All the reasons why Liverpool can’t win the title…

Ian Watson
Jurgen-Klopp Liverpool

Keep your mails coming to theeditor@football365.com…

Credit Liverpool for who they didn’t sign
The Liverpool transfer committee gets a lot of credit for decisions it makes regarding players coming in and ones going out. But I just wanted to highlight the decisions they make about players that don’t come in. It was clear to me after the summer transfer window that Liverpool could have signed Werner given they spent a similar amount of money for Jota. Why they didn’t pull the trigger on the Werner deal was highlighted by many media outlets at the time as insufficient funds due to COVID, but the story wasn’t really carried on to its logical end after the Jota deal. Seeing Werner frustrate on the wing for Chelsea makes me think Liverpool went for the slightly less talented option that gave them flexibility across the front three instead of the potential star who could only compete for one of the three positions. I think players like Haaland and Sancho are unrealistic for Liverpool, but not just because of the money involved. Positional and tactical flexibility seems to be the most important deciding factor for new transfers, which must really frustrate the PFM “round plugs in round holes” type with their insightful analysis of the modern game.

But to end on a positive note with what I’ve written above, sometimes the decisions not to act are just as important as the ones that get rightly celebrated. Do other Mailboxers have their favorite example of their club not signing a player that ended up being subjectively being a masterstroke?
Niall, Denver

 

More dropped points
It pains me, it tears me up inside, to state that Liverpool will not win the League this year. Official. In black and white. Unretractable.
A team that cannot beat fodder like Brighton, Newcastle, WBA, Fat Sam and Fulham, cannot win the League. There is trouble in the camp. Open dissent from Mane, Salah seeking Spanish pastures, the high usage of youth tells me the team is troubled over certain decisions made. The non-replacement of Lovren, given the fragility of Matip and Gomez, is myopic. Using Peg A in Hole B is a plaster on a greasy surface, a cheap solution that doesn’t stick.

Van Dijk’s absence does massive harm to our attack, not defence.  Gone are the raking passes to Salah, who takes one touch and the ball is in the net. Gone are Fabby’s fabulous through balls to Mane, as he is now 30 m further back putting out fires. Our wonky, Jenga set-up offers other teams chinks of opportunities, and boy do they take it. I knew at half-time WBA would score a late equaliser, I knew at half-time we would draw Newcastle. This is reminiscent of our 08-09 season, too many draws despite minimal losses. I shouldn’t moan, we won the Champions League (criminally under-rated in England, just because PL clubs don’t do well in it) and the Premier League last season. But failing because we try to subvert expectations? We lost before we even began.
Vinnie Pee

 

Properly pathetic performance. Nobody is immune from criticism today. Trent was wasteful with the ball, Henderson was awful, Mané and Salah had no idea what they were doing and misplaced five yard passes.

Maybe they’re knackered but after West Brom the team should’ve had a point to prove and instead they swanned about the field like the league was already won.

The pressure is now on Klopp to prove he can inspire these players. Nobody feels their positions are under threat and why would you when you can turn in such a turd performance and only get subbed off with 90 seconds left to play? The injuries to VVD/Jota/Thiago/Gomez have been unhelpful but mostly because everyone knows that no matter what happens they’ll play again next week.

We play Man Utd in 3 weeks and the chances are that we won’t be top of the league by the time that game comes the way things are looking.
Minty, LFC


F365 SAYS: Liverpool enter 2021 like the rest of us – weary and uncertain


…Some Liverpool conclusions
1) Robertson and Henderson are guilty of playing hopeful crosses into a crowded box in the hope that a defensive error will lead to a goal. It is unrealistic to expect Salah, Mane or Firmino to win headers regularly against taller defensive lines. If this approach is persisted with, then selling Benteke all those years ago seems ironically myopic. He is what they need right now.

2) Alexander Arnold is of course a great player of unlimited potential, however, he is not playing well of late and is guilty of giving away possession in a sloppy way. His cross field ball this evening in the first half was incredible, however, his crossing into the box has been poor.

3) The high line is counterproductive and almost guarantees opposition strikers one or two excellent chances per game. It stretched VVD and Gomez and must be one of the most risky strategies in the league to persist with such a high line with Fabinho and one of the kids beside him.

On this note, United will batter Liverpool if they don’t change this approach.

4) Given that the teams strength is in counterattacking or pressing football, why can’t Klopp sent out his side to do this from the start. Celtic and Chelsea held a great Barcelona side at bay sitting deep and Liverpool, like that Barcelona, struggle in these games. The high line reduces space for the team to play in and sees Mane and Salah play with their backs to goal.
How many times in the last few weeks have we seen Salah pushed away from goal and loose the ball.

5) Mane should run at defenders more and stop looking to hit the pass. Be more selfish, go for glory. It feels like there is an effort to be too complicated around the goal.

6) Thiago appears to be exceptional with the ball. If he stays fit, he will surely create space and pull teams apart which should aid the front three. The team came alive with him on the pitch.

7) Klopp’s use of substitutes is criminal. It was obvious after 55 minutes that changes were needed. Bringing on Shaq in the 91st minute is bizarre.

8) The glorious football of the last few years has normalized a level of football that is unsustainable. This year is going to be a slog and will make the victory, if it comes, all the better.
Jamie, Eire

 

 

…So if Man U, Everton and Villa win their game(s) in hand you’ll have United level on points with Liverpool and the Villans and Toffees just 1 point behind them.

This season is f*cking mental.
Glen, Stratford Spur

 

Twitter Carn-age
Having read your Prick of the Week article, the idea that you’re judging Leeds United’s behaviour is laughable. That club did nothing wrong. They disagreed with the assessment of a pundit. They have every right to challenge it. That’s free speech. The idea that you can do it but they can’t is a hypocritical joke. Don’t hide behind the moralistic BS; that was truly embarrassing to read.

Let’s change the players involved. Let’s say Gary Neville said Liverpool only won the Premier League because they had a rest. Liverpool push back in similar fashion on Twitter. Maybe LadBible, short on stories on how to get a cheap Domino’s, wets their pants about it. Everyone else shrugs it off, has a giggle or thinks Neville has it coming. One thing it definitely would be is disrespectful to Liverpool and they would be perfectly entitled to push back.

Why is the Carney-Leeds story any different?

The pile on that ensued is not Leeds United’s fault or responsibility. Let’s say you tweet a link to your article. If dozens of trolls start attacking Leeds United’s staff underneath, is that on you? No, that idea is absurd.

This is another example of the media holding the world to a standard it isn’t willing to live itself. And don’t tell us it is cute when you do it – we can smell that crap from here.
Joel Sparks, Flintshire

 

…I’m a lifelong Leeds United fan and like the rest of us, I’m incredibly proud of my team and my coach. That this bunch, including rejects, not-good-enough’s and ‘League 1 Liams’ (love you Liam!) are playing so well is, and I’m not exaggerating, the brightest spot in my life in this awful, awful year. Well, them and the kids (he says guiltily).

There have always been lots of people who’ve hated us. No idea why. Because we’re Northern and don’t apologise? Because we judge others and find them lacking? Aye, that, and when we were good, we were too bloody good by half. It’s their problem of course, not ours.

So why give them this? Especially this year, when we’ve been joyous.

Women, particularly accomplished, smart, opinionated women, are treated like dirt on Twitter. It’s a disgrace, and not our fault, but please, LUFC, delete the tweet now (it’s inevitable anyway), apologise and we march on together.
Joe

 

…I really feel like I’m missing something in this whole Leeds/Radrizzani vs Carney storm in a teacup thing. Carney claimed that Leeds won the Championship last season because of COVID which as a neutral (Manchester United fan) does strike me as pretty disrespectful on the grounds that Radrizzani pointed out in his tweet. Winning a competitive league by 10 points is nothing to be sniffed at surely? Especially when they scored the joint second most goals and conceded the fewest for the joint best goal difference in the league i.e. weren’t just nicking 1-0 wins, not that that’s anything to be ashamed of.

So far as I can see, there is no incitement to abuse Carney, no calls to “pile on”, although in the toxic dump of the internet (Twitter) abuse is probably inevitable, yet for some reason Leeds and more specifically Radrizzani have been called on to delete the tweet defending their achievement last season. What am I missing? I don’t think Carney is being called on to retract her disparaging comments about Leeds so is it simply the case that Carney is a woman and thus needs to be protected from online abuse in a way that we don’t apply to men?
Daniel, Cambridge


READ MORE: Prick of the week: Leeds Twitter and the Carney code


Project Restart II
If the Proud Shepherd asks… I shall offer my thoughts.

I play Sunday cricket. (Bear with me here). If it starts drizzling we debate coming off. We know it’s probably raining too much but we also know if we come off, we only go back on once it’s proper stopped and is drying out. I.e. we probably never go back on. I’m hoping you can see where I’m going here.

If a 2-4 week circuit breaker occurs, what is the criteria for starting up again? Would the situation be any better in 2 – 4 weeks? It’s easy to stop doing something in the current circumstances. It’s a lot harder to start it back up (responsibly). I’ll leave it to others to point out the issues regards the Euros/European competitions and fixture pile up with no actual gap to fit them in to. Interestingly; Pep wants 5 subs due to games being condensed but would also like a break. (Presumably without games being further condensed? Somehow.)

I’m off to make him a cake to eat.
Gary (AVFC)

 

Where the Arsenal blame lies
In the last 3 and a half years, Arsenal have lost Cazorla, Ramsey, Walcott, Wilshere, Iwobi, Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Sanchez. Now some of these players were hardly world-class, but they did possess flair and played “the Arsenal way”. They were replaced in the market by the likes of Willian, Pepe, etc. The reason we don’t have creativity is not because Arteta is a bad manager. It is because Arsenal have failed to replace key offensive players. Emery, Wenger and Arteta are far from faultless, but we should not forget how poorly this club has been run ever since Ivan Gazidis entered the fray. Even worse was the three man committee led by Raul Salheni. Mistakes in the transfer market cost Arsenal more than the other big six, apart from maybe Spurs. Look at Kepa and Morata mistakes at Chelsea for an example. Thinking that by adding one player who has not played in 9 months will fix that is ridiculous.

That is not to say Arteta is not blameless. His treatment of Willian and Luiz goes against what his “principles” were. We have often lacked purpose with possession. Also, we have no clue what is the situation with Ozil (Although he was a regular before his comments on China)? What we do know is that we will not be competitive for at least another season. We first have to get rid of the awful contracts (Mustafi on 90K, Kolasinac, Sokratis on 150K a week, and Ozil on 350K). But we have gotten better in the transfer market. Tierney, Gabriel, Partey were astute buys. We have some wonderful young talents such as Martinelli, Saka, Maitland-Niles, Smith-Rowe, Nketiah, Balogun, etc. I am not saying we will win the league in three years, but it seems with Edu we may have a plan. We have also yet to see Partey truly play.

Finally, can we stop rewriting history? Bernd Leno is arguably our best player, and saved us countless times last year. He is an established German international. It would have made no sense choosing an unproven 28 year old over him based on 10 games in the league. Hell, a year ago no one outside the club knew who Emi Martinez was. It was the right decision then, and it still is today.
Guillaume, Ottawa

 

Prick of the week nomination
Not sure if you’re taking nominations for Prick Of The Week, but I have one anyway: everyone who uses 3 letter acronyms for players and coaches rather than their actual surname. I think the reasons are pretty obvious and will stand up to any scrutiny:

It wastes key strokes. The same potato peelers typing ‘KDB’ also type ‘Fernandinho’. De Bruyne is 9 key strokes, Fernandinho 11! The same finger sniffers punching in ‘CHO’ gleefully show off when nailing ‘Azpilicueta’. 11 simple keystrokes versus a challenging 11. A tough draw, and yet CHO wins! Plus, there are the TAA’s, the AWB’s, the VVD’s, the AOC’s and the OGS’s of this world to deal with, and that’s before we get historical (hysterical?) with AVB and RVN.

How are we supposed to cope with the added sin of a number? Hi CR7 <waves>. I guess that is because he lacks a hyphenated surname and is now listed on Juventus’ balance sheet under ‘intangible marketing assets’, the loser. It’s like he was a bit late to Gmail, although I guess it is better than Cristiano_Ronaldo_177Offical@gmail.com.

It must be to differentiate the player from all the other world-famous Alexander-Arnold’s or Wan-Bissaka’s so we don’t get our asses all confused and in a muddle when talkin’ footy, bantz right? Probably not, otherwise we might have developed a naff way of separating out the various Brown’s, Williams’, Traore’s and Dembele’s that have filled team sheets the world over for years. Oh wait, we have, we use their full name! Silly me.

So, what is going on?

It becomes clear when we realise this mania exists more or less only for players and coaches from big clubs. After all no one is clambering for HRK, BPF or ASM to play more/move clubs. (To save everyone some time, that’s Hal Robson-Kanu, Bailey Peacock-Farrell and Allan Saint-Maximin to you.)

So my guess is that it’s one of those I-want-to-feel-like-I-really-know-my-big-club-but-I’m-a-plastic-fan-or-dipshit-journalist-so-I-am-overdosing-on-familiarity-to-appear-like-I’m-in-the-know kind of things. Like when Manchester United fans buy officially licensed tractors and noodles, or better still when they like an asinine social media post. The pricks!

Before I go, I was hoping someone could enlighten me on this VAR chap I keep seeing written about everywhere. Seems a real game-ruining cock like Sepp Blatter, Mino Raiola or Andrea Radrizzani. Who is he? I can’t find him on any team sheet or squad list. The closest I’ve come is former Latvian striker Vits Rimkus or retired Spanish winger Vicente Rodriguez, but I have no idea if they had another sneaky name in there like Andris or Albert respectively to fit the VAR. Besides, both aren’t overly high profile these days, so it feels like a JFH long shot for it to be one of them.

Help!
Dr Oyvind, Earth. (Or, DOE to the Pricks of the Week.)

 

What makes an assist?
Loving the recent mails on Bruno and his brilliance. He is a fantastic player and as with all successful transfers United are now gaining the benefits of paying big money for a top class player. Against Wolves he contributed his 7th assist of the season, bringing his total to something like 450 goal contributions of goals and assists since joining United.

What makes an assist though? A corner right onto the head of a incoming defender to nod home? Absolutely. One of those KDB specials that results in a Man City player tapping in at the back post? Definitely. Harry Kane smashing one down the side of a defence for Son to finish? Certainly.

Brunos assist against Wolves though seemed a little different, it took 11 seconds after his pass to Rashford for it to find the net, also Rashford took 7 touches and had a hell of alot to do in order to score! Does Bruno deserve an assist for that? Yeah Rashford wasnt going to score unless the ball was passed to him but he made that goal himself, turning the defender and finding space to get the shot away.

My question is this, what is the/or is there a maximum amount of time and touches that has to pass in order for someone not to be awarded an assist? Not too long ago nearly every game Messi seemed to dance through 4 defenders with a load of touches and score, did the player who initially passed it Messi get an assist? Did they do enough to deserve the credit for “making” the goal? I’m genuinely interested to read what people think of this? or maybe people just dont care.
Robbie DFC (Man Utd winning the league would be flippin hilarious!)

 

Managers in the ring
As promised, here is a Happy New Year message with a Top Ten ranked list of Premier League Managers as Boxers:

10) Steve “Big Daddy” Bruce:
Some dismiss him as merely a journeyman, but he is more than that. Has a nose that proves he has mixed it with the best for a consistently long period of time.

9) Sam “Chianti Classico” Allardyce:
Dropped out of the rankings a while back, but is back in the big time courtesy of a recent fifth round TKO over Slaven Bilic.

8) Sean “The Gruffalo” Dyche:
Trains in a shed in his mums back garden and has easily the worst facilities of any fighter on this list. Constantly complains that the governing bodies don’t recognise his achievements given the constraints he works under.

7) Marcelo “El Loco” Bielsa:

The maddest fighter on this list. A veteran of 57 contests and none of them have reached the final bell. He is a promotors dream as his PPV figures regularly go through the roof. When he fights, someone is getting knocked out spectacularly. And nobody knows who it will be or when it will happen.

6) Ralph “Der Kannibale” Hassenhuttl:
Amazingly, got up off the canvass 9 (nine) NINE times in his contest with Bielsa last year to emerge victorious with a 12th round stoppage.

5) Nuno “The Wolf” Espirito Santo:
Softly spoken. Never says anything controversial to promote a fight. A true gentleman. But just before the first bell when the referee calls the fighters together to touch gloves…Well…The stare he delivers in to his opponents eyes really is quite something.

4) Frank “The Tank” Lampard:
We all know that governing bodies in boxing are nefarious organisations, where boxers can obtain rankings far higher than are merited. That is the only logical, rational and reasonable explanation why a man of only three professional contests against strategically selected opponents is so high on this list.

3) Jose “The Special One” Mourinho:
Once boasted he could win a fight without throwing a punch. Generally wins fights by landing two or three punches per round without getting hit. Promotors hate him because his PPV sales are absolutely appalling.

2) Pep “El Toro” Guardiola:
Always takes the centre of the ring. Always takes the initiative in fights. Always on the offensive. Considers himself morally superior for doing so. So, so, so happy when he wins.

1) Jurgen “The Klopp Out King” Klopp:
An absolute whirlwind of intensity that opponents simply can’t cope with. Has a large entourage around him and has been complaining a lot lately to the boxing authorities that he should be allowed five people in his corner during fights rather than just three. Bellows with laughter once his opponents have been defeated. Never, ever, ever removes his pristine white gum shield.
Naz, Gooner.