, but really didn’t like how he left. He’s brilliant, Arsenal fans will love him

But suddenly we’ve signed the 6 we’ve been crying out for for years. We’ve got an excellent full back and suddenly Tino isn’t untouchable, we’ve got a better keeper, loads of exciting youth and seemingly revitalised players (and latest signing MFP could be brilliant). Our manager knows how to tactically set up for a team instead of just playing 4-3-3 and being 100% reliant on Bruno. It’s so so exciting to feel like we took a few L’s and simply brushed them off and went back to scouting proper players again. Prem-proven is not always the way.

I believe the same will happen with Villa once the signings bed in – Mbaye in particular looked exciting in AFCON. Trust the coaching, trust the challenger mindset and trust great managers. Siege mentality, I’m here for it.

PS: Agree with a recent email about AI-written submissions. Been reading the mailbox for 20 years, don’t ruin it.
Harry, York

Shaw shank
We’re gonna end up playing Bruno at left-back.
Sixyardbox, Stockholm

Fanmail for a Mailbox regular
RHT/TS x – man crush – new nickname I see, makes no sense and just because you add a small part of his name to a word does not make it the same word – it’s a different word champ so has absolutely no meaning at all – very much like all of your posts. Stop obsessing with our club, get one of your own – and go back outside to shout at the clouds as that’s more productive than any comment you have ever made – full stop!
Michael Mooney

…There was an email this morning from the Liverpool fan whose name is a random assortment of capital letters. RHSLKJACSA something like that. This mail was essentially a massive quotation and then some weird conspiratorial lines about how Arteta has some ‘transparent attempt’ without ever outlining what exactly the conspiracy is. Bizarre mail, also had a few of those long hyphens that only AI uses.

Slightly disappointed not to see a signing come in on the left for Arsenal. Feels like we have gambled on fitness of players a few times in recent windows and ended up losing. Am guessing that Saka might see some minutes on the left this season especially if Dowman starts playing a bit more often.

General point – I really don’t like Enzo Fernandez.

Nice one,
James
(let’s just use our names people)