I’d be shocked, shocked I tell you, if can Chelsea win it. (Trying some reverse jinxing)

Liverpool are so lucky, they’re playing Chelsea without the first 4 choice CB and then the two CB they play go off injured. 6 CB out, Liverpool should be winning this.

This game has turned in to a basket ball match. Neither team with any control or building pressure, both look tired and going fast and direct and praying for a mistake.

We just are a better side than both

We are for sure. I think Liverpool look ropey at times at the back. They should pray VVD stays fit.

Szboszlai is some player. Filling in at RB atm though.

Chelsea looking the better side. No doubt Liverpool will steal it!

Deserved. Liverpool are &*(^&

Chelsea deserved to win and dare I say it but they are a very enjoyable team to watch.

How shall I use this power?

Good work Ash

Main takeaway for me regarding Liverpool, their luck finally levelling out, and Salah badly off form. Their squad seems quite thin really but probably because Wirtz and their fullbacks look so bad atm.

Maresca sent off for a second yellow for running down the touchline to join in the celebrations. I hate the rule, policing raw emotion on a goal, but Neville said it was worth getting sent off for….would he or others say the same for us and Arteta? The celebration police are out in force for anything we do!

All the weaknesses that were 100% there for Liverpool at the start of the season are starting to show. They were even evident when Liverpool were winning games in the last minute. But pundits chose to ignore them and just focus on mentality of winning games late. Do we question their mentality now they’ve lost two games in stoppage time and failed to drag themselves back in to another?

Interestingly Liverpool’s biggest cheerleader, Carragher is one of the few pundits who was actually noting concerns earlier.

Last season no cracks or weaknesses were exposed.
Salah’s form at the back end of last year has carried in to this year
Salah and VvD are 33 and 34, was it wise to rely so heavily on them again?
A nonchalant approach to how much Trent gave to the team in attack
No suitable replacement for Gravenberch
Signed the leagues 2nd best striker for £130m but he’s had no pre season.
Spend another £80m on another striker but yet to play those two big signings together - should that £80m have been better spent? Zubimendi, Mosquera, Nørgaard combined under £80m
And yet we are still the team with far more injuries than Liverpool - they haven’t played well once this season.

A week ago there was talk of Liverpool going 8 points clear and Arsenal’s title challenge being over before it started. A week later were a point clear of Liverpool. Suddenly no fixture looks a gimme for them. Man U at home next….i wouldn’t bet against Man U getting something

Would love to see a Calafiori heat-map for today.....he was all over the park.

Yes he would and he'd be right.

Classic Gunfire retort to a rich post

Oooh, this gets my blood boiling! Quick make something up I couldn’t possibly know then, offering no reasoning or counter points, disagree with whatever Rich has said. Good. Good. I can sleep soundly again.

It's probably a fool's errand taking manager's comments at face value, but Slot would be worrying me if I was a pool supporter. He's going on and on about Palace and how they were the better team (mentioned it again after the Chelsea loss) and saw very little wrong with today either. I hope he does believe that because the defence looks to be in trouble, Wirtz is now quite worrying in his inability to settle (or maybe he's not that great a player??) and it's stopped firing up front too.

But perhaps it's just talk for the media and he doesn't believe anything he's saying, but he sounds like Ten Hag!

It would suit us very well if he is in denial. They were lucky last year plus the refs are often biased towards them.

Pool lose again

You made *%^@ up. Again. I would imagine Neville be the age he is and the background he comes from would agree with ANY manager being sent off for that. I would too.

You’ve spectacularly missed the point of my post. Neville might have agreed with Maresca’s red but it’s him saying ‘it was worth getting sent off for’ that is the problem. No chance in hell he’d say that for Arteta, nor would most pundits. The talk as you well know would be about over celebrating in October. ‘Arteta needs to stay more calm and in control, it’s not the message you want to send your team jumping around like that, if my manager did that I’d be on edge all game - just let me play, we’ve seen it before with Arsenal, there is so long to go in the season and they are expending a lot of emotional energy ight now’

Slot compared the penalty against them v Galatasaray with the one Isak didn’t get (yes they were similar but Slot conveniently ignored Isak clearly fouled James first), he moans about it for a while but says they have to accept it and also says he hasn’t seen it back. Wonderful tactics- make sure you’re seen as a fair manager by saying you have to accept the decision but make sure you moan about it plenty as well!
Two losses and two yellow cards for Slot as well - just one yellow away from a ban…..

3 goals conceded in 7 games, only 1 goal from open play. We’re on track for just 16 goals conceded in the season. The Prem record is 15

If we only conceded 16 goals we’ll win the league

Zubimendi was very good when he came on. He’s starting to play those quick incisive through balls, they’re brave passes compared to a lot of def mids who prefer to recycle than take the responsibility for creating. I thought he was excellent when he came on.

Totally - Slot would be worrying me - he's trying to reinvent the Palace defeat as a game Liverpool deserved to win is absolute denial - Palace created more than pool - 7 shots to 4 for example

Also yesterday Liverpool got lucky with some decisions, there was a decent penalty shout on Garnacho not given, he was definitely nudged

https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football ... 088678.amp

https://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/gary-ne ... fd005594c8

Just to preempt Gunfire’s standard approach claiming all of this double standard criticism is ‘in my head’ without offering any counter evidence.

Neville has continually criticised Arsenal and Arteta for being too emotional and over celebrating. Yesterday not a peep of that for Maresca, instead he’s praising him saying that over celebration and emotion was totally worth getting sent off for

Gary Neville is living rent free in your head Rich.

I think everyone should be delighted to see us top of the league after the tricky run of games we've had and losing to Liverpool so early on.

Now time to capitalize on the great start and win the so-called easier games coming up.

No room for complacency.

Hi Rich,

He was, I have to admit I was disappointed when he came on instead of Nwaneri but he was very good despite seeming to play in between Saliba and Gabi a lot of the time. At least he played progressive passes from deep though.

Once again, I thought our play quickened when Ødegaard went off and not everything went down the right.

Yes maybe, but it doesn’t mean I’m wrong. professional pundits are paid to be objective and neutral. He isn’t and isn’t consistent, so few of them are so I’ll continue to point out all the time they are wrong and inconsistent. The ‘customer’ deserves better.

There isn’t much else to talk about from the Arsenal game but the forum is a free space for anyone to start any discussion so people are free to ignore me, agree or disagree with me or start their own story/thoughts for discussion.

I don't think they are paid to be objective and neutral. They are paid to keep viewers engaged. In theory, they are to provide an insight that the regular viewer won't have, but primarily it is for viewing figures. These are tv entertainment shows at their core.

Well you may be right, but I suppose it’s what I think they should be paid for. Do I want a pundit for entertainment or insight? The latter for me but can understand many just want the former.
Even if we accept its the former why would the provocation and click bait not be there for Liverpool or Man City as much as it appears to be for Arsenal? If it’s all about clicks and entertainment - then jump in with both feet, why the general defence of Florian Wirtz? why the talk of a Liverpool transition season?

Rice and Ødegaard not expected to join up with their national teams. If both could have a nice 2 week break and be back for our next game that would be handy!

Has anyone seen an update on when Madueke or Havertz are back. Havertz will take us up another level - still massively underrated in my view

Feels like every game we play a minimum of one player is taken off with an injury. Thank goodness we’ve beefed up the squad. Hope it’s nothing serious but I’m pretty sure Rice has had back issues in the past

On Havertz it doesn’t sound great, arteta was saying before port vale it’s months not weeks.

If we lose rice and Ødegaard for any extended period of time that’s a pretty big blow. Only difference now is we have Zubimendi, Nørgaard, Eze, merino and Nwaneri as well competing for 3 places as well as the 2 of them.

Wirtz is only just getting started. Considering it took a little while for DB10 and TH14 to get going, I wouldn't write him off just yet.

Neville said this yesterday:

"A lot has been made of Liverpool's defensive work and rightly so, but that's not why they've lost this game. They've lost this game because in the last 15-20 minutes, their creative players, their players in the final half of the pitch, the midfield players and the forwards were absolutely useless.

They were giving the ball away like you wouldn't believe. Gakpo, Salah, the wastage. Wirtz, not knowing how to get into a game in the last 15 minutes when it was there for the taking."

Up until last weekend they had won all of their league games.

The absense of cover at CF is a big worry. Having Havertz available would be huge.

I’d guess Havertz will be total 10 to 12 weeks out - decent chance of him being back by end of November realistically

Madueke looks like early Nov return

Jesus isn’t miles away either…….

good point but Gyökeres doesn’t look like he could be killed by conventional weapons. Going to have to come up with something new. maybe a laser

have to say i’m becoming a Gyökeres fanboy. Loved it when he won a scrap against 2 guys and still won a free kick yesterday.