Mails on F365’s ‘anti-Liverpool narrative’, Man Utd, Bruno Fernandes and more
Liverpool fans are getting pretty damned mad now, but first we start with some mails about Man Utd and Bruno Fernandes.
Send your views on any subject to theeditor@football365.com.
Man Utd are no different to any other club
Dave Tickner has nailed it here:
Ferdinand’s Arteta guff shows again how hard Man United legends find their new reality
I wrote in not so long back saying something similar. They (the ex players from the golden period) are a large part of the problem, if not THE biggest. By constantly going on TV and radio and saying these things, they feed the fury when expectations fail to meet cold, harsh reality.
And that reality is this: despite 20 years of unparalleled success, Manchester United are no different, or superior, to any other football club. There are as prone as anyone else to making really bad footballing decisions, and have done exactly that on a startlingly regular basis since 2013.
This idea that they should be immune or protected because of their trophy cabinet is absolute nonsense. Go ask Liverpool. They know. It took 25 years for it to click with them.
AH, Swansea
Bring back Jose
I would bring back Jose at the drop of a hat – just dropped it!
The first season is always results in #winning a trophy – unless you’re Daniel Levy and you put the £ above a trophy!
The second season isn’t far behind.
So give him a two year contract – come on Sir Jim – what are you waiting for!!!!!
Narinder Chahal, A Red Devil for over 55 years
The manager merry-go-round
Can anyone remember when so many super clubs all needed a new coach at the same time?
We have Liverpool, Bavaria Munchen and Barcelona definitely looking then perhaps Manchester United and Chelsea. Hansi Flick looks, to me at least, a good fit at Barca, though surely Simone Inzagi ought to be in this conversation.
Every day there are added whispers on what the outcomes will be. If I were a betting man I’d go – Alonso to stay where he is but de Zerbi to get a good position. Perhaps Zizou is again waiting to take over from Ancelotti.
I’d also not be too surprised if Pep Ljinders gets the Liverpool gig which in turn might be the ideal solution if they could get a gentleman’s agreement with Xabi Alonso for 25/26.
Whatever happens, the bookies will be happy .
RIP Stan Bowles.
Peter (Happy Andalucia Day) Andalucia
READ: Ranking elite club summer vacancies by desirability as jobs: Manchester United ahead of Liverpool
You don’t talk about Bruno, no no no
I understand that everyone is entitled to their opinion, at the same time, a lot of those criticising Fernandes can do one. Not just AdidasMUFC, but Perry Groves and all the other ex-pro dinosaur twats calling him out for his “petulance”. If Bruno wasn’t performing, fine, have a go at him. If Bruno was costing us games, have a go at him. If Bruno was getting sent off all the time, have a go at him.
But no, Bruno Fernandes has been by far and away our best player since he signed for us, our most consistent player, and probably he’s played the most minutes for us. He’s currently on course for being the leading chance creator in the league this year, in a team that has frankly been mediocre.
His role in the team is to create chances and chip in with goals, which he does. He is literally the only player in the team pulling their weight, week in, week out. One might reasonably argue that he’s not just pulling his weight but dragging the team. If he flaps his arms in frustration that the rest of the team is playing shite, Onana is giving away goals, Maguire is misplacing passes or Garnacho forgets it’s a team game again, crack on. He’s earned that.
It’s interesting that examples that “petulant cheat” he should supposedly follow are Keane and Gerrard. Keane who was obviously the epitome of fair play as he bent over Alf-Inge Haaland whom he deliberate assaulted; the same Roy Keane who collected 11 red cards while at Man Utd 7 in the Premier League, which makes him joint second (with paragon of footballing virtue Vinnie Jones), just behind leaders Richard Dunne, Duncan Ferguson and, yes, you guessed it, Patrick Vieira on 8. Obviously though, Bruno Fernandes is the bloody cheat and the terrible example with 2 red cards to his name (zero in England).
Maybe you meant that because Fernandes dives he’s a cheat, which is handy because another example that Adidasmufc has held up for Bruno is Gerrard. Now actually I wouldn’t give a flying flamingo about Gerrard diving normally, and the fact that there are Gerrard diving compilations on Youtube is vaguely amusing when he’s being held up as an example. But no, Gerrard is a massive bloody hypocrite who has claimed that foreigners are ruining football with their diving and he, as Liverpool captain, wouldn’t allow it in the Liverpool team. All the while continuing to dive like the rest of them.
I’m not even going to tackle the whole John Terry as an example. The man is so clearly not an example to follow.
Maybe Fernandes should be more of a hypocrite and call out diving, while punching opposition players, fool around with Luke Shaw’s wife and call Onana a racial slur and then maybe he’d be a worthy captain? Maybe next time Man Utd are in a losing position he should basically start a fight with a team mate like Keane would do?
Pretty sure serial Champions League winner Casemiro is going to respond well to being assaulted for giving the ball away in the name of leadership. Because clearly Bruno Fernandes factually being the Premier League’s hardest working player (by distance covered) at least up until November last year, is not setting the right example and the lazy prick should stop downing tools.
Daniel (you can prove anything with statistics), Cambridge
READ: Man Utd clear-out? Where Sir Jim Ratcliffe might sell each of his players…
Klopp Kryptonite
I know the article on events to halt Liverpool from winning the quadruple was for entertainment purposes, and I enjoyed it, but I didn’t find the last point on Real Madrid being Klopp’s kryptonite + this leading to Angel Di Maria’s Benfica defeating Liverpool to be tight enough to be funny.
Here’s why: Angel di Maria played for Real Madrid from 2010 to 2014. He never faced Liverpool during that time. He did, however, face Jurgen Klopp’s Dortmund in a Champions League semi final. Real Madrid lost. Di Maria subsequently played for ManUtd and PSG, facing Liverpool several times. His record against Liverpool is unremarkable. More relevantly, he previously played for Benfica in the Europa League in the 2009/10 season, and faced Rafa Benitez’s Liverpool in the quarter-finals. Benfica lost. At this point we might as well be citing Raúl Albiol at Villareal as a source of Real Madrid kryptonite.
The good news: I’m not just bringing you problems, I’m bringing you solutions! There is a club with actual Klopp Kryptonite on their playing staff. Step forward Olympique de Marseille’s Ismaïla Sarr*, scorer of a brace in Watford’s 3-0 victory over Liverpool in 2020, ending the hopes of finishing the league season unbeaten. (Bonus suggestion: Brighton has been an extremely difficult opponent for Liverpool; would it not be funny for Lallana and Milner to play a part in Klopp’s Liverpool being eliminated from the Europa?)
Oliver (*unless Aubameyang’s presence negates Sarr’s, given that Auba has been eliminated by Liverpool in the Europa League knockouts not just once, but twice) Dziggel, Geneva Switzerland
Stop picking on Liverpool
Not sure where the anti-Liverpool narrative is coming from all of a sudden but it’s getting pretty annoying.
First off there was Will Ford’s Five Reasons Alonso will choose Bayern over Liverpool with some lazy points (and only five were needed…) thrown in. Then you have Fordy at it again, an apparent Chelsea fan (or someone at least with Chelsea winning the CL pinned to his Twitter page) writing some pretty shite post-match drivel about how Liverpool were overwhelming favourites for Sunday’s final, with Dave Tickner trying to support or reinforce the point in 16 Conclusions. Seriously? League positions go out the window for finals. Any person with half a footballing brain that saw those squads and starting 11’s would have expected Chelsea to win that match given their depth of position and having watched them draw with Man City only a week previous. I thought Chelsea would win that game comfortably, especially when Conor Bradley went right-wing….
Tickner again at it with the PL Losers inclusion which was tongue and cheek and not entirely inaccurate but a wind up feeding into the narrative. And now today, you have an article by Lewis Oldham about Five Events to Halt Liverpool’s quadruple tilt. The vast majority of Liverpool fans do not expect Liverpool to win the quadruple – can we dream, yes? Will it happen, highly unlikely. Who are these unbearable fans that keep being referenced? Are any fans not unbearable after winning multiple or consistent trophies? Seeing Klopp win one trophy this season and getting to celebrate it with the players and squad will do me if that’s all they win.
If you’re going to produce articles based on assumptions and what if’s, kindly have the decorum for your readers to produce articles of a similar nature with alternate views. And not just about Liverpool. It doesn’t all have to be doom and gloom folks. F365 used to do this before, where has it all gone wrong? Did Winty p*ss off and leave the kids at the helm? Please come back F365 of old, your fans miss you.
Dazza, Dublin, LFC
I like F365 and that’s why I read it
Sarah (and all the gang)
We love you.. Ok I… I can’t talk for the entire population (we never had to clarify that before did we, everyone just knew what you meant and didn’t look to tear you apart)
It’s why we (I) come back day after day, tea break after lunch break.
Even getting a link to Planet Football annoys me as it take me away from the football website I have read for 20yrs+…? (feels like more)
So, fair play to you for publishing all the moany haters letters. Why can’t people just leave, or not look, why do people feel the need to actually send the negativity and ‘hate’
I really cant be doing with Eamonn Holmes.. so guess what.. I don’t watch GB News..
It’s the whole Mary Whitehouse problem – off of the 80s (yes I’m 52). If you don’t like it, don’t watch it.. There must be thousands of football websites and podcasts and places to get news and info
I personally enjoy the articles for the most part and the ones I don’t like the tone of I don’t read… simples
So thank you for ridiculous effort you all must put in to keep coming up with articles news and topics and everything (tho the Neviller diaries are missed and the Peter Reid travel (drinking) stories – But I guess you might get in trouble now for having a laugh, shame)
Keep it up.
Thank you all.
Al – LFC (taking the League over all else this year if given the option please)
What stops me reading…
Here’s a list of things that stop me reading the article or mailbox entry, how about any others you people also use to filter out the crap? It is ordered in terms of annoyance factor. Note that number 5 may be incredibly annoying but it sits at number 5 as it is very easy to ignore unlike some of the others that you get accidentally sucked in at times.
Number 1 is anything containing VAR – no explanation needed
Number 2 is anything to do with over-celebrating, it’s just tiresome, celebrate as much as you want or be like Stewie Griffin, your choice.
Number 3 is any headline that mentions a squad clear-out. It is such a ridiculous notion that a team would actually have a clear out. Utd needed a striker last summer and so any striker who’d scored more than 5 in the last 2 seasons was at least 100 million. Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal all needed midfielders at the same time so anyone available was around 100 million. So why on earth would any club actually clear out a host of players and leave them more susceptible to this ransom? Easy answer, they wouldn’t.
Number 4, net spend. Who cares how you justify your club is punching above its weight despite being poor. If you want to make your own trophy for it and celebrate it (see number 2) then go for it, I’m just not going to read about it.
At number 5 is anything with Fabrizio Romano in the headline. He has to be prominent in every flipping transfer deal but never actually has he ever brought any breaking news. Very easy to avoid.
Jon, Cape Town
What keeps me reading
Thought I’d do a F365 and post an opposite post to my last one. WIll look a bit weird if only this one gets posted though…
Here’s 5 types of mails or articles I like to see, any other thoughts?
1. No question that number one is that incredibly witty short email that we wish we all could have written that often appears at the bottom of the mailbox – you know the ones I mean, the ones that are actually really funny. Also – I couldn’t really justify a separate entry for this but on the a same note, some people also put the most colourful one liners in their mails that make you LOL. There should be a yearly award for these.
2. Mails about great football experiences, especially a kids first game and/or a visit to a lower league game to see the magic of the FA cup
3. A well thought out analysis of a team or strategy that doesn’t hinge purely on the scoreline of their latest game
4. Contradictory considering VAR is in my biggest hates but I do like a considered view on VAR that looks into where it could actually help the game (.e.g. mostly not in the subjective areas it is currently used)
5. Good team banter – not the abusive name calling ‘banter’ that we get all too often but the fan rivalry that may actually hold some truth and preferably be somewhat amusing. The type of abuse that makes you feel like you’re still relevant that us Utd fans have missed for a while now.
Jon, Cape Town