Welcome dear listener to the podcast of the 2024-25 Premier League Champions. I’m Paul and I am joined by Sean and Daz. We will review last weekend’s Arsenal game, and continue to reflect on a 20th top flight title. Obviously we will touch on the Trent situation. We will look ahead to the Brighton match and we’ll be looking around at what’s happening elsewhere.

Part One - Arsenal at home - xG 1.92 to 0.58 in the first half

• First half, Reds are generally magnificent

• Salah, Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo - well that was fun

• Second half - it was warm, Arsenal appeared to be beaten

• We just didn’t look the same team

• And then the booing started and the game and the whole future narrative about the game changes

• All Mikels are forever shady - ‘unscrupulous and fraudulent’

• Booing Thomas Partey

Part Two - ‘Brand Trent’, the crowd and the impact on the game - 1.99 xG conceded in the second half

• Suggestion that it was led by younger fans on the Kop

• ‘I don’t support the booing but he deserved it’

• Other issues that I’ve heard from Scousers who were upset

• ‘The ear cupping’

• The AI generated goodbye message

• You are leaving us:

• you’ve used the Scouser in our Team stuff to support your brand

• ‘Just a normal lad from Liverpool’

Part Three - 2 games left. 

• Mo Salah - FWA Player of the Year

• Brighton away on a Monday night. Nice opportunity for a beer with some friends?

• Signings - Frimpong and Kerkez seem to be high on the list. Not so much Huisen.

• Xabi Alonso, also going (back) to Franco’s boys:

We will be back after the Brighton game. Thanks to Daz and Sean for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us. Might need to record the night of to get it done.

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 podcast of the 2024-25 Champions. I’m Paul and I am joined by Enrique and Daz. We will review the Chelsea game, and continue to reflect on a 20th top flight title. Obviously we will touch on the departure of Trent and the other noises around the squad. We will look ahead to the Arsenal match and we’ll be looking around at what’s happening elsewhere.

Part 1 - Chelsea away - Fotmob xG 3.13 to 1.05 (I saw another call it at 1.96 to 1.36)

• 65% possession for us - Palmer controlled this game
• Best English player?
• Elliott, Endo, Quansah, Darwin, 
• We committed 11 fouls to their 10.
• Guard of Honor
  

Part 2 - Arsenal at home

• A marker for next season?
• They might be fragile or they might be boosted by the PSG game?
• The manager - ‘one game left to save his job!

Part 3 - Bigger picture - departures and arrivals

• Trent
• Darwin and a center forward
• Central defender
• Left Back
  

We will be back after the Arsenal game. Thanks to Daz, Justin 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 podcast of Champions. I’m Paul and I am joined by Sean and Daz. We will review the Spurs game, probably briefly, reflect on the events surrounding th game as Liverpool celebrated its 20th top flight title. We may look ahead to the Chelsea match and we’ll certainly be looking ahead…. 

Part 0 - the experience

• Crowds, songs and joy

Part One  - Liverpool 5, Spurs 1 (xG 2.28 vs 0.46)

• Everyone says Spurs were terrible. Are they just perfect for us?

• Solanke goal

• The Diaz goal broke this one open

• Mac Allister - the best we’ve seen from the Argentine. First left footed goal

• Mohammed Salah - 28 goals - passess Aguero. These last 2 weeks he’s looked sharper - gets an early sighter on goal.

Part Two - Reaction from around the world

• ‘Won it by default’ or one of the best performances ever

• NO ONE CARES

• How people feel about Liverpool - ‘The burden of the badge’

• Arne Slot Na Na Na Na Na

Part Three - - looking ahead:

• 4 games to go - Chelsea away

• Top 5 race

• Promoted teams/relegated team

• European football

We will be back after the Chelsea game. Thanks to Daz and Sean 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. We will review the Leicester game, look ahead to the Spurs match and then do our now typical wider view, of where everyone else is and maybe some next season chat..

Part One - Leicester Away - xG 0.27 to 3.03

• The numbers tell us it was a walk in park - could have been 2 up in 11 minutes

• If this had’ve been 4 or 5 nil no one would’ve raised an eyebrow

• Sense of nervousness - due to the gravity of the three points

• Should we get shut of Diaz as a 9? Jota and Diaz average position behind Mac Allister

• Of course Leicester decide to give it a go against us

• Jota should’ve given Mo his 19th assist

• The substitutions - Curtis just going straight down the tunnel

• Cody - is there a conversation to be had post injury?

• Traveling Kop — festive but moody…?

• Trent introduction and goal. His celebration. 

• Jamie Vardy is still a prick

Part Two - Spurs at home

• Beaten again this weekend. 15 1-goal losses. 

• Talk of Ange being gone regardless of Europa success

• Do they show up and give it go? 

• If they give it a go like in the League Cup semi, we are golden

• Do we think that Palace will give Arsenal a go?

• Lineup 

• Prediction

Part Three - what are YOU gonna do if we win the league?

• Michael Cox piece - 4 reasons why it’s good that Liverpool are winning the league

• Can you rent an open top bus near you? 

• What is your likely reaction?

• Who do we think is most likely going to round out the last 2 CL spots?

We will be back after the Spurs game. 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. We will review the win over West Ham last weekend, look ahead to the Leicester game and then do our now typical wider view, now that we can be certain that Virg and Mo are sticking around and Liverpool are about to have a big summer.

Part One - West Ham home - xG 1.78 to 1.50 - 1.34 to 0.77 in the first half

• Game of 2 halves Brian

• First half - as much intensity as we’ve seen for a few weeks

• Second half - their changes seemed to confuse us

• Own goal - more defensive mistakes would have been the narrative

• First Virgil goal at Anfield for 14 months - maybe the Salah vs United 2020 moment?

• The funk - is it Tiredness? Complacency? Unknown territory?

• Alexis Mac Allister

Part Two - Leicester Away

• Haven’t scored at home for months

• Did get a point at Brighton in a game where Brighton had an xG over 4

• Team selection

• Predictions

Part Three - Any other business

• Title watch - Spurs at home?

• Virgil contract

• Big summer says Virgil

• ‘Liverpool won’t be at the same level next year’

• Champions League? 

• Still pissed that Barcelona ends up playing Benfica and Dortmund. 

• Narrative around Villa 

• Arsenal are brilliant… well, let’s see shall we?

We will be back after the Leicester game. Thanks to Daz and Sean 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

Today is the 36th anniversary of Hillsborough where 97 Liverpool fans were unlawfully killed. Many lives were changed that day. To help understand the impact on Liverpool, the City, the people and those directly affected, we are airing an episode from Season 2 where we got to hear from 2 Hillsborough Survivors - Ritchie and Damien. It could be much better produced, but it was our most viewed episode when we did the YouTube channel. This is for all of those affected by the tragedy, whose story deserves to be told over and over.

Ritchie and Damien share some really insightful perspectives from lifelong, match going fans. Many thanks to them.

Welcome dear listener to the latest episode. I’m Paul and I am joined by Justin and Daz. We will review the defeat at Fulham last weekend, look ahead to the West Ham game and then take a wider view, especially in the light of the news about Mo Salah’s contract.

Part One - Fulham away - xG 1.5 to 0.74 (2H 1.45 to 0.22). ‘Fantastic Fulham win’

First half - terrible performance or a series of individual errors?

• Started bright, low point the ‘penalty’ and the Konate error
• 14 mins - Mac Allister with a long range shot - called that one
• xGOT was 1.34 for them - doesn’t reflect well on Kelleher
• Their goals - slaps forehead:
• 23 mins- Jones/Konate - hmm
• 31 mins - Andy Robbo hat trick
• 34 - Jota almost equalizes
• 37 - VVD could have done better, but Ali probably saves it
• Stephen Warnock. that Liverpool legend tells Virgil, it’s not good enough. Usual Warnock bollocks in the commentary

Second half - chances, chances and more chances until 80 minutes:

• 48 - Jota chance
• 64 - Salah miss
• 72 - Luis Diaz goal
• 75 - Jones header
• 79 - Elliott hits the bar (move stopped again with an offside that wasn’t)
• 91 - Chiesa chance
• 92 - Elliott - needed it to be on his left foot

Overall:

• Subs brought on earlier? Bradley and Luis Diaz impact
• Shape against man to man marking? Need speed.
  

Part Two - West Ham United at home at 9:00AM ET on Sunday:

• ‘Liverpool haven’t played well in 2 months’
• Villa - Forest xG 3.03 to 1.48, Arsenal - Real Madrid 1.64 to 0.5
• Mo Salah loves playing against West Ham - Balon D’Or, contract, Ramadan..
• Line up, prediction's
  

Part Three - how do we reflect on such a disappointing season?

• Mo Salah - more in than out
• Big weekend for Mamardashvili
• Champions League - we could have won this…
• PSG look really good, 
• 
  

We will be back after the West Ham game. Thanks to Daz and Justin 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. We will review the Derby victory in some detail. Then we'll look at the Fulham game and briefly the last 7 games before the 20th title.

Part One - Everton at home xG 1.47 to 0.67 (.53 to .03 in the second half)

First half - not perfect, Curtis was great

• Jota blocked shot at 10 minutes - felt like a small sign

• Virgil, Ibou, the pitch and the weather and the Beto chance

• 30 to 45 - Everton looked there for the taking

Second half - we controlled this:

• Much more urgency and by 57 the goal was coming

• Offside rule is bad but Luis Diaz does well 

• Diogo - magic feet. Sean Rogers talked about the seriousness of the punctured lung

• Didn’t like us deciding the game was done - 1-0 is a tenuous lead

• More refereeing shite:

• Tarkowski and Tierney combine to produce one of the worst decisions you’ll see. PGMOL (eye roll)

• The offside goal (20) - CSI arrives.

• Barrott blows his whistle for the foul on Szobozlai when the ball is in the air. Maybe he thought the defender had the ball. VAR could still tell on Pickford.

• At the end, we could have had a breakaway.

• Sam Barrott - maybe too big a game for him at this point.

Overall - some narratives:

• VVD - they play a certain way and we managed to cope with their tactics said Slot.

• Slot was passive aggressive about Everton - the rule helps teams with a high press, not that Everton do that…in the Fulham press conference he mentions the low block again

Part Two - Fulham away:

• Team selection

• Fulham - lost 2 in a row. Didn’t look great against Arsenal.

• Outcome?

Part three - bigger picture:

• The 5 games in 15 days - obliterating our 2 weeks off that we’d earned in the UCL

• 2 week int’l break - the dust settling after March’s disappointments. Maybe bring up how Virg dressed down the turkey burger that is Michael Owen and his “just the Premier League” barb.

• Elsewhere in the league and the Champions League

• Sequence of Sunday games might help us get in a rhythm with the pod as well!!

We will be back after the Fulham game. Thanks to Daz and Sean 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 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