Saka, White, Saliba, Calafiori, Jesus, Tomiyasu, Nwaneri. How would Liverpool do without Salah, Trent, Van Dijk, Robertson, Jota, Gomez, Elliot? Because that is the equivalent players out

Allison, Bradley, Konate, Quansah, Tsimikas, Grevenberch, Macallister, Slobaszlai, Gakpo, Diaz, Nunez. Doesn’t look overly shabby but how about if that 11 is having to play every game, or what would that bench look like:
Kelleher, jones, Chiesa, Endo, Danns, Nyoni, Morton, McConnell, Nallo

Nallo being the only defensive cover. There is barely anything on that bench that is going to change a game.

Now imagine us with their lack of injuries and them with ours, would the positions and points in the table be reversed? Definitely

https://x.com/dailyafc/status/188092630 ... -j6VVZXEoA

Someone at the club needs to be asking Howard Webb why this wasn’t a yellow card, and as it would have been a second yellow he would have been sent off. Same referee.
Webb told us Slobaszlai didn’t deserve a yellow because when he smashed the ball away while on a second yellow his team were losing so he can’t have been wasting time. So here, Villa are clearly holding on for the draw. An Arsenal player is running to the loose ball to take a quick free kick and its kicked away from him.

We were singled out and no one will convince me any differently. I don’t think it’s a group of refs who say ‘right this new rule lets make sure whenever we have the chance we’ll nail Arsenal with it but no one else’ but it’s obviously not just random either. Happens too often. Subconscious bias is clearly there

Totally. It's undeniable. The irony is that Rice didn't even kick the ball away. It was thrown into him.

Taxi for Ange.

https://x.com/terryflewers/status/18809 ... -j6VVZXEoA

Not even a yellow card

3 late winners this season ruled out, Liverpool at home, Fulham away, Villa home. Knocks the stuffing out of you.

Surprised no club has taken a point of Cherki from Lyon. Lyon put their entire squad up for sale because of financial problems. Cherki would be incredibly cheap probably sub £20m, is only 21 so easy resale value, creative attacking midfielder. He’d add decent depth and much needed creativity

https://x.com/bbcsport/status/188102776 ... -j6VVZXEoA

Another pop at a reporter from Ange. Klopp was exactly the same any time Liverpool lost or he didn’t like the question. Pep goes on ridiculous childish sarcasm levels when City are failing but it’s still Arteta the media go after.

I continually hear how Arteta is a whinger and always moaning and blaming someone else if we don’t win. I actually think that’s a total myth, it’s a self perpetuating lie that holds no substance. He rarely if ever blames the ref or anyone else, Newcastle was the biggest rant but most of the time what you get from Arteta is talk about how we dominated and should have won the game and to keep sticking to our principles

It does. Yesterday's was particularly depressing.

Where do you hear this? I saw plenty of articles calling out Klopp and no end of them putting the boot into Ange. To be honest most managers now rant far less than they used to. VAR has generally meant the big decisions have been looked at closely so they can't really complain.

Liverpool home was worst cos it was never a foul
Fulham away was bad, as it's very very marginal and if you pause it a millisecond earlier, it's onside
yesterday was annoying but I can better accept it, as it's a crap rule which has at least been consistently enforced

worst one of all last season was that Havertz equaliser versus Villa at Villa park, can't even see the handball when slowed down on multiple reviews, the ref was guessing

Just listen to fans of other clubs, many paint Arteta as a moaner. Take the League cup ball for example, he didn’t moan about the ball but that’s the story and so so many fans now believe he moaned about the ball as it fits their narrative that’s built up.

What I’m more talking about is the rudeness of these managers to reporters, Arteta can be cold and standoffish on occasion but often he’s relaxed, jovial and speaks well - and never undermines, ot is passive aggressive or outright rude to a reporter- yet it’s him who gets far more bad press than any of the others. Of course Ange is going to take some heat - he’s 15th. But I recall when he played a suicidal high line with 9 men v Chelsea, got pumped 4-1 and it should have been 10 and the headline was ‘are spurs the real winners’ it’s been going for years - Fergie was a complete arse to many reporters but they fawned at him and would never ever dream of writing the sh*t that they wrote about Wenger.
I understand expectations are higher at Arsenal than Spurs but no reason for the big teams managers to get such an easy ride particularly when they are so rude to reporters who have done nothing wrong

Man City with a lesson in clinical finishing, just 9 shots on target, 2.4xG but score 6 goals. We created over 3xG v Newcastle and Man U and scored once.
City getting their injured players back, £200m of new signings and finding their form just as they are about to play us whilst Liverpool played them in the middle of their slump. Lick you just cannot control. We must beat City but it’s a far harder game than Liverpool had

Reports are Saliba is out of our next 3 games, the two CL games and the away game v Wolves. The game after that is City at home.
Ben White and Tomiyasu are going to be some way from match fitness having both been out for so long - we must, must start Kiwior at CB in order to keep Timber at RB and Partey in midfield.

City have a strange fixture run. Their next 7 in the league are all really tough then their final 9 in the league they’d likely expect to win all comfortably- or at least be heavy heavy favourites in them all.

Tell you what, I agree with most of the arguments:

1. We’ve been unlucky
2. We’ve had bad refereeing decisions
3. We play too slowly and too much tippy tappy a la worst of the Wenger period
4. We need a proper striker
5. The squad is too thin

But, WE ARE, despite all that, still SECOND in probably the most competitive football league in the world.

I’m frustrated like most on here, but when you strip it all back, I’m proud of that.

UTA

Agree, Partey at RB is not working.

My apologies Granty Boy

.... I've had another couple of looks at it ... the first two they play in the match , look like his arm , then the later two which are more consequential looks like he chested it .

Showing the age thing here John .... all mellow and balanced .

A few decades back a bad Arsenal result would get me really p***sed off ....... these days I think " Oh sh*t that was unfortunate " and get on with life .

Giving myself an ulcer over something which I have zero control makes no sense at all .

What turns your key these days ...?

Good post.

I try to be sanguine/mellow about anything I have no direct control over Pete. There’s not much point in getting over worked up is there.

I do get worked up occasionally; but then next morning I think “bit of a knobhead moment there son”.

I used to get worked up if anything impinged on my kids; but they’re adults now and they have to fight their own battles.

But if anyone does anything really bad to my new granddaughter, it won’t be keys I’ll be turning; it’s a bayonet on the end of a Lee Enfield .303 in their guts (as I was taught in the Army cadets at school) and blow any prison sentence.

And on that cheery note, good ebening.

.
After the last thirty years of watching two money doped outfits Chelsea and Man City clean up the silverware ; it is so refreshing to see two 'minnows' Brighton and Bournemouth hand out footballing lessons to two huge clubs like Manc U and Newcastle
.... and at their joint as well .

the angst felt over our Villa result ; pales in comparison to the abject doom hovering over Tyneside and Old Trafford at the moment . Totting none too cheery either :

Halleluhah ..... life is good .

Latest attempted project

........ bought a brand new ' Akubra ' hat for $3 at the Op Shop ... it is a little bit small ; so currently making a contraption to give it a stretch

Video doesn’t seem to work but if it’s sky then it’s probably the same footage I saw in the UK stream. I think he swivels and manages to get his arm out of the way.

I think Var decision making is bloody dismal considering the tech they have.

But also see plenty of stick being given to Ange as well. He’ll be gone soon I think.

And let’s not forget Notts Forest. What Nuno has done there is incredible.

Yeah.

And what bothers me is not so much the decision, as how quickly these 'checks' are made.

VAR has access to all these angles. They simply can't be exposing themselves in such a way, week after week. Same with the penalty Saliba conceded.

What exactly is the protocol for deciding on whether it is handball? Let's see this process as it happens, like they do with LBW in cricket where it simply has to be definitive on all counts or it is "umpire's call".

So, is any angle that shows there a deflection that is definitely off the arm? Or could the deflection be off the torso? It has to be definite. Balance of probabilities cannot come into it. Otherwise it is re-refereeing the game, not overturning a clear and obvious error.

If the ref gave it as handball, it is another story. The point is on a case like this VAR should not be overruling.

The point is that is open to debate. It is not clear and obvious so what is Var doing getting its oar in?

Very nice hat that. I've been trying to find a decent hat because my bush hat is in a dreadful state after 20 years. However, the prices are eye-watering.

Var get involved in every goal, the rule on handball by the goal scorer is clear, if it hits any part of the arm below the sleeve line the goal is chalked off no matter how little contact or how accidental or how natural the arm placement.
I don’t know how long the var check took but the angle from behind Havertz is clear it hit his arm so if they saw that first then it would justify the quicker decision.
I do agree on the var process being quite awful though, Saliba v Pedro penalty not once was it mentioned that the ball touched Saliba even if only to rule it out as a reason to overturn. The other week var gave their final decision to the ref and had to be reminded by the video operator to check the AAP attacking phase of play to ensure an offence hadn’t occurred earlier in the immediate build up

Well, if you didn't have such a big head.....

Smaller clubs have complained that FFP or P&S make it impossible for smaller teams to break in to the top 4/ big 6 / or whatever we call it of established rich teams. I'd argue that its only part true. Villa and Newcastle finished in the top 4 recently partly off the back of their great seasons but also because of the awful performances of a number of the big 6 teams who couldn't simply immediately buy their way out of trouble - Forest are doing the same this year. The 'socialist' structure of the premier league's distribution of the enormous TV money where the gap between what the champions and 20th place get is a quite small percentage also allows these smaller clubs to go and sign £40m players, and indeed entice said players from traditional big hitting teams in europe. AC Milan players are preferring to come and play for the likes of Brighton and Bournemouth because the wage they can get is so much higher as well as the lure of the premier league.

Where I would agree with the fans of smaller teams is that its very hard for that to be sustained success for them if they do. Their players would get cherry picked off because even despite making the CL they would still get a big hike and would obviously in a lot of cases want to play for the bigger team, and then the smaller team has to try to repeat the trick, of buying unknowns for cheap(er) and making them CL quality. They also have to cope with the extra workload that their squad hasn't been built for. Newcastle struggled massively, Villa aren't the same as last year. Which if you bring this back to Arsenal shows what a job Wenger did getting us in to CL all those years whilst having the budget of a relegation team and continually having to find rough diamonds as the best players were sold and he wasn't able to even really have the funds to reinvest. Rival fans may struggle to paint those wenger days in the same light as a Brighton(For example) continually making CL year on year and its obviously a stretch but the basic numbers aren't far off

https://x.com/maybebrayyy/status/1881285230205755506

What is Anthony Taylor doing here - he's right there, how does he give that as a free kick. so Incompetent

Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim labels his squad the ‘worst team’ in club’s history

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/20/spor ... index.html

https://x.com/SkySportsNews/status/1880977253124718763

I cannot stand knee jerk reactions to football being so heavily weighted towards mentality, and so heavily weighted when it suits.

Arsenal drew when 2-0 up, lack mental strength. Liverpool win 2-0 in the last minute - mentality monsters. Yet midweek Liverpool failed to beat Forest despite numerous chances, the week before could only draw at home to an awful Man U 2-2 - did Liverpool lack the killer mentality to put those teams away? and Arsenal came back from 1-0 down in the derby to win 2-1 - terrific mentality!

Where was this famous Liverpool mentality when they were 5 points clear with 8 to play last year and ended up 9 and 7 points behind City and Arsenal respectively at the end?

I hate such polar arguments in football, especially when they are so linked to hindsight. 1st place equals super elite mentality and born winners, 2nd and below equals bottlers, weak mentality.

I know its easy to forget about Spurs but its always nice to recall the ridiculous hyperbole they get after a few good results.

I cannot see how this helps his team.

Sterling, Neto, Joringho, Partey, Zinchenko, Trossard, Kiwior, Tomiyasu could all very easily leave us this summer. Would you trust us to make sufficient signings to replace those 8? MLS and Nwaneri could be counted as covering some of the loss.

Sesko, Zubimendi, utility defender, sub gk, 2 x winger as an absolute minimum but really probably 2 more players needed as we've seen that to challenge on 4 fronts we're always lacking irrespective of injuries

Yes, there is being honest and then there is being too honest. He said himself he's given them their headline - just far too naive. It is really easy to talk a lot without saying anything of note.

"We stick together, we trust each other, I see the work going in every day, we're giving them a lot of information to take on board right now...."

It was a very strange comment to make a few days after Denis Law's death and all the associated coverage of United being relegated by Law's goal for City.