It’s a mixed bag of a Mailbox today. Send your views on the Liverpool – or anything else in football – to theeditor@football365.com
What should Liverpool do now?
Without being too reactionary to their recent form, do Liverpool now stick or twist with their team during the rest of Klopp’s tenure? Although lauded for their caution in the transfer window, has their inactivity failed to ignite the dressing room and convince them they intend to give it their all this year to retain their title and have more European success?
I think so. I agree that they were wise not to splash on an expensive short-term defensive fix, but the lack of ambition may have subconsciously told the dressing room that this year’s a write-off for silverware.
If so, what do they do this summer? Their front three are all approaching 30 – Firmino looks long past being the man you want leading the line, and as wonderful as Salah and Mane are, do Liverpool cash in on one of them to fund the revolution of 2021-2024?
For me (Clive), I’d spend this summer if they have the funds. Give Klopp season 2021-22 to bed in several new senior faces who will shine in 2022-23 and 2023-24. Sell the existing top talent that are 28/29 year sold and in two years’ time will dramatically reduce in transfer value. I’d try and sell Firmino, Matip, Keita, Shaqiri and maybe even one of Mane/Salah (probably Salah if he’s as open to leaving as the press have insinuated).
Use the money to get a world class CB and a couple of quality forwards to complement Mane and Jota. Their GK and backline remain among the best in the business, midfield is good again once Fabinho and Henderson return to midfield and I suspect Thiago should have a better second season. But I’d twist up top.
Graeme, Glasgow
…I am unable to understand why there is no change in Liverpool’s approach while playing bottom teams? Surely playing midfield in defence has not worked out then why continue sticking to the same formula? Play defenders in defence and midfielders in middle and see what happens. For all I care play Alison on top and Bobby at Goal, but atleast do something different.
On another note, upcoming transfer window is going to be very critical for Liverpool. With a lot of key players are reaching or crossing 30, there will be a lot of rebuild required soon. For a club which needs to sell before it buys, every passing transfer window will seriously impact the sell-on value of these players.
Dushyant (Wish Alex Ferguson wrote a book on rebuilding) Jamwal
Has Liverpool sense of entitlement re-emerged?
My flatmate and I watch a lot of English football, he is a Liverpool fan, he has never been to Liverpool and has more association with Hanwell Town F.C than the club he supports. This irks me as he snubbed his Dad’s beloved Nottingham Forrest to support Liverpool. He even has an Anfield piece of memorabilia on his wall his mood also changes depending on the Liverpool result (not beat you girlfriend type but just becomes a whinger).
It is almost as if he and many fans believes a single season of dominance entitles them to always be playing well, always win, never misplace a pass, perfect control, 100% cross completion rate, winning every 1st and 2nd ball, zero goalkeeping errors. They/He believes all of Klopp’s excuses this year are legitimate and they have facing the most difficult title race and have the worst injury list since before time began. Now I hear criticism of Alexander-Arnold, Robertson, Gomez, Matip and Firmino not being good enough. Zero credit is being given to the opposition players who have learnt to stifle this ridiculously good Liverpool team.
I digress, the issue I am facing is that I always used to think Liverpool fans are too entitled and think they are better than most, always harking back to olden days at every occasion but winning very little. Then Klopp came, his brand of football was brilliant, he was genuinely likable, his players seemed nice a with some high-quality English in his team. The fans who were so happy and the inevitable this is our year’ came true, I watched Liverpool games, I read blogs, listened to my flatmate and other friends. I also continued to follow this great site. I could feel the excitement and I was happy for them. Now maybe I’ve been siloed in this lockdown but it all feels like it has come crashing down.
They’re seven points off the top and not in the best form but I read constant criticism of these players, Klopp is now borderline Mourinho levels on the excuses and the flatmate is always whining. I feel this sense of entitlement has re-emerged and stems somewhat from the manager becoming the victim, he is being difficult with the media, blaming other factors and arguing with other managers.
I could be completely wrong here but are there any fans who agree with this, or it just me having a rant?
M4RCU5X15,CFC
Some football conclusions
Why Mo Salah is not loved / is he selfish?
Mo Salah, like Aguero, largely keeps to himself. It’s hard to love people you don’t know. You can admire them. But to love them you have to see them as people, with their flaws and vulnerabilities. Fair play to Salah and Aguero for choosing to be private btw. But this is just an observation about what drives emotion. Is he selfish? Yes. He has to be – most top strikers are. Ronaldo barely celebrates goals scored by team mates. Van Nistelrooy was selfish. But yes, Salah tends to cross the line to where it’s counter productive. In the FA Cup game, I was relieved that Salah had scored both goals, because I felt at that point he would not be passing to others instead of going for his hat-trick, so stopping Salah meant stopping Liverpool. It becomes an easier problem for defenders.
Contract impact
For players at the late stages of their contract such as Wijnaldum, who are looking for the one last big top level stint, it feels like there’s a small but important drop off – they absolutely don’t want to be injured and risk their move to Barcelona or wherever else. Not a criticism of Wijnaldum, he’s still a fabulous player but maybe he’s just being a little bit cautious and that imperceptible drop is nonetheless significant in key moments. Probably true of Pogba going into the crunch end of the season.
Moyes needs more love and respect
Always thought Moyes deserved more cred for his work at Everton – remember he worked with a fifth of the budget that Ancelotti enjoys. And he managed to get them into Europe. Perhaps he was out of his depth at United, but very glad for him (and JLingz) at West Ham. His stint in Spain probably expanded his capabilities as well. He’s an excellent manager for a club in the 5 -10 positions in the league, if that makes sense. Maybe he’ll do a Ranieri before he hangs up his managerial tracksuit.
PE Teacher progress report
For people who think Solskjaer doesn’t improve players, I say Luke Shaw, Wan-Bissaka, Fred, McTominay, Pogba, Rashford and Greenwood. And all of this from a manager who isn’t fit to manage in the Championship, according to many. Must be all those pens then!
Hassenhuttl
On which note, there was an article before the previous Saints-United game (2-3 to United) on F365 that basically said the game was going to be a demonstration on what Man United could have had (Hassenheutl, rather than Solskjaer). Hasn’t aged particularly well, has it? Do Southampton not practice 10 v 11 games at all? Even after the Leicester game? Common wisdom has it that an early red card kills the game because one team goes into a defensive shell. I guess in the case of Southampton, a defensive sponge.
VAR
this is only an issue because we choose to make it an issue. Yes, there are still mistakes, but there are less mistakes than there used to be. But if we choose to focus on what it got wrong, we miss the fact that it gets a lot right. Can it be better? Of course. Can it be faster and less disruptive? Yes. But pundits and the media are absolutely culpable of playing to the gallery by making VAR the talking point as though that’s the biggest event in most games, or the biggest problem. It’s not, by a long shot.
Kudos to Guardiola
Shorn of Aguero, Silva, and De Bruyne, Guardiola has found a completely different way to win games. The real gap this season isn’t in terms of who has the best attack, but about who has the best defence. And Man City win this by a mile. If Man City win the league, Guardiola will have done it with a robust defence rather than an unstoppable attack. Eat that, Jose!
Sancho – who’s laughing now?
Jadon Sancho last year was averaging a goal or assist every game. He’s now close to 50% of that. His assist rate is decent but his goal scoring has dropped dramatically. Who knows what would have happened if he had made the switch, but the £100m looks pretty well saved from where I stand, at this point. And if Diallo comes good, what have Dormund actually achieved out of all this?
Fred is better than he looks
I remember this discussion on TV a while ago, amongst commentators. “What does Clarence Seedorf do for Milan?” Answer “He wins things”. Sometimes the individual stats don’t do justice. Fred brings an energy and indestructibility to the United cause and his ability to beat a man and be able to surge forward is under-rated. Yes he has been prone to errors, but he’s gotten better. United win games with Fred in the team.
Ved Sen
Middle East geography lesson for Rob
Our owners are from Abu Dhabi, not Qatar, which is a completely separate place. Not all Middle Eastern countries or people are the same even if you think they are.
Dan MCFC
…Thank you for your sincere congratulations offered to Manchester City in the mailbag this morning. Just as a point of clarification our
owner is actually from Abu Dhabi and not from Qatar. This is an easy mistake to make. The success of our sports washing operation has resulted in successfully erasing the capital city of the United Arab Emirates.
I wish you all the best when we are allowed back into football matches and hope you enjoy watching Arsenal succeed at the Emirates Stadium. That’s in France right?
Richard, MCFC
Sarcasm clearly does not always land
That article by Dave Tickner was the biggest load of crap that I’ve seen on your website since I started reading over 15 years ago.
Does someone scan these articles before they go out? If not, you should start doing it.
If you’re desperate for content then let me know and I’ll send you in a few articles to talk about something tangible.
That would be much better than Dave Tickner acting like a ‘tough guy’ talking about all the reasons why Tuchel will fail because he’s foreign and he’s a nerd…..
For the love of God – grow up – Dave comes across like a xenaphobic bully – your readers don’t think you’re cool for poking fun at people.
Long story short – tell Dave to grow the hell up!
Thanks.
Tim (CFC) Ireland
Savage garden
This probably should’ve been one for Mediawatch yesterday but life got in the way and I wasn’t able to flag it up in time.
Anyway, Robbie Savage isn’t half a sh!te pundit. Christ on a bike. His questioning of why Ole wasn’t playing Cavani week in week out (or more appropriately twice every week bearing in mind the current schedule) left me wanting to crack my skull on the wall. It was his examples of other centre forwards who play every single game that displayed the true insightfulness (or lack thereof) of his dog sh!t punditry.
I can’t remember his exact words, but he basically questioned ‘Why doesn’t Cavani pay every week? If Harry Kane is fit, he plays every game. If Jamie vardy is fit, he plays every game.’ Yes Robbie they both do to be fair. AND LOOK AT WHERE THEY BOTH ARE NOW YOU F**KING WEAPON! BOTH OUT INJURED AFTER BEING PLAYED PRETTY MUCH EVERY SINGLE GAME! So I’m guessing that is actually the reason why Ole doesn’t risk Cavani every single game. You’ve answered your own question with your own ill-considered examples, and shown yourself for the utter mouth breather you actually are in the process! Bravo Robbie, Bravo.
Rant over. Don’t know why it ground my gears so much. Sorry for all the swears, but, just, Robbie Savage! Oh and the capitals bit, please feel free to shout it in your head when you read it. I did when I typed it.
Al Williams
Mediawatching Mediawatch
Remedial economics lesson regarding Mediawatch’s lead story: the headlines “Man Utd star Amad Diallo may have ended Jadon Sancho transfer hopes once and for all” and “Borussia Dortmund slash Jadon Sancho price to new low” are not contradictory. When demand falls, price falls. (But of course it’s only other websites giving “a lesson in how to harness Jadon Sancho clicks”…)
Dave G
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