Chelsea are a mess who should sell Enzo Fernandez. Arsenal are a failure-rewarding joke. Liverpool are on the slide. It turns out everyone is rubbish.
Send your thoughts to theeditor@football365.com.
Oh, Jurgen
How is “the wind” your go-to ridiculous Jurgen Klopp excuse for a bad performance?
Surely “too many of the other side’s players got injured” is the all time number one?
Andy (MUFC)
Rashford is Cantona
So in 1992, a team that needed a push to get them over the line to win their first league title, in many years after a few agonising second places looked to take a punt on buying a striker from a close rival at a knock down price. It was a big risk because whilst the player had talent, he was unpredictable and inconsistent. I’m talking of course about Eric Cantona moving from Leeds to Man Utd and becoming the springboard for Fergie’s 1st era of domination.
Fast forward 33 years, Arsenal are stalling and need something to help get over the line to no win their first league title in 21 years. Maybe they take a punt on taking a rival club’s striker who is out of favour but has bags of talent if it can be tapped into again…step forward Marcus Rashford- if it actually happens (and it works) it could be seen as one of those similar instances as when Cantona joined Utd from Leeds…you never know.
PK
READ MORE: Rashford transfer: Arsenal make shock £21m ‘phone call’ bid to beat Milan, Spurs to Man Utd star
Pay them what they want
Tom from Andover says that don’t worry about how much Salah wants paying because there will never be a time that saudi doesn’t want to buy him based on …the fact he’s a famous Muslim.
I dunno if he knows much about how Saudi operates it’s league but that’s just not how it works. They are trying to entice players who are younger and at their peak for longer. They actually want the Saudi league to be competitive with European leagues, they’re aware of the reputation of it being a retirement home and have been working to correct that image , which is why you’re seeing younger players at their peak going there.
Secondly think how absurd it is to say that just because he’s a famous Muslim they’ll buy him regardless of his salary or skill level. Would you resign harry kane on £1m a week just because he’s white and English? No. Because that would be idiotic, just because Saudi is a Muslim country doesn’t mean they’ll buy an old fading player because he’s famous and Muslim. It’s not raising the profile of the sport much to say someone’s come to retire there does it?
Finally, if he’s playing badly enough that we don’t want him anymore, why would Saudi want a player who is playing badly? What benefit is that to them?
I think sometimes people see the Saudi league as a get out of jail free card. To me it sounds wrong to keep the assumption “dont worry the dumb Saudi will take him off us if he turns sh*t” in your mind.
Lee
The two-Enzo problem
Cole Palmer’s last ditch arrival was fortuitous indeed. Without him, we’d likely be languishing outside the top ten. This raises a crucial question: what’s causing this putative underperformance?
I believe the answer lies with the two Enzos.
Enzo F’s only claim to fame is having played well off- Messi. But at Chelsea, his performance has been underwhelming. His stats are subpar compared to his peers – he doesn’t score enough, nor does he create enough chances. Defensively, he offers little more than moral support, mostly vigorous gestures and hollering galore. He’s arguably the only Argentine midfielder in history who can’t dribble through the press. Opponents have learned to take the “Enzo Fernandez Boulevard,” a direct route to our shaky center-backs, none of whom is a Van Dijk and who panic at anything faster than a tractor.
Why he continues to be a starter is baffling. He’s an unmitigated liability. Hopefully, a team in a less demanding league will take him off our hands. Perhaps a reunion with Messi at Inter Miami CF would suit him better.
On the other side of the spectrum is Enzo M. A purist in the mold of Villas-Boas. This Don Quixote is fixated on becoming the “New Pep,” oblivious to the fact that we lack the talent to play City style. Expecting our wingers to relentlessly press for 90 minutes, provide crosses while also chasing the ball back down once it’s lost in transition is unrealistic. It explains why average teams often snatch late victories against us: our wingers simply run out of steam. And then it’s the lunacy of playing with only two midfielders, which splits our defense from the offense while surrendering large swathes of the pitch to the opposition.
The solution is: offload Enzo Fernandez and switch to a 4-3-3 formation that suits our current squad. Otherwise, left with Maresca’s quixotic tactics, the “Enzo Fernandez Boulevard,” and a (God-forbid) injured or out-of-form Cole Palmer, we’re toast.
Radu Tomescu, Puzzled in Taipei, TW
The law is an ass
Grateful that Slot walked over to shake the refs hands after the game, and that both he and VVD were measured in the press. The latter speaking for about the same length on why LFC could have won it and how they needed to have been better, as well as his grievances with the decision.
From the Ange presser, it was also interesting (and helpful) that he was able to articulate that Spurs have apparently been repeatedly told across the last few weeks that if the ref plays advantage, that refs have been encouraged / advised / instructed to not then bring play back and issue belated yellow cards. So in Ange’s mind, the PGMOL heuristic across the last few weeks is to try and not break up the play in these instances, and if they do that, that retrospective action is discouraged.
Had this little snippet been more widely available, then would the entire debate on the goal have been less of an issue?
Do we know if this has been the guide for the whole season, or just the last few weeks?
Does this, if true, not negate the tedious, boring, inaccurate and loathsome whataboutery debate about ‘consistency’ and contrasting fouls across a game (or even different games)? Or, potentially, consistency between games from August and games in January?
That refs have literally been instructed that it is okay to treat comparable things differently, if there is a chance to keep the play live?
Doesn’t this prompt an interesting series of questions? It’s odd then that this ange quote has seemingly been buried, instead headlines are geared towards the utterly damning statement from VVD that ‘i thought it was a booking and the ref, well he clearly thought it wasn’t’ and Slot saying ‘in this instance we were unlucky’. it’s almost as if the red-tops (and fan media) aren’t tasked with providing impartial news and information to help people understand and engage.
Just a thought, in the current environment where it’s of course the received wisdom that these refs are in fact the greatest threat to the game, and that there’s provable conspiracy and injustice. That we don’t seemingly know how refs have been instructed to interpret the laws this season; That our ignorance, if it leads to anger, is toxic and unless we better police ourselves then the game itself is f*****.
And of course, that if your team plays abysmally badly, as LFC did, then before we rage against refs we should be commenting on why exactly the team are bad. About whatever the bloody hell has happened to curtis jones to make him disappear; Diaz and to a lesser extent Nunez regressing; Elliot whom I loved no longer being trusted, which i find really really bizarre but can’t read about 🙁. Endo not getting any minutes, when he provided so much last year.
Tom G
we never debated handballs before Ange mate arrived ?
do me a favour – we went to war with Argentina coz of one ya d**khead.
Mike
Stew on it
I thought I would bring this idiots name up again as he seems to be getting more than enough air time.
Going back to the Arsenal v Newcastle game: the first half was played at a cracking pace end to end and one would imagine good entertainment for the neutral. That’s supposedly not how we play.
Arsenal should have been ahead but Newcastle got the rub of the green and went in at half time 1:0 up.
Both teams had been on long unbeaten runs. Newcastle, as was their right, played 5:5:0 after going 2 up and Arsenal couldn’t break that down. However, In his immature manner of slating his supposed own club and fellow fans he came across more as slating Newcastle as being a nothing club.
Arsenal have it all to do. However, Newcastle still have to hold their nerve.
Chris, Croydon
Mindflames
The closest thing we have to Pep Guardiola in the PL is Mikel Arteta. In that he spends a f***k ton of money in record time. After blowing 780 MILLION GBP, there’s a lot of Arstumbling this season. Without fail, the fanbase roll-out dem good ole’ nuggets.
“Buy someone!”
“Spend some money!”
Zero tactics, zip motivation, nada player improvement. There isn’t one single player that plays better after being bought by Spanish Pulis, his best tactic are set-pieces, relies on dark arts and time-wasting, blames balls for losing and counts the Charity Shield as a trophy. Yet not one calls him on it, as their mad fanbase now rivals Man Utd in ‘engagement’ and let’s face it, this is the new goldmine for the media.
I have never seen failure being rewarded so much, and the best part is, Spanish Pulis is unaware of it and thinks he is God’s gift to football. Mediocre as a player, mediocre as an assistant and now mediocre as a manager, yet the second highest paid manager in the world.
My prediction is Kronke will keep funding this nincompoop, who will finally win his first trophy after spending a billion, and that inane fanbase will announce what a genius he is.
May this club rot in VAR.
Vinnie F-the-Pulis Pee
Arne Not
So the fairy dust is wearing off, and Liverpool’s Cinderella story is coming to an end. When 2024 ended, so did Liverpool’s challenge. Salah’s Ballon d’Or form is now on the Ballon Floor, Gravenberch is playing like the Bayern bencher they sold us, Trent can’t defend again and our first keeper plays worse than our second.
It was too good to be true, that extended new manager bounce, but now, Arne is Algernon again.
The real issue are the owners, spending at the levels of West Ham while trying to keep up with the freeflow funds of City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd. FSG even have the gall of not renewing the contracts of our 3 best players, and why the fans put up with this, I cannot fathom.
Gone are the days when true Liverpool fans got the Hodge out, or track planes to stop the approval of the cowboys’ loans.
Get FSG out, get them to sell to some proper owners. Bring down Liverpool the Franchise and bring back the Football Club.
Or in next 5 years, we can look on while Chelsea gels, City buys superstars and even Spanish Pulis wins a trophy.
Vinnie F-the-Pulis Pee
Why do players dive?
It’s a simple answer of – there is something to be gained by doing so. But what often is ignored is that when players are genuinely fouled but stay on their feet the ref doesn’t blow the whistle.
Think of all the jostling in the box for a corner, there’s about 6 fouls happening none get called. Only the guy who goes down gets the whistle.
A number of years ago I recall a game in which Torres was tackled like it’s American football when running onto a loose ball. It was definitely a foul and a yellow card but he stayed on his feet and tried to carry on but the keeper collected the ball. Play on said the ref.
The simple truth is fouls often don’t look like fouls because players are very crafty and good at hiding it. Also it doesn’t take much to ruin a players possession unfairly. Martin keown once said one of his favourite methods was to give a sudden and stuff push to the core of your back because it throws you off balance but it’s virtually impossible for the ref to see it.
If refs started calling fouls in which players didn’t go down they’d probably stop diving as much.
I’d also introduce the rule in which a player going down holding his head must leave the pitch for 10 minutes of treatment to ensure they don’t have a head injury. Players will stop pretending to have head injuries then and when someone genuinely does have a head injury it gives them the treatment they need
Lee
Roll the Dyche
Genuine question; has a manager ever been sacked mere hours before a competitive game their team is about to play?
American owners really not showing a lot of class or sporting sense these last few years. Who’d have thought.
Will (Please, for all that’s good in the world let Mourinho be the next manager, a slow motion car crash I’d love to watch)
Korea change
Every now and then it pops into my head that Jesse Lingard is playing in Korea. Proper mad, that.
Si, LFC
FAO: Eric
Dry your legs, mate. You appear to have p*ssed yourself.
Ian.
