Liverpool prove that Man Utd thrashing was a ‘freak result’ and their Real Madrid dream is ‘bullsh*t’

The Mailbox insists that Liverpool have proven that their 7-0 win over Man Utd was a ‘freak result and that there is no chance they can win by three goals at Real Madrid. Plus, VAR, Man City, Gary Lineker and lots more…
Get your views in to theeditor@football365.com…
My, that schadenfreude tastes delicious
After the debacle of that freak second half last Sunday I pondered in the mailbox about Liverpool, “Will they raise their game as much against Bournemouth one wonders?”. Well that was a magnificent answer as clearly they could not, even with the help of some ropey officiating. How that was not a free kick to Bournemouth on the edge of the box and a Liverpool red card, late in the first half, is beyond me – the ref bottled it and VAR couldn’t intervene.
It’s one thing raising your game against United in your cup final, but if you can’t do it against your mid/lower table rivals then you’ll struggle to maintain a spot in the top 6.
Lucky that some Liverpool fans think beating Utd is better than winning a trophy. They are a solid Madrid performance away from that being the only thing they get to celebrate this season.
Garey Vance, MUFC
Freak?
Looks like the phrase “freak result” has made it’s way to Merseyside.
That’s what it is losing to Bournemouth, right Liverpool fans?
A freak result?
Terry, Texas
Hi Mailbox,
So, yes, it was a freak result.
Cheers,
Dan (fair cop by Dan, London, although I am a former northerner – I just wanted some sun so I left) Worthing
Bournemouth 1-0 Liverpool
…and that, my dearest Reds friends, is why we don’t over celebrate a single victory.
Best,
Wik, Pretoria (never better than a cup win), LFC
My lad asked for my score prediction today just as the game kicked off. I said 2-1 Brighton. He disagreed & said about our recent run, last weeks game, our strikers being full of confidence & basically how everything pointed to a Liverpool win. My explanation was simply “it’s a Saturday lunch time kick off on and we never play well in that slot”. Why is it that as a fan I can see that? I’ve seen it time & time again, not just this season but for most of klopp’s time at Liverpool, so…. Why can’t our coaching staff see it & if they have (which you’d kinda hope they had what with it being their job) why haven’t they fixed it? That was one of the worst performances I’ve seen from them under Klopp, little effort, no confidence & no fight… the complete opposite to 6 days ago! There’s no value in smashing united one week & then producing that 6 days later!
Marcel g, lfc.
Part timers
For me, Liverpool are now one of THOSE clubs that can only perform to their highest standards when it’s a big game.
Yeah, one of THOSE clubs.
Just trying to help.
Levenshulme Blue, Manchester 19
Mentality monsters?
If there’s anyone who still thinks Liverpool can win by 3 goals, away from home, at Real Madrid, well…..I have a bridge I’d like to sell you. It’s made of rainbows, candy floss and bullshit.
John, Chicago
VAR
It’s more than fair to say that VAR has done more harm than good in the Premier League. Gray’s “handball” was not “clear and obvious” and not one of the replays showed it obvious. Photo stills showed it hitting his chest.
Too bad we weren’t wearing the light blue of City and Gray wasn’t named Rodri.
I expect another “apology to Everton” on Monday.
TX Bill (VAR really needs to go) EFC
Pundits and hot air
City fan here and this mail is about pundits and why TV companies employ, almost exclusively, ex-players and managers.
On the face of it, you’d think the argument would be that said managers or players would be able to bring unique insights into their old team. But how many of them actually do?
Take the analytical shambles last Sunday that was Liverpool v United. Neither Graeme Souness or Jamie Carragher have ever played, or worked with, Jurgen Klopp. Ditto Roy Keane and Gary Neville with Ten Hag. What unique insights did any of them bring to the party?
Absolutely none.
Instead, we had Keane and Neville, on camera, quite literally smirking pre-match when Souness dared to suggest that Liverpool could win. During, we had the spectacle of Neville and Carragher on the gantry with the former losing his sh*t, and the latter acting like a five-year old on Christmas day. Post-match we watched the sulkiest United pundits ever versus the smuggest ‘Pool ones.
And all we learned from the whole thing was that Souness and Carragher are Liverpool fans and Keane and Neville follow United. Marvellous! I wish I could get paid the money they’re on at Sky to do/say the same for my club.
Here’s an idea. Ban Neville and Carragher from any United, Liverpool, Everton and City games. Instead, let’s see how their ‘punditry’ or co-comms fares when they are covering Wolves v Southampton or Leicester v West Ham for example.
Fast forward a week to the Lineker ‘scandal’. I don’t have any particular opinion on his voicing his own political views on social media. Personally, I couldn’t care less what ‘Slebs’ pontificate about on Tw*tter or any other SM platform.
What does intrigue me however, is that MoTD is going to be shown tonight pundit and commentary free for the first time.
I couldn’t be more delighted. I cannot remember the last time I watched ANY streaming/TV channel where any pundit did anything other than spout platitudes or made me think “That’s a great point”. And especially on MoTD. You will never find a blander, more vacuous or asinine football show on mainstream media.
You have never heard anything remotely controversial on MoTD and, as much as I love the likes of Wrighty and such, I really don’t need them to tell me what I’m watching or the game I’ve just watched. I already know.
Sky already show PL highlights without pundits. Here’s hoping the BBC catch on that they can do the same thing without paying hundreds, if not thousands, of people every year, of tax-payers money, to state the ble*ding obvious.
Mark (Oops. Looks like those claiming that last Sunday was Liverpool’s Cup Final may have been right, doesn’t it?) MCFC.
Man City and Lineker…
I fully expect to be shot down for this, but honestly, Arsenal do not get awarded penalties like the one City got vs Palace do they?Olise is careless but he barely touches him. Compare that with when Mings literally bearhugs Saka up in the air (no penalty), and the contact Gundogan got is laughable. Have to say, the marking was shocking to allow Gundogan to jog freely in the first place. 70 odd minutes of diligent defending wasted.
Finally, as an X-pat, I find joy in watching Match Of The Day to get my weekly culture-fill. Sad to miss this weeks show but fully support the overall boycott.
I’m not sure that using a cesspit of 140 characters is an erudite way of sharing your opinion on something as nuanced and polarizing as the handling of refugees and illegal immigrants, but he should still be allowed to voice it, nonetheless.
The big shame? It distracts from the overall issue regarding the Tories handling of migrant refugees as it’s now all we are talking about.
Strevs AFC Canada
Lo and behold…
I emailed last week after Arsenal beat Bournemouth calling the referee decisions into question and asking for post-match referee interviews. I stated that, after seeing a Bournemouth defender jump in the air, miss a header and have the ball strike his arm, other teams in the league would certainly be given a penalty for that although Arsenal weren’t.
Lo and behold, when the same situation happened yesterday with Liverpool, a penalty (although squandered) was awarded…
Andrew M, AFC (Conspiracy? No, but the inequity in treatment and outcome is becoming hard to swallow), Australia
Who should Man Utd sign?
I just discovered I love scouting and reading footballer stats but I hate maths and statistics 😂
Few days ago, I read that United were looking to sign a midfielder in the summer. The names mentioned in the article were, Rabiot, De Jong and Mac Allister. ETH needs midfielders who are press resistant and good passers but with strong tactical knowledge and incessant pressers.
Now let me look at these midfielders statistically
De Jong : 1.81m tall, has 90% pass accuracy, that is, in the 97th percentile among LA Liga Midfielders, makes 1.35 key passes per 90′ which keeps him in the 79th percentile and has 70% dribble success rate. He also makes 1.63 tackles per 90, wins 4.94 ground duels and 0.95 aerial duels per 90 which keeps him in the 69th,64th and 50th percentile among LA Liga Midfielders.
Rabiot : Strengths include aerial duels, tackling, press-resistance, concentration and weaknesses are finishing and crossing. Not bad, yeah. His expected assists is in the range of 0.17 per 90 which keeps him in the 73rd percentile among Seria A players. He makes 1.02 key passes and 1.84 tackles per 90′, he also wins 5.98 per 90 which has him in the 65th, 67th and 81st percentile with a 53% dribble success rate. He has 83% pass accuracy this season
Mac Allister : 88% pass accuracy, 0.12 expected assists, 1.09 key passes, 2.72 tackles, 5.66 ground duels won per 90 which has him in the 56th, 69th, 90th and 77th percentile amongst EPL midfielders respectively. He has a 71% dribble success rate.
These are nice stats and I would choose Rabiot last too but look at the stats of this two wonderful midfielders : Maxence Caqueret and Enzo Le Fée, young, cheap, relatively unknown but talented.
Le Fee has 84% pass accuracy, 7.75 expected assists which is 0.31 per 90, 93rd percentile among Ligue 1 midfielders, completes 48.22 passes, 2.15 key passes, 1.63 dribbles, 3.42 tackles and 7.40 ground duels won per 90. He is press-resistant, has an eye for a good pass, good at set-pieces, tackles hard and with great defensive awareness and he can play anywhere in midfield. His weakness though is his finishing.
Caqueret on the other hand is a central and defensive midfielder. He loves to tackle, press resistant, likes short passes and loves through balls. He is a Kante/Verratti type of midfielder. He can serve as back up for Casemiro….. Let’s look at his stats.
His expected assists(xG) stands at 0.30 per 90. 86% pass accuracy, an average of 45.43 passes completed, 1.59 key passes, 0.98 dribbles, 2.95 tackles and 5.44 ground duels won. Caqueret is wonderful as a defensive midfielder and is disciplined.
These two will cost in excess of £65m to sign, which is not enough if United goes for De Jong.
My bit in helping stopping United from making the mistake of signing Rabiot.
Joe Praise (Nigeria)
Manchester United…
Dear Editor,
MAN U has 3 problems,
Weghorst
Anthony
Dalot
I don’t know why Eric selects Weghorst for every game this guy is a waste of time please let him go back ti Burnley.
Anthony is also a waste on the left, I dont know what the politics is with Mason Greenwood but he is far better player on the left, all charges were dropped in my books his innocent, please bring him back.
Dalot should not be selected instead that position should be given to Aaron Wanbisaka who has proven himself and given more game time he will prove that his the man for the job.
Best Regards
Man U supporter South Africa
Ian King
Now, whilst I’m sure Jonny Nic and I would have a great time having a pint and a rant about politics and football I do often feel like he’s crowbarring the political angle into his articles rather heavy handedly, so, with that in mind, take a bow Ian King, that was perfectly weighted, an article that successfully scrutinised the football/politics crossover with total neutrality, and thus avoid hypocrisy, well done chief.
Jerome, Bristol Spur