Liverpool close in on achievement bigger than The Quadruple
Liverpool have turned their attentions from one quadruple to another: maybe possibly potentially playing Manchester City four times in 12 days.
Lesson the blow
‘Accusations of complacency can be dismissed. Liverpool are too professional for that, too driven individually and collectively. They are too experienced in European combat to need lessons but this was still a general reminder to be more ruthless in front of goal’ – Henry Winter, The Times.
“Maybe in the back of our minds we were overconfident. It’s a good game for us to learn from” – Mo Salah, Actual Liverpool Football Club.
Winter goes on to write the following, two paragraphs later:
‘Above all it was a reminder to avoid making mistakes in possession, such as Matip gifting Inter the ball from which they countered quickly and Martínez scored after 61 minutes.’
At what stage do you think he regretted saying Liverpool don’t ‘need lessons’? Genius workaround by referring to them as ‘reminders’ instead, mind.
Remind the gap
It turns out that Hank is moonlighting as a Daily Mirror website workhorse. That’s the only explanation for this:
‘Liverpool loanee Williams bags stunning Fulham brace in reminder to Klopp’
A ‘reminder’ of what? That Neco Williams is very good at football yet simultaneously a long way off the standard of his direct competition for a Liverpool place? Klopp was probably occupied watching Trent Alexander-Arnold creating five chances at Anfield when no other player could manage more than two.
Dirty Sanchez
As Winter writes elsewhere in his Times match report:
‘Sanchez is intelligent and experienced enough not to risk a second yellow by flying in again, however innocent the intent. But, having got Inter back into the tie, he seemed almost on a mission to regain possession in pursuit of the goal that would force extra time.
‘He flew in on Fabinho, clearly targeting the ball, but following through in a manner deemed reckless by modern referees and catching the Brazil player on the ankle. Mateu Lahoz, never one to eschew the limelight, rushed in, waving a yellow card.’
For a player ‘intelligent and experienced enough not to risk a second yellow by flying in again, however innocent the intent’, Sanchez did a damn fine job of risking a second yellow by flying in again, however innocent the intent.
Go fourth and multiply
‘Arsenal can still miss out on Champions League football even with a top-four finish’ – Daily Mirror website.
Yes. As is the case every single year when Premier League clubs that might not finish in the top four are still competing in – and thus could win – the Champions League and Europa League.
‘Liverpool could miss out on Champions League – even if they finish in top four,’ the same outlet wrote on May 6 of 2021, for example.
But the combined odds for Manchester United winning the Champions League, West Ham winning the Europa League and both finishing outside the Premier League top four with Arsenal taking that final qualification spot are almost 500/1. It doesn’t feel like a particularly pressing worry.
Four? That’s insane
On the subject of stories based on things that have an incredibly slight chance of actually happening…
‘Liverpool could face Man City four times in 12 days after beating Inter Milan in Champions League’
The Liverpool Echo are spot on: Liverpool could face Man City four times in 12 days after beating Inter Milan in Champions League. They really could.
Of course, it relies on a few factors:
1) Manchester City advancing to the Champions League quarter-finals, which does seem likely with a 5-0 first-leg lead over Sporting Lisbon.
2) Liverpool drawing Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals, which is less likely but still absolutely possible.
3) Liverpool and Manchester City both winning their FA Cup quarter-final ties and then drawing each other in the semi-finals, which seems less likely.
So yes, Liverpool could face Man City four times in 12 days after beating Inter Milan in Champions League. They could also face them just once – in their scheduled Premier League game – in that time, or perhaps twice if the intricate FA Cup scenario plays out. And it was definitely necessary to have a 640-word article explaining that.
But ‘Liverpool have moved one step closer to the prospect of facing Manchester City four times in just 12 days after qualifying for the Champions League quarter-finals’ is a phenomenal first paragraph. Sod the quadruple. The real dream is on.
Ten commandments
Over at the Manchester Evening News, they shed light on the ‘Erik ten Hag comments’ that ‘prove he would give Manchester United what they are lacking’.
This must have been an incredibly long speech.
Except no, because the entire article is based on a few sentences from the Ajax head coach after his side squandered a two-goal lead to be pegged back to 2-2 at home to RKC Waalwijk, needing a last-minute Dusan Tadic penalty to win.
“If it is 2-0 at half-time, then you should actually run to 5-0. That often happens, but not tonight. We escaped. There was a dramatic switch. Then we started taking a lot of risk. Taking too much risk.”
And that obviously ‘proves he would give Manchester United what they are lacking’. Let Daniel Murphy explain:
‘This shows that Ten Hag values scoring a lot and wants his teams to win by big margins often, but not at the expense of the structure of his attack and, thus, the structure of his team.’
The man is a genius. How can you not give someone who ‘values scoring a lot and wants his teams to win by big margins often’ a lifetime contract?
Serge protector
Mediawatch thought a Sun website headline of ‘Arsenal ‘could bring Gnabry back to club in £63m transfer from Bayern’ as winger has unfinished business with Gunners’ was already pretty spurious, as far as rumours go.
But the first paragraph lowers the bar even further. ‘ARSENAL have reportedly been linked with a shock move to bring Bayern Munich winger Serge Gnabry back to the Emirates,’ is an awful lot of words to essentially say nothing. Can you reportedly be linked with doing something?
The speculation itself comes from a piece by Football.London, who use ‘trusted football site’ Transfermarkt’s valuation to come up with the £63m figure, while pointing out Arsenal ‘are preparing for a significant summer outlay’. Gnabry returning to Arsenal therefore ‘may not be all that unlikely’, which is a solid foundation for some transfer bollocks that others will blindly recycle.