Mails: Klopp’s pact with the devil and how to fix the League Cup
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Klopp’s pact with the Devil
I’ve been thinking for a while that, as ridiculous as it sounds, Jurgen Klopp has made some sort of pact with Beelzebub!
I’ve watched Liverpool have almost no bad luck for 2 seasons, & tonnes of good variety.
And before moronic Liverpool fans shout about “the odd penalty & deflection”, I define bad luck as “getting less than your performance deserves at the end of a game”.
If you’re denied a penalty, but still go on to win the game, that’s not bad luck! Can anyone tell me the last time Liverpool got less than they deserved in a game?
I can list 2 dozen games where they got more, in the recent past the Sheff Utd, Man Utd, Aston Villa & even Watford games they got undeserved results. No matter how badly they play, something comes to their rescue, be it VAR (was it introduced for the sole purpose of making Liverpool champions?), a deflection, a goalkeeping error etc. All external factors go for them too, Norwich, possibly the worst team in PL, play 2 decent games, & they happen to be against City & Leicester, Pool’s closet rivals!? All greatest teams in PL history, the likes of Arsenal’s invincibles & United’s treble winners, had days when the ball just wouldn’t go in the net. Not Klopp’s Liverpool, it just does not happen to them!? How many times have you watched a side batter the opposition, & still lose 0-1? Seen it with Liverpool the last couple of seasons? Probably seen more flying pigs!
They’re almost immune to injuries too, specially to key players. Is it really possible to play high-pressing game for 2 seasons & not pick up any injuries? And again before the morons shout about “credit to medical dept”, how does medical dept help you avoid bad tackles or awkward landing when you jump etc? Every now & gain they get the odd injury, for a perfunctory week or two, just so the public don’t get too suspicious about 11 robots masquerading as football players!
And the one time Klopp isn’t around, the exact opposite happens!? They concede a deflected goal, a free kick goes straight in etc.! I think they even had a player actually get injured!!?
So now I’m convinced this guy has sold his soul to the devil, so my message to the rest of the PL is this: just accept it, Liverpool will win the title this year, and for as long as the pact continues.
Lets hope it’ll expire once they win the title!
Fred, London
Questioning Klopp…really??
Liverpool have not lost in the league this season.
Liverpool are 10 points ahead in the PL.
Liverpool topped their CL group.
Liverpool are current CL holders.
Liverpool won the Super Cup
Liverpool have not lost a league game at home in over 2 and a half years.
Liverpool have not lost ANY game at home in 15 months.
Klopps net spend over 4 season is £80m.
You do not question Klopp.
If Klopp decided to play Richard Keys and Andy Gray upfront with Sian Massey to the right you would not question him.
This weekends game with West Ham has been postponed so that is an extra game that needs to be played.The LAST thing Liverpool needed was an extra 2 midweek fixtures in January on top of a tough Xmas schedule.Klopp played a weakened team v Wolves in the cup last season and got absolutely slaughtered but guess what,Liverpool went unbeaten in the league from then on,got a record points total and won the CL by beating Bayern,Barca and Spurs(losing one game).
Getting knocked out of the FA Cup early also gives you 2 long breaks when the 4th and 5th round games are played and let’s the players recharge their batteries.
Liverpool went to Dubai twice last year when those rounds were played and that worked out fairly well didn’t it??.
Maybe,just maybe the guy on £10m+ a year,sees the players day in day out and has the best strength and conditioning guys around knows what he is doing.
Ferg,Cork
PS. That was never a 5-0 game,v reminiscent of Utd v Chelsea first day of the season.
Why the entire first team?
The reason Klopp took the entire squad to Qatar is simply because…well….it’s the first team squad and ya know, it’s kind of a good idea to keep the group together to train, especially with critical fixtures coming up as soon as they get back to England.
Lee (it’s not that difficult)
Imagine you and your colleagues have just achieved something at the pinnacle of your field
You’ve been through 10 years of training, another 5 or so in the field with total dedication to improving your performance
This is it. The Nobel prize-winning research, Grammy or Oscar performance, Crossrail (lol), the Channel Tunnel
Your boss comes to you and says “Well done lad. Now do you mind missing the award ceremony to help out some of our trainees in Birmingham? The company can potentially increase revenue by 0.02% if their project goes well.”
Hopefully you now know why Liverpool didnt “split the squad” for Carabao and the Club World Cup
Thanks as ever,
Charlie, LFC in DC (working on dad jokes while on parental leave)
This morning’s mailbox
I was not expecting to read that level of bull sprouted in the mailbox this morning. By god who are you people? If any one this morning who wrote in questioning that Liverpool side supports Man united can i kindly remind you of the constant taunts of “mickey mouse” trophy i received in my youth (Thanks Craig i remember those days too) .
To the man who wanted Trent starting last night and suggested playing Hoover a center half in Qatar: FIFA20 IS NOT REAL LIFE!!! YOU DON’T HAVE A CLUE WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT GO BACK TO BED!!!!
Why not start Adrian in goal one man asked? Well considering the young Irish lad started the last two rounds when Adrian was in England let alone Qatar i think its fair to say your recommendation/suggestion is negligible/redundant?
I’m appalled by level of sheer bulls**t i had to read this morning from 75% of the mailbox. This was a champions league match for some of those kids and some might never get another senior appearance again. I personally loved every minute of it just like the Arsenal match before hand. Anyone begrudging those lads or the decision to play them is spending far too much time on computers playing FIFA or Football Manager. What did you think Liverpool was going to win every cup this year? I imagine they’re the same people who will be outraged the next time we drop points in the league, shouting “WHY WAS HENDO ON AND NOT KEITA IN CDM”!
Grow up lads and do it fast!
Luke (rigorously shaking his fist at the screen)
@Minty, LFC: I think the biggest contention around celebrations was Elmohamady celebrating a deflected own goal more than when Origi scored the decisive goal against Barca or the goal to clinch the Champions League Final.
@Tom G: “Qatar is only nine hours away” Have you ever traveled outside of England before? Even with private flights and everything we’ve learned about sports science, do you realize how long it takes your body to adjust to traveling that far / that long?
There’s no need to get overly upset about a competition whose winning prize money (£100,000) is half as much as Liverpool were fined for playing Pedro Chirivella.
Victor Mateo
Thanks for publishing my mail this morning, can I please add some content and respond to the likes of Joe, London and Tom G, not to mention Siddarths bizarre two team selection.
LFC have 28 players listed as the first team squad on their website, of these 4 played last night but not one of those 4 has ever played in a premier league match, 1 is Andy Lonergan (3rd/4th choice keeper) and another 6 are injured. This leaves 17 fit players for selection, or put another way, not enough to field a team and all the places on the substitutes bench!
LFC want to win this CWC and for people to suggest that they should field a weakened SQUAD for the first game compromises this and they should not be expected to do so. Should Liverpool fail to win tonight, can you imagine the uproar if they suddenly flew last nights starting Xl out to Qatar to play the 3rd place play off!
Football is now a squad game, when the FA were threatening to fine people for fielding “a weakened team”, this was rebuked, as long as the players selected were from their 25 man squad (larger with certain criteria), then nothing could really be done. Who are they to tell Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola who and who is not considered to be the right selection for any particular game.
The FA were well aware that Liverpool would be playing in the CWC and the dates involved, perhaps and they certainly wouldn’t admit this, they considered the Carabao Cup to be a competition in which LFC would play a team incapable of reaching the quarter finals and this situation would not arise. Once it did, it really fell upon them to “respect” the integrity of the competition (as they expect the clubs to) and find a solution. They will claim they tried and none could be found, yet people are still happy to lay ALL the blame at LFC’s or Jurgen Klopp’s door.
I do think Liverpool should have pulled out of last night’s game and maybe it was a touch of arrogance or an f u to complete the fixture with the side used (I’m not saying a victory was expected), but if they had, then a different type of abuse/ridicule would be filling these pages. It was very clearly a no win situation for the club, forced by the FA.
Howard Jones
Fixture congestion
Dear MC,
Fixture congestion in British football has been getting worse in recent years and appears to have reached a nadir with Liverpool’s situation this week. Although as there are plans to expand the Club World Cup and governing bodies will do anything to maximise profit from exposing the most famous teams to global audiences, it’ll probably get even worse.
I wonder if we’ll see a change in the way football clubs build and manage their squads, with a move towards the way cricket teams pick often significantly different squads for different formats. When competitions inevitably start overlapping, will football clubs start picking significantly different squads for different competitions?
Regards,
James T, Ishikawa, Japan
The League Cup
It sh*ts me to tears when football fans deride the league cup. Some of my happiest memories are of league cup matches. The 4-4 Hillsborough thriller between Chelsea and Wednesday in 84-85 (leading to a 2nd replay), Ronnie Whelan’s winner for Liverpool v man u at Wembley in ’83. More recently the battle of the bridge between Liverpool and Chelsea a few years back when it seemed the refs would let anything go. Birmingham beating Arsenal in the final in 2012.
The competition gives lower league professionals the opportunity to play on the grandest stages, even if it is against 2nd string players of the larger clubs, and that glorious chance to play at Wembley Stadium which, I would suggest, was always the dream of any child who played footy.
The only clubs and supporters that moan are premier League clubs. Players earning 6 figures per week should be playing every sodded day for our bloody entertainment and fans have the gall to complain about there teams playing 2 games per week.
Baz, Dublin
It’s always the same at this time of year isn’t it? Get knocked out of the Carabao Cup in the QFs and all of sudden it’s a pointless, rubbish trophy that achieves nothing except fixture congestion.
The thing is, I can’t remember a League Cup final where Wembley was empty. Quite the reverse in point of fact.
Must be corporate freebies filling the place eh?
Mark (Come on Mikel, make your mind up Old Son). MCFC
I have to disagree with Fat Man (not for the first time). The league cup should not be scrapped, it should happen later in the season. The problem is the scheduling, with a ridiculously early final meaning teams are hedging their bets in order to keep their team fit and their place in the league table.
What if the LC started in February? And ran til April? The league leaders would still probably field a weaker team but others, who are twelve points off the top or safe in mid-table might send in their big guns in order to have a trophy.
Paul in Brussels (published once every two attempts)
Fixing the League Cup
Obviously this season’s horse has bolted, but isn’t the obvious solution to the League Cup causing fixture congestion and bigger sides not taking it seriously just to exclude any team that’s qualified for Europe?
If the 7 clubs in Europe are going to field the kids in it anyway, what’s the point. Liverpool got to this round almost by accident, and ended up in this ridiculous position as a result.
Why not make it a competition the Premier League’s “rest” feel like they actually have a chance of winning? How much better entertainment would, say a Bournemouth vs Crystal Palace final be than watching Manchester City give Phil Foden 70 minutes in a routine 3-0 win over whichever team puts a run together this year. Keep the European place for the winner and it might even jazz up the league a little by making a real difference between 6th and 7th place.
On the Liverpool kids this evening though, I thought they did alright to be honest. Some of the defending was extremely naive, and Villa punished that brilliantly. But you could see that most of these players could be introduced into the first team one or two at a time and wouldn’t feel hugely out of place. What impressed me most though was their attitude and application. Even as the goals started going in, they kept their chins up and kept going. Some people have expressed worries about the psychological effects of a heavy defeat like this, but honestly I think they’ll brush it off and wait for their chance to get their own back in a few years time.
Pierre (it’ll always be the Coca-Cola cup, McManaman’s baggy shirt and second tier teams in the final as far as I’m concerned), Bristol
The obvious discussion is Liverpool putting out the kids last night due to the Club World Cup (it isn’t a glorified friendly it is actually a pretty big deal for most of the world) with one post even calling for the League Cup to be scrapped. Pressure will clearly build on the Football League to get rid of one of their big money-spinners but I think scrapping it would be missing a trick.
There is always talk about gateways to the first team for younger players whilst trying to rest your first team squad for bigger battles ahead – this holds true if you are Liverpool or Lincoln – so maybe the League Cup needs to embrace what it is now, a gateway cup.
My idea – change the rules – all clubs must name 12 players under 23 in a League Cup squad and of the 6 other players only 3 can have played more than 30 minutes in the previous league game, so only a maximum of 3 regular starters can be in the 18 unless they were rested on the weekend before. This will guarantee that at least 5 kids will start every game and everyone knows what they are getting from the start. This rule is consistent even in the final, so no sudden loading in of the first XI after the kids have got you there.
To make this work, set incredibly low ticket prices for all rounds. Maximum of £10 for adults up the quarter finals and kids under 16 go free and no more than double that for the semi-final and final, . The Football League could subsidise this in the first round if ticket sales for a club come under an agreed amount. All games kick off at either 7pm or 7.30pm to attempt to maximise the number of families who can attend.
All ties go to penalties as they do now and the semi final reverts to 1 leg with the proviso that if a lower division side makes it they are guaranteed a home semi final to make up for the loss of revenue a guaranteed home game. If sides are in the same division then it is an open draw.
Final played at Wembley but is shifted to a Saturday afternoon and ideally made available to terrestrial TV – all league fixtures scheduled for that weekend are played on Sunday. The winners get a spot in UEFAs new 3rd tier European competition.
This all makes sense to me but I am sure it won’t happen.
Paul, () Germany
We need more competitive football, not more football
Hi Mailbox,
I wanted to weigh in about Liverpool’s scheduling debacle and the general point about more football on television…
What FIFA/UEFA/FA (or any other football federations) need to understand is that the fans want more competitive football, not more football matches per se.
Changing the Euro competition with more teams is a good example to train. This tournament used to be contested between 16 teams. The quality of the matches is quite good because the teams are more-or-less evenly matched. There are fewer matches with one team is heavy favourite. I remember back home in Indonesia Euro is always bringing huge interest due to quality of the matches. It was seen as more competitive than World Cup because it has less minnow teams (remember Germany 8-0 Saudi Arabia anyone?)
However, when the tournament format is changed to 24 teams, we see the standard is dropping slightly. There are more games that are less competitive. Worse, you can win the whole tournament by not losing rather than winning (ehm Portugal, only won one game in 90 mins throughout the tournament).
The same goes with Club World Cup. Look I am a Liverpool fan and I want to take the trophy for sure. But I recall that this tournament, previously named Intercontinental Cup, was contested between Latin America vs European Champions League Winners. That’s it. It was good enough and definitely more competitive as it has this feeling of “one match to win or die”.
I know that these football federations want more money and stuff. But I just wonder if they will make more by actually providing an environment where more competitive football matches can occur.
As a football fan, I would love this:
- keep the World Cup as it is. It is one truly global tournament/spectacle that people will watch anyway. Don’t screw the format up.
- change the Euro to 16-team format. Less bullcrap of that best-third-placed malarkey.
- Champions League… can we go back to older seeding format based on UEFA rankings? I feel that the group stage is a little bit boring now.
- scrape Carling/Carabao/whatever League cup.
- keep FA Cup as it is. It will have more importance once the League Cup is scraped because there is only one domestic cup to play for. Love the non-seeding system as well. Grant European football for the champions and highest-ranked non-Premier League team (i.e. for example a team from Championship got to a semifinal, where the final will be both from Premier League… give the European football to that Championship team)
- scrape whatever plan for that third-tier UEFA club competition footbal
- scrape that Club World Cup stuff
- keep Europa League as it is… (perhaps it is the good thing that UEFA is doing, really.
Vincentius, Cambridge
Erling Braut Haaland
Dear Ed
Are the Man United fans seriously believing that they will sign the young Haaland? The boy was born in Leeds and confessed to dreaming about playing for them in the Champions League. His father’s career was pretty much ended at Old Trafford. Clickbaiting at its best.
Wik, Pretoria, LFC
Club World Cup/World Cup
Seb’s obviously not a fan. When postulating the fact Liverpool travelled thousands of miles to Qatar to literally win the club world cup (as redundant a sentence as there could be) he showed outrage at Liverpool’s international approach, spiting the Carabao Cup, Aston Villa and the probable hundreds of fans tuning in. Shortly after Seb, Toby steps up to outline how unpleasant it is to think of a winter world cup in some oil rich, morally bankrupt country. Thank the Lord for Football 365 and their woke incredulity at football going places they deem to be unacceptable. How refreshing it is to be from the UK and see us looking down our nose at other countries and their abhorrent treatment of minorities and the working classes, because remember, we are so much better than them.
Wouldn’t it be better if Liverpool, offered the chance to participate in a tournament that is extraordinarily highly regarded outside of Europe, for the first time in 14 years, turned their nose up. Nah, it gets in the way of Carabao Cup Quarter Final. So what if the rest of the world treats this seriously, so what if all these other clubs rarely get any tv coverage from our European dominated football broadcasting. Why take the rest of the world seriously when we can go to the midlands where they have a proper football atmosphere? ‘It was all traded away for who knows what?’ for the world club cup, Seb. You answered that question at the start of your piece.
What’s odd is how Seb seems to imply the tournament will be a doddle. We’ll canter past Monterrey and then Copa Libertadores champions, will we? You want to say that Jurgen Klopp? He’ll offer you one of his “Another journalist talking out his ass glares and then quickly put you in your place. The only cringing will be at your discomfort and European smugness. The last time we went there as European Champions, we lost. We have never won the competition, probably because too many players thought like you did. We are favourites, we might even win heavily, like we do periodically in the premiership, but cantering past continental champions? I think not.
Getting back to your moral indignation, it is always good when we make judgements from the comfort of our offices and living rooms. To whimsically liken Qatar to Nazi Germany is so woke its actually racist. You went full circle Toby, and ended up in bed with the bigots you rightfully hate. Yes, you say it’s bold, but it’s also offensive. The Nazi’s tried to exterminate an entire people. They actually murdered millions and millions in death camps. Its all about how horrible Qatar has appalling human rights records and how being gay is illegal and women are disenfranchised. Because we are so much better, aren’t we Toby? With our institutional racism, isolationist national Brexit movement, Upper Class Boys Club political system and blonde bigoted buffoon Prime Minister. Qatar has antiquated views and morals, compared to our pretentions of modern ones, and they are taking too long to update for our tastes. The fact they are, as evidenced by the fact that Paul Amann , founder of Liverpool LGBT+ group Kop Outs who was invited with his husband by Qatari officials to oversee World Cup preparations, said “Qatar has moved significantly in recent years, especially in migrant workers’ rights and in capacity and capability to host major events. I do not feel this has moved enough yet, but there is still progress being made and to be made.”
The ruddy Nazi’s.
I’m tired of F365’s Ivory Tower opinions. This could have been summed up as FIFA have made a hash of organising a tournament, and a World Cup. You could have pointed out all the reasonable political issues. And you would have been 100% right. They are incompetent and fairly corrupt. Instead it’s always so one sided. Talking about the Club World Cup there is no mention of the other clubs, over derisory mentions of their incompetence. There is no mention of the lack of coverage afforded the football in the rest of the world. No mention of how seriously they take it, how proud they are to take part. The World Cup is framed in the reference of the countries political motivations, not the people. There are people in Qatar who look forward to seeing their idols. There is an entire area of the world who thinks it is a privilege the Word Cup has come there. It can inspire people. It doesn’t right the wrongs, they should be discussed, but those points shouldn’t be discounted either. Have some fucking balance, and for God’s sake get off your moral high horse.
Ed Ern
