LIVERPOOL: SPURRED ON FOR SUCCESS

LAST week’s victory at The Etihad Stadium, and in particular the emphatic 4-1 scoreline, was met by a modicum of shock in most media circles. For most neutral observers Liverpool, despite the recent hiring of Jürgen Klopp, had dropped off the radar when it comes to...

LIVERPOOL: WHY THE REDS ARE BOSS UNDER JÜRGEN KLOPP

THE message from the players off the field is as synchronised as their counter-pressing on it. From Dejan Lovren to Philippe Coutinho, from Lucas to Jordon Ibe, we’ve heard about Jürgen Klopp’s twin policy of belief and work. “If you put that together, the result is a...

LIVERPOOL v BORDEAUX: EUROPA LEAGUE PREVIEW

IN writing about Bordeaux at home in the Europa League you are writing about Swansea City at home in the Premier League. Because you know, don’t you. You know aspects of the study that shows the impact Europa League games has can be hotly disputed but you also...

MANCHESTER CITY v LIVERPOOL: PREMIER LEAGUE PREVIEW

“THERE used to be a football club over there,” said departing Tottenham Hotspur manager and newly-crowned UEFA cup winner, Keith Burkinshaw, as he left his job amid standard 1970-80s acrimony with his board of directors in May 1984. It’s a thoroughly...

LIVERPOOL: WHAT NEXT FOR ALBERTO MORENO? #2

AT the end of July I wrote an article for this very website on Alberto Moreno and what we could expect from him in the coming season. Most of my theories went out the window when Brendan Rodgers benched him for young Joe Gomez for the first few games of the campaign....

YOUR FOOTBALL MANAGER STORIES

SO we were invited to the launch of Football Manager 2016 at the National Football Museum in Manchester. The museum itself is a disgrace by the way. Wall-to-wall Manchester United with some vague mention of Liverpool winning five European Cups somewhere at the back....

WHAT IF… LIVERPOOL HAD SIGNED CRISTIANO RONALDO?

IN a new regular TAW feature we ask: “What if…”. So many things in football hinge on moments, on split-second decisions and on judgement calls, including buying and selling players and appointing certain managers (or not). To kick things off, David...
RUBIN KAZAN v LIVERPOOL – EUROPA LEAGUE PREVIEW

RUBIN KAZAN v LIVERPOOL – EUROPA LEAGUE PREVIEW

RUBIN Kazan. What can you say about them that hasn’t been said before? Firstly, how about “it’s close”? No-one is saying that. Perhaps “it’s easy to get to.” No-one is saying that either. Because these things are lies, it isn’t close, it...

LIVERPOOL AND THE COUTINHO DILEMMA – FRIDAY COLUMN

MICHAEL T Nevin is away. Words which should strike fear into the heart of hoteliers around the world. Michael T Nevin is away. He is drinking your booze. Swimming in your sea. Wearing your slippers. Instead you’ve got me, Neil Atkinson, writing more about the...

STEVE NICOL: BRITAIN’S BEST UTILITY PLAYER

THIRTY-TWO years today, Steve Nicol first rippled the net in the Red, scoring the first of his 46 goals for Liverpool as Joe Fagan’s Reds won 1-0 away at QPR. I first remember taking in his gingery countenance in a January FA Cup game at Anfield in 1984. We were...