So Liverpool’s season ended with 2 domestic cup wins. An incredible achievement. My first ever Cup Final experience was Arsenal vs Sheffield Wednesday when we won the cup double in 1993. Klopp and his team of heroes stand tall with the heroes of that era that set the standard we now see today.
It’s tough for Liverpool, they are getting bantered off the internet today, people have been keeping receipts, waiting for their moment to strike.
… and it’s been brutal.
My man is starving https://t.co/z27gs5cesw
— ksi (@KSI) May 28, 2022
Michael Owen was insistent that Liverpool were still the best team in Europe despite not being able to win a cup final in open player or score a goal in 5 hours worth of finals.
When it comes down to it, sport is won in the margins, you can be legendary or a fraud on the flip of a coin. Right now, everyone is poking holes at Klopp complaining about Madrid’s keeper being too good. All the psychoanalysts peddling ‘hugs, kisses, and planning’ being the difference in the FA Cup are struggling to work out how a 10-a-day manager accused of being too casual at Bayern and lacking tactical rigor could roll into Saint-Denis and shithouse a supposedly much better Liverpool side.
Liverpool go from QUADRUPLE LEGENDS to the team that blew the easy run to the Champions League final.
They go from indestructible heroes to looking like a group that might be about to look decline in the face.
The average age of their starting 11 is about 29. Injuries have been kind to them. It is going to be very difficult for them to replace with the quality they need.
Sadio Mane is already signaling he wants out. Mo Salah still hasn’t signed a deal. The best sporting director on the planet has quit, likely because he knows Klopp wants to control the rebuilt now he’s king.
The dip might not come next season, but I’ve no doubt the Arsenal team are looking at where our squad is now, hoping that when Liverpool drop, we are there to move on them.
What I did hate last night was the disgraceful treatment of English fans. The behaviour merchants are out in force, but there is simply far too much evidence from actual media people with cameras to put this one on the fans. The French police are brutal, they don’t even save it just for the English, they aren’t good to French away fans in general. But the idea that you can have a ticket, turn up to the ground on time, and be told to just fuck off, then get pepper-sprayed should be a scandal of the highest order. It was absolutely horrendous to hear that gangs were picking off fans after and stealing their phones and money. If that happened in England, it would be a global news story, but when it happens in France, it gets brushed under the carpet until the next big event when they do the same thing again.
Dortmund has signed 6 players already.
Why are they so good at getting players in the door early?
Drives me up the wall.
Arsenal needs to shift players this summer regardless of the clear bank of cash that has been made available.
- Lucas Torreira
- Nico Pepe
- Bernd Leno
- Bob Holding
- Hector Bellerin
- Reiss Nelson
- Pablo Mari
- Daniel Ballard
- Alex Runarrson
I would have put Ainsley there, but for me, he should be offered the chance to be our right back again next season. He has the mobility, the power, the technique… he just lacks the right attitude sometimes. He also needs to be given the opportunity to be right back after he refused. Part of good leadership is to always give people a way back if they change.
Benfica is apparently in for Bernd Leno but they are swerving at the £8.5m fee we’re looking for. That is a keeper that cost us £25m, has been a German international and is definitely Premier League standard. Edu really needs to start shifting bodies for actual money this season. The Mavropanos fee was pitiful considering the talent as was agreeing to sell Guendouzi before we saw how good he’d be at Marseille.
Every penny counts, let’s not have a summer of giving away players for nothing.
Still, at least there’s a structure in place at Arsenal and our recruitment, in the main, is about 1000x better than it has been. Everything is mapped to a footballing philosophy and a profile.
United? They hired in Ralf Rangnick, who tanked on the coaching side, but the fear was he’d be allowed to rebuild them… and rebuilding clubs is what he’s good at. Well, he’s out the door. He came in, saw that it was a shitshow, said as much, and that’s that. He’d prefer to manage Austria. United, by far the most reactionary club in the world, has said goodbye.
Like, what are they thinking? I swear their biggest issue has been catering to the Twitter accounts with the little numbers and the Paul Pogba avatars. Who picks up the recruitment? Are they putting it on Ten Haag? Are they bringing Marc Overmars out of his scandalous cancellation? Or are they just going to expensively wing it again?
Whatever their plan is… it doesn’t seem like it’s in place as of now, so that is another challenge they’ll have to overcome.
Bigger issue for them is what they do with Cristiano and Fernandes who don’t really seem like ideal candidates to play the sort of football Ten Haag has been known for.
ANYWAY, why don’t you jump into some content below and sign up for Patreon because we are doing some EXCLUSIVE Patreon content tomorrow about transfers and things.
- We’ll be bringing back Famous Shirt Numbers
- We’ll be going deep on ins and outs
- We’ll be doing a winners and losers
- We’ll also be talking about our rivals
Should be cracker. Thank you to those that have signed up already. You are all amazingly generous. x
33 year old perisic to spurs hopefully we will have Willian levels if banter
Pierre
Nice bait, no ones gonna bite though. Maybe stop being Wenger up every single day. That would be a nice change.
Let the guy enjoy his retirement from managing.
Pierre I know the supporters where right to turn on wenger he was killing us come the last 2 seasons
What has he done since ?
How many teams has he managed ?
None oh ok lol
Just thinking the same Mr. Serge. Still waiting for that mega-club to snap him up………lol.
Arsenal’s priority transfers are a Centre Forward and a Central Midfielder. The players, which appear to be the most likely to be recruited in those positions appear to be Jesus and Tielemans. Personally I would not be opposed to either even if they are not superstars, because both have played at top level of the game and are reliable. Recently Arsenal have been also linked to Gnabry as a potential replacement for Pepe. He is of course an excellent player. The concern I would pose is that if he comes in where is Saka going to play, because he plays… Read more »
Pierre
Wenger needed to go (retire). I think he lost the drive to compete and was too soft with players. But yes we needed a Pep/Klopp/Conte/Tuchel to replace him, not the Emerys and Artetas of the world.
By the way for those who still buy the English propaganda that Liverpool fans were unfairly treated. Here are some picture of the states the fan zone was left by those. Basically lots of Liverpool fans behaved like drunken thugish sailors all afternoon. It took the entire night to clean the mess they left behind. https://www.bfmtv.com/paris/paris-une-mer-de-dechets-dans-la-fan-zone-de-vincennes-apres-le-passage-des-supporters-anglais_AV-202205290142.html Also despite the Athletic article absolving Liverpool FC and Liverpool fans of any wrong doing, it looks like the original issue stems directly from Liverpool FC. Liverpool FC requested to have paper tickets on top of electronic tickets. Because of the latestness of the… Read more »
Thanks for that breakdown, Valentin.
The thing that annoys me the most in Odegaard is this: https://fbref.com/en/players/79300479/Martin-Odegaard Dribbles Completed – 0.71 per 90 min, in the 7th percentile Touches in attacking penalty area – 2.33 per 90 min, in the 6th percentile Progressive Passes Received (Completed passes that move the ball towards the opponent’s goal at least 10 yards from its furthest point in the last six passes, or any completed pass into the penalty area. Excludes passes from the defending 40% of the pitch) – 3.78 per 90 min, in the 7th percentile Bottom shelf stats. Clearly, it’s fanciful to ask of a player… Read more »
By the way for those who still buy the English propaganda that Liverpool fans were unfairly treated. Here are some picture of the states the fan zone was left by those. Basically lots of Liverpool fans behaved like drunken thugish sailors all afternoon. It took the entire night to clean the mess they left behind. https://www.bfmtv.com/paris/paris-une-mer-de-dechets-dans-la-fan-zone-de-vincennes-apres-le-passage-des-supporters-anglais_AV-202205290142.html Also despite the Athletic article absolving Liverpool FC and Liverpool fans of any wrong doing, it looks like the original issue stems directly from Liverpool FC. Liverpool FC requested to have paper tickets on top of electronic tickets. Because of the latestness of the… Read more »
without Oil type money Liverpool could indeed be facing a squad rebuild option. They could even end going the same way as United at the end of Fergie’s reign. One solution would to be bold and let the likes of mane and salah go now for whatever they can get and bring in younger stars like Gnabry. Apart from Saka, Tomi and Partey I would not be adverse to selling any of our squad if the net result is an overall strengthening of the squad. Sell those that can more or less be replaced at modest cost through clever recruitment… Read more »
It was clearly seen that the first and main use of the tear gas was used on local Parisians who came to the ground to cause problems.
No-one should be surprised at heavy handed police action now anymore after the appalling scenes we saw throughout europe during the pandemic.
raptora, this is exactly why Arteta likes Ødegaard. He stays in his position, does not take risks that results in losing the ball, does not make hollywood pass that can be intercepted and from the opposition can counter attack. He recycles the ball with little penetration. He is a Norwegian Denilson. Most of his chances creations are sideways passes to Partey who then attempt to dropgoal. Tidy, steady type of players, unsuited to a team like Arsenal who does not have two world classes attackers and two fullback world class at creating chances. with him and Xhaka in midfield, we… Read more »
Valentin
Racism and bigotry are wrong. But your sectarianism against Catholics in the north of Ireland was okay was it? Is bigotry okay when you do it? You are a fraud. Like so many others crying about racism and bigotry, you are one of the biggest culprits.
Valentin is the resident bigot and the hypocrite of Le grove. And it will never be forgotten.
Looking at Olympique de Marseille (just an example): 20/21 GF 54 GA 47 GD +7 21/22 GF 63 GA 38 GD +25 This is a good measure of progress – their side has scored more goals and conceded less goals. Our progression is: 19/20 GF 56 GA 48 GD +8 20/21 GF 55 GA 39 GD +16 21/22 GF 61 GA 48 GD +13 If it wasn’t for the 5 goals scored in the last meaningless game, we would be right where we were 24 months ago. I don’t see any progress on the playing field. Maybe I need to… Read more »
Raptora – sounds like a description of Arteta as a player? Tidy player but no game changer
Good post Robbie Artetas not a terrible manager but the problem is there is thus far limited evidence of him being a really good one. His record vs the amount of power he’s been given and the amount of money he has spent vs his reputation are not in balance. The idea of Arteta is better than actual Arteta because as you said if the same was being achieved elsewhere I don’t think we’d be saying ‘wow I hope he joins arsenal one day’. He’d be largely ignored in that second tier of managers But he’s here now. I hope… Read more »
“The idea of Arteta is better than actual Arteta”
China1,
That is very true. It would be nice if the idea could manifest itself very soon.
Good to see Arsenal moving fast in the transfer market as usual. Expect the usual nonsense excuses until transfer deadline day when we will be told there was nobody available.
China1 – ‘he’s done ok’ not a ringing endorsement but one I’d agree with
Paulie – the TW doesn’t open for two days.
GoonerDave,
I have no idea where you got the idea that I shown any sectarism against catholic in Northern Ireland.
I was raised in a Catholic environment. Most of my childhood friend are still catholic.
The only time I spoke about Norther Ireland was to talk about a former girlfriend who was catholic as well. Her mom was loopy but that was completely irrelevant to the fact that she was an IRA sympathiser.
Let’s stop with the scouse love in. Good domestic team, yes but anything else is jingoistic propaganda. They got beat by a really shit Real team. End of. City best them to the title and honestly, the invincible team we had would have smoked them.
We aren’t signing anyone. Why not?
Is there ever going to be a summer where we actually have targets lined up and ready to join us, so we can just get our business done and enable the new look squad to bond and have a full pre season together? Almost every year it’s the same, with lots of media updates about protracted negotiations lasting weeks before the player falls out of the reckoning. Whether you rate Diaz or not, Liverpool were all over him for months and had everything squared away with Porto. When Spuds moved for him, Liverpool were tipped off and they jumped in… Read more »
The British media doing what they do best… propagate bullshit to hide the truth…. The scousers were being scousers… they faked the fucking tickets on a huge scale.
The victims were the innocent Scousers who had genuine tickets.
The scousers who bought fake tickets caused the French Police to do what they do. Real Madrid fans didn’t ask for paper tickets and had no problem. The European Championship final which had England fans without tickets steaming into the stadium must have had the French worried.
The media in this country will play the anti French card and are too nervous to criticise Liverpool supporters.
Raptora, Those are interesting stats. I’m not willing to write Ode off yet. There’s a player in there even though he was disappointing at times this season. I hope he’ll come good next season but I believe much of it will depend on our recruitment. If we get a good left-sided #8 (like Tielemans), switch to a 4-3-3, and start attacking down that side, I think Ode might flourish. If we continue playing 4-2-3-1 and stick with Ode as our only CAM, it’ll probably be more of the same. IMO, he’s a good player but not good enough to run… Read more »
If people can’t see that there were Parisians being teargassed the other night for confrontations with the police both regarding trying to get in free and general skirmishes with them including after the match then you are seeing what you want to see or are completely blind.
They stick out like sore thumbs.
That’s not to ignore ticketing problems but many videos show clearly that disaffected youth again of Paris came out for a big event knowing that they can have confrontations with the police and we know the state apparatus will be only to glad to oblige them.
Yes Bob but complete silence as per usual. It will be open months and it will be complete silence still.
Raptora
How do you think ESR would fare in Odegaard’s position ? ESR is a better risk taker I think and he’s got enough technique to play the attacking midfielder position. He also had a telekinetic understanding with Saka on the right.
Do you think Odegaard has done enough to justify moving ESR out-wide and on the bench?
Whenever these types of confrontations happen, some innocent people will always suffer. But you gotta ask yourself why this always happens to the scousers. Could it maybe be because a significant number of their fans act like scum?
They’ve perfected the art of playing victims and invoking Hillsborough whenever something happens. It’s just cynical and they’ll get no sympathy from me.
Truth is the days of real bad English hooligans on the rampage in europe is over.
Now it is sensationalised if we look at what used to happen and a lot of it is tame in comparison to the real bad old days.
The biggest confrontations the police had the other night were with youths from the banlieues.
For me Odegaard’s best attribute seems to be keeping and maintaining possession. The best attacking midfielders in the world, KDB, David Silva, Fabregas, Iniesta etc are killers. Even Maddison the guy we ignored for him, is more of a game changer and killer than Odegaard.
Perhaps he’s a CM and not an AM. Hes more Xhaka than he is David Silva. Just has more flair but less efdectiveness.
effectiveness *
Dark Hei.
My point is that both Ceballos and Odegard aren’t good enough.
Pedro Liverpool didn’t do it the hard way . This is a favourite statement often made by Pool fans and pundits. Van 75m Allison 72m Keita 50m Luis 50 Ox 35 Jota 50 Fabinho 35 Konate 45 These don’t look like players bought on the cheap. So why do you keep on saying they did it the hard. Of course they sold Coutinho for 145m which helped. Our problem is Edu. He’s not good at negotiating good deals. He gives out our players for free and buy expensively. The question is? Is he controlled by his friends Raul Sanhelli and… Read more »
Raptor a. Amazing points. Just watching Odegard for the past 18 months alone I could guess those statistics. A playmaker who can’t dribble his own spittle, can’t shoot to save his life, pulls off one defence-splitting pass once in a blue moon and someone who is less productive than the ESR we thought wasn’t good enough to play make for a top 4 team. How Arsenal fans can be satisfied with a playmaker that’s worse than what teams that are rungs below us have is mind-boggling. Coutinho is in fucking Villa, Gallagher in Palace, Erickson in relegation fodder Brendford, Maddison… Read more »
Regarding fraud tickets well it would not surprise anyone that some certain scousers are involved in that.
But I find the figure quoted earlier on here of between 20,000 – 40,000 fraud tickets in play on the night very hard to believe.
The figures quoted are a clue in itself that it is very highly exaggerated. 20,000 is a huge number in itself but let’s double that figure eh.
no way was there 40000 fake paper tickets maybe 2000 any more than that cant be true, i mean how many scousers are going to travel to paris to maybe get in as they have a fake ticket? if there were that many someone would have said something and the authorities would have been alerted well before the game.
Thorough
So far the best statement to describe Odegaard is “flatter to deceive”. He looks neat, tidy with some flair and makes you think he’s the next Ozil.
He would be better as a CM but his body and spirit is too slight.
I love Fekir, Isco, even Aouar. Yes I hear we are being linked with Aouar again.
Edu may not be a good negotiator, but he is also hampered by Arteta inflexibility. He kept falling out with players and they want out. Some don’t care about the money and just want out others just want their money due for the remaining of their contract. Willian agree to cancel his contract. Mustafi took a pay cut rather than sign an extension. Guendouzi, Mavrapanos were ostracised so we had to accept what the buyer clubs were willing to pay. Arsenal had subsidise Özil and Aubameyang wage for them to leave. Runnarson is so awful that no club with money… Read more »
Nqija+Soccer.
Sadly enough I don’t think he’ll make a good CM. His tackling isn’t great and he’ll need to do that more often. I remember him causing us penalties twice at least just by being clumsy..Its so obvious but it always takes Arsenal 3 years to realize a player isn’t good enough.
I can foresee a situation long into the future where Aouar is 48 years old, retired and using a walking stick, but Arsenal are still being linked with him during a summer transfer window.
Thorough
It isn’t that it takes us 3 years to realize a player isn’t good enough. We know they aren’t good enough but we are always hoping there is another level there. But after 3 years of seeing the same level, we eventually lose patience with said player.
Mr Serge “no way was there 40000 fake paper tickets maybe 2000 any more than that cant be true” Yes beyond belief. That number is a very large full stadium capacity in itself. Your number seems realistic. A couple of thousand at most. What seems to have happened here is that the French authorities caught wind that there were some fake tickets among Liverpool fans and put measures in to weed them out early. Virtually all reports state that the delay and overcrowding of fans was due to a primary security checkpoint that was very small which created a bottleneck… Read more »
I don’t think that all those people knew they had fake tickets. French authorities now saying that it was massive industrial scale fake ticketting. There was a Liverpool fan complaining that he had been unable to attend the game, and when explaining the situation to a reporter he told him that his ticket was fake anyway. If you have the design of a paper tickets, you can then easily create copy. Again because the lateness of the request by Liverpool FC UEFA did not put a good NFC chip in them, so any gang with a good printing press could… Read more »
Imagine 500 people showing up at the games with fake tickets and refusing to leave
There were reports that lots of scouters were traveling to Paris without tickets, even though the allotment was all used up.
No one expected some fo those fans would show up with *** trying to enter the stadium.
Liverpool fans disproportionately give English football a bad name when they travel abroad.
I still wonder what that 1988-89 Arsenal team could have done in Europe if not for the 5-year bans that Liverpool earned for everyone else.
China1
To answer your question, Arsenal are in a long-term process which necessitates forward thinking. For me the absence of signings in the Jan window was a verification: it implied the Club preferred to wait for the players needed. In other words they knew who those players are, and are pretty sure of getting them.
Bankz
“We’ve comfortably become a Europa/midtable team”
——————————————————————————————–
Pedro defended the club not signing any player in Jan. At that time, we had a good chance to get top4. And we wanted to save money for the Summer. That’s the mentality of a midtable team.
englandsbest
You win today’s award for wishful thinking. Congratulations. We have heard the club has its player profile and a list of players it wants to sign. But reality has a habit of taking such plans and chucking them out of the window, because we will not be the only club vying for their signatures and we have a track record of moving at snail’s pace when it comes to getting business done.
InsideRight
Do you give an award for getting things right? If so you owe me a few
“Shouldn’t our big chances be like 6th or higher ? The stats doesn’t match lol.” Naija, The stats don’t match because according to FBRef generated xG includes factors like errors leading to shots (Nketiah vs Chelsea), rebounds, penalties, direct free-kicks and own-goals. For instance when Nketiah, chased down the loose ball from Christensen and scored, it generated xG but it wasn’t a “chance created”. There was no pass from an Arsenal teammate, it was just Nketiah’s instincts at play. That’s where the discrepancy is happening. “Chances created” by nature have to include a final pass or action from a teammate… Read more »
TR7
Djokovic-Nadal tomorrow. How do you see it going down? Unfortunately doesn’t look like Rafa is 100% physically which he needs to beat Djoker.
I see Djokovic winning in 4 sets. Alcaraz in the SF will be no joke though, kid has shown he can beat Djokovic on Clay already.
englandsbest – “InsideRight Do you give an award for getting things right? If so you owe me a few”
Now you are living in an alt-reality. Several times on here I have challenged things you’ve said with evidence and invited you to disprove what I’ve said. Each time you’ve gone quiet and moved on. Name one thing I’ve said on here that I’ve got wrong. I’ll wait. Somehow I expect some inane rambling response that deflects from doing so.
EB: “Do you give an award for getting things right? If so you owe me a few”
Would that be for the “we will sign three top players in January” prediction or the oft repeated “Odegaard will convince his pal Haaland to join Arsenal”?
Not exactly hitting it out of the park are we?
https://amp.theguardian.com/football/2022/may/30/milan-ivan-gazidis-serie-a-title-football-future-arsenal
Gazidis speaks
IAT+Robbie, well explained. That’s why long passes or cut backs by Liverpool fullbacks to the D create big chances for Liverpool. Meanwhile Ødegaard 5 yards lateral passes to Partey or Xhaka does not. Same with Tierney who keep make looping crosses to the opposition defenders. Pedro can pretend that the high number of Spurs goals coming from own goal is sheer luck when it is obviously not. Hard, low crosses in the corridor of uncertainty tend to create confusion and panic among defenders. On the other hand looping crosses to shortish CF surrounded by giant CBs is unlikely to lead… Read more »
Irrespective of the fake ticket scenario in Paris, let’s make things perfectly clear, UEFA and FIFA are shite governing bodies. The fans are always the ones to suffer and yet the delegates, dignitaries, sponsors and celebrities, are all catered for. Personally I think it’s about time that finals should be for the fans and a few sponsors. Let the celebrities go through the rigmarole of ordering tickets for themselves. All this ‘ footballing family’ crap also gets on my nerves. Giving WC p’s to Russia and now Qatar is laughable. I wonder how many Rolex watches were handed out for… Read more »
WC’s
From Welbeast on twitter:
“Klopp has spent £554 million.
1 Premier League in 7 attempts
1 FA Cup in 7 attempts
1 League Cup in 7 attempts
1 Champions League in 5 attempts
0 Europa League in 1 attempt.
Half a billion pounds for 4 trophies out of a possible 27…
At Least Pep spends and wins.”
Speaking of Rolex watches, KSE received one from Mikel last year (:
DissenterMay 30, 2022 14:04:16 Imagine 500 people showing up at the games with fake tickets and refusing to leave There were reports that lots of scouters were traveling to Paris without tickets, even though the allotment was all used up. No one expected some fo those fans would show up with *** trying to enter the stadium.Liverpool fans disproportionately give English football a bad name when they travel abroad. I still wonder what that 1988-89 Arsenal team could have done in Europe if not for the 5-year bans that Liverpool earned for everyone else. totally we were dominant in europe… Read more »
It never made sense to me that UEFA kept between 30% to 45% of final stadium tickets for itself. That just encourage corruption, fraud and cronyism. There should not be more than 10,000 tickets reserved for the organisation.
Was it not Sheriff v Real Madrid game where because of the size of their stadium the host team had a smaller allocation than the UEFA family?
I’m sure that there are many facets yo the role of technical director that most if us are blissfully unaware, but having said this, most fans are underwhelmed by Edu. Is there any chance that the club could move aggressively to sign up Michael Edwards? I don’t believe that one appointment changes everything, but surely the club have made overtures? He is a supremely successful candidate with years of experience working in the Premiership, who has a remarkable record of buying and selling players home and abroad. I really don’t want to see a re-run of letting startlingly high calibre… Read more »
Nigel I still believe that Pep is slightly above Klopp or at least on par but that is a shit statistic and of course it is from Twatter. It doesn’t take into account 3 CL Finals in 6 seasons (you cannot count his first season coming in and cleaning up Brendan’s mess). Or three 92+ points PL seasons which wins you the title in every other PL season in history besides Chelsea in 2005, 2017 and City in 2018, 2019 and 2022. 5 out of what, 30? City over the past 4 seasons combined have won just ONE more PL… Read more »
And it took Klopp x2 full season to put the pieces in places.
Klopp after 3 total seasons and 2 full seasons took Liverpool to a CL Final as well as two top 4 finishes. In full season 3 Liverpool won the CL and finished runners-up with 97 PL points.
For context, Arteta is now going into full season 3. And the expectations are solely top 4.
Nigel, Klopp’s record in finals is underwhelming, but what’s missing in that tweet is that Pep has spent over 1 billion while at City, and is the all time biggest spender in football history.
I also wonder if in a couple years time you’ll be posting quotes on Arteta’s spend and his trophy haul.
Probably not.
At least Liverpool generate the money that they spend. City have been financially doped for years. If City hadn’t received such a financial advantage, the number of PL wins by Liverpool would likely be to have won the last 5 titles.
City as the poor cousins of United have had a lot of ‘goodwill’. I believe the criticism they get due to the financial steroiding from an oil state, a massive reason for how they’ve achieved their success , will steadily increase as Newcastle join their path for ‘glory’.
And Klopp by 2018/19 had spent in the ball-park of £380m. We under Arteta have spent £210m. It’s not a vast difference really. That investment built Klopp a super-team while more than half of that investment and we are not even a top 4 side. And £170m of that £380m was spent in the summer of 2018. So, Klopp spent £210m to reach a CL Final and have finished 4th twice. Arteta spending that same money and being at the club as long has an FA Cup and x2 8th place and x1 5th place PL finishes. Not even mentioning… Read more »
would likely include the last five years.
“For context, Arteta is now going into full season 3. And the expectations are solely top 4.”
That’s not the worst of it.
The really sad part hidden in that sentence is that Arteta will most likely keep his job even if he fails to meet these expectations.
And the same people shitting on Klopp now will find the reasons why he should.
And while we love the FA Cup let’s not forget that a long past competing in the PL/CL Wenger won x3 FA Cups in 3 of his last 5 seasons at the club.
And managers such as Redknapp, Bobby Martinez, Di Matteo and a long-past it Van Gaal won it too.
Its incredibly fun bantering Liverpool after watching season melt away but let’s not act as if this Liverpool side are somehow a group of mismanaged bottlers. When’s the last time Arsenal went to 3x Champions league finals in 5 years winning one of them against the darkest of feeble forces?
WE
Tsitsipas looks to be in a spot of bother here.
Wenger Eagle, I’m a Klopp admirer, brilliant manager, maybe the best in the world. Loved him from Dortmund and knew he’d be trouble for everyone if he came to the premier League..I dreamed that Arsene would’ve passed over the reigns to him. But that stat from Welbeast is super simple, and completely accurate, even though it has a point of view. Your response is a good one in defending his record. That’s why a tweet like that can stir up good debate. So I’d say that Klopps been a spectacular manager, but just a bit unlucky. But the things that… Read more »
Sal
Tsitsipas and Zverev are mental midgets in Slams. I don’t see either winning more than x1-2 in their careers and that will be once Djokovic and Nadal have hung up the racket.
Alcaraz on the other hand imo is the real deal even though it is still early stages. But he looks a phenom and has that veteran mental resilience to him and is a brilliant player on both Clay and HC.
Think out of the new gen it will be Alcaraz, Medvedev, Sinner to dominate. This Rune kid is looking pretty special on Clay himself.
Thiem is done too sadly after that long injury.
Is 0-11 since his comeback and hasn’t even taken a single set in his last 5 matches.
If Pep wasn’t here, Klopp would have dominated the league year after year. Truth is that with all of City’s money, they wouldn’t have been as dominant with another manager as they have been wtih Pep.
“Also, the only final they won was against Tottenham.”
For which I’d forgive Klopp just about anything.
Eagle
Next gen is certainly making presence felt, i’d add Aliassime into that mixer although i’m not a fan.
Alcarez clearly a cut above, with his gear and mentality could see him and Medvedev dominating for the a serious stretch. Zverev a weird one, absolute beast on his day with a what seems to be a pea sized brain. Pleased tennis ‘potentially’ turning corner from the big three, Joker the x factor as nobody knows how long he can go.
Nigel It’s true, football is decided on fine margins and you are right you do not get a trophy for a 97 point Runner-Ups finish. But I don’t think that it will be forgotten about even in decades to come. 97 points is just stupidly good and I would be willing to bet very good money that a 97 point tally would win you the PL in each year in the next 50 seasons to come. CL Final is a huge achievement too let’s not forget. It is to this day Wenger’s peak performance in the CL and Klopp has… Read more »
InsideWrong
That’s easy. I don’t have to look further than your last post.
Sal paradise.
This is the first Grand Slam I’m hearing this Rune Holger Lad. I think I played him to lose to Shapovalov in the earlier round and he won 3 straight sets. The way these ITF boys just jump into mainstream tennis and dominate straightaway is ridiculous.
I know it’s the luck of the draw, but how fkin annoying that Rafa and Djoko are playing in a quarter-final of Roland Garros?! I know that the most awaited game of the tourney will not be the final. And it’s sad because imagine if we could see the 2 giants face off once more.
We.
I think next to Alcatraz has to be Felix Augier. Kid is mental too.
andy1886
Not exactly accurate ‘quotes’, are they?
ValentinMay 30, 2022 15:08:46
It never made sense to me that UEFA kept between 30% to 45% of final stadium tickets for itself. That just encourage corruption, fraud and cronyism. There should not be more than 10,000 tickets reserved for the organisation.Was it not Sheriff v Real Madrid game where because of the size of their stadium the host team had a smaller allocation than the UEFA family?
totally agree with this its maddening
IAT
Thanks for that breakdown. Job well done sir. That was interesting. One of the things i got from that was that big chances created doesn’t tell the full story of an attack.
Also it seems big chances created, only contributes a small percentage in regards to the Total shots/attack registered by a team. Only 11% for us and just 17% for the mighty Liverpool
Sal Zverev has the game to beat anyone on his day and he actually is best equipped to beat Djokovic out of the newgen imo (well, besides Alcaraz) as he showed in the Olympics and the ATP Finals but he just mentally checks out in Slams when facing serious adversity. Doesn’t matter if it’s the QF/SF/F he just cannot get over the hump in Slams. Yeah Alcaraz will win the most because he has proven he can win on both HC and Clay. 19 years old, sky is the limit and touch wood he stays healthy and focused like the… Read more »
Yeah Aliassime looks very good too. Gave Rafa a real run for his money yesterday.
”The way these ITF boys just jump into mainstream tennis and dominate straightaway is ridiculous.”
Kid is just turned 19 and won the Boy’s title in 2019 in RG and he looks like a seasoned vet out here.
Giving Tsitsipas the run-around and Stefanos is a top 3-5 Clay player.
Klopp just ahead of Pep for me.
6 years at the club and all that investment and still no CL success.
I also find it quite amusing on here with folk shitting on Liverpool, when we haven’t done anything at all in Europe.
WengerEagle
A certain Mr Becker won Wimbledon at 17.
McEnroe got to the SF’s at 18.
Graham
Becker was a phenom. Won x2 Slams in his teens. .Strange that he only went on to win 6 total.
By the way, just googled him and do you know that he is currently in Prison? Lol. At least we won’t have to listen to him at Wimbledon eh?
Big win for Rune, kid had never won a grand slam match until this French Open. Now into the QF, great stuff.
WE think I mentioned this saw Alcarez live in last years open, talk about stroking the ball. Has it all, so powerful.
Valentin & Raptora bang on assessment regarding the rather underwhelming Ode…no one’s saying he doesn’t have something on offer, but if we ever hope to escape this endless loop of negative footballing we can’t constantly deploy Xhaka on the left and Ode on the right…as I’ve said all along these particular players enable our manager-in-training to lean into his most negative inclinations, which is why I truly believe that until we get someone of “real” consequence up top, who can somehow embolden our timid manager to loosen the reigns and employ some more directness in our attack, we will never… Read more »
.”I respect Klopp, but I’m sick of his complaining and obnoxious goal celebrating. So not too much sympathy from me.”
This sentence sums up football opinions in general for me.
For me Klopp’s also a complete wanker for his gripping teams defend in a low block against his style of football, but I would never tweet his record against Pep’s without total spend for both.
It’d be like me shitting on Mclaren F1 team for not winning more, and saying at least when Mercedes spend, they win……..when they too outspend Mclaren 2:1
englandsbest – “InsideWrongThat’s easy. I don’t have to look further than your last post.”
And right on cue, there is the deflection. So predictable. Cannot argue back with any evidence, cannot defend your position, you just run off at the mouth with your ridiculous sycophantic nonsense then blather crap like that retort. Grow up for your own sake.
no one’s saying he doesn’t have something on offer, ______ Are you sure? because that’s pretty much what everyone but a few have been saying non-stop day after day since the season ended. When in fact Odegaard was one of our best summer signings. The problems with our team lies further back in the midfield and the defense. Namely Xhaka who’s efforts in an adjusted attacking midfielder role were pretty pathetic and Tierney and Partey who can’t stay healthy. But the real problem is that Ben White did not deliver as advertised at an absorbent price-tag. He was supposed to… Read more »
Sal
Alcaraz is a phenom, you can tell there is something different about him to the rest of them. Reminds me of young Rafa in so many ways. He looks even more well-rounded than teenage Rafa in fact although Rafa vastly improved in his early 20s into an all-court beast whereas in his teens he was already the Clay God.
Also is a marketers wet dream. Handsome kid, speaks English well already and will improve, has that bit of lovable arrogance to his demeanor.
As close to Rafa 2.0 as you will see.