Welcome dear listener to our extra episode. I’m Paul and I am joined once again by Enrique and Daz.

We start up in 14 days at home to Everton.

• Annoying national narrative that this season has ended up being disappointing - mate, you didn’t live 2022 and 2024.

• Lots of post game chat about squad refresh and the seeming unlikelihood of resigning VVD, Mo and TAA. Position on FSG changing?

We will be back after the Everton game. Thanks to Daz and Enrique for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. 

If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Enrique and Daz. So the Champions League journey is over for another season after the Reds lose in a penalty shoot out to PSG. Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final is not a game we will want to dwell on much after today.

Part One - a 1-0 loss at home to PSG.

• xG 1.59 to 2.63, (Dembele’s goal was 0.95) - 1.51 to 2.13 in normal time (0.10 in the second half). 

• A lot of nearly moments - the offside goal, the Quansah header, Salah had 4 shots.

• Plan for 90 to 120 and the penalties. Probably not a good coaching move to practice penalties before this game when you have the lead

Part Two - Newcastle at Wembley. xG 1.05 to 1.93 - 0.8 to 1.18 second half - 

• First time we’ve gone down by 2 goals this season. Their game plan worked out better than they could ever have hoped. 

• Would love to have done better on the Burn header.

• What was our plan? Play it long?

• The line up, tiredness, lack of sharpness?

• 2 narratives can be true at the same time:

• John Brooks, Joelinton - 14 fouls against us with 66% possession - 10 against them on 34% possession. 2 yellow cards for them for time wasting.

Look out for the extra look ahead episode. We will be back after the Everton game. Thanks to Daz and Enrique for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. 

If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Daz and Enrique. So the Reds went to Paris for the first time since 2022 and again one of the goalies had a man of the match performance that prevented the dominant team from winning - this time it went in our favor. We are going to review PSG away, and Southampton at home which left us 15 points ahead after this weekend and then look ahead to the return leg and then the Carabao Cup final. 3 finals Slot had said on Friday.

Part One - Paris Saint Germain away - this was a tough watch until the 87th minute:

• xG - 1.78 to 0.16 
• First half - the blanket was in the wrong place. Were they just so good (so much better than anyone we’ve played) or were we bad in tactics and performance?
• Lots of Konate and Kvaratskheilia, Napoli away vibes, Alisson Becker - wow
• Second half - created a better defensive platform - 0.42 xG. Best xG shot of the second half was 0.07 from Harvey Elliott. 
• Dembele's right foot shots from distance were a sign of frustration and tiredness. They tried to avoid attacking down the middle - no surprise there…
• ‘Lucky’ - Liverpool had an xG of 2.19 in the final against Real in 2022 but didn’t score, Real had an xG of 0.91 and did. Anyone remember the myriad articles after these games about Liverpool being robbed? No, me neither.

Part Two - Southampton at home - xG 4.12 to 0.36 - 1.44 to 0.25 first half, second half, just over 1 without the penalties. Tiredness, complacency?

• First half - rhythm broken by the head injury after 12 minutes
• Darwin red card - huh? 
• ‘Nunez endeavoring to answer the age-old question: “what would it look like if you gave Divock Origi a little bit of meth before each game?”’
• Their goal……..
• Second half - upped the levels but should we have done more to get the third earlier?
• Half time changes - Robbo, Alexis Mac Allister and Harvey
• Overall TAA and Virg looked very solid.
• Mo Salah moves up in the lists -
• Joint 5th PL list - 184, level with Aguero and 3 behind Andy Cole.
• 3rd alone in the all time LFC list with 243 - 42 behind Sir Roger Hunt
• Arsenal drawing at Old Trafford makes the result look perfect
• LFC Women also knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup
• Arteta walked out on his SkySports interview - don’t blame him.
  

Part Three - looking ahead to a big week

• PSG second leg at Anfield - team, expectations, hopes and scores
• Darwin to press Marquinos?
• Often we talked in the Klopp years about the importance of having a lived experience - how much will that help here?
• Newcastle United at Wembley - they are without Gordon, Hall and Botman. Hopefully we will have almost everyone ready. They don’t appear to be playing with much confidence.
  

We will be back next week with a review of PSG at home and the Carabao Cup final. After that our next game Thanks to Enrique and Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. 

If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

Welcome dear listener to this bonus episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Daz and Justin. So the Reds are 13 points clear with 67 points and 10 games to play in the League. We are going use Liverpool’s weekend off to take a broader view of the season - looking back and looking ahead to the last 3 months of the season:

Part One - looking back - 20 wins in the League, seeded first in the UCL draw (for what that is worth) and a Carabao Cup Final (with one really decent performance):

• Two highlights each - (potential talking points)

• Lost 1, won 11 in first 12 games

• People really started to take notice when we dispatched real and city in the same week

• The Fulham 2-2 win (down to 10, 1 behind and prob should’ve won) showed the type of grit the team had. Ebbs and flows of the league—been a proper champions mentality. 

• “Wobbles” are ties away from home, where we are still unbeaten after 28 fixtures, in tricky fixtures and with 5 games in 15 days. 

• Going down first or early isn’t a death knell (which is an improvement from last season)

• growth/development of Dom and Gravenberch

• The Spurs away 6-3, coz fuck Ange

• In the cold light of day (inner chimps away and after rewatching) the data shows conclusively that we are exactly where we should be.

• Healthy squad—the Arne effect? The way we play? Both? 

• Arsenal’s challenge - 'over my dead body’. The 11 points from 15 in the 5 games in 15 days.

• Pet peeves - Michael Oliver, Rebecca Lowe and any other uninformed pundit who says it's been easy. Any others?

• PGMOL in general. Not just for us but as a general rule how poor they have been 

• The seeding of the UCL and how little it actually means to be first.

• How we are often the agents of our own demise

Part Two - looking ahead:

• Champions League - tough draw, hardest side of the bracket. Club Brugge or Villa in the last 8 if we get through.

• Carabao Cup final in 2 weeks against Newcastle - presumably with Joelinton and Isak (went off today, but prob be ok) No Gordon.

• The league - what’s your expectation for the last 10? Let’s not leave it till the last 4

• Full list of league opponents 

• Soton (h)

• Ev (h)

• Fulham (a)

• Hammers (h)

• Leicester (a)

• Spurs (h)

• Chelsea (a)

• Arsenal (h) — full week in between Ars and Che

• Brighton (a)

• Palace (h)

• Southampton and Leicester have been terrible - will van Nistelroy still be there?

• 6 homes, 4 aways (Fulham, Brighton, Chelsea)

• Will be our 20th top flight title

• Fitness and form of No. 9s to be deciding factor…?

We will be back next week with a review of PSG away (and maybe Southampton at home depending on availability). Thanks to Justin and Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. 
If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Daz. The Reds beat City last weekend, and in similar fashion outplayed Newcastle this midweek. Top of the Premier League by 13 from Arsenal (game in hand), 19 from Forest, and 20 from City and 21 from Chelsea. We’ll review the City and Newcastle games and then look ahead to the PSG round of 16 away leg and maybe Southampton at home. Part One - finally we win a league game at the Etihad

• Was this a case of them revisiting the need for control or Man City forced us into a low block? Or was this a Rafa tribute moment?

• Salah, Dominik, Virgil, Ibou - and lots of other great performances.

• On City:

• Doku’s unbelievable performance… oh wait

• A few weeks ago, Sean asked if Rico Lewis ever played right back for them, only when they lose was my reply - I am taking credit for that

Part Two - Newcastle at home xG 1.7 (Gakpo .52) to 0.23

• ‘Turn on the pan of league winning oil at a low temperature’ Ben Jonno, so we can still keep enjoying it.

• Control is back, just in time for the Champions League round of 16

• We took the referee out of the equation today - Salah penalty??

• Dominic Szobozlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister. Salah’s 17th assist.

Part Three - upcoming games and elsewhere:

• Arsenal’s enablement of our title challenge:

• West Ham fans to Rice - ‘You should have signed for a big club’

• PSG - why bother trying to get first in the Champions League table?

• We are not favorites in this tie!! 

• Salah - when asked about whether he is getting better, his answer is the equivalent of, well some people prefer Sgt. Pepper others says it’s Abbey Road…..

• Rebecca Lowe still doesn’t have him in the EPL all time XI…. - recency bias.. What about unconscious bias? 

We will be back next week with a review of PSG away (and maybe Southampton at home). Thanks to Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. 
If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Sean and Daz. The Reds beat Wolves, and play out an interesting one at Villa. Still top of the Premier League - 8 from Arsenal, 14 from Forest, and 17 from City. We’ll review the Wolves and Villa games and then look ahead to City away and Newcastle at home. After that we can take a breath.Part One - how nervous were you about the Wolves game?

• First half wasn’t perfect but 1.76 xG vs Wolves 0.25 (including penalty)

• Second half felt really challenging but there were just a couple of moments of concern

• Second gear, reaction to the Everton match?

• The third goal would have been a sliding doors moment

Part Two - Villa away - much better performance than the last 2. xG was 2.44 to 0.73.

• If we bought into the idea that we need 9 wins in the last 13, this was not a bad result.

• If we think we need to put pressure on Arsenal, probably not the ideal outcome.

• Villa scored their big chances, but conceding from the set piece was poor. Looked short of energy at the end of the first and second half

• Diogo and Darwin should have probably done better (probably??). A certain player is very disappointed. Diaz injured??

Part Three - Looking ahead and a word about Mo Salah - in part because we may only have 13 league games left with him:

• Comparisons with Rooney are interesting - he has 265 goal involvements in 289 PL games, Rooney had 311 in 491 games (92% vs 63% involvement to game ratio). 3 goals behind Aguero, and 1 behind Gordon Hodgson now. 24 goals this season, 15 assists.

• A word on Diogo - strange game against Wolves, but he has now played 16 games with 12 left - at the start of the season we said if he plays 28 we win the league…

• City - are they back? Well, maybe in England, the new midfielder Gonzalez can’t hurt but Newcastle seemed extremely passive (and that hasn’t worked for anyone). Looks like no Stones on Sunday. Real Madrid were not so passive. Selection, predictions

• Newcastle at home. Please let’s have the shit show that showed up in Manchester last Saturday please. Selection, predictions.

• After City, 7 of our last 11 will be at Anfield.

• Need for rotation? Could we get our midfielders some help? Endo?

• Then we’ll have a week till the Champions League round of 16 away game against PSG or Benfica.

• Champions league draw - Brugge, PSG, 

We will be back next week with a review of City and Newcastle.Thanks to Sean and Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. 
If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Daz. The Reds draw against Everton. Still top of the Premier League - 7 from Arsenal, 10 from Forest, 14 from Chelsea and 16 from City and Newcastle. We’ll review the game and then look at Plymouth away and Spurs at home in the Carabao, with a look ahead to Wolves and Villa away.

League win at Everton - oh never mind:

• Seven points clear - have that dickheads says John Gibbons

• The referee conversation has dominated how we’ve looked at this game

• Midfield and then the attack never got in rhythm - that will happen when there’s a foul every 3 minutes

League Cup - beat Spurs 4-0:

This team is scary….

• Mo Salah, what of Messi is better?

• Gakpo - down the line?

• Set pieces looked better!!

• 50 to 65 - looked ridiculous 

• 75 - Szobo goal - oof

• VVD was always going to score

FA Cup at Plymouth:

This team wasn’t…

• Harvey’s worst 90

• No complaints about the line up

Part Three - looking ahead

• 8 home games and 6 away games

• Wolves - line up, predictions

• Villa, line up, predictions

We will be back the week of February 20th with a review of Wolves and Villa away.Thanks to Sean and Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. 

If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Sean and Daz. The Reds win at Bournemouth. Still top of the Premier League with a game in hand - 6 from Arsenal, 9 from Forest and 13 from Chelsea and 15 from City and Newcastle. We’ll review the PSV game and mostly look at Bournemouth, with a look ahead at the next 2 weeks.

Part One - PSV Eindhoven: xG 1.32 to 1.61 (0.76 penalty)

• Frustrating, because a draw would put them in the mix for the round of 16 tie against us. Conceding in the 6th minute of 4 minutes of added time in the first half was frustrating.

• Some good signs - Chiesa, McConnell and Andy Robertson. However Quansah - oof. Elliott - what do we think? Danns….

• Finishing first - yawn….

Part Two - Bournemouth away revised Fotmob xG 1.58 to 2.52 (.76 for the penalty) but Opta has it at 1.00 to 2.66. Statsbomb somewhere in between.

• Kepa and the nightmare for him that is Mohamed Salah. Thinking Chelsea Kop end 2019. 21 PL goals this season, passes Lampard to go 6th on the all time PL list - 178, 6 behind Aguero. Moving closer to 3rd on Liverpool’s all time list - 236 - 241 is the next milestone (Gordon Hodgson - played between 1925 and 1935)..

• Narrative nationally that we were lucky and that it’s been easy…

• TAW game review suggested the Match of the Day reporting was rather like NBC’s highlights. They hit the post twice, missed an open goal, should have had a penalty, we should not have had a penalty…

• They had spells, but we had longer ones - in the first half, Trent, Dom could easily have scored.

Part Three - 14/15 games left. The mighty Arsenal win the champions league against City (oh wait)

• 56 points - 7 wins against lower table opposition (6 at home and Leicester away_ would yield 21 points. 77 with 8 other games to play. 3 other wins takes us to 86. Arsenal could get to 92, but you feel that emotion cannot sustain them.

• Over-emotional FC

• How many wins do we think?

• Spurs Plymouth, Everton. Lineups and predictions

We will be back the week after February 12th with a review of Spurs and Plymouth Argyle and then Everton away.Thanks to Sean and Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. 

If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band –https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Sean and Daz. The Reds win against Lille and Ipswich. Still top of the Premier League with a game in hand - 6 from Arsenal, 9 from Forest and 12 from City and Bournemouth. We’ll review Lille and Ipswich and then talk about the upcoming Champions League game against PSV and the Premier League away against Bournemouth plus a look around.

Part One - 7 wins out of 7. Lille’s 21 game unbeaten run comes to an end - xG 2.46 v 0.49

Part Two - Ipswich swatted aside - 4-1 - xG 1.98 vs. 0.48 (I think .28 comes from the goal)

Part Three - Coming up

2023-24

2024-25

Goals

51

54

Shots

422

392

Expected goals

49.4

52.1

Goals against

19

21

Shots faced

241

201

xG against

24.8

19.4

Points

51

53

We will be back after February 2nd with a review of Bournemouth and PSV away - previewing Spurs in the Carabao, Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup and then Everton away on February 12th..Thanks to Sean and Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. 

If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic 

Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Justin and Daz. The Reds win at Brentford with the Darwin Nunez late show. Big win especially after Arsenal dropped points. Top of the Premier League with a game in hand - 6 from Arsenal and Forest and 10 from Chelsea, 12 from surging Newcastle and reborn City. We’ll review Brentford and then talk about the upcoming Champions League game against Lille and the Premier League home against Ipswich plus a look around.

Part One - Brentford away - xG 3.43 vs. 0.77, although shot quality (37) wasn’t always great.

Part Two - Ipswich at home, Lille at home in the UCL

Part three - wider analysis:

We will be back after January 26th with a review of Ipswich and Lille at home and previewing PSV, Bournemouth away and Spurs in the Carabao..Thanks to Justin and Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. 

If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on Twitter  – we only tweet and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic