Liverpool might be really rubbish but Jurgen Klopp should not be sacked. Also: Sean Dyche will keep Everton up comfortably, Arsenal midfielder Jorginho is crap, and Casemiro should not have been sent off for Manchester United.
Keep your views coming to theeditor@football365.com…
Liverpool
Christ, we’re bloody awful right now. Wolves are barely above the relegation places and easily beat us 3-0 – the first half in particular being an absolute shambles. The most depressing thing is, it was all so grimly predictable too. I didn’t know a single fellow Liverpool supporter who thought we’d get so much as a point today.
So our next fixture is Everton because *of course* it is. It couldn’t be when Lampard was helping them go nice and swiftly down, oh no – not this season! It’s when Sean Dyche is coming off a hugely confidence boosting win against run away league leaders Arsenal. This is not a good thing.
If he beats us as well, especially when he’s not been given penny one to spend, they’ll erect a bloody statue of him at Goodison. Keep playing like this and they’ll go past us in a couple of months.
In short, things are bloody bad right now – actually, really, properly, it’s-time-to-panic disastrous. I’m not blaming Jurgen, he’s been just amazing for so long for us. I’m not blaming the board either, they’ve stumped up plenty of cash when we needed it – see both Becker, Alisson and Van Dijk, Virgil.
It’s kind of hard to criticise the team too much either, it’s the same lot who damn near won the quadruple only last year.
But right now, we are absolutely as bad as anyone in the league and at this moment, nailed on to finish in the bottom half. No one at the club has any idea why in the fresh hell it’s all gone so wrong. Therefore no one has a tiny single cute clue as how to fix it. This is ever so slightly extremely worrying. Jurgen, in particular, looks absolutely defeated.
Bellingham would undoubtedly be a huge help in beginning to turn things around. But why precisely, would he want to join us right now? I think he’ll get some offers that will tempt him rather more in the summer. Last summer was our chance to really bid big with Dortmund and the opportunity was sorely missed.
Do we need a new manager? We sure as hell need something big and we need it very, very quickly. At this time all the wheels have come off, we’re sliding downhill very fast and rather inexplicably, we’re still accelerating.
It’s been great for a really long time under Jurgen, it really has. Even if the brilliance of City has stopped us winning quite the amount of trophies we might have otherwise deserved.
But right now? Things are absolutely, completely and utterly s***e.
James, Liverpool
Klopp absolutely must stay
For a Liverpool fan below the age of 50, the last few seasons have been the best of times and we need to remember nothing lasts forever. Perhaps it’s part of getting older but I’ve just realised a fan of say 16 years old today has never really known anything but Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool being imperious. We’re into a generation now who didn’t endure Roy Hodgson, Tom Hicks and Paul Konchesky. Generations before me will talk about Graeme Souness and the mid 1990s.
For fans of my age (35) Liverpool had done more or less sod all before Jurgen Klopp – barring a few good years under Houllier and Benitez when we punched above our weight. Klopp inherited a club going nowhere having won 1 League Cup in a decade, the dictionary doesn’t have words to describe what he’s done, especially considering we’ve not had the financial clout of City, Chelsea and United for example. Do I really need to remind people that we have won literally everything there is to win with Klopp?
I can already hear you replying with some variation of ‘what he’s done in the past means fuck all’ but you have to remember the world doesn’t stop turning if he leaves, someone actually has to replace him. Who? Liverpool are effectively up for sale and we don’t know what will happen there, what we do know is there is a serious squad rebuild to be done with a lot of key players out of contract this summer. It is an ageing team which needs breaking up probably 1-2 years earlier than the club had intended and the sheer amount of money that will cost is an amount we simply haven’t got, who is going to do a better job?
The reality is when Jurgen Klopp does eventually leave Liverpool, it’s only going downhill. The match between Klopp and Liverpool is a once-in-a-lifetime event, we are perfect for him and he’s perfect for us. If he were to leave he’d never find anywhere better – and we’d never find anyone as good to replace him. Imagine if we had won The Quadruple last year then he left; the following season could only be worse. We’d probably still be in this position right now, with a first season manager who’d likely be sacked already because we’d blame that new manager and pine for Klopp.
I’ve always felt our style under Klopp has been high risk to the point that when if it goes slightly wrong we are in serious trouble – the high line being the most obvious. We’ve got it wrong before; most people forget the Covid shutdown of 2020 came at a point when Liverpool (25 points clear) had just gone a bit wobbly – battered at Watford, out of the FA Cup, collapsed against Atletico Madrid. It’s fine margins and always has been – arguably Klopp’s greatest moment was the Barcelona game and most people forget Alisson makes probably 6 world class saves in the game. On most days with most goalkeepers at least two of those go in and it’s a different story.
We’re seeing what happens when we lose a few percent and it’s really bad, but I do still believe we can get out of it. I still maintain Newcastle’s inability to turn draws into wins is going to bite them severely – they will lose a game somewhere they shouldn’t – so if we can string 2-3 wins together (and importantly beat Newcastle) out of nowhere we can get back into the mix again, but if it doesn’t happen and we do finish 11th it wouldn’t surprise me if Jurgen decides to call it a day, but I hope that doesn’t happen.
Martin (YNWA)
READ MORE: No one blameless at Liverpool but Klopp culpable for belief giving way to crippling doubt
Klopp in
I’ll lay it down now that I’m only 28 and only started supporting Liverpool when I was 8 and moved from Germany to the UK (Army Brat), this means I can’t hark back to the glory days of the 70s and 80s.
I do however remember the days of Hodgson, Rodgers (so close, then so far) and even Dalgish round 2. It was not pleasant. We had some smatterings of success such as Istanbul, the ‘poor man’s treble’ etc but overall it was inconsistent and patchy at best.
Jurgen is having a terrible time at the moment and seems to be as confused as anyone why we are just awful. There are many reasons the obvious one being lack of investment in midfield.
But Klopp has been at the club for 7 years and has won every single trophy available to him during that period. Every one of them. That is incredible. It was only last season where we go to the final of every cup competition and lost the league on the last day.
He’s earned a write off like this season and I do hope we can get back to at least close to the level we were at.
I’m sure Poch will be linked but I’m curious he’s still not been re employed since PSG!!
Klopp In
Limahl (too shy)
Time to say it…
Dear Ed
(I had actually written this mail after the Brighton FA Cup game, then deleted it cos I thought I was too harsh.)
But now, it’s time to admit it.
We’re shit.
Time to readjust those expectations. No longer should we expect sleek attacking and passing, accompanied by an aggressive press. We shouldn’t expect each pass to go to foot. Terrible touch by Salah? It’s okay, we expected it. The midfield being so easy to play through? Not a problem. Trent leaving his footballing brain at home? Who needs to use it for 90 minutes in anyway. A draw away from home? Outperformed ourselves.
Let’s rather enjoy mediocrity than to keep thinking we should be able to outperform colossal clubs likes of Fulham, Wolves and Brighton.
Wik, Pretoria (what I would currently do to have Mane and Wijnaldum back), LFC
The Write Off
Maybe I’m not seeing things correctly but it kind of looks like fsg have decided this season is a write off.
They knew we were struggling in midfield and desperately needed new players and it was costing us matches.
they and/or klopp decided not to fix it and effectively write off the season.
ok if you want to do that fair enough, but why should any fan turn up at the gate or buy those expensive subscriptions for a season that club and management has effectively said they’re not bothering with?
Fans shouldn’t have to do that. you’ve decided not to invest, not to do what’s needed to fix the season so why should fans throw hard earned money on the counter only to see a team completely surrender top to bottom?
Lee
Broken
The team is broken. There is no other explanation. This fall from grace feels unprecedented. Season is done (apart from CL? really?)
Going forward, they dont look like scoring. Defending, they always look like conceding. (turned to my wife when the free kick was given and said this looks like a goal).
if they turn this around, great. but Liverpool FC no longer exist. a shadow of the team that lost against Madrid in June.
Accept the rebuild and lets see what 2023/2024 brings.
Nik (difficult) Munich
YNWA… unless you’re sacked
If Klopp does walk, will he walk alone?
Adidasmufc (Anyone noticed that Liverpool seem to play better when Klopp wears glasses?)
Shocking Liverpool
Well I thought the Brighton game was as bad as it got, but this was worse.
Losing 3-0 to a side fighting relegation is abysmal.
How Nat Phillips isi not getting a game over Joe Gomez is a mystery. Gomez actually headed the ball over Allison for Wolves 2nd when the keeper had it covered.
But the worst on the pitch for me was Keita, what is he even doing playing? I’d rather see some youth in there than him. I lost count the number of times he gave the ball away and should have come off after 20 minutes. He’s leaving at the end of the season and clearly doesn’t give a sh*t!
The sooner the club is sold and some investment made into the squad the better, we should have bought someone in midfield but the thrifty owners wouldn’t put their hands in their pockets. They are going to get a 10X return on their investment, which is criminal.
We have Everton, Newcastle and Real Madrid next and I can’t see us winning any of those games. In fact, we’ll be lucky if we get two wins in the next ten games.
Neil, LFC, USA
A wise man once said…
A wise man once said: “Pride before a fall.”
Several million unwise men once (more recently) looked at two domestic cup finals squeaked past Lukaku’s Chelsea without scoring a goal in 240 minutes and said: “We are quadruple-winners in waiting, this is the Prem’s best-ever team, get the parade out.”
Really makes you think.
GS, NYC
Save The Midfield, Save The World
You thought the season after we won the league was bad. This is the biggest drop off since Heroes season 2.
Si, LFC
Being an Everton fan must be frustrating. Your team plays shite for chunks of the season, gets a manager sacked and then plays well for a new manager. They annoy everyone by either losing to one of your team’s rivals or raising their game against a top team.
I know footballers are only human but how can a squad seemingly switch it on and off rather than just be consistent?
Annoyingly, Dyche will comfortably keep them up and the cycle will start again next season.
Tom
Sean Dyche
He’s definitely keeping them up.
MAW, LA Gooner
“Good business”
Having mucked around and missed out on yet another primary transfer target in Caicedo, Edu did “good business” by signing the crap Jorginho instead. When Fulham beat Chelski, the headed winner came moments after Jorginho was subbed on. What happened at Everton? Same! Amazing that all these years later, Arsenal fans are still deluded enough to think Chelski would ever sell them a quality player! Oh Dear. It. Will. Never. Happen.
Still guys: “good business” is it they say?
Stewie Griffin (“Good business” doesn’t win matches. Good players do)
What?!?!?!?
Well I’m speechless here. Honestly. I’d rather hear from a neutral or an Arsenal supporter about what they thought about the match.
TX Bill (no words for once) EFC
What next now for Todd B?
Well he’s just spent GBP 550milion to buy a draw with Fulham!
At this rate it will be cost them GBP 1 billion for a win.
Where does Todd go next? I think it would be more cost effective to just buy Man United or City and then re-badge them as CFC.
Probably half the CFC fans would be ok with this as well. The state of this club!
Ben
Chel$ea
I can’t figure out if JDC, Chelsea was siding with Arsenal fans (the only ones having any sort of opinion on their level of spending) or not. He appears to agree with all the points I’ve seen made. Perhaps other mailbox contributors can help me out?
It might also be worth pointing out Arsenal’s net spend in the last 5 years is essentially the same as Chelsea’s is this season alone. We could even look a bit further back for added context but we all know what that would tell us.
James, Kent
If Dien hadn’t help create the premier league and it’s own commercial independence from the Football League, allowing them to make money from their own sponsorships, the millions from SKY TV rights, do you think Abramovic would have bought his tainted money to help buy your tainted Trophies. Your modus operandi continues with your current owner but still Arsenal fans are looking down at you along with the mighty Fulham and Brighton.
‘Not my monkey not my circus’
Sarn (Potter to be replaced by end of season)
Solid result but poor refereeing
The first half was very dominant by United. In the first 20 minutes, the press of United was much more present than it has been this season. Getting an early goal was good for the tempo of the half as we continued to press Palace and the ball barely left the Palace half in the first 20 minutes. Palace did grow as the game went on but never looked dangerous enough to score but definitely started to get better in the game while being 1 nil down early. Something that United could work on from the first half is giving better service to Weghorst. You can see he can cause issues for the opposition defence with his aerial ability and his pressing but without giving him anything to work with all he does is run around. Of course, I’m not saying Weghorst is the best striker in the world but he is our player till the summer so why not at least try to give him something to work with.
The second half was the exact opposite of the first half. Palace started the half strongly and looked better but didn’t have any convincing chances but they were much more of a challenge than then in the first half. United still looked better especially with the Rashford goal it seemed like that was it with a two-goal cushion for United. Casemiro gets sent off which I don’t think he should have been or at least Schlupp from Palace should have been sent off too if you are sending players off. There’s not much you can do about it now but that completely changed the game. Palace scored with Schlupp who I think should have been sent off. Luckily United were able to hold on until the final whistle which that’s positive to see that we are fighting for these wins whereas before we have dropped off and gave up.
Overall, The game started well and still is a great result for us and showed improvement from the draw against Palace a few weeks ago. I’m annoyed that Casemiro will miss three games for something I believe he should not be sent off for. Some positives were how good Lisandro Martinez was. The fact that at the start of the season people were writing Martinez off because of his height is silly and since then he has proven that he is a high-quality defender and he gives everything for the badge which is what United have been needing for years. Sabitzer got thrown into the deep end for his debut but looked crisp and quick with his passes which is great to see. Hopefully, now he probably starts the next few games he will be ready and show his talent.
Max of Whitegate
If Erik Ten Hag is too mature to complain, I am not. The referee was terrible, he made a lot of horrible decisions. Ayew was grabbing Fred’s throat too and he had multiple issues with United players yesterday and still managed to get off without a booking. The decision that got to me was when Sabitzer won the ball cleanly and set Rashford on his way and the referee decided it was a foul. If that wasn’t a clean tackle, I don’t think I have seen one. Since that Man City game, the officiating has been against United. Elbow against Palace in the first leg, A clear penalty ignored in the same match, Andy Carroll wasn’t booked after his tackle on Eriksen.
Joe Praise (Nigeria)
Perhaps a little late to this but
I’m Scottish and follow Scottish and English football
Watching the madness of the January transfer window in England, its insane. Some fans demand signings like it’s a major part of what football is about (it is, but not to the extent some think) and want to see heads roll if no one is signed, or no one they deem good enough is signed. A combined spend of over £800m which is way in excess of the other ‘big 5’ leagues together. Madness
Some pundits and fans claiming its the same as Italy in the 90s have a point to an extent but Red star Belgrade, Marseille and Ajax all won the European Cup in the 90s so it wasn’t full domination from the moneyed clubs like now.
Bournemouth are seen as a bigger club than Feyenoord because they have more money due to geography when Feyenoord have more fans at the stadium and more trophies, domestic and European.
Teams dominate leagues all over Europe. Its nearly 40 years since a non old firm team won the Scottish league, Bayern doing 10 in a row. Some people may laugh but it’s not funny or good for football.
How many clubs in England have a transfer embargo or massive debts which they are struggling with due to chasing that sweet, sweet epl money? It’s not sustainable in the slightest. Leicester’s owner clears £194m of debt and is praised. How did they get in that much debt? Again its madness.
You see massive clubs like Man utd not spending in January because they are apparently skint (yes, I know how much they spent in the summer) and Liverpool struggling because they don’t have a strong enough squad. How can it be that these clubs can’t afford players? The prices just have to come down as it doesn’t make sense anymore.
I dont have the answer but I know that someone needs to find one.
Rant over.
Neil, Glasgow (not the rangers fan who also writes in)
READ MORE: Every Premier League club’s confirmed squad after January transfer window: new faces and omissions
