1.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 11:28:05
I'm genuinely looking forward to Ramos playing with VAR, see if anything changes and to see his bookings go up. What confuses me is How come no one wants to injure him? Like if he keeps leaving a foot in, it doesn't seem that many leave a foot in on him.

2.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 11:26:24
Fantastic 001. Spot on with Ramos. And the red.

{Ed001's Note - cheers mate. That was a hard one to write, so many rewrites. I don't normally read things back until I have finished because I am never happy, but I kept breaking that rule this time so I ended up redoing it 4 or 5 times.}

3.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 11:31:48
Well when you consider the circumstances, I enjoyed reading that Ed1. You must've had veins popping out your head and steam coming out writing that lol.

I completely agree with everything there, especially regarding Karius, wow I feel for that kid so much. More so because of the abuse he's received, it's just so wrong and no matter what, he doesn't deserve any of the abuse he's been getting. Poor fella.

Also on Lallana, his heart isn't in it at all. See, if that was me, I come on at the 30 min mark, it's now my time to make a name for myself, make a difference it's your time to shine. He didn't, he was invisible half of the time and yeah your right, he offered nothing. If I was in his shoes I'd of played my heart out, prove your meant to be there on that pitch in the CL final. But nah, nothing. Very disappointing from him.

Thanks Ed mate. As always, brilliantly put together and wrote.

{Ed001's Note - I think Lallana was just a bit lost, he was trying his hardest I am sure, after all he wants to go to Russia, but he is just so far off the pace. The injuries have really slowed him down.}

4.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 11:35:40
Firmane I can imagine many players do but if they as much as breath on him he rolls around for days, can you imagine what he’d do with a proper tackle?

{Ed001's Note - not just that, but he mainly plays up against fancy dan forwards who are not into the hard stuff. They want to get on the ball, not kick someone.}

5.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 11:36:08
Thanks ed great review. It’s actually unbelievable that the ref hadn’t featured in any CL games this season. Our midfield didn’t play anywhere near good enough and could have been the difference. I agree Hendo should have stepped up and consoled Karius.

{Ed001's Note - it is not unbelievable when you think it is UEFA involved.}

6.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 11:46:33
Thank you ed, your reviews through the season have been brilliant.
Do you agree that the referee had a shocker? The amount of fouls given against us was ridiculous and the diving of the Real players was disgusting. I just don't understand why Madrid always get the decision their way every year without fail. I was screaming at the tv when we win the ball and the referee gives them a foul and then two minutes later one of their players clearly fouls our man then he doesn't give anything.
Who was your pick to come on to replace Salah at the time? I was thinking an extra man in midfield and leave Mane up top and Firmino to drop a little deeper to join play.
Also I think that Salah going off showed that we need a player with pace who can come on and effectively replace them if need be. I think once one of Salah or Mane go off then we lose so much pace out wide so that needs addressing this summer. If fekir comes in then he could do a job of covering Firmino if he goes off injured.

Just so so bitterly disappointed at that result. It's not like Real are a much better team than us or anything, it's just on the night things went against us.

{Ed001's Note - hard to call it a shocker when you have watched Real Madrid play in the past. They are well known for getting 'favourable' decisions. The fact that the ref had not reffed in the whole of the competition before, and so was hand-picked for the final, should tell you all you need to know. Nothing shocking, it is normal for them to get all the decisions in their favour.

At the time? I thought Solanke would have been best. Lallana is someone whose use, imo, is best to come on to retain a lead. He takes far too many touches and wastes far too much time on the ball for a quick breaking side like us. It has got worse since his injury. I would have brought on Solanke with the instructions of hammering Ramos at every opportunity. Ramos is a coward, he always vanishes up against someone physical who is at him or gets himself sent off with a wild lunge. Solanke is the only forward we had available who could have given him a physical challenge.}

7.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 12:21:50
Do we need another flying machine on the bench?
Solanke is reasonably quick but he's put a bit of bulk on (muscle) and doesn't look as fast.
Ings' injury woes have slowed him up a tad.

When your game plan revolves around hitting quickly on the counter or from pressing, we look threadbare after Mane and Salah?

8.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 12:08:47
Cheers ed!

{Ed001's Note - welcome mate.}

9.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 12:11:53
Great review ed1. Totally agree about Solanke he maybe raw but he doesn't get bullied. Do you think Klopp will be looking to sell Lallana this summer?

{Ed001's Note - it is Lallana that is looking for a move. He knows he is being pushed towards the fringes of the team.}

10.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 12:53:50
Thank you for your response ed.

{Ed001's Note - very welcome mate.}

11.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 12:54:19
I’d say that was tough one to right Ed so big respect for that we are all trying to get over it and you’d to relive it all so well done! One lil thing u missed to write was Ramos u absolute p#%#k 😂.

{Ed001's Note - it was difficult to write it without saying that!}

12.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 13:01:40
Ok thanks.

13.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 13:21:40
Thank you for the review Ed. Very good read.

{Ed001's Note - cheers stone.}

14.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 14:35:07
I know Klopp didn’t have many options on the bench but, when Salah went off, I’d have moved Mane over to the right and told him to play on the shoulder of the last man like Salah does. It would have maybe kept Marcelo from thinking he had been let off the leash when Salah went off.

I would have brought on Moreno in the left. He wouldn’t have been in a position where his cavalier approach can cause problems at the back as he would be further forward and able to double up with Robertson when required. We would have maintained pace on both flanks. As it was, with Lallana coming on, we had no pace on either flank.

15.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 14:43:57
Although Diego costa isn’t going to win any citizen of the year awards I do love that fact that he used to love roughing up Ramos!

16.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 15:00:28
Cracking read that. good review. Never liked Madrid anyway. Always been a Barcelona man! Here's to next season lads. and a special mention to the eds for making my phone bill so high due to high data usage.
A big YNWA.

17.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 15:10:14
All my son kept saying through the match is that we should have loaned Andy Carrol just for that game to smash Ramos, haha 😂, I told him he wouldn’t have only injured himself trying!

18.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 15:21:26
Great write up Tris, but very hard to read. I’m only just surfacing after that night, lost my phone on the train too as well as missing my stop. Pretty much sums up the night.

Despite all the well wishes, and I add mine to them, I don’t think we will see Loris with the liver bird on his chest again. I see that night the same as the wally with the brolly, and remind me how many more caps Carson got?

Anyway, that’s that. Here’s to 2018-19, we go again.

{Ed001's Note - thank you mate. Hope you found your phone in the end?}

19.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 16:10:19
Great read Ed

Looking back at the game, in the first 25 Mins
- on 25 seconds Salah almost played in Mané
- we had Gini with plenty of space on 2:30 after some clever link play, but he delayed his shot and got deflected
- Firmino almost played in Mané again on 6:30 with a beautiful pass but was just intercepted
- Firmino almost chested the ball for Trent 1-1 with the keeper on 7:00 but it fell just short
- We had a beautiful counter attack develop with Mané down the left, and first Salah and then Firmino breaking through the middle on 17:00 but he unfortunately didn’t manage to play either in
- VVD beat the keeper from a corner but put it over the bar on 17:30
- Robertson almost released Firmino and Mané in behind on 21:40 (with Salah clean through the middle too) but it break down after a sloppy header by Firmino
- on 22:30 Firmino was played in on the penalty spot by Milner (it fell slightly behind him though and an unusually sloppy first touch meant the shot was blocked) and then Trent’s shot was well saved

In all this time RM only really had one major chance which was Ronaldo’s hit over the bar. and then on 24:30 Salah was injured. Until that point it just felt like it was coming. just as it felt it was inevitable we would score in so many previous games before.

We’ll never know the outcome if Ramos hadn’t ‘left one on him’ as you tactfully put it, but looking back the shift in momentum from that point was extraordinary and you can’t help but feel Ramos intentionally hurt him when you watch how he rolled into that tackle holding his arm.

20.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 16:29:54
Nope, phone is gone 😢 it may get handed in eventually, as I’ve locked it remotely so no use to anyone, but I need to get a new one as if it does turn up, it’ll probably take a month, lol!

21.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 17:26:30
Hi ed01, not seen you since the final. I hope you're okay mate. Agree totally about ramos, I wish we still had Graeme souness who could hive him something to cry about.

I thought gini had a half decent game.

{Ed001's Note - half decent is not good enough for me though mate. He has the talent to do more.}

22.) 28 May 2018
28 May 2018 17:49:30
Fair enough ed01, glad you're okay dude. There was a point in that game when it looked like gini could take complete control of the game. Almost looked as if he bottled it. He went up in my estimation. Lallana went down on my estimation. I was shell shocked by salah injury, we never fully recovered for that blow.

Mane was brilliant and could easily get in that Madrid team imo.

Can I take this chance to ask, could you list the clubs who could potentially sign Bale? Please. Do we have a chance?

{Ed001's Note - it is nothing to do with Liverpool mate.}

23.) 29 May 2018
28 May 2018 20:37:45
Thanks for fixing that Eds. Good review Ed001. Only part I disagreed on was Robbo. Considering the lack of help he got from Lallana and Virgil I thought he was brilliant. He really tried firing up the troops. He perhaps tried too hard at times but I prefer that too giving up!

{Ed001's Note - sorry but you can't say he was brilliant considering, he either was or he wasn't. He didn't stop crosses, he kept getting caught between the two he was left on his own with. He just showed his inexperience and wasn't helped by