STOP YOUR SOBBING BECAUSE LIVERPOOL HAVE OVERACHIEVED THIS SEASON
We have the Liverpool Mailbox after the Liverpool Mailbox and with it comes some perspective. And some advice for Arne Slot.
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Why is anybody laughing at Liverpool?
Yes, let’s all laugh at Liverpool as 99% of fans want them to fail.
I don’t. My impression of Liverpool fans has been formed by them applauding us off the field after losing the title in the most heartbreaking way possible in 1989 and clapping gooners in the Clock for joining in with a Justice for the 96 chant.
Some of you may not think this matters but when City win the league next month, that will be four in a row.
The way Guardiola was talking about fixture pile-ups was symptomatic of what the Premier League has become – a farmer’s league.
And Pep knows all about competing in those having come over from Bayern.
City win the title every season so why not ease the pressure on them so they can have a cakewalk defending the Champions League trophy as standard bearers for the Premier League?
But people don’t tend to cheer on rival English teams in Europe as they once did. One of my favourite football memories was Barca knocking out Chelsea in the Champions League and the entire pub – including me and my Spurs supporting mate – laughing a Blues fan out of the pub as he departed saying, ‘I thought this was England’.
So yeah, laugh at Liverpool all you want. But next season, Klopp’s gone which means if Arteta can’t stop them, City will win five in a row and the journey towards a farmer’s league will be complete.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London
Laughing here…
I got news for you, everyone (except for you deluded & entitled lot) hates Liverpool, because everything “means more” to you , because opposition never get any credit for beating you, its all about Liverpool’s missed chances, how they should’ve won the game easily etc. etc.
Finally, credit to Man Utd, in a shambolic season, they did the country a huge favour by beating Liverpool in that classic FA cup semi (deservedly so, even though they got zero credit, it was all about how Liverpool should’ve won easily), which started the glorious decline. Liverpool have just not been the same team since, never recovered from that fatal blow.
Fred (“We all hate Liverpool & their entitled fans”), London
Liverpool fans are playing a different tune…
Well well well, how the turntables… Not so long ago the mailbox was filled with Klopp acolytes praising the German for building a second great Liverpool team and leaving the club in rude health for his successor. It was argued by those cultists how this made him superior even to Fergie despite the Scot walking away from a title winning side after building like five of them. Nunez, Jones, Robertson, Konate, Trent, Szoboslai, Van Dijk, even Salah deemed not good enough, “a true mess from top to bottom” apparently. What lovely irony.
Whilst we’re on the subject of over indulged teams and their failing managers, how is Howe not under the microscope? There was some talk earlier in the season of him being replaced but with Chelsea and United’s respective shit shows taking all the headlines the toon have been seemingly spared similar scrutiny. They have no excuse the other sides can’t also bemoan and are sleepwalking into a limp season finish. With talk of selling their stars this summer and weakening that squad, is Eddie still the right man for the job?
Dave, Manchester
…As a Liverpool supporter – yes, you Scott, Toronto – how entitled must you be to say your club is ‘a true mess from top to bottom’? A long time ago, I used to enjoy the footie phone-ins, comments under articles and this Mailbox, now it just seems as if the world is full of Scotts. Not a world I want to inhabit.
G Thomas, Breda
…Well, following on from the last Mailbox, I suspect that every trite Liverpool email that has YNWA in it, should now be updated to FWSA.
Fair Weather Supporters Association.
You’re a disgrace. What kind of ‘support’ is that? I’ll tell you what kind, exactly the kind of support I always suspected it is/was…
Happy to be the bearer of good tidings
Levenshulme Blue, Manchester 19
Real Liverpool fans want a word..
Yes, it’s a disappointing and underwhelming end to Klopp’s tenure, but the first 80% of the season was an absolute blast. The entitlement dripping out of the pores of the absolute weapons that were published today is just appalling.
Bollocks to the lot of you.
That is all.
Mat (thanks for the memories, Jurgen)
…Between the Liverpool Supporters Whatsapp group and the reactions in the mailbox, I honestly think Liverpool fans have lost all perspective on this season. When I saw all the talk of quadruples and winning the league one more time for Klopp I felt very uneasy, especially as we were ‘getting away with it’ when giving teams a goal start against us and somehow turning it around, only so many times you can do that throughout a season.
If you look at what happened at the start of the season where we had to buy in a whole new midfield, and then cope with a bunch of injuries, we have completely overachieved this season. What other team in the top three has had open heart surgery on their midfield, an area that was crucial to Klopp’s way of playing since he came in? Jamie Carragher voiced a lot of these opinions last night and was pretty measured given the emotions he must have been feeling.
I think Champions League qualification and a Cup is progress this season after the poor season we had last season. Yes, frustrating we were in the lead for so long, but I think deep down we knew it wasn’t sustainable and Arsenal and City were going to go on a run.
In saying that, I think over the last few games it highlights we are too predictable and we don’t or can’t vary our play enough to trouble teams that set up to stifle us. There’s only so much running and pressing you can do in a game, we also need to be able to play football and control a game, something we’ve not done all season.
I’ve heard good things about Slot and if he’s to be the new manager we need to get behind him.
I also think there needs to be some ruthless decisions made over the summer as I think some players have got into their comfort zone. I think the sensible thing is to cash in on Salah, and use the money to reinvest in another striker capable of scoring off fewer chances. Nunez has had his chances, he isn’t good enough, so cut our losses and get a replacement.
I think we just need to make the call now and move Trent into midfield and have Bradley at RB next season. Robertson has been hit and miss this season, he needs proper competition at left back. Konate is too erratic and I think we need to invest in a top-quality CB this summer, to play with and eventually replace VVD. I think Edwards and Hughes will make decisions based purely on numbers and no emotion will be involved like we had previously with giving extended contracts to Henderson etc.
My last point is on leadership, it’s non-existent at the moment. VVD isn’t a captain, he’s not intense enough. Salah is supposed to be a senior player, leadership team and so on, but I just don’t see it.
Slot has a decent base to work from but also needs to make some early calls that might be unpopular.
John LFC, Wexford
Thank you Jurgen…
And then there were two….
Congratulations to Everton for a commendable performance, winning the physical battle.
I’m honestly glad that your Prem status is all but assured – a fine response to the extra challenge the authorities decided to throw your way. My footballing enjoyment is all the higher for our encounters.
Thanks to Diaz for the 90 minutes of effort you displayed – a shining example to others which they frankly failed to emulate.
To Nunez and Salah, your sessions at the Stevie Wonder school of finishing are doing us no favours.
To the Liverpool coach entrusted with coaching the defence of aerial set pieces, do your job better .. but in all honesty the players needed to show more fight and desire to win the ball.
But to you Jurgen, thank you … thank you for helping to create and lead a group of players who have challenged, but ultimately come up just short this season.
The way you touched the club badge in the tunnel when managing Dortmund in a pre-season game over a decade ago … the jolt of footballing adrenalin I got from watching your first press conference when announced as Liverpool manager …. for bringing back the belief, the big trophies … for being one of the most treasured, charismatic individuals to walk into the broader sphere of my life. Thank you.
You will always have a place in my footballing heart.
Sparky, LFC
End of an era
After last night’s performance and defeat at Everton I have reflected on everything that is happening at Liverpool. Now our season has pretty much ended, it feels quite deflating it has fallen apart over the last month or so when it looked like we were in for an exciting end to the season.
After last season’s low, if I was told we would finish 3rd in the League and win a trophy, I would have been very happy with that. Add in Jurgen’s departure, and now it feels like a missed opportunity to add another trophy to his collection. Since Jurgen’s announcement he is leaving, I have now reached acceptance stage. Maybe he is right to leave now, that his cycle as manager is coming to it’s natural conclusion.
Doesn’t mean I am happy about it. Rival fans point and say Jurgen should have won more. I’d rather look back and remember everything he has done, and for me, it has been an amazing journey with so many enjoyable moments. It’s been a ride I’m delighted to have witnessed and thank Jurgen for the memories.
What comes next? Rumours of who is next manager keep changing, but at the moment it looks like that man will be Arne Slot. Rival fans are already writing him off as another ETH type flop. Which is lazy stereotyping. Do I know much about him, or what he has achieved with Feyenoord? No I don’t. Winning a league last season and a cup this season with Feyenoord feels like a pretty good achievement, as I don’t really know how big a club they are outside of Ajax and PSV.
From what I have read, Arne likes to play attacking football and gives young players a chance. Which sounds promising, on paper. As we reach unknown times, it will be a mixture of optimism and scepticism going through the summer and into next season. It will most likely also be the end of the cycle for some of the players. Salah and Virgil feel like they have reached the end of their Liverpool journeys as well.
Whatever happens, I will still take enjoyment from watching Liverpool play football. That will never change.
Kevin
That was just predictable from Liverpool
Liverpool’s fall from grace has been quite interesting and frustrating to watch.
Personally I didn’t make much of it because the chances were always there. Against United in the FA Cup, we should’ve been out of sight. Losing that was ridiculous. Same against United in the PL.
Against Crystal Palace, you have to admire their tenacity and work rate however that does not exist without them scoring first, and one of those clear-cut chances should’ve gone in. The fact that it wasn’t just Nunez but Salah and Jota missing made it somehow worse.
The same could be said about the game yesterday. Any of those chances go in for 1-1 it’s a different game (and again Salah, Nunez and Diaz made it 3 different culprits) but there has been a knack for Liverpool to give opponents hope and that puts us in the mess we find ourselves in.
Van Dijk’s post match comments made me think about Klopp’s comments when he announced his leaving. The exhaustion that he spoke about, seems to be present in this Liverpool team too. At the moment, they are huffing and puffing and should be leading and winning games but just don’t seem to be able to get there. After a while the steam runs out and we get that turd of a performance in the second half last night.
Further to that, one mailboxer pointed out Liverpool’s Luck has run out and now I see what he meant. Not only do we seem to gift opposition goals and opportunities to boost their self belief, but we are also not getting similar treatment. off the top of my head: Van Dijk/Allison against Arsenal, Quansah against United in the Prem, Nunez against United in the Cup. But I do not recall an opposition mistake in recent months that gave us the mental boost needed to push on.
All in all, I am grateful for having had the last 8.5 years with Klopp. He changed the club, and gave us a fun era to remember fondly even though he didn’t win as much as he probably should have. But, I have reached the acceptance stage of grief, where a new Manager (whoever), will start a new era. one that is perhaps not as fun and engaging as this one has been, but one that is definitely not going to be as exhausting and mentally draining. Vielen Dank Jürgen Klopp, you will never be forgotten.
Nik (didn’t even get mad last night, just sighed repeatedly as events progressed), Paris
READ: Liverpool limp from title race as Jurgen Klopp and Mohamed Salah run out of road
…Surely it’s obvious to anyone with half a brain that Liverpool are failing at the end since it ties in perfectly with Klopp leaving. All teams are a reflection of their manager on the pitch right? Usually that is said about the good ones anyways. This was always said about Fergie, Wenger, Jose. If Klopp is regarded in the same level as these then that is what is happening.
The man has said he doesn’t have the energy to do it anymore. Guess what… then the team is going to start looking listless and sapped of energy. He doesn’t have the same bounce in him anymore, neither to the players that follow him. All this has started to happen more and more since he announced he is leaving. This also happens to 90% of teams when a manager announces retirement or finishing up, and it happens across multiple sports. It’s not a unique thing that’s happening.
So take all that and stick it in your bottles. This is what’s happening. Trust me.
Culk the Younger
Why does it hurt so bad?
It shouldn’t hurt as much. As a man in his mid-Fifties I have much more important things going on in my life than Liverpool losing last night, but this morning I don’t.
My first thoughts when I woke this morning were all back to last night’s game and how the hell we lost to Everton. I mean, bleedin’ Everton!!!!
Those feelings were anger mostly, then sadness at Liverpool’s season falling away with a whimper.
The way I feel this morning reminds me of Shankly’s (often misquoted) quote about football being more important than…well you know the rest.
A red who is feeling sad and blue. Football, bloody hell!!!!
Macker, Dublin
Big old Palace relief
Is it fair to say that F365 are not slightly more at ease now thanks to the run of 3 wins by Palace, now edging back to their traditional 40s points return at the end of the season?
Can’t believe you doubted them.
James, NFFC
Palace and the elixir of confidence
Isn’t it incredible what a difference confidence makes to players and teams? It’s like Jekyll and Hyde, how they can look so terrible one week and so inspirational the next.
Palace were brave against Liverpool, sensing vulnerability, scored a great goal and then mostly defended for their lives and won the kind of game that we would say we earned, but I’m sure Liverpool might say was robbed. The embers of confidence began to glow from such application.
When building confidence, what you really want is to play a team out of form and preferably with plenty of other problems too, like being demotivated and knackered. Like West Ham. Couldn’t have come at a better time, and then the confidence is glowing red-hot. So much so that we can look after one of our stars on the bench last night and still win, playing wonderful football against a top-eight team. Mateta’s first goal was beautiful in its simplicity; you have to love a quickly executed one-two and first-time finish. Simple football, superbly applied.
That all this has happened without three-quarters of our ‘spine’ is a testament to the team and the manager. First choice keeper (Johnstone), First-choice centre-back (Guehi) and first choice centre midfielder (Doucoure) all still out. And this on top of all the injuries to Olise and Eze, imagine the season we could have had… or could have next season. Alas, it seems likely that we’ll sell at least one of our stars. We have a main stand to build and these guys are no Zaha, they weren’t born down the road. The rich and elite will attempt to pick them off and/or sew disharmony. At least our recruitment is top drawer which gives me hope.
Talking of rich and elite, it is especially pleasing to beat Newcastle, a club that was weak and vulnerable after many years of neglect and then sold their soul to the devil, looking to take the express lift to success, not caring to stop at the floors marked ‘human rights abuses’, ‘hatred of women’, ‘murder’ and ‘sportswashing’. I’ve seen a post this week from a Toon commentator with the lament of those who truly know they are guilty; ‘anyone else would do the same’, specifically mentioning Palace. Well, no actually, we wouldn’t. And neither I suspect would many others. We care about humanity and social justice and we want half-decent people in charge. We’ve built up from the ashes of administration and if we ever get success it will be deserved, not bought.
And with a confident team, and a confident manager, we might just have half a chance.
Finally, a mention to a sensible refereeing and VAR decision. The Newcastle player who felt Hughes breathe on him and did the pirouette that Eden Hazard perfected to make it look like a foul, was diving. People who say ‘I’ve seen them given’ leave out the first part of that sentence, which is ‘it wasn’t a pen, but…’ and that phrase is almost as insidious as ‘there was contact’. It’s a contact sport. Fouls are given (or at least they should be) for being impeded, not contacted. That the Newcastle lad decided to go for the pen rather than have a shot from a great position, was his choice, and it backfired. VAR is still terrible, but hey, even a stopped clock is right every now and then.
Rob
2024-04-25T11:40:21Z dg43tfdfdgfd