Van Dijk slowing down ‘backed by science’ and Salah decline ‘happens to everyone’…
Liverpool stars Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah are obviously slowing down; it’s in the data, folks.
Meanwhile, who is calling Manchester United vs Sunderland a relegation six-pointer? Only one of those sides are actually in danger of going down.
And amid all that, it’s worth remembering that this so-called ‘struggling’ Liverpool squad is still mourning the loss of one of their teammates.
Send your views to theeditor@football365.com.
Man Utd vs Sunderland – relegation six-pointer
I overheard a Man United fan on Saturday describing their match against Sunderland as a relegation six pointer.
Total hyperbole, of course.
I mean, no one really thinks Sunderland are going to be in a relegation battle, do they?
Neal Boland, LFC, Dublin
A reply to Conway T17
I’ll counter that by saying it’s lazy to not read my mail properly. I didn’t say anyone downed tools, I said actual data driven studies show that players give their best performances when playing for a new contract and their worst ones right after they sign a new contract. Why? Well because they’re playing to keep their job so.
It’s not a conscious thing, it because once they’ve signed that contract they become more relaxed. While playing for the new contract there is a lot of pressure because they might not get what they’re asking for so they have to over perform to ensure they get it.
I also didn’t make that same comment about vvd (though it can also be true) I said that vvd doesn’t seem to have realised that he doesn’t have the pace to recover anymore when he messes up and so he should play slightly further back. You can find example in most of our games this season of VVD losing his man and being left behind.
I honestly don’t see how either of those two things are so controversial? One is literally backed by data science and not even an opinion and the other is what happens to all players as they age. I’m not a sentimental person at all, when I look at a player I see who they are now, not what they did for the club in the past. I think sometimes fans fall into the trap of viewing club legends as if they’re always 25 years old.
Lee
For the love of football
Reading emails from Jamo from Nairobi and Lash, Geneva got me thinking.
Is it better to support the same team as your partner (camaraderie) or a major rival (great pisstaking opportunities for both)?
I’d lean towards the former although it does lead to us high-fiving when Liverpool score which, I’m pretty sure, makes everyone thinks we’re dicks.
Aidan, Lfc (Btw thanks Jamo and Lash for your comments. Not sure being nice online will ever take off but appreciate the effort…and you should definitely star in a remake of Tango and Cash)
Ange out
I thought i would write in to give a Forest fan’s perspective given how things are going.
When Ange was appointed, he wasn’t everyone’s choice but like many fans, we did want to give him a chance. I read a lot from Spurs fans and a few pieces on F365 saying how he will be a disaster, the players will start to pick up injuries, there is no real patterns of play apart from running around a lot, we will concede a lot from set pieces and most importantly, will lose a lot of games.
I thought this was a harsh and an almost ungrateful approach from Spurs fans, especially given the trophy he delivered and that the league form was a sacrifice towards delivering this.
Spurs fans (and F365), i apologise and you were 100% right.
The one positive thing i would say about Ange is that the time he has taken to deliver his style of play and principles has been incredibly quick. Unfortunately his style, coaching and tactics are sh*t. Last night pretty much ticked the Ange bingo card – centre back getting injured, player rushed back after injury and getting injured again, goals conceded from set plays, possession with few chances created. And, again, most importantly, losing a game that should really have been a comfortable win.
There was an F365 piece recently saying that Ange was ‘speedballing’ his approach and outcome and it was spot on.
Calling for a Manager to lose his job after 6 games is ridiculous but it is clear that the appointment was a mistake and this needs to be corrected before the damage becomes too much.
Marinakis is ruthless, but he’s also very stubborn. I hope the former wins when deciding what to do.
No idea who his replacement will or should be though. Probably Southgate, not sure about that one but he definitely can’t be worse.
Ange out.
James
On Liverpool, death, and how we don’t talk about it
Dear Ed,
One for the mailbox, might be a little long and serious but I do think at some point someone needs to say it…
There is a lot being being written (not-unreasonably) about the odd start to Liverpool’s season with the conclusion generally being reached landing somewhere between ‘lots of new players is hard’ and ‘weird innit?’
However I would suggest that we might all be (understandably) having a great big semi-willful blind spot about the real reason, namely that these guys have all just lost one of their team mates in a genuinely tragic way. And the way that we aren’t able to talk about this is a problem.
We’ve probably all read about and then tried to ignore all of the stuff about men’s mental health and the epidemic of male suicide that we’re currently living in the middle of, and it is an epidemic any way you look at it – up by 30% in the last 10 years, now the leading cause of death for men under 50 and male suicide now counts for 80% of all suicide. And the best, only, way we have of combating this is to be able to talk about bad things that happen when they happen, but we’re crap at it.
Diogo Jota’s death is tragic on many levels, firstly and most obviously to his family, friends and those who knew him and that’s what the Liverpool players are dealing with at the moment. Grief is hard and it comes at you sideways and repeatedly. The idea that the players dealt with his death with one emotional evening at Anfield and then moved on is madness, but we all struggle to talk about the fact that the pain for the players (and fans) is still there and will be for a good while yet.
Their heads aren’t clearly not in it and we have to be able to say that out loud and understand that that’s both really sad but also completely okay and normal (and then, crucially, not murder them for it on social media and in the press).
When the autobiographies come out in a few years time and we learn the real story behind this season it’ll be obvious that the thing affecting the start of this season wasn’t the new formation or Florian Wirtz getting up to the speed of the league, it was, as it clearly is, a group of people struggling with how to cope with a tragedy. And the way we all keep ignoring it in the conversation just shows how far we still have to go in learning to communicate with each other when things go South.
We have to find a way to talk about this stuff lads, and that includes our professional media folk.
RIP Diogo Jota and ASK YOUR MATES IF THEY ARE OKAY – one of you can save a life this weekend.
Matt
Nick Woltemade facts
With his goal on Wednesday night, Nick Woltemade has now scored more champions league goals than Sunderland FC.
Chris
NUFC
Laughable Liverpool fans
Brilliant to see all the Pool fans panicking and testing to explain away how awful and lucky they’ve been so far this season. Long may it continue.
At least the “next year will be our year” banter isn’t that long ago so it should be easy to remember.
Weldoninhio, BAC