12 Mar 2018 12:18:02
We haven’t covered ourselves in glory this weekend, that’s not the players I’m talking about, that’s the fans. On Saturday the team went to Old Trafford full of confidence but were out-thought and out-played and deservedly lost. Since then it’s been pretty toxic on here. Football is at its best when there is respect between fans of rival clubs (it’s one of the reasons Ed25 has replaced Studge as my man-crush) but the bitterness, the denial and the pettiness we’ve shown towards Utd makes us look like children.

There’s plenty not to like about Mourinho but there’s a lot to admire as well, he, along with Guardiola, is the stand out manager of this generation. Any fan who accuses Mourinho of playing the ‘wrong’ way is just doesn’t get football, there is no correct way to play football there’s just the way that wins on the day. For Mourinho and his Utd squad that meant playing conservatively, nullifying our biggest threats and exploiting our weaknesses, it worked a treat. Any fan who says he’s rather lose playing one way than win playing another is a liar.

Then there’s the ‘Stoke with Money’ accusation, the hypocrisy of this statement is absurd, even if we ignore the fact that we’ve spent more than Utd this season we are always calling for the owners to sign more and more expensive players. We then have the gall to insult another club for doing exactly what we’d like to be doing.

‘They’d be nothing without DDG’, DDG had almost nothing to do on Saturday whilst our own talisman had his worst game since he arrived at the club. They didn’t need DDG to win, Salah was anonymous and we couldn’t score. To paraphrase, fans in glass stadia shouldn’t throw coins.

Finally there’s the red tinted spectacles and the deflection; 'we may have lost but we’re a club on the way up whilst they’re the second team in their own city and on the way down'. We finished 7 points ahead of them last season, we’re going to be nowhere near that this one, even if we do reel them they will have improved more than we have since last year. The self denial that we’re somehow better or more virtuous is blinding.

Stepping away from Utd we’ve then got the fan’s mood swing about our own players. Over the last 20 months we’ve been building TAA up to be something really special, the truth is he’s a converted midfielder who’s impressed on the front foot thanks to playing in a dominant team. On Saturday he didn’t have the freedom to play his attacking game and his defensive weaknesses were targeted and, low and behold, he struggled. This is why Clyne played so much last year, TAA is not a real fullback and, despite his areas of excellence, he is not well equipped to play a physical game on the back foot. Given another couple of years of development, both physically and positionally, this will change but we shouldn’t expected so much of him so soon.


Assorted other musings from the game:

Lovren plays well for a few weeks and everyone starts saying he’s good enough for Liverpool but, after four years of inconsistency, we should know better. If Lovren has a future at the club it’s as a stop gap until Gomez is ready to take over, if Gomez doesn’t look like making the grade then sell Lovren this summer and buy VVD’s long term partner.

I hate using ref’s decisions as an excuse for losing a game, we barely threatened at all on Saturday and, whilst on balance we could have expected one penalty to be given, who’s to say we would have scored it. If we want to win these games we have to earn it by playing better than the opposition, we didn’t do that this weekend.

This loss has brought uncertainty back into our season, we could be brilliant and still get second but third or fourth is now most likely. What we have to be really careful about is giving Chelsea hope, we need to be at least seven points ahead of them when we go to Stamford bridge in our penultimate game, if they’re still in with a shout of top four and beat us we’ll be under immense pressure in the final round of games.

{Ed025's Note - great post putney...if only carlsberg did supporters mate..

1.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 14:07:01
superb post Putney we are also paying the price for those draws, we are improving but we also have a lot of improving to do, your last paragraph sums it all up nicely. We still have plenty to play for at home and in Europe.

2.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 14:22:19
Great post Putney. I disagree slightly on TAA who I think could be an excellent FB but overall well said mate.

3.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 14:27:31
That made a great read Putney cheers mate.

4.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 14:29:36
Great post Putney but the Liverpool / United fixture has been toxic for decades mate, it’s nothing new. We are always kept inside the stadium ( United away ) for at least half an hour whilst the home fans to disperse, it’s the same when they come to our place.

Social media is, unfortunately, the perfect platform to elevate toxic comments.

It’s the same with Everton, this fixture has also become toxic. I remember sitting in the old Wembley, 86 cup final when we played Everton, the whole stadium sang Merseyside.

Those days are long gone I’m afraid

Good post none the less.

5.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 15:22:23
Well said Putney!

6.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 14:03:20
Magnificent! One of the best post mate! I couldn’t agree more nor add anything. UTD are a lot more than stoke plus money! The fact our front three cost as much as their front three shows we have been spending as much as them! They have a £75 mill striker while we have a £75 CB! They have a £40 mill Matic while we have a £40 mill AOC.

They are likely to win at least one trophy which is always a bonus when you are a big club!
This defeat is a tight slap at all those who mock others. Disrespect opponents and shows arrogance when they are winning.
What a reflection Putney! You are one of my fav poster!

7.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 14:05:30
Just to add to those who are still clutching their straws. Had Mata controlled that ball on his chest and glide past Karius the tie would have finished before half time! Let’s juts accept a defeat and reflect up on it and correct it like working on long direct balls, Using width to stretch.

8.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 16:47:42
I think the proof is the pudding as too why fans want more expensive players, Van Dijk cost the earth and has proven why he did as he stands out head an shoulders above all our other defenders, if we get a partner for him of equal cost/ quality we would be a lot better off, 2 or 3 Lovrens at 20 mill or 1 top class player at 65/ 70 mill? As for TAA I think its harsh not letting him (like Gomez) make the odd mistake, he will watch the game back and im sure Klopp will let him know how to improve next time, Lovren should have passed Lukaku on to a midfielder anyway instead of going that far out of position IMO we are still on the up ynwa.

9.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 17:11:47
Thank you all for your kind comments. Ed25, I've never seen you lose your rag or composure on this page when I'm certain you've had cause to. You're a credit to this site and to Everton.

{Ed025's Note - cheers mate, im not sweetness and light all the time though as im sure my 2 liverpool supporting sons and my bird would tell you.. :)

10.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 17:34:53
I just love how Harry puts his thoughts on the site. Always a good read. Bravo good sir.
Also nice read putney and pretty much agree with all you said. Good on you.

11.) 12 Mar 2018
12 Mar 2018 20:31:32
Lanc Red, I thought the same myself, about the long balls to Lukaku, who clever enough moved Lovren out of position, Can was doing nothing at this point, and should have picked up the deep striker, leaving Lovren to stay in position, and help TAA out, this kinda tactic should have been sorted well before the game,
not good enough,
our midfield on Sat, not good enough, so even tho there are still one or two who think we can get 2nd, 4th is prob where we will end up, Spurs are still strong, we still have two very tough away games, I don't expect 6 points from these two games,
4th place will get us Champions League again, and I will be happy with that, but we need to improve our midfield for next season, or it might be 4th again .