Weren’t Liverpool fans supposed to be the unbearable ones?

Matt Stead
during the Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Manchester City at Anfield on October 7, 2018 in Liverpool, United Kingdom.

Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com

 

Fine Kompany
But I thought Captains were meant to sub themselves off according to their shirt number, not by winning trebles and signing off quietly.
DC, BAC

 

“,,,it opened for us and made it so much…”

And he paused, thought, and said

“More achievable to create chances…”

Easier. Easier was the word he was looking for but he paused. And then thought of a less disrespectful way to say this. And landed on that (odd) phrase that doesn’t demean Watford.

This, a few minutes after the whistle blew and his team won a treble.

Has there been a classier man than him?

I love the guy. And I support a rival.
The M Rod, CFC

 

Lucky escape
As a Wolves fan, can I just say what a lucky escape we had in the semi-final.
Springy, WWFC

 

The real quiz
Your article on City’s treble
managed to stir the growing Liverpool – City rift just a little bit more with the unnecessary description of Ederson as the Premier League’s best keeper. City are a brilliant, I don’t think anyone disagrees, but none of the evidence backs up that particular statement.
Alisson is the obvious contender for that award and this season he has (Premier League only):

– Kept more clean sheets.
– Let in fewer goals.
– Got a higher rating on whoscored.com who at least try to come up with an objective way to measure this sort of thing.

That’s the factual evidence but also:
– He has made numerous crucial saves such as in the win against Barcelona.
– He is picked ahead of Ederson by Brazil.

Ederson has all the medals on offer so far but there is no way he is superior.
Josh, LFC (No asterisk needed but City would trade the treble for the Champions League)

 

Ms. Chanandler Bong(uardiola)
In the style of Chandler, could Guardiola look more any more bored?

(ask your parents)
Kireca 

 

Pleased for Sterling, but…
Dear Mailbox,

Yawn. City win yet another walkover in the cups this season and claim glory. Another nail in the coffin of interesting domestic football. Let’s face it, Manchester United beating Arsenal and Chelsea away had a more impressive cup campaign than City – League Cup included.

Apologies in advance for all those who are still pretending that City are good for English football. Please, get back in touch in three years’ time when City have won seven of nine available domestic trophies and tell me that it’s still exciting.

Very happy for Raheem though, to be fair.

Bored,
Dan, (bored) Sussex

 

Fan heater
Seeing that video of the Man City fan shouting at journalists about Mo Salah as his team won an unprecedented domestic Treble got me thinking: wasn’t it Liverpool fans who were meant to be the unbearable ones?

That’s what everyone was saying during the Premier League title race, and why everyone pitched their support behind Man City. Liverpool haven’t won the league in decades so wouldn’t shut up about it when they finally did it. But this has been another level from City fans recently.

Sure, Liverpool fans would have bragged. Of course they would: who wouldn’t when they’d won a league? But City supporters have become blind cheerleaders in the aftermath of these FFP allegations. It’s really quite embarrassing.

It seems like they aren’t even enjoying what is a remarkable success on the pitch. They are too busy worrying about what everyone else is thinking, desperately trying to change minds on a matter which few of us actually know everything about.

I never thought a football fan could be bitter after watching their side win four of a possible five trophies in one season. Yet here we are: City are breaking new ground in more ways than one.
Stevo

 

Have City over or underachieved?
Here’s a weird question now their season is over; has Pep and Man City met, exceeded or underperformed this season compared to pre-season expectations?

Ultimately they’ve compiled the most expensive football team of all time and still didn’t manage to get beyond the quarter finals in the champions league. Given that is the ultimate prize it also becomes the major stick to criticise their season performance with.

A few people have pointed out that their cup runs were relatively easy, though that’s not their fault. They didn’t really face a game in the cups which you thought they might lose so the expectation ultimately became that they would win them all. Maybe that’s unfair reasoning though. In terms of the league, they were obviously the best team but then that means they’ve ultimately only really met expectations domestically. Very few seemed to expect anything other than them to retain the title.

From a player perspective I’d argue the transfers (Mahrez…did they sign anyone else?) haven’t set the world on fire although that’s balanced out by the improvement in players like Sterling, B Silva and Foden emerging into the first team. Probably another case of meeting or slightly exceeding expectations at best.

Tricky to call overall. Domestic overperformance combined with European underperformance and something approaching indifference overall on the players. I guess my view is affected by the fact I value the FA And League cups less than the league and European trophies. Older fans might feel more strongly for the domestic trophies.
Minty, LFC

 

Joyless
Has there ever been a more joyless team than this current incarnation of Man City? They are the footballing equivalent of the T-1000.

Then again the same has been true of Barca and Bayern in recent years. Great manager Pep, but sucking the heart out of football
David, Sheffield

 

City leave me cold
Seeing Pep react the way he did in the post match news conference to questions on Manchester City’s financial irregularities and with emerging details from Der Spiegel and The New York Times, impending investigation by FIFA and threat of expulsion from the champions league, is it time we questioned what Manchester City have achieved?

Undoubtedly the football is amazing and Pep ability to assemble this squad and have it playing with such clarity, verve and precision is a wonder to behold. So what’s the problem?

The problem is how.

The main plank of the argument against criticizing city seems to be, well spending money well isn’t all that easy, look at Manchester United as an example. Is this true? Or are we just ignoring the bigger picture.

Yes they have spent large amounts of money well on players. But they have also spent large amounts of money well on a manager to coach and develop those players to their full potential. And they spent a large amount of money buying the football directors and architects from the greatest club side in the world in terms of culture, structure and football philosophy to choose the players that fit the style that the manager they have chosen wants to play.

They have chosen and spent well from top to bottom throughout the club.

Money talks, from boardroom to boot room the best in the world of football have been assembled to make Manchester City the club they are today.

Is it wrong not to marvel at this? No one would ever expect Manchester City fans not to support their club (although the only City fan I know in person and Shaun Goaters biggest fan got out shortly after the takeover – to quote “they’re nothing now, they mean nothing”) but to be fair I’d still support my club in the same circumstances City fans do so I do not judge here.

But what about the rest of us, those without an emotional investesment in the club, are we excited by Manchester City? Do they speak to us as football fans. I’m not talking about liking them, no one expects that. I never liked Fergies United or Mourinho’s Chelsea, in fact the opposite I mostly hated, resented and envied them. But City I do not hate, I slightly resent and strangely I do not envy in the slightest.

Why?

They leave me cold. There is no story in City, no struggle, no overcoming adversity. Just extremely rich owners, financing a great boardroom, supporting a great manager, coaching great players, winning repeatedly.

The only problem is it means nothing.

I honestly can’t feel excited for this City team, manager or club. I do feel some excitement for their fans, long suffering, died in the wool City fans who looked destined to a lifetime backing the losing horse and now can celebrate league after league and cup after cup. But really even for them does it really mean anything?

We have two indigenous games in Ireland, hurling and garlic football. Hurling in the past few years has left football light years behind in terms of spectacle, skill, competition, excitement and fan fervor. Our governing body the GAA has tried repeatedly to fix football with different formats and rules to try and make it more competitive and exciting but the slide continues in terms of quality and fan interest (there have been no live football games broadcast the first two weeks of the championship -all hurling to date).

At the heart of it are a team wearing blue (Dublin – with the largest resources, facilities and player pool in the country) who were funded in multiples of what the other counties could afford around ten years ago. A squad of supreme athletes emerged, all skillful, all super fit all powerful, no one had been able to get near them the past four years, they are winning the championship at a canter each year and going for the five in a row.

However their greateness is celebrated in somewhat muted tones. No one can hate them, the manager and players are beyond reproach, hard working, dedicated sportsmen approaching football perfection. But the game and the viewing figures don’t lie, football is dying around them, hurling, the level playing field where anyone of eight teams can win is thriving. Money has killed the competition in football and until another team can get to Dublin’s level it will remain thus.

One journalist here put it succintly, “Dublin aren’t boring but their dominance is”.

I think that’s why I cannot celebrate City’s dominance now and in the future and when Pep tells us that next year they will be even better my heart sinks, not because Liverpool will lose but because football will, and that hurts.

Premier league football has enjoyed unprecedented success Dan popularity since its creation over 25 years ago. But this has been based on competition and great rivalries, a level playing field where one club has not remained in the ascendancy without competition for too long. However nothing lasts forever, everything changes. I’ve often asked when will this premier league bubble burst as it must eventually. And now I ask will Manchester City, if they continue unopposed and unchallenged as they seemed destined to, bring an end to this great premier league era we’ve known and loved for most of our lives? And that is why I don’t feel excited for them.
Dave LFC 

 

On Guardiola in F365’s Cup Final Report

“The rest of us should leave him to it and treasure this City side for the era-defining torch-bearers they have already become”

Treasure? Sorry but it’s becoming more and more impossible to disassociate City’s achievements with the reality of how the club is financed and why. The image laundering project by Abu Dhabi and their role in the currenr humanitarian crisis in Yemen means there should always be an asterisk on what the team achieves on the pitch. Marvel at the wonder of football on show sure but ‘treasure’ seems to invoke an unquestionable joy in their success that can’t be truly claimed giving the circumstances that have led to Club owners so financially out of sight they threaten to spend countless millions fighting any punishment Uefa deem fitting for breaking rules they signed up to adhere to. Owners directly responsible for thousands upon thousands of children starving to death since 2015 in Yemen not to mention human rights abuses and God knows what else.

So Pep. “The rest of football should leave him to it? “Nonsense. It should always be at the forefront of any trophy winning match report how and why the world’s greatest manager is allowed to create such amazing feats on the pitch allowing its owners to bask in glory and mask what the UN have described as war crimes.
Mac 

 

In 1999 I sat with all my housemates in a dirty student house in L15 to watch the Champions League final. There was one Utd supporter out of us 6.

When Utd did the unthinkable my plate of ‘food’ started flying through the air. We erupted as one, the noise could be heard across the Mystery (the park we lived adjacent to). And I’m a Liverpool supporter. Yes I felt dirty but the drama, the comeback, the closeness of the encounter with Bayern; football was the winner.

Apparently another team won a treble today. I could not be more bored. When it’s news that a team loses then football is the loser. When you can essentially win a game with de Bruyne, Aguero and Sane on the bench, then football is the loser. Granted Man City could only play who was in front of them, but in two cup runs I can’t remember a game they weren’t expected to roll over the opposition (the final of the League Cup excluded). The league would have been the same had it not been for an unbelievable effort from the boys in red to do something no one has done in the history of the game. It’s unlikely to be repeated, although I hazard a guess we won’t be far away.

If this is the future of football, then you can count me out. If I hear one more time that this success is down to the brilliance of the manager then I might actually go mad. It’s almost as if there’s something else going on here, I just can’t put my finger on it.

‘Sometimes all you need is a billion dollars…’
Barry, LFC

 

Loyalty gets you nowhere (except to the actual final)
Just watched the highlights of the cup final and for a club like Watford, in possibly the biggest game in their history to go with Gomes in the final seems ridiculous. ….he was poor for pretty much every goal, only the second was a glaring error but certainly question marks over agility on 4 or 5 of the others.

Yes city did the same sort of thing with their line up but the quality of the back ups available to Pep was night and day, city’s second string would walk into any other peen team, Gomes would not!
Oh and city were pretty decent too btw.
Mark LFC