The Liverpool man who will leave…and his obvious replacement

Send your thoughts, Liverpool or otherwise to theeditor@football365.com.

Keita 2 U
As I watched Naby Keita get substituted in the 56′ minute during the Liverpool-West Ham game on Monday night, I couldn’t help but think that his time at Liverpool is surely running out.

Assuming no injuries, I think Klopp believes his strongest midfield to be: Henderson-Fabinho-Wijnaldum. While, Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain are the two midfielders he can call upon to shake things up when Liverpool are struggling.

Oxlade-Chamberlain is a bit of a battering ram, who naturally plays just behind the center forward and he is more likely to pick up a goal. Despite last season’s injury, I think his Liverpool career has been fairly successful. His thunderblaster against Man City being the highlight.

Keita on the other hand naturally plays a bit deeper, often runs at midfielders and looks to unlock defenses with tiki-taka passing. He is clearly a talented player, however his style just doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of the team. I struggle to imagine him ever being a 100% guaranteed starter under Klopp.

Looking ahead, Curtis Jones will surely be demanding more playing time next year and consequently I wouldn’t be surprised if Keita left Liverpool at the end of this season to pursue a new challenge.
Oliver, London

The ref word
Watching the Chelsea and Bayern match, it went pretty much as well as I expected it would. Bayern completely outmatched us, Alphonso Davies was phenomenal and Thomas Muller was also a class above.

But during the game the thing I noticed most was how well referee Clement Turpin managed the game. I agreed with pretty much every one of his decisions both for and against us, he had a great game.

Then it came as it always seems to in our games recently – a very bizarre questionable VAR decision. Soft is an understatement. Lewandowski cut across Alonso and Alonso kind of pushed off him as he went by while looking the other way; how can there be intent if he can’t see? Add to this that Lewandowski is going to hit the ground at the slightest touch as he has for years – ask any irish fan who had to endure the Ireland and Poland games in recent years.

How on earth that is a red card yet Maguire and Lo Celso were not? All VAR has done is show the blatant incompetence of these referees. While any ref can be forgiven for making a mistake in real time, it is just not acceptable for top level referees to constantly make mistake after mistake despite being able to look at the incident multiple times from multiple angles.

With some of the rules not fit for purpose for the implementation of VAR (offside rules but thats a whole other mail) and some of the referees incapable of implementing them through sheer incompetence anyway i think it’s fair to say this season has been a train wreck for VAR and I only hope something will change for the better for next season because at the minute it’s doing much more harm than good.
Aaron. CFC. Ireland.

Come fifth and receive eternal life
Howdy!

I decided to play Mediawatch today. I’ve noticed that Sarah Winterburn is constantly talking and writing about the ban on Manchester City and the 5th place Champions League spot as it’s a sure and inevitable thing. It is not.

Although, there are signs that the ban will stand, the whole process can take a few months. I believe that a lawyer commented during an episode of Jules and Andy that the appeal can last from six to twelve months.

Think of Brexit but with less stupid people involved.

Cheers!
Plamen, Plovdiv

Musings
Firstly, I’d like to congratulate Sarah Winterburn on her perfect description of the ‘battle to be the tallest dwarf’. Perfectly sums up United, Spurs and Chelsea all trying their damnedest not to finish in fourth. Almost like three old-school toffs each insisting that the other go through the doorway first. ‘After you’, ‘No, no, after YOU’. Apart from my bias to United, I almost hope Wolves or Sheff Utd shove through first while muttering ‘FFS’ under their breath.

On a completely unrelated note, after Wolves had a goal ruled out by VAR for being offside from a corner, like a few in the mailbox, I hadn’t considered the possibility that you could be offside at a corner. As it is perfectly possible, what is to stop an enterprising team all standing on the halfway line, rendering all opposition players offside? The next logical step would be for the opposition to join them and then each corner would be a mad scramble as the taker of the corner tries to land the ball far enough from the keeper to stop him claiming it, while giving his team the best chance to win the foot race. You wouldn’t need VAR either as the linesmen can both stand by the halfway line and it is a handy ruler to see if any attacking player player has their little toe encroaching over it.

See what VAR has done? I’m now imagining stupid scenarios to make football more farcical than VAR has achieved, which would be some feat. Bloody crappy technology and the desire to make football perfect. Vive la difference! Celebrate the flaws, don’t try to polish the turd.

Cheers,
Paul, Man Utd

Load of Hoddle
Glenn Hoddle just described a Willian cross as “in some ways it was too good of a ball!”…

I’ve heard ‘He almost hit it too well’ and, like most right minded people, thought it sounded daft, but this is a new low. How can a pass be too good?! Surely the run was poor, or the defence was excellent, or VAR interfered, or something.

Is it just me or can anyone explain how a pass can be too good? Surely an excellent pass is only let down by external variables…
Jack (Optimistic United will sneak into the Champions League next season, hope Glenn has stopped commentating so I don’t have to listen to his drivel) Manchester

Assorted Chelsea thoughts
Fair play to Bayern, they showed how much Chelsea have to learn, but we already knew how superior they were compared to us, Gnabry and Davies are such top talents.

Also guessing that spells the end to Kepa’s Chelsea career, interesting summer ahead in regards to a new goalkeeper.
Mikey, CFC

Some player reviews from a Chelsea fan:

Ross Barkley: an appalling footballer whose night was encapsulated by his failure to control a throw in. That puts him on a par with myself and most footballers of my level and that is simply unacceptable. Waffle-footed.

Reece James: he is a “Rolls-Royce” of a defender and his quality on the ball is undoubted. However, it is probably fair to say he got a roasting from Davies tonight – not clear if that is because James is deceptively slow and reliant on his strength, or because Davies is other-worldly fast.

Mason Mount: really want him to succeed, love his attitude and pressing, but both this game and the Tottenham match showed that he is lacking intelligence and threat in the final third. Maybe it’s form related, but deep down I suspect he might not quite have what it takes to play in an attacking position for a top club (or a middling country). Also, his forward pointing hair risks accentuating the size of his nose.

Willian: the statistics evidently show that Willian is a bad player (rarely scores, rarely assists, rarely cares), which is why I have always struggled to comprehend how he has passed as a player who justifies his selection on the basis of the work-rate he brings to games. So so lazy. He treats his job with the same enthusiasm I treat mine and that is simply unacceptable. Great to see Tammy shout at him for failing to gamble at the back post – I hope he called him a good-for-nothing charlatan!

Marcos Alonso: his lack of pace is inexcusable in a modern footballer, let alone a wing back. That said, he is an elite level kicker of the ball and I bloody love him. Didn’t look like a red from the limited replays shown on the live feed I was watching, but at this point it clearly doesn’t matter.

Frank Lampard: I suspect results would dramatically improve with Hudson-Odoi, Pulisic and Loftus-Cheek available for selection.
Skinnyman CFC (does making fun of PFMs feel like something we might look back on in a few years and regret?)

Wee Jesse
I don’t think we have really seen a game where Jesse Lingard has played well since Dec 17 of 2018 when Man Utd beat Arsenal at the Emirates.

Obviously there are a shed load of problems with his final product but he does bring a lot of energy on the pitch. I’ve often said I think he could do a great job as a 6 as he buzzes around the pitch, closes down players well and can pass the ball. He just isn’t a creative force (anymore would suggest he was at some point).

Whether that experiment would fail just like Alan Smiths move to CM did, we will never know. Hopefully only a few months of his Man Utd career left.
Pete, Canberra

You absolute Mag
Jeez, Ade, Guildford I don’t know whether you wrote the mail headline of ‘Maguire wouldn’t start in Fergies team’ or someone at f365 was deliberately trying to make you look a plonker but plonker it is.

For a start there was life before your given period of 1992-2014 in which Fergie picked the likes of Mal Donahy as an almost ever present. God loves a trier but Beckenbauer he wasn’t. Then there are many examples during the Premier League era when our central defenders were a partnership of world class status – Bruce/Pally, Rio/Vida to name two.

But there’s many more examples where you think back to actually watching the games (as opposed to Wikipedia, stats, you tube highlights) when you shudder and remember, oh yeah, I’m glad we had Robbo/Keane/ Butt to protect them, or Scholes/ Eric/Giggsy to get us out of that. Don’t try telling me that Maguire wouldn’t have got into a team that contained Laurent Blanc, Henning Berg, Wes Brown or Ronny Johnsen as a starter. And these weren’t all bit part players – for example Blanc played 29 in the league in 01-02. And I haven’t even mentioned David May yet. Or Phil Jones. And did you actually watch Jonny Evans at United? Maybe he was too young and he’s definitely improved but there’s no comparison while at United.

And does Maguire start for City – absolutely yes. Thats why Pep wanted to buy him.

He’s 8 months into a new club, with pressure of a high price tag, even higher expectations and playing behind a midfield that’s been porous, alongside new partners.

FFS perspective and all that please!
Steve (ex-Flixton Red), Brights Grove, Canada

Odion’s belt
Richard Arnold (Manchester United managing director) was boasting about how the Odion Ighalo signing was trending on twitter over the coronavirus. If that’s not a perfect example as why you can’t have a bean counter running a football club, I don’t know what is.

With Ole and Woodward both looking like staying and no director of football in sight. It’s going to be a long few years for us boys… strap in.
Longsight Lad

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