Mails: Half Liverpool’s squad is Boro material

Mails: Half Liverpool’s squad is Boro material

You know what to do – mail theeditor@football365.com

Actually, Liverpool were better…
I’m generally a ‘glass half full’ Liverpool fan, but I found the reaction to the performance on Saturday against Hull to be overblown and absurdly negative.

All of the performances between the City game on December 31 and the Chelsea game were absolutely awful with no positives to be drawn whatsoever. The loss to Hull wasn’t anything like that – Liverpool created plenty of chances, just didn’t convert any. Mane being back didn’t automatically grant us the win and the 3 points, but it did change how dangerous Liverpool looked in the final third.

Liverpool fans should be concerned about whether the team will lack the consistency to keep above 5th and 6th, but I don’t think it makes sense to react like the Hull game was another carbon copy of the awful performances in Coutinho/Mane’s absences from the last month.
Oliver Dziggel, Geneva, Switzerland

…I see Liverpool fans have gone and collectively lost whatever little mental faculties are left after a hard day at scourse math. They lost a game, in which they dominated, Hull scored what can only be described as fortuitous smash and grab goals, yet there are idiots saying Klopp out, and that Didi Hamann interview. A word of advice, just look out the window and look at the team that spent a third world country’s GDP and has gone 274 games unbeaten and still sits 6th, now hopefully you will realize just how far Klopp has taken you bunch of entitled fools.

Arsenal are what they are, they will loose to Bayern and go unbeaten to secure second but as said in the morning mailbox, a change can go either way, but if recent evidence of long established regimes is true, seventh will be an achievement if they let Wenger go.

Man Utd, are the hog that has a dangling carrot in front of it, it will forever keep trying to reach the carrot while forgetting the man riding on its back. Almost, almost, almost…, ahh just missed it.
City, Jesus may be a silver lining, but expect teams to start picking him up and paying attention, once Robert Huth and Cattermore are done with him, we will know his true ability, I think he is enjoying the honeymoon but once he gets properly man handled I don’t think he will survive. City’s little break and good fortune won;t last, but they may just have enough to climb one spot higher.

Tottenham will finish top three, good but not good enough yet, I have a sneaky feeling they will finish third, whether to Arsenal, Pool or City.

As for the 2017 champions, I think they can let Hazard and Costa go on holiday early, no one is catching that lot.
Dave (Nairobi really needs to work on its 4G-lte network, I could have flown to London and back waiting to read the mailbox), Somewhere

So what’s the Plan B?
It is difficult to be a reasonably level-headed Liverpool supporter (I hope such a thing exists) in a world driven by hype and fury. I notice a trend developing which is that the crazy mails usually make it into the morning mailbox and the sane, moderate ones appear in the afternoon mailbox (please publish me in the afternoon one).

I wanted to try to put myself in Klopp’s place and think through what he could possibly do to reverse a terrible run of form. A plan B is certainly needed, which is different from just plan A with more attacking players on the pitch.

But what plan B?

1. Shoot forcefully and accurately from distance. See Gerrard, Steven. Could he not coach some of the players to do this?

2. Dribble into the box. Suarez used to wriggle past two or three defenders before laying the ball on a plate for a team-mate (Sturridge) or just score himself. Coutinho has the skills but either dribbles outside the box or favours passing the ball quickly, leaving a lot for his team-mate to do.

3. Crossing to a big man. When Steven Caulker was borrowed last season, we all laughed that it was as an auxiliary striker, but he nonetheless unsettled defences at the end of games and allowed us to get vital points like the 3-3 draw against Arsenal.

4. Dipping into the transfer window/youth ranks for something different. Klopp passed on the opportunity to sign anyone, presumably not to unsettle a squad which has only the Premier League to play in. But sometimes a different player makes a huge difference, not because they’re better, but just because it’s an unknown quantity.

Constructively, apart from shouting, gnashing your teeth or laughing, what other plan Bs are there?
Paul in Brussels

Seriously, that squad…
Well done to Hull and well done to Marco Silva. They took some brave decisions in the transfer window and are seeing the results. If Pochettino is poached by Barcelona in the summer Spurs could do a lot worse than Silva.

However, Hull and Spurs aren’t my concern – Liverpool are. I see the Klopp Out process has started and can understand why some people have started to lose faith. Someone has to be accountable for the current situation. Whether it is Klopp or not is open to debate. I have to say though, if not Klopp then who? If Jurgen Klopp cannot get a tune out of Liverpool then we are royally shafted. For now I am happy he has a six year contract and I am happy that the board are patient and await long term results.

So who is accountable then? Someone needs to explain why, in February 2017, Liverpool are playing Lucas at centre back, James Milner at left back and Simon Mignolet in goal. Can anyone realistically point to another Premier League side who would do the same? Sunderland, maybe. Middlesbrough, possibly. That is about it. Simon Mignolet was proved to be inadequate at least five transfer windows ago and is still here. In that time Jan Oblak, Joe Hart, Petr Cech and Asmir Begovic have all moved and Fraser Forster has been at Southampton. Liverpool have spent a decent wedge in that time but under £5m on a keeper.

Someone needs to be accountable for no centre-backs, no left-backs, no goalkeeper. For the love of god, how simple must it be? They must look across Monday morning training and pick up the sides for a practice match and realise the yellow bib team has no f-ing left back. The green bib team has no centre backs and neither team has a functioning keeper!

Oh, and The name’s Keg…Keg Bond, Nairobi started the ball rolling on top six predictions so I will pitch in with mine;

Chelsea
Man City
Tottenham
United (little bit of sick in my mouth there)
Arsenal
Everton
Micki Attridge

A few thoughts…
I watched Hull v Liverpool on a dodgy feed in a pub in Liverpool. Hull certainly look a refreshed team, in the same way that Liverpool look shattered. It was amusing to watch back Merson and Thompson talking about how Marco Silva didn’t know the league like a League One manager, maybe knowing the league isn’t as important as knowing your stuff.

Everton v Bournemouth was on a dodgy feed in a pub round the corner. Bugger.

Chelsea really look very comfortable in as much as they really didn’t look like they were at their very best to sweep past Arsenal. Arsenal look Arsenal, now they look like the title is out of their reach back them in every game, except the Champions League last 16 of course.

If City fancy challenging next season, Jesus take the wheel.

Dropping down a level for a mo, given the result against Brighton and then the victorious scuffle against Leeds I would imagine Sarah Winterburn will be sauntering around the office like she runs the place (which is handy given the circumstances). Much like when Mr Burns got high on ether I would imagine there’s a queue into her office to request new bowling tops, holidays and pay rises. In fairness Huddersfield look quite the tasty meal they were described as.

On a sombre note, I wince for the mailbox when I see Palace have lost, Eds recent missives are exhausting and bereft of joy. Try and keep the last mail light-hearted if possible (you can only print what you get, yes), reprint an old Stewie Griffin mail if needs be, I think he must be the happiest fan around at the moment. Chippy.

Chelsea aside, the top of the Premier League, the bottom of the Premier League and the top of the Championship are shaping up for a really interesting end to the season. It’s exciting to see, which is what it’s about. We drew 2-2 and sit in the middle.
Chris ITFC, Liverpool

Arsenal are not Arsenal…they are Arsene
Like every Arsenal fan, I was tremendously disappointed with the result this weekend and coming into work this morning to field the usual jibes about how our season is over in February again just reinforces the tedium of living out groundhog day for the past few years. This in itself is the reason that it’s time for a new manager at Arsenal. I have a huge amount of respect and adoration for Arsene, but the years of being close but not really in the hunt have now become so entrenched that no matter what Arsene’s hunger is, it does seem to be insurmountable.

The phenomenon first became evident to me back when we played United away last year and lost 3-2 despite having a near full strength team compared to their patchwork team. In spite of the fact that we should really have won that game comfortably, Wenger had to field questions in every pre-game press conference about the 8-2, about the fact that we hadn’t won up there for years. The narrative around the game seemed to create an environment where it seemed harder to win than it should. Inevitably the Arsenal players couldn’t cope and we got rolled in all too predictable fashion. Roll forward to Chelsea and it has happened again. The joke about Arsenal being Arsenal is really Arsenal being Arsene.

I’m not an Arsenal moron who does not respect Wenger for what he has achieve nor do I believe that he only cares about finishing in the top four and running the club at a profit. That is absolute nonsense and to listen to that makes me more angry than watching our insipid performances when the pressure is on. The man has as much desire and hunger to achieve as anyone in the league. However, if you re-wind a few years, it was easy to point the finger at Arsenal for lacking the quality of player to compete properly for the title. That’s not the case, a comparison of Arsenal’s first team and squad now stands up to any other team in the leagues and so now the finger has to point at the environment and unfortunately given his omnipotence at Arsenal, that means pointing the finger at Arsene.

From years watching Fergie’s teams, big game performances were all about performing as a collective. It’s not about looking at individuals and saying that they don’t perform in big games, teams that win more big games than they lose perform outstandingly as a team. Chelsea won with two of their three goals, one from a left back and one from a substitute that has played about an hour of football in the last 10 games. Their winning was not necessarily about having their best players perform better on the day, but about the unity of the team.

He does not have to be abused and derided when saying it’s time to move on, he can and should be lauded for what he has done to the club, but it is time to move on.

If Arsenal immediately go backwards, that does not make it the wrong decision. Changing the environment at Arsenal will take time and in losing Arsene, we will not be losing an incompetent manager, but a wonderful manager for whom the conditions he worked under following the stadium move and the influx of foreign investors have created a task that he does not look capable of conquering.
Richard

Ted’s Manchester United conclusions
1. First, I thought the Mata challenge was appropriately punished. It was definitely a foul but the suggestion it was two footed, or even in the same ballpark as Rojo’s misdemeanours is nonsense; it was clearly one footed, he never left the ground and he only starts the manoeuvre when he thinks he can win the ball. Obviously he got it wrong, but it was a standard slide tackle in my book. Plus I’m almost certain Leicester got the same treatment for a similar tackle later on, so at least the referee was consistent.

2. It still wasn’t a great performance from us, despite the score line. Leicester were abysmal and there for the taking, and a more clinical team could have put at least five past them. It is still taking far too many chances to score; we had at least three other great opportunities to score (Mata had two, Rashford one) but fluffed the lines again – fortunately it didn’t matter this time, but if we want to win with more regularity then we need to be taking more chances.

3. That said, it was refreshing to see Valencia break into the box and pull the ball back into space, where Zlatan had lost his marker and finished the chance. That’s something we haven’t seen nearly enough of lately, and needs to happen more often. We weren’t shooting from distance as much, and all three goals were scored from getting into the box – who would have thought that getting closer to the goal would make it easier to score?

4. Rashford is in danger of being the next Danny Welbeck. Not in terms of the injuries, but in terms of talent not being fulfilled. Like Welbeck, he seems to struggle when he has time to think – simple things like dribbling, decision making, and shot selection are noticeably worse at the moment. Also like Welbeck, when he plays on instinct he is capable of brilliance, but he needs some proper mentoring to improve the other side of his game if he is to fulfill his great potential.

5. Martial is clearly off at the end of the season, isn’t he? A great second-half performance against Wigan in the cup has seemingly been overlooked, and he can’t get a run out when we’re either searching for a goal at 0-0, or cruising a game 3-0 up. I don’t mind so much when Rashford is starting in his place, but when Ashley Young is getting the nod ahead of you, you know your time is up. It will be a real shame if he does leave, as I think he could be a wonderful player eventually, but it seems like Mourinho isn’t interested in putting in the work to get the best out of him, or Luke Shaw seemingly.

5. The defence is still a major concern. I still haven’t seen anything to suggest that Smalling can cut it or reach the levels we need him to. Jones is the better of the two, but his fitness can’t be relied upon. It’s great to have Bailly back, but we need another centre back to partner him every week. Jones should be third choice and, grudgingly, Rojo is alright as a squad player, but Smalling needs to be shown the door and upgraded from. We also need a right back and left back (assuming Shaw is still overlooked every week), as I fully expect Darmian will also leave in the summer.

6. I thought our midfield looked much better with Pogba and Herrera behind Mata/Mkhitaryan, instead of in front of Carrick. It won’t work every game – there will be occasions when we need an anchor man – but we posed a much greater attacking threat without Carrick. He has been a great servant to the club, but he can’t be the long term plan for that role.

7. While I’m obviously not a Leicester afficionado, it seems to me that their downfall is of their own making. They didn’t replace (or seemingly even try to) Kante, they should have replaced at least one of the very limited Huth and Morgan (great partnership last year, but it wasn’t going to be long until their weaknesses were figured out), and Vardy’s Midas touch was always going to wear off. They were getting the luck of champions, particularly towards the end of the season, and that was always going to be their undoing when it ran out. I like Ranieri, but he does deserve criticism for failing to address such glaring issues in two consecutive windows. That said, I don’t see the point in sacking him now. I don’t think Leicester will go down, and he deserves time to turn it around; could a new manager really do any better with the same squad and no transfer windows? I’m not convinced.

It was great to finally make up some ground on our rivals, and we just have to hope they gift us another chance or two to pass them. But those six dropped points in the previous three league games will probably cost us, or at the very least make the task that much harder. I just hope that Jose takes the Europa League seriously – I really want us to win that trophy.
Ted, Manchester

On entitlement and qualifications
JT is a bit of a knob isn’t he..

I have eaten food for almost my entire life, I am bloody good at it, I reckon I am probably one of the best in the world actually, I can literally get all that food from my plate and into my mouth every time without spilling any (okay, almost every time) I have had 45 yrs practice.

Amazingly when I wanted Raymond Blanc’s job or Gino Dicampo’s, I was told I would need to learn to cook… for years and pass exams an everything and be good at actual cooking.. Which apparently is a little different from just eating the food I am served by someone else who has cooked it for me…who knew?

Sadly the same applied to drinking, I have been doing that almost every day for 27 (coz that makes it legal) years. But no matter how much I want it, they will not just give me a pub to run.

The idiots! Don’t they know they need us to stop ‘the foreigns’ taking over our pubs and restaurants .. Le Gavroche… Ha!

We need a JTs fish ‘n’ a chip Emporium in every taaan. – And it doesnt have them Michelin stars – We have Dunlop ones! Obviously.
Al – Satire!! More fun than losing to Hull (and Burnley/Swansea etc etc)

In reluctant defence of John Terry…
Before I begin, may I state for the record that I am naturally inclined to dislike John Terry – the last time I wrote anything about him, it was a forensic analysis of the circumstances in which he was actually good, and it wasn’t complimentary. I also like John Nicholson. I don’t always agree with him (usually do though), but I always enjoy his writing.

As a F365 fan boy, and almost certainly part of the Liberal Elite I keep hearing about, I listened to John Terry being interviewed on Radio 5 on Sunday ready to mock his stupid words and rage against his arrogance. What followed though, was by-and-large entirely rational, modest and un-entitled. He was on Sportsweek to talk about his friend Frank Lampard who had just retired. Most of the conversation around coaching and managing was in relation to Lampard, and not Terry.

Quite how you interpret the bits that F365 and The Mirror picked up is open to some debate. Within the context of everything else he said, I assumed he was talking about getting recently retired professionals working with young players ahead of completing their qualifications. He then specifically spoke about how he and Lampard had benefitted enormously from the influence to Vialli and Zola early in his own career.

I agree totally that being a good player doesn’t make anyone a good manager, and I’ve never understood the argument that giving it Giggseh is anything other than a massive gamble based on little evidence. Coaching, though, I’d say is a little different. I have no clue what the success rate of ex-players is in a coaching role, or what best qualifies one coach from another…but it was coaching that Terry was mostly talking about. You can agree, or disagree with the idea that ex-international players should be encouraged to become coaches, but what Terry was saying is that if we do want people who never have to work a day in their lives again to take up coaching, it might be an idea to make it easy for them. I’m not sure that’s a supportable argument, certainly..it’s also just one line from a fairly lengthy interview.

Here, for balance, are some other things he said when asked about managing Chelsea.

“It’s not as simple as that. We both appreciate and understand that it’s important to go and get our coaching badges, to go out and gain the experience whether that’s in the youth team or reserve or other teams within Chelsea or other football clubs. To learn our experiences as well, for both of us..we wouldn’t want to come to Stamford Bridge inexperienced and kind of take the team and not do it justice, If we can come back in 10, 15 years at the peak of our careers as managers and do a great job, that would be unbelievable.”

I don’t disagree that there is a pervasive sense in football that there should be some jobs for the boys, and certainly Wilkins and Merson reinforced that view. But having listened to the John Terry interview in full, I’d say labelling it a ‘sickening sense of entitlement’ is a little unfair. Right argument, wrong starting point.
Jeremy Aves

Are Palace players too good?
Is Big Sam struggling at Palace because he has a squad that is too good for him? Compare to the dross he has managed at Bolton, Sunderland, England? Discuss.
Stuey, bored and tired, Dudley

We all love Peter G
From Peter G’s morning letter:

‘…Silva started five players of five different nationalities who a few weeks ago played for five different teams in five different countries.’

There’s a lovely, lyrical, element to this fact and the way it was presented that made me smile.

That’s all I had to say, really.
Michael C

Defending Ty and Claude
Really interesting piece on the fan channels.

Have to take exception on the comments about Ty and Claude, however.

Those guys may seem like caricatures but I can assure you they are real people.

Years ago way before Arsenal Fan TV, I saw Ty on a bus – that guy always dresses in Arsenal attire – he doesn’t do it for effect – he always dresses like that.

As for Claude, well, the channel is cathartic for him. It’s very easy to knock him but a lot of real fans that support a whole array of clubs – Arsenal and beyond – see a lot of themselves in him. He’s a fan that spends a great deal of his income watching almost exactly the same season year after year – no wonder he’s annoyed.

Great point on the commercialisation of the channels – I had no idea so many of them are owned by commercial companies.

At times I don’t like Arsenal Fan TV as it seems like it makes our fans look like an idiot but it’s up to people that appear on it in terms of what they say. One of the Arsenal Fan TV regulars – Graham – not me I hasten to add, offers very good tactical analysis whenever he’s on. If TY wanted to slam Wenger for Saturday’s debacle that’s up to him – he just chooses not to. These guys’ entrenched opinions are their issue not the fan channels.

I could blame you guys for publishing my ill thought out mailbox missives in the wake of another shameful Arsenal defeat but it’s up to me how I am perceived – they’re my words and that applies equally to the fan channels.

If I put myself out there and look like an idiot – that’s my fault regardless of whether my content appears on F365, Arsenal Fan TV or anywhere else for that matter.
Graham Simons, Gooner, Norf London

Beans on toast please
I don’t know whether you do this but seeing as they quite often give you a plug I wondered if you could direct anyone who labels Arsenal fans who want Wenger gone ungrateful or spoilt to this paragraph from Arseblog:

‘It’s like being handed steak and chips every night for dinner. Steak is delicious, chips are delicious. Mmm, steak again, medium rare. I love steak. But after a while you’d give your right arm for a chicken sandwich, or a bowl of soup, or beans on toast. It might sound spoiled, because steak is not cheap and there are starving children all over the world who would gladly have that steak young man, but it is what it is. You just want something different.’

Yeah that about sums it up. Beans on toast would be fine for a bit.
Matt, AFC