Liverpool suffer ‘ANOTHER SETBACK’ despite ‘significant advantage’ over Man City

Editor F365 02 Apr 2024 11:44 AM

Liverpool managerial target Ruben Amorim has impressed during his time at Sporting.

Liverpool suffer ANOTHER SETBACK. When will they ever catch a break? Still, it could be worse, they could be Erling Haaland…

When will Liverpool catch a break?
‘ANOTHER SETBACK FOR THE REDS!’ screams the Mirror as they report that ‘Ruben Amorim doubles down on Liverpool stance after Xabi Alonso pulls out of race’.

And you will be entirely shocked to your core that actual Sporting Lisbon boss Ruben Amorim refuses to talk about the Liverpool job while they are literally one point ahead of Benfica in the Portuguese league.

You know what would have been a ‘SETBACK FOR THE REDS’? If they were about to employ the sort of pr*ck who openly courted another club’s interest while in the middle of a title race.

This means more significant
‘Liverpool could now have significant advantage in title battle with Arsenal and Man City’ is the headline in the Mirror, and you might think there is some clever-clever nonsense going on here, when actually the ‘significant advantage’ appears to be the literal two-point lead they have over Arsenal and three-point lead they have over Manchester City.

‘It’s only a small lead, but it could be significant for Liverpool in the title race,’ writes a giddy David Anderson. ‘Jurgen Klopp’s side hold a two-point lead over Arsenal and three over champions Manchester City as the title race enters the final lap with nine games to go.’

It could be significant, as long as you have an incredibly short memory and have no recall of Arsenal being eight points ahead of Manchester City with nine games to go last season.

‘This could be crucial for Liverpool because in their defeats to City in the title races of 2019 and 2022, they were behind at this stage. In 2022, they did brilliantly to reduce the gap on City to just a point and in 2019, they drew twice in the run-in to allow the Blues to triumph.

‘This season is significant and Liverpool have only been ahead of City at this stage under Klopp in 2020, when they walked the league.’

So the gap to Manchester City is ‘crucial’ because they have always won the Premier League (once in six seasons, remember) when they have been ahead at this stage of the season. It’s a pattern. So it’s basically nailed on.

Thanks. For. That.

READ: Liverpool, Arsenal or Man City? Roy Keane makes U-turn on Premier League title prediction

How bizarre
There’s a new Manchester City documentary on Netflix and one of the vignettes is about a bonsai tree that Erling Haaland brought into work with him at the club.

This is mentioned by The Sun’s Manchester man Martin Blackburn a full 21 paragraphs into his piece about Haaland after his rotten ‘League Two’ performance against Arsenal on Sunday.

As Blackburn reasonably writes: ‘In many cultures, especially Japan and China, bonsai are seen as a symbol of peace and harmony with those who take time to nurture them given a long life.’

So what’s the headline on The Sun website?

Inside Erling Haaland’s bizarre Man City antics from Enrique Iglesias songs to a magic bonsai tree

‘Magic’? He’s not Jack with his sodding beans.

And even if you concede that having a bonsai tree is ‘bizarre’, how does that become ‘antics’?

By pointing out that he sang an Enrique Iglesias song at his Manchester City initiation, obviously.

Shine on you crazy diamond.

Howe much is that striker in the window?
There is an acceptance that Newcastle United may have to sell players this summer to comply with FFP, and the never-knowingly-interesting Eddie Howe was asked about the possibility of the club selling Alexander Isak and replied in a completely Eddie Howe way:

“He’s an outstanding talent and no one connected with Newcastle would want to lose him.”

Now you or I might see that quote and think ‘well, they wouldn’t want to lose him but…’, but if you are part of the north-east media bubble, then this is where you land…

‘Alexander Isak won’t be sold by Newcastle this summer, says Eddie Howe’ – The Times.

Nope. No, he didn’t.

‘Newcastle will NOT sell Alexander Isak this summer, insists Eddie Howe… as he hails ‘outstanding talent’ amid Arsenal interest in the Swedish striker’ – MailOnline.

First, Eddie Howe has never ‘insisted’ anything in his life. And second, it’s really not up to him and he knows it.

‘Eddie Howe issues hands-off warning over Alexander Isak’ – Telegraph.

Sweet but still no; Howe categorically did nothing of the sort. What he actually did was say the most anodyne, non-committal thing he could muster. As per.

And we absolutely expect Newcastle to sell either Isak or Bruno Guimaraes this summer.

The Hateful Eight
In another dull press conference elsewhere, Ange Postecoglou was asked about Tottenham being potentially caught by Manchester United, who are eight points behind them.

His answer was based entirely on mathematics, as the Premier League table clearly shows that Tottenham are also eight points behind Manchester City in third.

“Can you see us challenging Manchester City? No? Well they’re only eight points ahead of us. If there’s eight points [gap], you either think we can catch Man City who are eight points ahead of us or you think United can catch us.”

Maths, mate.

But put this through the Reach clicks machine for the Express website and…