JÜRGEN Klopp is a manager with a proven track record of bringing through young talent. Developing players on the training ground and helping them maximise their potential is an integral part of his philosophy, and sets him apart from many top-level managers, for whom...
ANFIELD yesterday was the perfect storm of good atmosphere and good performance with one feeding the other to produce a gust strong enough to blow away Manchester City. Fired-up fans desperate for a statement win in the stands working hand in hand with committed...
I’VE been trying to listen to every song there ever was to flush The Archies out of my head over the last couple of days. The ever-reliable Andy Williams and his version of “The Impossible Dream” popped up on Spotify last night, and not only did it succeed...
IT must be a strange lot being a professional footballer. Particularly at the high end. I’m always intrigued to know what they really mean and think when they sign for new teams and ubiquitously proclaim that they want “to win trophies and titles” in their...
I HAD to get away this week. My head was chocka. My head is never “burnt out” — as the modernism goes — but sometimes it feels like it might explode. I got that feeling last week as the Phil Coutinho farce did my fucking swede in. Not so much his leaving,...
LAST weekend, just days after the high of the derby, Liverpool sold our best player and, not unnaturally, people are concerned about how we replace him — be it in the next few weeks or in the summer. There’s always a sadness when moments like this come. When...
“TAKE a walk around my centre half, gentlemen, he’s a colossus.” Jürgen Klopp presenting Virgil van Dijk to the press pack on January 1, 2018. Well, not actually, Klopp, and not actually van Dijk. These were of course Bill Shankly’s introductory words when...
THE Dutch version of Match of the Day is called Studio Sport. It airs every Sunday at 7pm. For over 50 years it has shown the highlights of Eredivisie games, writes ERIC SCHIPPER. It’s tradition to eat in front of the telly when it starts. A similar type of tune. No...
NOT dissimilar to the aftermath of Bournemouth 0 Liverpool 4, what’s really important here is that 5-0 home wins don’t feel mundane. Shouldn’t feel mundane. Not now, not ever. To put it in context, in the whole of the 2006-7 season only once did...
OH fuck off, are you fucking messing, are you deliberately trying to ruin Christmas you soft cunt. “We’re defending really well at the moment, we’ve been solid.” Simon Mignolet has hailed Liverpool’s “solid” recent performances. The...
