Away at West Ham - 2-2 (xG .70 vs 1.75)

Felt like another one we threw away. Recognition that it didn’t matter as much?

Spurs - 4-2, moments of brilliance, weird ending (xG 3.37 vs 1.24)

Harvey Elliott, Cody Gakpo

Being at Anfield……. 

Villa - 3-3, moments of control and then the last 10 minutes (xG 3.2 to 1.74)

A word about Simon Hooper - 10 fouls against us to 1 given to us in the first half.

Wolves at home - thoughts…..

Is the season a case of overachievement in the first part or a fall off in the second half?

The Klopp effect was great till it wasn’t

Our defense - we’ve scored about the same as we did when we won the league

Trent

Nunez and Luis Diaz - can’t have both?

Saudi messaging re: Salah and Allison

City - more boring football from the Cheats

Arsenal and City - defensively stronger

Chelsea - Europa League?

No VAR? Wolves, are you kidding?

Man Utd. what is going on?

Well we always hate losing to them don’t we?

First 30 minutes were way too open - United had more shots (7) on target in a first half than they have for a long time.

Switched on end of first half - could have been 3-1

Second half, their weird formation made it seem like we were bound to score, but actually did not have many good opportunities (other than the ones Darwin created)

Taking Salah off at 77 with the game won…

While it’s still 2-1 bad things can happen. Right foot from Antony, felt like a stopped clock telling the right time moment.

Extra time - everyone looked very tired. Could not take enough people off.

Blessing in disguise? Can’t say yes for sure but 2022 experience suggests it could be

Four goals up in 14 minutes. Front foot attacking exploiting some very naive defending?

Liverpool should not be playing us said the coach, they should be in the champions league.

Quick word on officiating:

We talk about high bars when we choose to

They talk about intent as well - I thought IFAB had made intent irrelevant

Atwell on VAR - ‘they both came in high’

What are we feeling now:

Maximum of 15 games

Players returning

10 wins in the League likely would be enough but there’s plenty of challenges left 

United, Fulham, Villa, West Ham and Everton away - 3 aways in 6 days (unless Arsenal beats Bayern Munich)

Brighton, Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, Spurs and Wolves at home.

Europa League - quarter final against Atalanta, with the prospect of Benfica or Marseille in the semis.

Atalanta not considered a difficult draw… 6th in Serie A. Playing Coppa Italia either side of our fixtures.

Elsewhere, Champions League draw…. FA Cup - 

City have to play Chelsea in the FA Cup. If they make it past Real Madrid, they will have no midweeks available.

Arsenal - Bayern Munich. Could easily see Arsenal winning this one.

International chat? Luis Diaz

First half

15 minutes of City threat, City had 4 or 5 openings earlier

Gradually made our way back into this:

Endo tackle on Foden after 5

13 minutes chance for Bradley

Endo, Mac Allister and Elliott were very good

VVD so many times he was exceptional

Clever goal from the cheats

Liverpool responded well. Press intensified.

Rodri and Walker tactical fouls

Gomez moving into midfield

Second half:

47 minute penalty and the non-penalty at 98

Michael Oliver!!!

City have their usual sterile domination at times

Diaz multiple big chances (inc Gakpo)

Other thoughts?

What a gang of ******, Foden, Walker (on Salah), Rodri, Bernardo Silva

Walker - Oliver wasn’t intimidated

Mac Allister and Nunez were great

Defense was not until Virg arrived

Gakpo bad luck?

Salah almost 14th sub goal

Next Thursday…..  Weakest team possible 

United in the FA Cup

Formation, predictions

Our perspective - players are coming back, 10 wins would probably do it, given City and Arsenal

0.97 to 2.07 (Fotmob) - Darwin’s goal had an xG of 0.11

Should have won this, but not much of that rationality made its way into the wider discourse

They started of with a lot of intensity and for 20 minutes, there was some back and forth but the Reds had taken over. (22 - Elanga chance, looked offside) Kelleher great save, 24 - Clark almost; 26 Luis Diaz went close

Second half, habit has been to take it up a level - created some chances but found it hard - especially against the mid/low block. Injuries taking their toll? Not enough width? Tsimikas did give us some when he came on. Did we struggle to adapt to the subs initially?

Officiating - Let’s shine a light on the corners we should have had in the first half. Seriously, the coverage of this monumental mistake was beyond overboard.

And no mention of Kung Fu kicks from Yates

‘Some elite level shit if there are any shenanigans happening’ - Gareth Roberts

18th winner in added time in the Klopp era, Fergie only had 16! Moyes has 21, Wenger also has 21 BTW

Anfield has had 28, next is Goodison with 24 (3 of them scored by us!)

Game against the team with 115 charges is hard to ignore

FCK MCI - looked like a couple of easy games for them

Hoping for a big Anfield contribution - biggest crowd for a game against the cheats

Guardiola has not won at Anfield with a crowd. I’m sure that’s not in his head!

Tactics - go early or wait for the 2nd half momentum to kick in

Channel the 2022 FA Cup Semi Final?

Team and predictions

We start with Sparta Prague in the Europa League first leg

They are confident they can win after beating Galatasaray

They are top of the Czech league, just drew at home to their biggest rivals Slavia Prague

Macca talked about a great battle. Coach Brian Priske was the manager of Midtjylland in 20-21. Mohammed Salah might return.

Arsenal have scored a few goals haven’t they?

Worst case, we could end up 3rd. How are we dealing with that? Ignoring it, rationalizing it?

Liverpool are visiting the city down the road next summer - best way to talk this up?

Chasing Man City’s commercial revenue….

Kelleher - faced 2.9 xG - 4th most in the top 5 leagues in the last 7 seasons (Andrew Beesley) without conceding. This is counting multiple shots from the same sequence.

2 big moments really hurt Liverpool our momentum

Gravenberch being stretchered off

VVD first header ruled out; 1.7 of the Chelseas xG happened between then and the 98th minute. And, John Brookes with the CSI Stockley Park. Compare with United’s FA Cup goal in midweek

5-2 yellow cards…  some shit behavior from Chelsea not punished.

Academy players - culture that allows you to bring in young players

Clark 24 pressures (Macca 35) and McConnell had the most touches (47 in 40 minutes).

Gomez is third in minutes

Changes showed that the league is the target

Szobo and Darwin did not look injured.

Luton - xG 3.32 vs 0.92

Diaz chances, 11th minute Ogbone. Bit 442, first half just too hurried 

First half Klopp was upset - look at the counter pressing first not the result

Don’t make me angry…. ‘Elite’  Rob Edwards described the team, the tactics, intensity and crowd. 2nd half intensity was impressive - the washing machine.

Southampton - xG 1.89 vs 1.71

Could have lost it in the first 20

Koumas and Danns are great stories, but Clark and McConnell looked really solid

Kelleher again

Forest - could be challenging. They will allow us the ball.

They haven’t got a great record after playing midweek.

Team, predictions

Europe - Sparta Prague - need to give them some respect.

What else - Arsenal, Man City to win this weekend we assume.

Predictions

First Half - Brentford dominance!

First 20 minutes, they should probably have scored was the narrative (Toney had a chance at 14 and 19 - Ibou steered him away from goal for the 2nd)

In practice, Bradley had an effort turned away at 9 minutes, Jota manhandled at 12 (Jensen challenge was 50/50), Jota shot turned away at 20.

35 - Darwin finish - if he scores in the next 13 games we are right in this

Refereeing again; Oliver doing the same stuff we’ve seen increasingly - players go down with minimal contact and it always seems to be a foul against us. 9 fouls against us and 1 for? Not one given for the 2 Noorgard challenges that caused serious injuries. Toney - what a diver…

Second Half - controlled large portions of this:

xG of over 2 again - this is quite exceptional. Played with a swagger after 2-0.

Klopp reaction to the dangerous tackle on Bradley

54 - Endo to Gravenberch to Mo to Macca

67 - Mo goal - more Route 1 football :()

71 - Could have conceded a pen (Robbo on Toney), they score on 74

Didn’t get much of a sniff until the very end

82 - possible Diaz penalty

86 - Gakpo’s 10th of the season - be good to him going

Finished 15 fouls to 3 (the Arsenal game with Taylor was 11-11).

Lots of shout outs:

Kelleher, the defence, the midfield, whichever Front 3 was on the pitch.

Post Jones midfield looked good, and then Elliott had a nice cameo.

Luton at home - 13 games left

Luton - thoughts?

The injuries

Team selection, predictions

Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday

Chelsea - can’t be as dominant as we were a few weeks ago, can we?

Chelsea appeared to play a back 6 at City, and ran out of gas at 70.

Team selection, predictions

Arsenal (2.2 xG and 5 goals); City will go on a run to everyone is going to drop points - did have an xG of over 3 against Chelsea).

Ollie Watkins….. Only Mo Salah

Most goals by a Liverpool sub - 13 from 27.

Jurgen and the Dinosaurs!

How many teams chant You Scouse Bastard and have an intro song written by a couple of Scousers?

Review predictions

First Half:

Lots of gaps, illnesses, slow start

How much was Klopp’s hand forced a little with lineup/formation?

Trent injury - had an impact on the first half

Jota goal - foul on Trafford! HA HA

Jota grab - defender was standing his ground says Stephen Warnock

Burnley goal was a header from 12 yards - Kelleher’s feet?

Second Half:

Lots more control - from 46 a lot of pressure building

Goal at 51 - foul by Mac Allister? 

63, 66 Fofana misses - Quansah?

70 to 78 created multiple chances before Nunes excellent header 

Good news stories:

Andrew Robertson

Curtis Jones

Endo, Mac Allister

Kelleher deserves a mention.

Haven't won there yet, they’ll have their players back from AFCON. Toney is scoring.

It is a 12.30 kick off and we’ll have a week, and we may have players back/healthier

Formation?

Prediction

Anny (Anfield) Road end - leading the singing. Almost 60,000

Cards - Nunez for kicking the ball away and no card for Endo being kicked in the face.

Context, your AFCON experience over the years - growing up, watching from afar here in the US?

As an outsider, this one was a great spectacle, it seemed about the teams and the football, and almost no Gianni Infantino or Alexsander Ceferin is an absolute bonus.

Seems like a series of upsets from an outside perspective. Lots of last minute goals and spot kick drama. Super exciting for someone not fully invested in any of the teams - must have been tough to watch if you were.

Overall a more open tournament - 116 goals - 2.4 per game. Goals dried up a bit in the knock out games.

What about the favorites - Senegal, Egypt, Morocco? Was that it for Mo and a chance to win AFCON?

North African teams generally:(

I enjoyed Cape Verde, Angola, DR Congo - how much did they exceed expectations?

What about South Africa? Where did they come from?

Did it help having everyone be familiar with each other?

The state of club football - Morocco 84th in the world 

Number of players born outside Africa - perspectives?

The Final - Côte D’Ivoire vs Nigeria

The game itself

Was it destined to be them?

‘The dead goat does not fear the night’

Nigeria played up to its reputation finally didn’t they? But really didn’t look as good in the final

Wait Alex Iwobi is Jay Jay Okocha’s nephew!

All those strikers - Osihmen, Chukweze (and Boniface who was injured)

Does this mean anything for the 2026 World Cup?

Could CIV host a World Cup?