Ole to get the Man Utd gang back together as Liverpool hopes ‘ebb away’
If Bayern Munich appoint Ole Gunnar Solskjaer then they get Man Utd rejects too. Plus, that Liverpool crisis is leaving them with hopes ‘ebbing away’.
Ebbing away
After declaring that ‘Man City have been OVERTAKEN as favourites to win the Premier League’ according to the ‘stats boffins’, the Mail‘s resident Liverpool man Dominic King clearly wanted to redress the balance as he declared: “What I will say about the title race – Liverpool are third favourites.”
1) Are they balls.
2) Chris Sutton was absolutely right with his counter: “I definitely think that this is you [as a] Liverpoolian – reverse psychology. You’re trying to…you’re like part of Jurgen Klopp’s team, aren’t you? You’re trying to take the pressure off. Has he primed you to say this? “Liverpool are going to finish third, we’ve got no chance”.”
Well, he was absolutely right until he said ‘Liverpoolian’ anyway.
There is a recurring theme across the Liverpool media to declare that the Reds are now in a massive injury crisis which makes them the underdogs not only in the title race but for the Carabao Cup final against 10th-placed Chelsea.
Paul Gorst is in full crisis mode in the Liverpool Echo:
With Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Thiago and Szoboszlai joined by Diogo Jota, Joel Matip, whose season ended in December, and potentially Curtis Jones, Liverpool will head to Wembley without as many as seven players who many would select in their first XI.
Who are these ‘many’ who would select those seven players in their first XI? Certainly not Jurgen Klopp, whose most-used Premier League XI this season features only four of them.
And it’s worth noting that of those seven absentees, only two started a comprehensive 4-1 shoeing of Brentford on Saturday. And the injured Jota will be replaced by a fella called Mo Salah at Wembley. Which sounds kind of okay.
Meanwhile, Jones will either be replaced by Szoboszlai (who could yet be fit for the final) or £35m midfielder Ryan Gravenberch. The Dutchman was on the bench on Saturday alongside Cody Gakpo, Harvey Elliott and Joe Gomez. The barest of bones.
Liverpool have fought on admirably without so many key operators at various times across the season but the more engulfed they are by these injury troubles, the more their hopes of glory ebb away. Those who are cleared for action will have to dig deep this week as the Wembley arches appear on the horizon.
‘Their hopes of glory ebb away’, do they? Behave. They have lost one of their last 18 Premier League games.
And they literally beat Chelsea 4-1 less than a month ago without Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Wataru Endo and Mo Salah.
The Blues, by the way, have a fair few injuries of their own.
Hours later, Gorst is back with this update:
Jurgen Klopp handed Luton boost after Diogo Jota injury and Mohamed Salah scare
Now we’ve read and re-read this piece and we think the ‘Luton boost’ is that Cody Gakpo has now scored 10 goals, making him the fourth Liverpool player to reach that milestone this season.
These really are desperate times.
Axe murderers
‘Chelsea star ‘tells Pochettino not to pick him’ and is axed from first-team dressing room’ sounds like a marvellous story in the Express until you realise that the ‘Chelsea star’ is Malang Sarr (eight appearances in the Premier League, about seven Chelsea managers ago) and he is not even in Chelsea’s Premier League squad so Mauricio Pochettino could not pick him even if he was so minded.
So where does ‘tells Pochettino not to pick him’ come from? Well, the Athletic write that ‘Sources at Chelsea, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their positions, say Sarr also indicated he did not want to be considered for selection regardless’, but that’s selection for the Under-21s. Who are not managed by Mauricio Pochettino.
But still, we clicked. So who are the dicks here?
(they are).
Know what I mean, Harry
Mediawatch obviously loves a projected XI based on a new manager taking over a team. Especially when that potential manager is Ole Gunnar Solskjaer taking over Bayern Munich. Obviously The Sun have had to gloss over the fact that any Solskjaer appointment would be on a temporary basis, but why let that get in the way of the fun of suggesting that Bayern could line up with a centre-half partnership of Harry Maguire and Eric Dier?
One easy addition would be free agent David de Gea who left Old Trafford last summer after 12 years at the club.
It would be ‘easy’ because David de Gea is a free agent. But it would also be ‘mental’.
Bayern are in need of defensive reinforcements after shipping three goals in their last two league games, and Solskjaer could look at two United defenders.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Harry Maguire, who were bought for a combined £130million, have found themselves in and out of the team under Erik ten Hag and both would add experience to Bayern.
Maguire could be made available for sale too after coming close to a transfer to West Ham last summer.
Yes, we imagine Bayern would happily bench Min-jae Kim, Matthijs de Ligt and Dayot Upemecano to make way for Maguire, and then inexplicably pair him with Dier. After all, they kept a clean sheet in the last game they started together for England in 2020.
And Bayern have just spent about £25m on a new (injured) right-back but bringing in Wan-Bissaka could obviously ‘add experience’.
Add in Jadon Sancho and you have a perfect XI. After all, why wouldn’t European giants and perennial Bundesliga champions Bayern want a team chock-full of players who cannot get a game for the sixth best team in England?
