Liverpool banter 2

16 May 2024 16:26:16
What do people think of this vote to scrap VAR? For me it’s never going to happen and the vote is being used to facilitate change.

This has got me thinking, what are the big changes that need to happen next season to improve VAR.

In no particular order;

1- Automated offside - these need to come in

2- playing the review live into the stadium so fans have a clue what is going on.

3- no decisions made by stockley park officials, the ref should be making all subjective decisions (except offside) watch the review on the big screen and make their own opinion up

4- removal of clear and obvious, if an error has been made it should be corrected and that responsiblity lies with the ref.

5- stop using so much slow motion replays, slow motion should only be used to confirm where a foul occurred ( inside or outside the box scenario) or where contact was made ( high tackle or to confirm if there was a handball)

6- cut the time for decisions, if something takes 3 or 4 minutes to review then it’s never going to please everyone and it is clearly a subjective decision so go with what you think is the correct call after reviewing the footage

7- remove Howard Webb, this man wants publicity and craves attention, scrap this Mic’d up rubbish with Michael Owen and get on with it

8- stop expecting perfection, we will never get 100% of the calls correct so stop measuring refs to this standard.

16 May 2024 16:58:26
VAR is just a qualified referee watching an incident multiple times on a tv screen, anything less than 100% success rate is unacceptable.
Ultimately fans can accept and move of from a referee on the pitch making a wrong decision but not from someone watching something multiple times and still making the wrong decision.
Get rid of it.

16 May 2024 17:52:45
I’ve dabbled with the notion of bin VAR too but where does that leave us, a terrible referee making a decision on their own! If they can’t make a decision with 100s of camera angles and a team of refs then it will only get worse on their own. I guess the big decision is, does the marginal increase in correct decisions coming from VAR mitigate against the negatives which VAR brings ( fan experience and speed of the game) .

16 May 2024 21:48:24
Multiple posts on this and not seeing any valid points about why it should be binned other than hysterics over the extreme mistakes.

Need to evolve and get better at using the technology.

16 May 2024 15:57:32
Genuinely I am not trying to annoy people but here goes.
For the last few years I've wanted klopp gone I've finally got my wish. I prey Salah is next to go with Diaz and Trent and a few of the lesser used players.
I think with these sales we can really do well with our incoming head coach.
I guess what I am saying is don't be too upset about klopp and players leaving. We all have good memories with the trophies we have won.
I am really excited for next season if my personal preferences regarding sales comes to fruition.
I am going to state right now we win nothing next season but the season after we will have silverware. If Slot gets 3 seasons minimum I think we win at least 2 premier leagues and hopefully a cup or two.

16 May 2024 17:49:19
Walter, mighty grand of you to concede we may get silverware in two years time.

16 May 2024 18:46:18
No need to pray for players to be sold.
I’m excited for the future too.

16 May 2024 13:47:07
Thoughts.
I reckon we should have a clean out off 4 main players. Salah, Allison, TAA. And Timikias. Reason we could get a small fortune. I wouldn't take anything less than 80 million for Salah. 60 million for Allison and 50 to 60 million for TTA. Throw in departures of Matip, Thiago, and Nat Phillips. Matip already made replacement Sepp, and thiago's is calvellia. No costs. potention revenue 200 mill + of player sales.

Plus any tranfer kitty, we could have a tidy some to re invest. Make Nunez the main man, he scored more while salah didn't play. And let's be frank our team is set up for Salah. We still have 4 main scorers still Nunez, cody, diaz and Jota. We have a right back already in Bradley. We could buy 5 quality players and still have change. Keep our youth and go again next year. Everybody cried when coultino left and that turned into a blessing.

And Play our players in their best spots. I don't think it will be all doom and gloom. Get Thurman, kloopminers, a cb and right back and a goalie at least. Slot hopefully is no mug. And move away from and players that play in the African conference. We always loose players during the period and l reckon that causes our players to run out of puff in the back end of the season.

16 May 2024 14:10:00
If we sell everyone then your name makes sense at least, unlike your post 🙈.

16 May 2024 14:12:44
Allison has to stay for me
Tsimikas can leave gives a lot of effort but not irreplaceable
Salah we may have seen the best of salah and a move in the middle may have to be the way forward with him if he’s to stay as he’s lost the ability to beat a man and offers little out wide now .
Trent is a whole conundrum that needs sorting imo
Is he a right back . Will he move to midfield or will he be the man to invert in slots system who knows . But for sure he has some serious quality and can make things happen but need to seriously work on his defensive side of his game and reading of the game as far to many times he let's men run off him and is too slow to react and get back .

16 May 2024 14:31:11
Top priorities must be LCB and DM (replacing Matip and Tiago in the squad) . Any other signings will just be replacing any other players who are sold. I expect Kelleher and possibly Tsimikas to go. Salah or Diaz could go but would not be surprised to see them both stay.
We just finished 3rd and were in the title race until late in the season. I don't expect a major overhaul - it would be madness!

16 May 2024 14:39:00
1. Why would you want to sell Alisson? He's 31. Keepers routinely last into their late 30s, so he should have at least 5 years left at the top, and he the best keeper there is. We quite literally cannot get a replacement who is as good.

2. I remain skeptical about getting figures of £70m or £80m for Salah. There seems to be an assumption that Saudi club will waltz in and offer him £5m a week, or whatever, that he "can't refuse", and he'll happily go there and play in front 600 people ever week. Either they failed to communicate such an irrefusable offer to Salah last summer, given that Salah made no public attempt to agitate for the move, or they weren't serious about the move at all. Certainly bidding £150m on deadline day, when they knew full well we couldn't accept it, cos we didn't have time to reinvest the money to me suggests the latter. Maybe they'll be more serious this year if they can get him for half of what they could have last summer, but given numerous European players are unhappy there and they're supposed to be concentrating on getting younger players in, I think it's far from a done deal that a Saudi club will bid £70-80m for Salah.

The only other place I could see him going for big money is PSG.

3. I agree that Tsimikas could be sold.

4. I'm not sure what to with Trent Alexander-Arnold either. I don't understand why he's such a massive defensive liability that we can't have at right back now when he was a defensive liability that we could cover when we were winning literally everything 3 or 4 years ago with him playing right back every game. I personally don't see why we can't go back to that (although Slot apparently prefers inverted wing backs), and if it is a case that he's not bothering, then someone needs to slap him. There is a case that we could use him in central midfield, especially with Bradley breaking through at right back instead. Alternatively maybe Slot will perfect the inverted wing back system here. At this point I wouldn't look to sell because he's by far the best passer of a football at the club, and maybe in the league apart from KDB. And if Slot likes possession football, then surely that's a talent set he'll make good use of.

In my opinion, we need to make decisions about van Dijk and Konate first, as well as making sure we have proper backup for Endo. I don't think van Dijk can play every game anymore without a dip in form somewhere, but he'll also want to play every game, which could be a problem. Konate is on paper our second best central defender and should be playing most games as van Dijk's partner, but he having injury problems and has lost his place to Quansah, who is going to make mistakes because he's 20. That needs resolving.

16 May 2024 15:34:38
Spot on Something Red. DM is the most important for me given how our midfield seems to have become so easy to bypass in the last few weeks. And I know Baj is back but let's be honest, he's not ready yet to play that role for a full season. One position where I'd advocate buying a seasoned top class Pro rather than potential.

16 May 2024 15:42:41
I agree with the op, bar Alison. Trent and Salah need to go for me.
Can get 3 or 4 quality squad players to improve our team.

16 May 2024 15:46:53
Trent doesn’t look fit enough half the time, jogging around, not tracking back, bypassed far too easily, blowing after 60 mins etc etc. I can’t take another season of that. I don’t care how good his passing is.

16 May 2024 16:02:31
One has to speculate has he fully recovered from the injury he got mid-season or if he has an underlying issue then WarMachine, cos he doesn't look like he's been on the pies.

16 May 2024 16:20:45
You don't sell your best players unless you improve on them. I don't see how we would.
TAA has his faults but he's also a match winner. Let him do his stuff rather than expect him to do things he's not good at. Make the team more solid and he'll be less exposed. He's not a typical right back.
Selling Alisson would be madness and Salah is still our top scorer.
It wouldn't be hard to improve on Tsimikas so selling him is easier.

16 May 2024 16:29:00
Getting rid of Allison would be a silly idea. One of the top ten keepers in world football and probably the best in the premier league by a mile. Go ahead and name me someone capable of replacing him?

I would sell Salah as his legs have gone, when you can’t beat Oliver Skipp in a race then forget it.

I’d also I’d move TAA on as well, last year of his contract, Bradley had shown he’s more than just potential and not only looks a better and more effective right back, but is backed up by stats, the reason TAA wasn’t as exposed when we were winning the league and champions league was because he had a functional midfield with a top class defensive midfielder to cover his shortcomings. Those shortcomings are horribly exposed by not only the midfield not being effective but also the tactic of him coming infield and inverting, consequently putting undue pressure on the right centre back. I don’t see TAA as a midfielder either, he simply doesn’t do enough and he’s definitely not a defensive midfielder as we’d get battered every week if we experimented like that, he doesn’t like tackling and doesn’t track runners or read the play. Given he’s got a year left, move him on.

16 May 2024 17:01:44
Stopped reading once I read that Ali should be sold.

16 May 2024 18:49:29
It’s a good point VV. I also think Jordan Henderson playing in front of Trent and barking at him all game really helped keep him switched on and put the effort in. Shouldn’t really be needed though.

16 May 2024 08:21:18
One of my biggest regrets in my life is not watching the 4-0 against Barcelona. I couldn't be bothered to walk to the pub because I didn't believe we'd do it. So instead I just had it on the Talksport radio app on my phone. By the time I realised something special was happening it was too late to get to the pub in time.

Since then I've watched every single televised game regardless of how unlikely victory looked. Klopp made me a believer. Even this season I couldn't fully let go of the league until it was mathematically impossible because I know what the man is capable of masterminding. I broke my arm the morning of the 2022 Carabao Cup final and I practically begged the hospital to discharge me because I knew I was going to miss a special moment if I didn't get home in time.

Klopp will be sorely missed. Legend is thrown around too easily nowadays so the word doesn't really carry the weight Klopp deserves. He's not a legend, he's more than that. He's a phenomenon, a giant and an icon. Every superlative you can throw at him, he deserves them all. I'm gutted that his time here has fizzled out because for what he's made us feel he deserved to go out with a bang. Sunday is going to be very emotional.

16 May 2024 08:46:36
What a post mate, excellent - always enjoy your posts keep them coming MK. Have a good day mate.

16 May 2024 09:46:30
Oh Captain, my Captain.

Great post, Adam.

16 May 2024 10:19:25
It will feel v strange after sunday klopp not being manager. i've dreaded this day for a while but I think it right decision now for him, when he said he running out of energy it clearly the truth, looks a tired man.
Such a brillant man no.1 and a brillant football manager no.2. I will never forget my pride walking into work to place of utd supporters after the 4-0,5-0 and 7-0 games, it had for most part of my lfc supporting life always been other way about, me hiding from them!
Jurgen said it not what people of u coming in its what they think of u going out. never have i heard a truer statement and i certainly couldn't think any more of him as he prepares to leave.

16 May 2024 10:56:36
Wait, you didn't watch that Barcelona game live, MKS? Seriously, I was like you. I didn't believe it either going in BUT I watched it cos I wanted to see what we would do, NOT that I thought we would play the way we played and win the way we did. Boy, I still have shivers watching the highlights of that game cos I remember how I felt in real time whenever I watched those moments again.

As for the Carabao Cup, you're a soldier, man. I can imagine how much pain you must have been on that day and you fought to watch the game cos you knew there could be one of those moments like the Barcelona one you could regret. And as I said after that final and esp. the way we won it, that is Klopp's greatest achievement, IMO and that's saying a lot considering the legendary stuff he had done prior.

As for Klopp, I've run out of words to depict his time here. IMO, Klopp essentially taught us that we can change our fortunes drastically, magnificently IF we are ready to work for it, fight for it, keep our eyes on the prize IF you believe. He turned us from "Doubters to Believers" ONLY cos WE believed. If we didn't believe and stay the course, none of this happens. Klopp is Shankly-esque for a reason.

16 May 2024 11:28:46
I feel your pain, MK. I declined a ticket for £30, cus I couldn't be bothered.

16 May 2024 12:25:13
Oli, I was so mad at myself after that it was about 2 days later when I was finally excited about us making the final. I was still following it in real time, but radio isn't the same.

The broken arm story is just ridiculous, I don't know what I was thinking. I snapped my elbow the wrong way trying to do a bicycle kick on the Sunday morning and landing completely wrong. Doctors told me I needed to wait to be anaesthetised to have it put back in the socket as there was also a fracture/ ligament damage so it would be too painful. I begged them for an hour until they gave me liquid morphine, gas and air and then found a doctor who was prepared to try it with me awake. Took a team of 2 doctors and 3 nurses several attempts but eventually it went back in. I was literally crying in pain and fully passed out when it clicked back into place. They got me discharged just 30 minutes before kick off and my Dad was waiting outside in the car! I had surgery 2 weeks later for them to fit a radial head replacement and a synthetic lateral collateral ligament 😂

Rome1977 that is sickening mate, I'm gutted for you. I'd rather break my arm again than have to live with that regret!

16 May 2024 12:53:17
I’ll watch every game no matter how bad it seems, even the Hodgson six months. Not judging you though, just saying that for me I might as well put myself through it as it might turn out ok. Always have in my mind that we do seem to upset odds occasionally.

16 May 2024 13:49:14
I still watch highlights of the 4-0 against Barcelona and I still get emotional. When Origi scored I didn't celebrate, I just sat stunned and said to my Mrs "they've done it". I suppose I feared that they still had time to score but the looks on the faces of Messi, Suarez etc should have told me they were beaten.
My lad didn't watch football at the time but he regularly does the commentary from the fourth goal.
"They've caught Barcelona napping! "
I think the commentary team was napping, as well 😂.
Fantastic night!

Klopp will be a loss to the PL not just Liverpool. A massive character and he will be a huge loss.

16 May 2024 13:51:05
Fine and emotive words MK 👌👏. Something about our club is that I always feel we can turn deficits round ; Istanbul when I jumped off my sofa that high I put my fists through the ceiling; the 4-0 against Barcelona where as a 54 year old I cried uncontrollablly like a baby! I expected us to overturn Atalanta but that loss to that manure rubbish in the FA Cup was the start of the demise! So wished to send our Glorious Inspitational leader off into the football sunset with some trophies. I’m even looking forward to getting battered in the Wolves end at Anfield on Sunday if my pal swings a ticket! The void this man will leave cannot even be measured until after Sunday BUT we will all get behind Slot, Edwards, Ward and Hughes and we will go again! 🙏👊YNWA.

16 May 2024 14:09:49
Love those stories Rigsby and Schultzy 👏🏻

VV worst thing is I was the same. I even used to stream all the 3pm kick offs. Like I say, I’ll regret that decision forever. Feel like I robbed myself of the greatest moment of Klopp’s tenure.

16 May 2024 15:52:11
Wow, you guys must have lived very virtuous lives if missing a football match is one of your biggest regrets. I think I need to revisit my life choices again 😂😂😂.

16 May 2024 16:09:25
Not sure people will believe me, but I had an inkling we'd do something against Barcelona. Simply because we were having a great season in terms of results, but City were a point in front and didn't look like dropping any. So I just felt that it's rare that football is quite so cruel that a club would play as well as we had for a whole year and be rewarded with nothing.

Still hit the bloody ceiling when Wijnaldum equalised and then went right through it when Origi put us in front, mind.

16 May 2024 16:39:42
MK, went up to the away game at a Chelsea a while back, we got battered 3-0 and Westerveld scored possibly the worst own goal I’ve ever seen (even worse than Traore’s back heel), stayed til the bitter end. Phoned my missus up, told her we were going to stay on in London and drown our sorrows,

I was booking a hotel and I’d see her the next day at some point with a horrible hangover. (Also texted my boss to tell him I’d a dose of the squits so couldn’t go in to work on Monday, dragged that out until the end of the week) she’s also seen the own goal too and totally understood. I can assure you that I got, very, very drunk that evening.

16 May 2024 17:04:26
As someone who needs specs/ glasses to watch games, I thought my eyes had finally given up on me when Divvy hit it top bins. That's how unbelieveable it was. What a finish that was.

16 May 2024 16:43:47
I was on 12 hour nights on a shutdown in Runcorn on the night of the Barca game and had no radio or TV to watch it or listen to. any way at 8pm I was stood down while some other work being carried out.

so I went in to a mess room where there were two Geordies and they had a laptop and they said all right scouse, are you an Evertonian? I won't say what my reply was, but they said we're going on site, do you want to watch it on laptop? and they said can't see you pulling this game around, but here it is set up for the match. they came back just at the end of the game to find me dancing on the table screaming Liverpool, Liverpool.

they said they could hear me screaming and shouting from where they were. that is the reason i love the Newcastle fans. What a night i will never forget it I thought St Etienne was unbeatable but that beat that hands down.

16 May 2024 17:17:07
I was there. It felt like we had already won with the coach welcoming. It was one of those anfield nights where it felt like something special was happening again.

16 May 2024 05:54:18
Looks like VAR is being voted on then at the next PL club meeting. Personally I would not get rid of it, because if we do we'll all be complaining about the amount of offsides that would of been called but won't bez especially now the refs have got used to having that support.
No improvements on communication and removal of subjectivity need to be put i.

{Ed001's Note - forget offsides, they are not going to be included in this. There will be semi-automated offsides so that is not relevant. VAR is a terrible system which destroys the enjoyment of celebrating a goal, it needs to go.}

16 May 2024 07:24:17
Get rid of it, it's been a mess.

16 May 2024 07:27:59
I think after VAR, not many will be complaining about an on-field ref getting a few decisions wrong. It has sucked the last few joys left in football for me.

16 May 2024 07:51:13
Ed001, you are correct. That is the biggest problem with VAR.

16 May 2024 07:56:16
My only hope is that they don't then start looking at subjective offsides with the automated system. Like when Endo apparently blocked Colwill by standing still in the cup final. For me there are two ways to be offside; you are in an offside position and touch the ball, or you are in an offside position and block the keepers line of site. Everything else is just a convoluted nonsense. All this interfering with the defenders decision making or stopping them running back is horse ****. Defenders have enough advantages what with being able to wrestle players down in the box at set pieces, dive to get soft free kicks to break the press, obstruct the attacker to shield the ball out of play etc.

Got to scrap as much of VAR as possible. Goal line technology, automated offsides and mistaken identity for red/ yellow cards. Job done. That is ALL we ever needed.

16 May 2024 08:27:37
Not trying to be flippant here (hopefully it doesn’t come across that way), but how does semi automated offsides not also take the joy out of celebrating goals?

Eg goal goes in; players and fans celebrate; then semi auto offsides rule that the player was offside; goal is chalked off.

{Ed001's Note - that is the same as a flag going up. The difference is that it is not 3 minutes later, it is within seconds.}

16 May 2024 08:37:37
Won’t semi automated offsides spoil the celebrations of a goal or will it be immediate decision?

{Ed001's Note - be almost immediate yes.}

16 May 2024 08:59:17
Can't wait for the technology around semi-automated offsides to go wrong.

I'm probably in the minority who think that VAR in principle is a good idea. It's just not being implemented particularly well. They intermittently hide behind the 'clear and obvious error' directive to defend inaction, whilst at other times they correct what appear to be marginal decisions. And VAR refs make completely different calls from one week to the next which is mind-boggling.

I can understand that from an on pitch ref since they only have what they can see in front of them happening in real time, but from a guy who has multiple replays from multiple angles and slow mos, it's just not good enough. I'm not looking for refereeing perfection, but it should be possible to have broad consistency with VAR in place.

16 May 2024 09:31:01
I would only keep it for pens . but everyone knows sky etc will overdo every decision to the point of overkill. they only add to the problems . Some refs are awful but got to to let them ref games . we all jump up when we score n then sit back down to check if it's been called back for a var check . fun n excitement has all but gone.

16 May 2024 10:59:54
The semi automated offsides work in the CL and in Serie A that I know off. That thing is instant. As for VAR, I maintain that it is a good system that can be a lot better if people actually wanted it to work.

16 May 2024 13:54:47
Seconds are not the problem when it comes to celebrating a goal. Minutes are.
We've all celebrated a goal without realising that the whistle has gone or offside flag being raised but they're not the same as VAR.
I'm even waiting for VAR to intervene now. The moments that make football what it is are being lost.

16 May 2024 13:56:28
They aren't going to scrap VAR.

This is club's sending a message to Premier League and PGMOL about the performance this year. Its performative.

Webb should stand down. His leadership has been nothing short of shambolic.

16 May 2024 14:54:25
Getting rid of VAR would be insanity, people complaining about incorrect decisions would rather go back to putting the incorrect decisions back into the hands of the same people who run VAR. You just have to work out how to improve it, or restrict it for now till you can work out full proof methods.
And get these awful refs out of VAR booths, let some analyst run it and just advise the ref. at worst you can just the TMO like in rugby so they can have a chat and run the ref over to the screen and explain the rules to them.
Removing it doesn't fix the problem.

16 May 2024 09:21:19
Put ten refs in diffrent var rooms and play the same incident or offside and i would not be surprised that there would be ten diffrent outcomes and reasons.
In short var works but not with the people who use it .

15 May 2024 18:57:43
So with us not having a parade and wolves being sold out I thought I'd have a look at the event at the M&S arena but I don't have the 13+ premier league games to be eligible for a ticket.

Anyone know of anything else that's happening to say goodbye to the boss?

16 May 2024 11:03:16
Best pubs in Liverpool to watch it? How’s in and around anfield on match day, good chance for a beer and some atmosphere?

15 May 2024 18:40:16
Edd001 would you support Anthony Gordon signing for us?

{Ed001's Note - do you mean would I want us to sign him? No. He is one trick pony and is a terrible winger. Maybe he could be better up front, but all he has is pace and the ability to hit an early shot.}

15 May 2024 20:17:23
Probably offers more than Diaz.

15 May 2024 21:37:23
I would be inclined to think that Gordon would score more than Diaz in the current team.

15 May 2024 22:53:46
If there was one player that we could sign from Newcastle it would be Guimarães not Gordon.

16 May 2024 05:57:54
If we were to sign him and I hope not, but a song already
To the tune from jilted John
Gordon is Claire balding
Gordon is Claire balding
Apologize for this.

16 May 2024 08:29:37
Strange to have a pop at Luis Diaz.

I actually think he’s one of the ones I would definitely keep - for one he hasn’t gone missing and shied away when the pressure has been high this season - eg caraboa cup final.

Always wants the ball and wants to carry us forward. Not been incredible this season but neither have most of the team.

16 May 2024 10:54:48
I like Gordon as a player, just not for £100m. Annoying little f#! £er too but I'd probably love him if he played for us.

16 May 2024 11:01:38
Diaz is the better player overall, IMO. Don't want Gordon here, either.

16 May 2024 12:49:35
£60M plus add ons would be a great deal for Gordon, given his age, HG potential and ability to move us forward quicker than a Salah would i would be happy to get him.