Danny

1 hour ago, RandoEFC said:

Dyche really was on the precipice with our fans after the Chelsea drubbing but three consecutive wins has turned it into a decent season overall.

Without deductions, Everton would be joint 12th with Brighton on 44 points, closer to Spurs in 5th (16 points behind) than the relegation zone (19 points clear). Probably be looking at our current form and the next two against Luton and Sheffield United as an opportunity for six more points and a decent chance of sneaking into the top half. At this point, even if Everton had been deducted the 17 points that the Premier League submitted to the PSR commissions instead of 8, they still wouldn't be in the relegation zone.

Yes we've been a bit fortunate with the weakness of the competition at the bottom end of the table but regardless of that, we could easily hit 40 points now even after being deducted 8 and that's usually more than enough whoever else is in the relegation scrap.

Some of these facts are hard to believe for a side that survived on the last day last season, saw the squad weakened and thinned out over the summer and haven't had a board, owner or leader of any description all season. Credit must now go to Dyche and his team and they need full backing heading into next season.

I think if any of your fans wanted him gone at any point they would be delusional. With little investment into the team, the difference he has made compared to how you have played the last two seasons versus this season is immense. To achieve what he has under points deductions, previous managers would have taken you down.

I hope he gets a chance long-term to build something with you. He consistently out performed Eddie Howe when they were at Burnley and Bournemouth when taking into account money spent and look what Howe has done at Newcastle. Not to say that Dyche would necessarily be better now, but I hope he gets s chance to spend some cash and build a team.

Just looking forward to next season now, this season has been such a horrible one with the amount of injuries we’ve suffered. Just completely ruined any momentum we had, away form has been terrible, no chance to build on wins, just secure safety and move on.

On a separate note I’m looking forward to seeing Schade get a run in next year, if he stays fit he will cause serious problems.

Would like to see us bring on Damsgaard and Schade on, spark our attack into life

17 minutes ago, Stan said:

Considering both sides need to win, this is very drab from Everton and Brentford. 

We’re safe mate

6 minutes ago, Bluebird Hewitt said:

I think it's hilarious myself. 

I know it was offside but Diaz should have buried that first time round instead of squaring

I thought we might need to put some sort of welfare check on @Lucas but you seem to be taking it fairly well, all things considered.

Honestly it might be the case that Norwich or Hull go up through the play-offs. So much of the play-offs is just confidence, seeing Leeds and Southampton not just take some losses but take some absolute beatings really doesn't bode well for them. How will they do in that second leg of the semi-final? How will do they do at Wembley where your overall quality goes out of the window and its just down to who can perform? Hull or Norwich might see it as an opportunity to win whereas the other teams a chance to slip up.

To make it interesting, one XI for the upcoming game and a separate XI for the Premier League years as a whole...my XI for the upcoming derby for now.

Raya

Porro - Saliba - van de Ven - Udogie

Odegaard - Rice - Maddison

Saka - Son - Trossard

It's interesting watching the developments at United, the pursuit of a lot of the people behind the scenes who are yet to start, or have only recently started at the club. It wouldn't surprise me if they keep Ten Haag on in the Summer with minimal outlay just so the new structure can actually spend a serious amount of time together analyzing the direction the club needs to take.

I didn't realise how many players Brighton have out injured at the moment, it's about 6 or 7 of their starting eleven, certainly goes some way to explaining their bad run of form. 

23 minutes ago, Stan said:

Must admit I was one who was adamantly backing Nunez to come good by now but he just hasn't kicked on. It's 1-2 decent games and then 4-5 lacklustre & underwhelming ones. When you're chasing trophies on different fronts, you need more just as a minimum standard. Need that consistency. Similar to Jesus at Arsenal - injuries have hampered him but they've been fortunate to have Havertz hit form at the right time to contribute. 

There comes a time where you have to look at other options - perhaps not to sell Nunez but maybe there's too much reliance on him which is adding pressure which then affects his performance. Having different/better options to rotate with and perhaps his and Liverpool's season pans out differently. Jota being injured less maybe would have helped.

 

Despite all of that, Liverpool could beat West Ham and it's not beyond the realms of possibility for Arsenal to lose and suddenly they're level at the top again. Obviously Man City have their games in hand, but it's interesting the difference in attitudes towards Arsenal and Liverpool in how one is totally out of the title race but one remains still in it, even though they could be level on points again after this weekend. 

 

I don't even think Nunez is a bad player, it's just hard to justify keeping him as a squad player when they've spent £80m on him. Separate to Liverpool I'm looking forward to seeing him in the Copa America this Summer under Bielsa.

Just now, Dr. Gonzo said:

Yeah I think that’s probably how I actually feel but after watching a Merseyside derby where we looked useless up against a pretty shit Everton side & after the last few weeks we’ve had I’m pissed off and unable to give actual balanced takes.

Completely normal mate, least you didn't go and punch a horse lol

Watching this Liverpool unravel is almost the same as watching Arsenal last season, except Arsenal fans were more understanding of their own team. This season was always meant to be a transitional season, no one truly expected Liverpool to win the league. Just like no one truly expected Arsenal to win the league, but when both teams come close to it and then fall at the last hurdle all hell breaks loose.

Clearly some bad performances have been put in, and I do wonder how fit/sharp the likes of Trent, Jones, Salah and Szoboszlai are. But the team have gone from a trophyless season where you finished 5th to a season where you won the League Cup and were in the title race until about 4 games to go. That is not a bad outcome overall even if some of the performances recently have been. It's evident that the squad is healthy, that you have a competitive team and that with a couple of additions you can step up a gear. Additions like a world class defensive midfielder, a winger or forward that can compete for the golden boot and better coverage at left back.

Clearly the team have just run out of ideas. A transition season where they have been in a title race, at times relying on young players…bit of an overreaction to want them out lol

I moved into my flat coming up to 3 years ago on a 2 year contract, last year my landlord tried to increase my rent by £7200 a year. We managed to get it it down significantly as he'd previously been telling us porkies about keeping us in long-term.

Anyway we are coming up to the end of this contract and I don't have a good feeling about the rental increase, not to mention flat searching in London in the Summer is beyond fucking mental.

Interesting appointment, really hard to tell how well he'll do in England so little point speculating.

Just from having watched highlights of Feynoord's goals this season, his style does resemble Klopp's a bit. Seems to like having aggressive forwards, early balls in behind the defensive line, doesn't have a gengenpress style but does seem to have a fairly well structured man to man marking press in which there seems to be an extra man who will press hell for leather when the ball looks winnable to create a 2v1. Encourages dribbling to create 1v1s. Though his team don't seem to play as many 10-15 yard passes from midfield into feet of a forward in the way Klopp does, it works for Klopp because if the passes are too risky they have a geggenpress to win it back, Feynoord don't seem to play with the same press and so likely build up from deeper positions in a different way. I watched a load of videos where they would just play a pass and move style, the passer runs into an advanced position dragging the marker, the receiver runs into the space left open, draws another marker and passes into space, and they seemed to do that until they scored. A type of thing you'd think this Liverpool team could do.

Stylistically looks like the Liverpool players will be able to adapt and play the game he wants (from the very generic highlights available from just their goal highlights this season lol), but beyond that, no idea if he will be cut out tactically for the league, if his style works more in the Netherlands because the league is less physical and his style is more physical but then maybe here his style becomes less effective as the physicality goes up? Who knows.

It's strange seeing a club as big as Liverpool take a punt on a manager who essentially 90% of football fans will have no idea as to how effective he is at this level.

From the outside the odds of this becoming a car crash or becoming a great decision look the same lol.

12 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

I get what you're saying but those that have implemented the rules, sanctions and timelines have seen the league table altered in the courts 4 times this season and it could be 6 by the time the appeals processes are wrapped up. The clubs and the organisation itself both have to take responsibility for that. Regardless of who you blame for it, and I'm certainly not trying to make out that Everton are innocent here or shifting the blame elsewhere, but it is an absolutely whopping load of shite for the league table to be altered in any way by off the pitch events.

The clubs that have pushed the envelope could still be punished by a sporting disadvantage by not being able to register new players, for example, whilst still having a league table that is solely decided by what's actually happened on the football pitch.

Tbh I don't know much about the Everton case and who is right and who is wrong. But I do think that if you gain a sporting advantage then you should be given a disadvantage and a points deduction is completely fair for doing that. The issue is ofc being able to identify correctly who has broken the rules and then being able to punish them swiftly.

Kai Havertz huh

28 minutes ago, Rick said:

I like O’Neill, but surely not. He can’t be the one to follow Klopp.

It'd make a great headline...

15 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

My gripe with Italian food outside of Italy isn't so much the "creative license" with cooking. It's that going to an Italian restaurant outside of Italy means paying a premium for an inferior product,

Tapas. Spend double the price in the UK and get half the flavour.

You just need a good culture of people wanting that specific food to get it right. Even something as bland as British food, if you go to Australia they cannot serve a fry up, roast dinner or fish and chips to save their lives. The fry ups are generally lacking in quantity and quality, the roasts just lack quality and they don't serve chip shop chips with the fish, always fries or steak cut.

Obviously you don't go all the way to Aus to eat like you're in the UK and instead take advantage of the great meat and produce they have out there. But yeah, unless you have large communities from a specific area then the food just won't be that great. Obviously there are large groups of Brits in Aus, but we're shit at cooking anyway so they're never going to get the things we end up doing mildly well lol.

Living in London I would never really go for Italian food tbh. But you can find good food from across South Asian communities, great Turkish restaurants, Caribbean food and really good African cuisines too. I generally find the difference between these types of restaurants and say an Italian is that these restaurants will attract people from their ethnic background in the local community, so the food has to be good, but a lot of Italian restaurants or Spanish will likely attract more Brits than anyone so the standards don't have to be so high. I think if you're after a good Italian in London you're best heading into East London where you will likely find restaurants that come from old Italian communities. Interestingly, and maybe @Stan has some insight, Bedford is meant to have a big Italian community that settled after the war.

Just read a rumour by someone who claims to be a Liverpool journalist, but might be an independent? So take this with a pinch of salt but Gary O'Neill has reportedly been interviewed for the job.

I actually think his style of football suits what Liverpool are, a pacy, direct team that look to use pace and power to get in behind defensive lines and cause havoc. With that said you'd think he's too inexperienced to actually get the job...

16 hours ago, Dan said:

I did think by now there would be more. Using the kids shirts again I'm surprised how few I see. I've no idea how PSG shirts got so popular amongst kids. This has been going on pre Messi as well.

Air Jordan, it's become streetwear more than anything.

Two league titles and a Champions League final is not to be sniffed at. Makes you wonder if United are considering him and whether he’d want to leave with the way this Inter team is building up

On 12/04/2024 at 17:53, Dr. Gonzo said:

The one negative (imo) about Gasperini is the one time he was at a big club he failed big time. So he might be Hodgson-esque, where he's not a bad manager by any means... but once he's in a role where the pressure is seriously on to deliver, he's not the best guy for the job.

Imo I'm not sure age should be a consideration for who to appoint. A young up and coming type of manager is good in that they might have a better idea of how to do things in this modern era of football compared to say Mourinho. But I wouldn't say managers with some experience are necessarily dinosaurs tactically - I think Gasperini at 66 with Atalanta over the last few years proves that pretty emphatically. Or Ancelotti at Madrid.

The real consideration should be who's going to have us in the best possible position in 3 years, which is likely going to be the length of their contract when they sign with us. If that's a younger up and comer, great - more chance for them to sign an extension and stay with us for a considerable amount of time. If that's someone older where we might be needing a new manager again in 3 years, but they delivered over those 3 years... that's fine by me too. But after so many wasted years in transition and us suddenly finding ourselves in a season where we unexpectedly are competing for a league title - I think the goal should be bringing in someone to keep that as the standard for the next 3 years.

My worry with a younger manager is, for any new manager a first season is always a transitional season and expectations should be tempered. I do worry that those without as much experience might have to do some learning on the job that makes the transitional period last a bit longer. Having said that, Xabi Alonso at Leverkusen seems to be doing fine despite the fact that Bayern I think are statistically having a better season than they had last year. So maybe I'm just too apprehensive of someone without experience under pressure due to that time with Rodgers.

Judging purely off the words of James Horncastle, I can only imagine him leaving Atalanta if he can be offered serious assurances that he will be backed at Inter. I also think in England we have a very rigid view on managers and players. If they make it here they're great, if they struggle they're shit, if someone does a bad job they'll never be good enough etc.

But we've seen with Leicester City alone that two managers who were written off were able to win major trophies. Look at Ancelotti at Madrid, he was written off as a manager not too long ago as someone who underachieves and now he's dominating Spain and could well win another Champions League.