‘Under par’ Liverpool man gets a kicking; Man Utd to miss out on Conference League?
Liverpool need a new talisman because Mo Salah’s race is run. Plus, Man Utd should be worriedly looking over their shoulders.
Send your views on any subject to theeditor@football365.com
We need to talk about Mohamed
Salah was awful yesterday. Obviously he scored the penalty, but the otherwise-excellent Onana went far too soon and made it easy for him. Salah has been under par for most of the season, but certainly since AFCON. Obviously he has contributed, and obviously he is still scoring fairly regularly, but at this point, this is happening because the team are creating plenty of chances.
The Mo of a year or two ago would score goals out of nothing, and nearly every goal he has scored this season has been because a good chance has been created, and he has done his job because he is a very competent footballer. But I can’t remember a WTF goal this season from him.
He’s been amazing. He still gives it everything. But he has lost that wow factor. If Liverpool are able to get £100 million for him in the close season, then I think it makes complete sense to cash in.
Going forward, the attack is where Liverpool will succeed or fail. The only player consistently turning up is Diaz, and even then, his end product is often underwhelming. Nunez is a real force of nature, but he is nearly two seasons in and his decision making is still letting him down. Both are good enough to be squad players, and if Jota can stay fit, then there are still plenty of good options. I still think there is a good player in Gakpo, too.
But Liverpool need a new talisman, someone truly world class to lead the line.
Mat (Liverpool have had a great season, much better than anyone expected, and it’s been a blast)
READ: 16 Conclusions on Man Utd 2-2 Liverpool: Arrogance, Fernandes, Elliott, title race, Allardyce, Amad
Man Utd in the Champions League? Behave
Mediawatch is very good at lampooning other sites for their shameless shoehorning of United into stories where they don’t belong, so can the team at f365 take their own advice and stop talking about United as if they are in the race for CL places? Dave Tickner’s write up of Spurs-Forest managed to get them into his second sentence! Let me spell it out – United didn’t ‘slip up’ yesterday – they got an underserved point against a vastly superior team – but they weren’t in the race anyway.
(This was just a classic case of a Spurs fan worrying about Spurs – Ed)
I think most people would agree United’s current points total flatters them, and if they continue accumulating points at their current rate they would finish the season on 60 points, which is what Spurs and Villa have now.
So I’d say there is at least a 50% chance United wouldn’t finish above either Spurs or Villa if both lost every remaining game this season. If United significantly improve their form and average 2 points per game from here on out (which doesn’t look that likely with them giving up 30 shots a game) Spurs and Villa would require one win each. It’s not happening.
I know this gets less clicks but 4th is a straight shoot out between Spurs and Villa, and both will probably make it to make it into the CL to make it even less click worthy. A much better question if you want United clicks is whether they will hang onto a Europa place, drop to the Conference League or miss Europe entirely. Fulham in 13th are closer to United than United are to Spurs and Villa.
Phil, London
READ: How Premier League teams qualify for Champions League and Europa competitions for 24/25
What now for Man Utd?
So I told a lie in my last article (article? – Ed), I did watch the United vs Liverpool game, but only because I missed the 4-3 victory a couple of weeks ago, it was a derby and was nice to watch Klopp and Liverpool get a bit rattled.
However, at the end of the day a draw isn’t the worst result in the world for Liverpool given there are 7 league games left to play, a lot can happen in between and they are only behind Arsenal on GD, I would actually say given United came from behind they should have won the game after scoring two decent goals.
Liverpool looked very panicky in the second half, but Ten Hag’s subs (Why did Garnacho go off for Amrabat?) were debatable and he went defensive way too early in the game, especially given the momentum was with United at the time. Honestly, tactically Ten Hag is poor, I think he guesses what to do half the time, given the way Amrabat and Mount have played this season it was an odd game to pop them into midfield for.
The question is what next for United for the rest of this season? To just make sure they finish 6th? Given Newcastle are two points away in the league and can actually score some bloody goals, I wouldn’t be surprised if United mess up against Bournemouth next game and fall to 7th and potentially 8th if Chelsea get some form together.
Not to be pessimistic, but what form of consistency has the team actually shown this year? The only time they showed reasonable consistency was between January to February and a lot of goals were still conceded during that period. Yes, they are still in the FA Cup, but are the team really going to win it given City are still in the competition, I think the confidence is just too low currently within the team, but hey Chelsea could beat City in the other semi final (Miracles can happen…)
I think time is running out for Ten Hag and some of the players in the team such as Varane, Lindelof, Casemiro (How rubbish was he yesterday and been this season compared to last season, worryingly slow!) and also Sancho who will surely be sold next season. I don’t have much sympathy for Ten Hag, losing 7-0 to Liverpool las season after winning the League Cup has changed the team under him and it’s been a pretty average season so far, I would rate it a 4/10 so far.
Enough about United though, I think now that Arsenal are in the driving seat for the title, it will be interesting if they play any differently or with more nerves. If they get 21 points out of 21 in the league out of the 7 games left, they will be champions for the first time in 20 years (Football fans prepare to potentially never hear the end of it from Arsenal fans).
But to be honest, they would deserve it if they won it, certainly more than Liverpool I think and City too. Arteta has truly done it the hard way and yes he has spent a lot of cash, but I would say 70% of his signings have been very good and spent wisely over the last 5 years. Havertz is proving to be a reliable player, Trossard is basically an Emergency impact player who does show up now and then, and Saka & Martinelli will only get better, and the defence for the first time for Arsenal since the early to mid Wenger years at Arsenal are actually good and you could argue World Class.
If Arsenal win the league and sign a top striker as well as full back, I think they will only improve and Arteta is improving this team year in, year out, still such a young team as well.
I hope Arsenal win it and you’re welcome for the result against Liverpool yesterday, but can you imagine United beat Arsenal at Old Trafford in Game week 37 to prevent them winning the league? It will be Pizzagate all over again!
Rami, Dubai
Man Utd getting done by referees
Having watched the last two United games and see us get shafted by incompetent refereeing and VAR not once not twice but three times I’m getting sick to the back teeth of so called football pundits and football writers brushing it off as “well if you put your leg there” or “well there was a touch” lazy rubbish, call them what they all were, dives each and every last one of them.
Cucurella not even touched and dived, referee didn’t even go to VAR, Madueke feels Dalot fall and throws himself on the ground, again no foul just a blatant dive and lastly the Weetabix headed Elliott sees Wan Bissaka’s leg changes direction and falls over to win a penalty, again another dive and each and everyone was glossed over by VAR officials and pundits.
It’s getting beyond the joke now when you see Hojlund dragged down in the area yet gets nothing after trying his best to stay on his feet, 2 or 3 blatant handballs in the area not given, even the scousers were done badly against Arsenal when Odegaard decided to basketball dribble out of the area and nothing given. VAR is meant to be there to stop the terrible decisions yet it’s VAR that is making them worse, the fingernail offside calls, the fast and loose handball interpretations which change weekly whoever the hell is sat in Stockley Park that day, and lastly the penalties given and not given across the season, I can’t help thinking referees are over compensating for Onana’s Wolves brain fart they didn’t give so have decided to give anything they can as penance to United.
Cannot wait for this season to end to be honest the only saving grace as a United fan is we may have dented Liverpool’s title hopes, I’m pretty sure if Arsenal do win it we’ll hear the explosion of Stewie Griffin combusting in Manchester.
Paul Murphy, Manchester
MEDIAWATCH: It turns out that Liverpool are the real winners so whoop-de-doo
Referees should look at penalties again
Just heard that this season will see the most penalties in Premier League history – certainly feels that way to me. Given how important goals are in football, and how likely a penalty is to result in one regardless of the foul conditions, got me thinking: the ref should always go watch it again after giving it.
Can anyone think of a single downside? I.e., if the ref feels it was a pen, they immediately jog over to the monitor and watch it with their own eyes, to see if they (the on-field ref) would make the same decision again.
Solves the biggest problem in football this year: the absurd Schrodinger’s penalty: where VAR won’t overturn it even if it’s wrong in either direction, due to lack of ‘clear and obvious error’.
Ryan, Bermuda
It’s a trophy!
Once more F365 demonstrates their egregious big club bias. A piece of silverware that Premier League players can only dream of lifting, and nary a mention.
Very telling that Sir Alex decided to attend Wembley instead of a lower quality kickabout in the north west. His son proving he is the best manager in the family and a winning goal that was absolutely, definitely intended. A team unbeaten at Wembley, surely a record across English football and still no 26 conclusions (it means more, so requires more conclusions!).
Lovely to see an academy product scoring twice to win it; along with a few teammates (Ronnie Edwards, Ephron Mason-Clarke and probably Josh Knight), Harrison Burrows will probably be playing at a higher level next season, regardless of whether Posh are promoted or not.
So, the next time anyone complains about F365 bias against their team, realise that this is what bias looks like: a major trophy won and not even a mention,
Dan – tongue firmly in cheek, PUFC