OTF

It's probably more of a contrast as well for a player who has recently enjoyed the rub of the green in the other direction.

There's two other factors at play as well I think; 1. We have a lot more access to information (and misinformation). Agents, influencers, media with vested interests etc and these all play a part in the forming of public opinion. We were widely portrayed as the bad guys in the Isak saga, preventing him from joining a big club and then to rub salt in the wound were then considered to be hypocritical for signing Wissa. 2. Many of the pundits grew up with these clubs being the most influential and important. The rest of us clubs are just making up numbers. They continue to focus solely on those clubs at times regardless of performances and results. This ensures that most of the youth also take an interest in these clubs, why wouldn't they, they're the teams they're always hearing about and they're not going to care about the inequity of the competition just of the high profile players and the interest and the trophies. Then the.l media can keep focusing on these clubs because that's who most viewers support. This keeps their international profile at the top too, great for recruitment. We're deep into generations of this cycle and it's almost impossible to break. It's at its worst when a club like Liverpool are dominating. Man City are interesting because they spent a fuckton to break the cycle but even after an era of dominance they're still not endeared to the media like Liverpool and Man Utd. Arsenal are somewhere in between as are Chelsea, though they're closer to Man City than to Liverpool on Man Utd. Spurs somewhere in the mix too, but not seen as serious contenders.

Some "sources" saying he would have come here if he knew Isak was signing for Liverpool.

It's a couple of years since we had such a packed schedule and then we didn't have any options in most positions due to injuries. He will make more changes here than he has in the past.

Agree here, Howe would start Burn as one of the first names on the team sheet, but he's no spring chicken and playing so many games in quick succession is risky. Given we currently have some quality in depth there starting Botman and Thiaw makes sense after a physically demanding late mid-week game. I'd also be careful about who starts from our midfielders based on how they recovered, for example it may be starting Miley instead of Joelinton. It would have been nice to have Ramsey as a starting option. This is an incredibly tough game against this lot, of course we should play our best players if we want a shot at winning but their energy across 90 minutes is part of the assessment of who is "best". Leave Pope in goals, Ramsdale in for the Cup game. Murphy definitely to start, Elanga and Barnes to figure it out for the other side.

And he was super important in the Champions League, looked assured and composed throughout.

This is a valid point, even still Joelinton's touch and passing when he wasn't under pressure were definitely off, and Livramento whilst he is not the greatest dribbler was especially erratic even in acres of space. To me this was about the occassion and nerves more than the players they were up against. Tonali didn't have a problem with it. With Bruno he normally reads and anticipates the defenders better when he's in possession of the ball, this I credit to the quality of their midfield more than anything and contributing to this was the fact that he didn't have as much possession as he normally would throughout the course of the game.

Well said, having Wissa starting and Ramsey to come off the bench would have made a big difference.

Elanga, Trippier, Burn, Sandro were very good. Barnes was good as was Pope, Schär was good pre headshot. Livramento was everywhere but legs like a baby giraffe. Bruno was off, didn't have enough ball. Joelinton was poor, Gordon was lost. Murphy had a good cameo. Too many having an off game at the same time. We needed that midfield three to be firing.

They were better in midfield defensively than I thought, knew how to play Bruno by taking his options away. Didn't help that both he and Joelinton had off games. Tonali was good but we needed to have more control of the ball to have him more involved. Livramento was everywhere but his touches were mostly not great, losing possession too many times, though you can't fault his effort. Trippier was class.

He absolutely didn't but it was simply down to the fact that Gordon can't play on the weekend so he has plenty of time to recover.

When it comes down to it it took a concussed Schär and an unstoppable shot to win it for them. As much as Gordon had a stinker, getting that goal will help his confidence. Murphy is such a quality crosser of the ball, can't wait to have Wissa in there.

Beaten but certainly not disgraced. Another spotlight on the glaring weakness we currently have thanks to an absolute cunt and a series of conspiring circumstances.

Can you get two yellows from the one play? That deserved it.

They fall over and get a free kick we fall over and get a counter attack.

Dickhead ref.

Beautiful pass Murphy.

1 back. Great lead up play.

Willock

It would be impossible for Osula to have been less effective than Gordon was.

Against stinky Gordon, sure. Time to ditch that shitty headband.

He's had an absolute shocker.

We lost it with not putting away two excellent chances.

Trippier has had a great game, but I think he surely needs to come off for Hall.

We've seen enough from Gordon through the middle to know it doesn't work, it's remnant of how he persisted with Wilson last season. Better play there.