Man City FFP: Liverpool fan calls for 15-point deduction per season for five years but doesn’t want titles

One Liverpool fan doesn’t want Man City stripped of Premier League titles or relegated if found guilty of breaching the Premier League financial fair play rules. Plus, Rasmus Hojlund versus Viktor Gyokeres, Bruno Fernandes, Arne Slot > Jurgen Klopp and lots more in the Saturday Mailbox…

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com…

Man City FFP
This is not a mail intended to stir up any debate regarding whether Man City are in fact guilty on the core of the 115 charges (although by hitting send I have likely just poured a load of water on that chip-fat fire !).

This is purely a Liverpool fans view of what may be an acceptable, palatable outcome if they were in fact found to have strayed off the correct path.

(please don’t interpret the following in any way that I am saying they should be found guilty .. leaving that to others to debate)

If found guilty, I believe there is broad consensus that any financial penalty applied would in effect be more symbolic than meaningful to the club.

Also, as a Liverpool fan, I would not support the stripping of titles and realigning to those that were second in any given year – although we were involved in some incredibly tight and exhilarating battles with Man City under the Klopp era, it does not sit right with me that we would be defaulted perhaps a couple of titles.

There is talk of relegation. Some may be enthused by this, but I don’t sit in that camp as in effect it would create just a 1 year problem for Man City (if moved to the Championship) and would also serve to distort an incredibly competitive championship for that season, with the massive financial prize of promotion being trimmed from 3 up and coming clubs to 2.

So what may be more appropriate ?

To me there should be some recognition of the period of time against which offences were deemed to have transpired, so I am drawn more towards imposing a points penalty over a number of seasons – for example, -15 points each season for the next 5 seasons. That would allow Man City to stay in the premiership and maintain their revenue streams from the TV money etc (removing the damaging need for a fire sale of players), whilst still having realistic options of getting into Europe, but with the handicap that it becomes far more challenging to win the overall premiership title ….but not impossible.

We’ll only be able to healthily move on from this protracted legal sh*t-show if we can be reassured that the eventual outcome was fair (be that guilty or not guilty).

Healing can only start effectively once the wound has been cleaned, but it looks like Mr Tangerine man will be president before that can start.

Sparky, LFC
(ps – saw a headline a couple of weeks back on another site for “Amorim Job Offer” – one of my cats was partially blocking the screen at the time of viewing, cutting off the first 3 letters of the title .. not ideal)

Shite comparison
Let’s talk about Rasmus and Gyokeres. Firstly the latter is in great form and has had a great few seasons. The last two in particular he’s really kicked on in. In that same time frame, Rasmus has been hit and miss. There are some really key points of difference though.

Firstly Gyokeres plays in a team that is set up to deliver service to him, and him only. The second goal scorer for Sporting last season was the man who largely played as his understudy – Paulinho – who plundered 15 league goals from 11 starts (but 20 sub appearances!) That team is setup to create chances for the forwards. United’s top scorers in the league were Rasmus and Bruno with 10. United were bobbins going forwards last season and especially bad at getting the ball to Hojlund. And we still are. If Haaland played for us, he probably wouldn’t fare much better.

But Rasmus still has scored a goal every three games for United and for a 21 year old that’s decent, especially when he’s not getting the ball in areas he can do damage.

And that’s the other big difference that’s worth talking about – Gyokeres is 26. He’s hitting his prime in a team that’s made for him. Rasmus is a young player, struggling to develop in a struggling team. Gyokeres is entering his prime in a team that’s made for him. Talk of Rasmus having six months to prove himself is frankly ridiculous and pretty much Will Ford on the wind up as always.

Where was Gyokeres 5 years ago I hear you say? On loan at St Pauli scoring seven goals in the Zweite Bundesliga. In fact, Gyokeres didn’t score a single top flight goal in any country until he moved to Sporting. Just 3 and seasons ago (by which time he would have been more than a year older than Rasmus is now, he just 3 goals in 30 championship appearances. Rasmus has 29 top flight goals 105 top flight appearances across four different countries in teams and leagues of differing styles.

Maybe United should sign Gyokeres. Maybe Amorim will make Hojlund as good as Gyokeres is now. Maybe both are true. But comparisons between a 26 year old playing for the best team in Portugal with two years of top flight experience and a 21 year old playing the most expensive league in the world are bogus. Come back in five years.
Ash Metcalfe

What changed?
I haven’t sent a message for a while and logged in to see Garey (are you sure you’re spelling your name right? ) Vance has managed to trigger everyone.

It’s honestly not as complicated as people are making it seem and it’s also not really tactical either.

Klopps footballing superpower was motivating people, generating that massive rush of positive emotions which make people try just that little bit harder. Make the crowd cheer just a little bit louder. It’s what enabled him to repair the broken character of the team and it’s fans. I remember the attitude at the time we were very much heading down the self loathing permafury man united fan route. Klopp saved us from that.

However , klopp wasn’t too great at managing emotions. Calming people down and instilling measured responses was something he didnt have in his locker. So while we were down and needing picking up he was great, but when we were up and running wild in need of someone dropping a gear he couldn’t do that. Which is why many klopp games were back and forwards basketball games, and why individual errors were so rife. You can’t live on that edge permanently without making errors.

Slot doesn’t do that. He is the beta blocker where klopp was adrenaline. Not having wild emotions in the team every two or three minutes reduces the amount of errors people will make. Which is why you see us defending much better. Everyone isn’t doing a mad dash to every square of grass, they’re choosing when and we’re to run and measuring the intensity.

We will always love klopp and be grateful for both saving and restoring the club but the Michael bay non stop adrenaline approach should never have been the long term plan and it’s not surprising it broke klopp as well. I said before slot got here that we would probably be much more boring with him in charge but also probably more successful. Seems that’s the case. They were two men for very different jobs.
Lee

New beau
I’ve been married for a long time but I still remember that feeling of a new relationship. The tummy butterflies, the giddy excitement, that part where you’re in rapture with them and can’t help but explain to everyone how great they are, basically love sick and stupid. Well despite the stringent claims of some there is definitely one Liverpool fan who’s head over heels smitten with their new beau.

Mr McDevitt talks a good game, one of patience and respect, but between the lines its looks like he’s found a new messiah. It started fairly innocuously, Paul was quick to explain how taking a great and successful team and keep them winning is far harder and more laudable than taking a bad team and making them great. Ok, you could make that argument but it does feel a bit ‘My new boyfriend got a big promotion at work, and like people were saying like its because his Dad is the boss but like that makes it so much harder because he has to prove himself, and like I’m just so proud of him…”

Then we got a football equivalent of ‘he’s just so dreamy’ when Paul felt the need to state how Slot, an elite football manager, is special because he’d rather win trophies with his team than receive a Premier League manager of the month award. Really, what a guy he must be. I think its safe to say this would apply to pretty much everyone.

The we get the classic comparison with ‘the ex’, the one who stole his heart and left with it. Klopp was great but Slot is more structured, more controlled, more fluid, and more flexible, he’s more synchronised too. Paul’s moved on, he’s taken down the pictures of Jurgen on his wall, they’ll be stored away just in case the new guy doesn’t work out, but for now he’s love sick and stupid for the new man in his life.
Dave, Manchester

MORE ON PREMIER LEAGUE FROM F365…
👉 Five unreasonable reasons for Arsenal to sack Mikel Arteta
👉 Ten incredible saves include De Gea heroics and Ramsdale brilliance v Liverpool
👉 Premier League benchwarmers who deserve a chance: (Nearly) one per club

Slot > Klopp?
Paul McDevitt’s analysis of Arne Slot’s Liverpool is concise and detailed, it outlines changes introduced by him and the effects of those.  However it does come across as if Slot is an improvement on Jurgen (doesn’t go as far as “The Messiah” which some people would like him to do), I personally think it’s more of the system suiting the players we have and Slot embracing this.

We all know what Jurgen’s geggenpress won for us and how close to so much more. The basis of this was the Holy Trinity of Salah, Mane and Firmino, arguably the best front 3 ever seen in the Premier League (don’t write in about Rooney, Tevez etc, I said arguably), backed by 3 midfielders whose job was to get the ball to these 3 asap. Unfortunately trying to replace 2 of these 3 was nigh on impossible and I believe Jurgen belatedly recognised this and undertook the process of changing the way we play.  The signings of McAllister and Szboszlai support this as well as his “I should have played Harvey more” comment, more skilful, creative midfielders who will contribute more goals.  Let’s not forget that for most of last season, Liverpool competed very well on 4 fronts so a good start to this season is no surprise, should Slot go on to deliver more silverware then I’m sure he (as he has done) will acknowledge the quality of the squad he inherited and the foundations built by Jurgen. Hopefully his face will one day adorn a banner in his honor but as yet, he ain’t no Jurgen.
Howard (can imagine a shirt with “7 Slot” on) Jones

Big Weekend 
I was reading the Big Weekend piece this morning and specifically about the “team to watch-Liverpool” part. And do us fans embrace the fact we could win the league or do we play down our chances because we are afraid we might “bottle” it? (Despise that phrase BTW. It’s for the bottom feeders). The elephant in the room ( along with all their current baggage) is Manchester City. THEM. It’s almost as if my mindset is “Is there any point being 10 points (or whatever) ahead of them before Christmas?  They’ll go on a ridiculous run in the new year and that’ll be that”. Arsenal fans must thinking the same. Their team is currently experiencing what Liverpool had in the 2022-23 season-“post City fatigue” ie going toe to toe with City and the psychological gut punch that comes with the inevitability of just losing out. Only one team has bettered City in the last seven seasons. And that team were the best in Europe and got consecutive points total of 97 and 99 points. Insane. But back to Liverpool and this season. We are doing very well and could be good enough to win the league. But…THEM.
Derek LFC

Ruud awakening 
A new Ten Hag concept emerged this year and was repeated again last night, a bizarre rope a dope where Onana holds the ball outside his box for several minutes whilst nobody moves, then passes to casemiro who gives it back to him, and it starts again. The muggs are the most sterile immobile team in possession, they get life when they have half the pitch to run in.

Amorim has made it clear that players will dictate the system, Garnacho at wing back, no. I see complaints of martineau tackles, he needs to be careful, but they need him, Ugarte, Casemiro. mainly, Cazraoui to inflict pain so the rampant breakaway does not happen, no more nostalgia for mcfred.

Bruno must be dropped, for every chance, ten missed assignments. Rashford dropped, Amad plays, if Bruno can play within five yards of Hojland maybe, if not Casemiro for 60 mins, then eriksen. The press is a joke, they run around five yards from anyone then do not track anyone, that is why a static defence is always exposed. Even mount could get a go at 10, players who will not work kill the team, they are Bruno. Antony, Rashford. Blunderhof.

Also ruud must stay as a conduit, armorim knows none of the players not even ugarte, this is mid season and the only goal is respectability, a team that wastes even the marginal goal scoring opportunities it gets wins nothing, at present only saints, Ipswich, palace, Leicester, wolves. west ham have less upside, not even sure there, long winter ahead hope amorim has his physical and mental thermals, nothing sporting about this saga. Nothing further occurs.
Dominic

Typical F365 bias 
Yet once more, Big Weekend egregiously ignores the biggest game in world football at the spiritual home of football, London Road.

A disappointing start to the season sees Posh floundering somewhat; losing the entire first choice defence, most creative player and leading goal scorer doesn’t appear to have helped. Play offs look a bit of a stretch this season.

A win tomorrow would be a balm to a sore season and leave Cambridge (sorry for saying the C word) in no doubt as to who is the pride of East Anglia!
Dan

Mailbox fake contributors
Funnily enough when the topic of fake Mailbox contributors came up, the first one I thought of was Stewie obviously, then Eric Los Angeles.

Man (woman/bot?) claims to be a Liverpool fan but displays very little knowledge about their game but has an in depth knowledge about Man United. Seemingly watches enough United games to have nicknames for each player too. They are like a hybrid Stewie. Would have been too obvious to readers if Football365 made him a United fan.

Then they proclaim innocence in yesterdays mailbox which for me is the silver bullet. Eric (Will Ford?) you have been rumbled.
David, Ireland

Best XI
Best 11 from your team and the core rule is you must have 1 from each decade since 1940 (pre-war football is a reach and it’s my game) and no more than 2. For any spanning decades it’s the one during which they were at the club longest.

I have gone old school 4-4-2. Struggled with the 2010s and 2020s, for obv reasons.

GK
Schmeichel (90s)

Defence
Johnny Carey (40s)
Jonny Evans (10s – yikes)
Martin Buchan (70s)
Raphael Varane (20s – yikes)

MF
Duncan Edwards (50s)
Robbo (80s)
Sir Bobby (60s)
Beckham (90s)

Attack
Ronaldo (00s)
Best (60s)

Ps Paul McDevitt gave us a marvellous tactical mail. Bravo. Sure sounds like he has already put Slot on a pedestal above Klopp (“this makes Slot’s a little harder to defend against as not playing set patterns” – really? They don’t seem as potent but OK, pass me the kool-aid).
Garey Vance, MUFC