Mails: Is Sterling regretting leaving Liverpool?

Mails: Is Sterling regretting leaving Liverpool?

Send your thoughts in to theeditor@football365.com.

Who would you rather win the league?
As an Arsenal fan/neutral watching the Liverpool game, I found myself surprisingly rooting for Liverpool then a friend asked why I was so eager to see Liverpool win and the only thing that came to my mind was “well if we don’t win the league then I’m fine if any club but Chelsea (and Manyoo) wins the bloody thing”. So I have a question for the mailbox (supporters of clubs in the top 6) if your team does not win the league, which other team in the current top 6 will make you sleep better at night if they won it? I would actually prefer Man City as they have few fans here in Nigeria so no one would mock me if they won it.
Eseosa AFC (Lagos)

#MerseyMonday
Dear Ed,

A few of my own conclusions and a few questioning Daniel Storey’s.

Everton started well. 100mph stuff. Clearly looking to bully and unsettle Liverpool and blow them away with an early goal or two. It was fast, it was furious and it was physical with Lukaku and McCarthy to the fore. But after 20 minutes it was over with no reward or even much threat. The fast went, the fury moved into the stands but the physical remained and arguably got much worse in the second half.

After 20 minutes Liverpool got a foothold and started to keep the ball better. Everton had put a full half into those 20 minutes and never recovered. Perhaps it’s the red bias in me but I think Daniel chose the wrong way to ‘sell it’. Everton didn’t so much lose their head of steam in the wind as they had no steam left having blown themselves out. It’s something I’ve noted this year, how often and early opposition players look absolutely shattered and out on their feet against Liverpool and last night was no exception – so all the more credit to Bournemouth for managing to buck that trend.

Far from being a drifter, I felt Wijnaldum was central to that gaining of control and actually at the heart of everything. I think the confusion, as it was for many Liverpool fans, was the belief that he was signed as an attacking midfielder, a guy who scored 11 goals for a relegated team last year. In fact he’s used as a neat and tidy mover of the ball, a box to box player whose strong on the ball and not easy to knock off it. He basically fills the gap between the more defensive Henderson and the more attacking Lallana. Much of the talk this year when things go wrong for Liverpool is their need for a purely defensive midfielder, a Kante, but Liverpool have effectively tried to do away with that role by sharing it between three players each with a slightly different but complementary skillset in Henderson, Wijnaldum and Lallana. All work hard, all can pass, all can tackle and all can score. It’s worked more often than not and reminds me of the debate in the Roy Evans era of the need for a tackler in midfielder – cue Paul Ince replacing John Barnes and Liverpool getting much worse.

I’d also suggest there is considerable doubt about whether or not Liverpool didn’t deserve to win. In fact other than Ronald Koeman (and Daniel) I’ve not heard anyone say anything different? The second half was complete Liverpool domination. It was perhaps still a matter of if not when but there was only one team going to win that game once Liverpool started the second half much better.

There’s no question that Firmino is lacking in form at the moment, stripped of his buddy Coutinho and moved around a bit to accommodate Origi. Indeed one thing Daniel got absolutely right is that while Origi has been scoring goals his overall impact to the team and it’s style of play has been detrimental. It was his inability to hold the ball up and link play to allow Firmino, Lallana and Mane the opportunity to support that kept Everton in the game longer than they deserved to be. As a result not many chances were made but it still required some desperate defending from Everton and some smart goalkeeping to deny Firmino a couple of times to keep the score at 0-0.

There’s also no doubt as the game went away from Everton they tried to use brute physical force to either regain control or stymie the Liverpool attack. Gueye was guilty of going through the back of Mane and Firmino at every opportunity and the challenges got heavier and later, culminating in Barkley’s disgusting challenge on Henderson. Seeing it initially from the TV angle from behind it was clear he caught him but difficult to say how badly but from the linesman’s angle there was no excuse for not giving a red card. The Merseyside Derby has seen more red cards than any EPL game and when you look at the cowardly challenges from Funes Mori last year on Origi and Barkley on Henderson last night you can see why.

On another sour note I was appalled to hear a stirring rendition of “Always the victim, it’s never your fault.” from the Everton fans as the game got a little moody in the second half. In this year of all years I would’ve thought that song would’ve been put to bed across the country but to hear Everton, who as a club have been absolutely fantastic in their support of Liverpool and the Justice for the 96 campaign, singing that is pretty disgusting.

No question that Liverpool, more than any other team, can go from defensively solid to calamitous in the blink of an eye but last night was very much the solid Liverpool. Everton didn’t have a shot on goal until the 75th minute, a tame header from Williams, and it was their only one in the game. Liverpool now have 5 clean sheets this season, 5th best in the league, with only Chelsea and Tottenham having significantly better defensive records in the top 6. Klavan, despite Alan Smith’s determination to slaughter him, was actually very good against Lukaku for most of the game. Having said that I still wouldn’t feel confident that they won’t concede three against Stoke at the weekend for no other reason than they can.

Much has been made of the blip that Liverpool have had recently and the impact of the loss of Coutinho and while clearly they have lost some of the fluency they had before the international break the record since is W3 D1 L1. While admittedly not the toughest run of fixtures, if that’s the worst run of the season then I’m happy to take that.

Regards,
Lindsay, Dublin.

 

It’s all about the Mane
Liverpool have formally announced their presences in the title race.

What an inspirational signing Mane has been. He is going to be a huge miss come January and it will be interesting to see how Liverpool fill that void. I feel the inclination will be to fill from within, but Sturridge can’t be trusted to stay healthy. I hope FSG does the right thing and takes out the checkbook. Klopp clearly can be trusted with transfers.

Two clean sheets on the bounce without Matip, scraping wins, and Coutinho back in training. What a time to be alive!
Brian (My favorite part of the derby was Mike Dean celebrating with the Liverpool players. Or whatever it was he was doing) LFC

The grass is greener on Merseyside, Memphis
In this morning’s mailbox, I saw Payet suggested as a possible Liverpool target in this transfer window, as a Liverpool fan I would love to see it but with a €50 million+ price tag on a 29 year old it will never happen with FSG and the committee, here is an interesting alternative.

In this morning’s gossip I read that Man United would consider letting Depay go for £12m?

Now, I know he has been a huge flop for united but to anyone who has seen him play for PSV they will know what he is capable of. (him and Wiji carried that team to a league title and are close personal friends)

For Depay, he gets to join up with an old friend and team mate while staying at a huge club and probably wouldn’t have to take a huge wage cut in the process.

For Liverpool, Depay is young, versatile, cheap, replaces Mane when he’s gone, suits our system, dead ball specialist and I would have every faith in Klopp getting the best out on him.

While its makes a lot of sense for everyone involved it will probably never happen, but we have seen Mourinho sell players to rivals in the past (Mata).
Dallan Luimneach.

Does Sterling have regrets?
I’m just wondering if Sterling now looks at the Liverpool team under Klopp with a little envy. Raheem obviously left thinking Rodgers had taken them as far as they could go and had developed him to a point where he could take what he probably felt was that step up in his career.

At that time it made sense, but it’s funny how things change, especially in football. Not only would he probably prefer to play and be a better fit for the way Liverpool play football now, I also think that the Sterling that was part of that team that almost, oh that slip, won the title in 2014 with such alacrity would have developed exponentially better under Klopp’s avuncular tutelage, as Lallana has clearly done.

Where he would actually fit into the team now is hard to tell. If he was at the club maybe Mane would not have been purchased. I’m not trying to be smug and say Liverpool are now a much better outfit then Man City, I think they just have a clearer identity with Klopp. Sterling has also played quite well for City, especially at the start of the season.

I do however think Jurgen is better at developing potential then Pep, there is empirical proof for that. I still think Sterling was a big loss to the club and now wonder how good if not great a player he could have possibly become under someone like Klopp, I like to think he could be wondering the same thing.
Garret (LFC Dublin)

 

Defending the indenfensible
As unseemly as it may be, I’m going to have to bite and defend Mourinho and Guardiola from Ian H’s scathing attack.

First of all Mane and Matip? Yes, two excellent signings (if Matip can stay fit for more than five minutes) but poor Wijnaldum not being included in the first team! This despite his 13 league starts out of a possible 17.

And then the general point that Klopp is getting more out of his Liverpool team than the “under-performing” Rodgers and Jose and Pep haven’t managed that. This being Rodgers that took Liverpool closer to the league title than at any other point in the last 25 years by the way, albeit with a fit and firing Sturridge, Sterling bursting onto the scene and one of the best strikers in the world. But for some serious bottlage by the captain – and some excellent spoilage by Jose -Liverpool would have won the league in the first season without Fergie’s big red nose looming over it. I think B-Rod may deserve a little more respect than that no matter what happened afterwards. Do remember where Liverpool were when he took over.

But yes, apart from two (three) players, Klopp has improved the Liverpool players dramatically since he took over. That is a fair assessment and even as a United fan I am jealous of the way Liverpool play. What isn’t fair is to use Liverpool’s current position as a stick with which to beat Mourinho
and Guardiola. In terms of player improvement United fans could quite happily point to the excellent Ander Herrera as well as Valencia, Rojo and Phil Jones as players who have improved under Jose. Sterling has improved markedly this season under Pep (City fans help me out with other players?). And Klopp hasn’t had an extra six months, he’s had an extra 9 months and an extra 30 league games. So where Klopp has been in charge for more than a season, the other two have been in charge for less than half.

In fact, if you look at Klopp’s first 17 league games in charge they yielded just 23 points and he lost as many games as he won. That’s just 1.35 points per game. Over the rest of the season he managed to increase that 1.6 and got Liverpool to a European final (in which they capitulated spectacularly) but Jose (1.76 points per game) and Pep (2.11) may feel a little hard done by being compared unfavourably to Klopp at this stage. Even poor B-Rod could have felt a little upset as he managed 1.5 points per game from the first 8 games of the season and never got a chance to see his new players grow into the team (Klopp was definitely the right way to go though).

Look, I’d much rather have Klopp at Old Trafford. He’s a lovable lover of good football and has an infectious geekiness for the game. (Plus, I’ve been told, I look a bit like him.) But to say he’s so much better than Jose and Pep at this stage is just unfair as the evidence isn’t there yet. Are Liverpool a better team at this stage? Yes. But they’re also a team with relative stability compared to United and City who both have inherent problems with their squads. Better comparisons for Liverpool would be Arsenal and Spurs. Jose and Pep will be more concerned should we compare them to Conte.

We also need to remember that the season is only half-cooked and Liverpool have a fine history of dropping away after Christmas. Let’s see where everyone is at the end of the season and then start comparing managers. At the moment making big calls that Klopp has done a better job than the other two just reeks of short sighted tribalism. And isn’t it just like a scouser to talk about United after a win in the Merseyside derby?!
Ashley (It could be their year) Metcalfe

 

I know it’s nearly Xmas but can someone please tell Ian H to put down the Glühwein and take a timeout? He appears to think that Liverpool have actually won something and that the date is May 2017.

Maybe the Glühwein made Ian forget Liverpool’s first season under Klopp in the league. I wonder if he is basing this season’s improvement on how they played in the league last season under Klopp? Or, to put it another way, had the players shown this level of improvement last season or is it only now, in Klopp’s second season, that the players have shown this level of improvement? If so, then surely Mourinho and Guardiola deserve the same length of time before passing judgement.

I notice that when he discussed the players Klopp has used in his first team, Ian failed to mention Karius and decided to rule out Wijnaldum; even though they have played more games than other players in the same position. So it’s four really. Ian also forgot to mention that Klopp has brought in seven players, four of which have played regularly, whereas Mourinho has brought in four and only two have played regularly.

Then there’s the suggestion that “Jose Mourinho states he needs transfer windows to shape his team”. I’d be interested to see those quotes because I don’t think they exist. Speaking as a United fan, I’m quite pleased with how we are progressing under Mourinho; our style of play has improved and we are starting to get some consistency. So to say Mourinho hasn’t improved the players is a fallacy.

Yet here we are, not even halfway through the season and Liverpool have apparently won the league with Klopp hailed a genius. Whereas United, who are only starting to find their rhythm under Mourinho, are dismissed by Ian; even though after our wildly inconsistent start, where we have drawn more than Tony Hart on acid, we are only seven points behind them and have another couple of gears to shift up into. Needless to say, I am looking forward to seeing how this season pans out.
Garey Vance, MUFC

Identifying Michael Carrick’s successor
I’d like to write in to firstly provide some recognition of United’s (seemingly always) forgotten man Michael Carrick. It comes as no surprise to see the recent upturn in results and performances coincide with his inclusion in Jose’s first team plans. He really has been truly excellent in recent weeks, quietly and seamlessly doing his job and providing the role that United missed so dearly at the start of the campaign.

However, as much as United’s recent form has started to provide a glimmer of hope for our future fortunes I’m beginning to feel a little concerned that United are becoming, or maybe more so are once again far too reliant on an ageing Michael Carrick. As much as I love Carrick, who I hasten to add is still severely underrated, if we’re being realistic his ability to maintain this level of performance surely isn’t going to last for much longer.

Therefore secondly, part in response to Ted’s email this morning regarding United’s up and coming transfer business, there is one name I’d like to throw into the hat who I feel should be our no 1 transfer priority. That man is Toni Kroos. A natural replacement for Carrick and one of the only players who can dominate possession and control the tempo of a game as an individual in the way that Scholes and Carrick have done for United over the years.

It’s obviously wouldn’t be easy coup to pull off and it would never happen in January, but this summer I’d like to see us go the proverbial LVG balls out to buy him. A midfield three of Kroos, Herrera and Pogba? That sounds ruddy bloody lovely to me!

Anyway, just a pipe dream I guess. Here’s to another 3 seasons of Fellaini elbowing people in the face when Carrick’s legs finally give way.
Al Williams

 

Go fourth and multiply
Matt Stead asks where Arsenal would be without Alexis Sanchez.  I think we all know the answer is 4th.

Strangely that little bit of sarcasm highlights what must be troubling Wenger when it comes to contract negotiations.  As good as both players are I can’t see that life without them would be much different.  If there’s one thing that Wenger is very good at it’s finishing in the top 4 regardless of who his team loses.

Would we finish top 4 with Giroud/ Welbeck playing striker?  Probably.  Would we finish top 4 with Ramsey/ Wilshere playing no 10?  Probably.  Given that and the fact that Sanchez and Ozil really haven’t been able to push us onto the next level what’s the justification in giving them £100k a week pay increases?  Now I’m not saying they aren’t brilliant players – they are – and I’m not saying they don’t improve our team – they do – but I am saying that I find it hard to see what tangible difference they have made to the end result.
Matt, AFC

 

How good are Chelsea?
I was day-dreaming a Jose style musing that Liverpool really should have won the two games they lost- Burney (Premier League record 80% possession and 26 efforts at goal) and Bournemouth (3-1 up and cruising).

If they had done that they would be unbeaten all season. They would have won at Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton. They would have drawn at Spurs and Southampton and at home to Man Utd. They would be the league’s top scorers (and have the seventh best defence). And yet… they would still only be level on points with Chelsea.

How f-ing good are Chelsea!
Micki Attridge