Liverpool Banter Archive October 20 2017

20 Oct 2017 20:24:30
Hi Ed's

Never knew Bundealiga had women refrees.

Will we get to see the same in EPL?

Was watching Schalke vs Mainz. Though Groetzka got the goal, Max Meyer is the one we should look at.

Playing in front of 3 man defence, they were playing little trinagles and he seemed to be tactially aware and was linking the back to midfield.

Can't pass judgement on this game but he looked good.

Cheers.

{Ed001's Note - we already do have one in English footie, though she only ever gets to run the line she is a referee and could end up in the middle if there is an injury to the ref during the game she is working. Though she is probably better known for being the object of Richard Keys and Andy Gray's enlightened view on women that set in motion the events leading to Sly sacking the gruesome twosome.}

20 Oct 2017 21:08:18
And very good at her job as well.

{Ed001's Note - excellent every time I have seen her working. I don't understand why she has not been given the chance to be in the middle.}

20 Oct 2017 21:54:44
And we have Alex as a regular feature on football focus (who is beautiful) glad to see football moving with the times.

20 Oct 2017 22:13:26
Gruesome twosome. Lol.

21 Oct 2017 02:34:45
The FA is corrupt, it is more concerned with keeping white men in the centre circle than fighting sexism and racism. I mean, who actually thinks the the FA is out to improve the game and not just make a profit?

21 Oct 2017 07:58:48
Those two idiots now work for Bein Sports and are, if possible, even more loathesome and illinformed than they were at sky. Incredible they are hired at all.

{Ed001's Note - agreed. Suits the Qatari mindset though....}

21 Oct 2017 08:32:34
Did you not see this video from a few years back?

20 Oct 2017 17:35:33
Ed01 could you please advice how I can read your posts on legends . Where do I find them and have you done any on my favourite goalies Zoff of Italy, pat Jennings and one of the best and most character goalies ever to ply for Liverpool are very own Bruce Grobbelar.

{Ed001's Note - it is a new series mate, I am just in the middle of putting together the second one now. So far it is just Rene Higuita, with Ferenc Puskas being done. I have added those 3 keepers to the list. Each of the Legends series comes in 3 parts, an article on football-news-views.co.uk Rene Higuita article a player profile on player-profiles.co.uk Rene Higuita player profile and a podcast on YouTube:

20 Oct 2017 19:19:14
Really looking forward to the Puskas article, ed :)

{Ed001's Note - glad to hear that mate. I really enjoyed researching it, even if most stuff is just people cribbing other articles sadly. It reminds me of when I was a kid and I refused to do homework in school. The kid who sat next to me was terrified I would get moved down (or spend even more time in isolation) and so he would not have me to help him in class. He used to do his homework on his word processor and then go through altering a few words to print it out as my homework. Most of the articles on the net seem to use the same principle: find someone else's work, copy it, then go through changing the odd word or sentence and reposting it on their own site. I really do not see the point in doing that personally.}

20 Oct 2017 19:46:06
Ed001 if you can, can you please add nedved to yoir list too?

{Ed001's Note - it would be a genuine pleasure to do that as he is one of my all time faves. Read so much about him already for my own entertainment, I will enjoy researching him properly!}

20 Oct 2017 20:10:44
hi ed01 hope you're well mate, could you do one on Zanetti if you have time? An absolute beast of a player imo!

20 Oct 2017 20:10:44
hi ed01 hope you're well mate, could you do one on Zanetti if you have time? An absolute beast of a player imo!

{Ed001's Note - nice shout mate, another of my favourites. Argentina's Stevie Nicol, though with a bit more intelligence!}

20 Oct 2017 20:40:41
Awesome mate can't wait, don't ever remember anyone getting the better of him. A proper player! Having heard Stevie talk on tv recently i have to agree!

{Ed001's Note - the questions is - what was his best position? I could honestly never remember seeing him play and not thinking 'that is his natural position'. The trouble is that the next time he would be playing in a completely different position and making that look like his natural position too!}

20 Oct 2017 20:54:19
Nedved another great shout, looking forward to that one too!

20 Oct 2017 20:56:19
I know what you mean mate, for me though it was as a full back / wing back that i remember him best. El Tractor!

{Ed001's Note - both sides he played well, brilliant in midfield as well. What a player.}

20 Oct 2017 21:59:42
Nedved was unbelievable. The sort of player anyone would LOVE to have in their team.

Will there be one on Robbie Fowler ed mate? You get many players who are completely loved by their fans but Robbie (god) fowler must be pretty high in a list of fan favourites.

{Ed001's Note - defo mate. Have to do God.}

20 Oct 2017 22:29:32
He was incredibly loyal to juve when they needed it most. Reason enough to be considered a legend. Apart from that one of the best attacking midfielders of his generation.

20 Oct 2017 22:07:18
Hi Ed, can i suggest some articles on players who have had an interesting life off the pitch? Would be great to read about some players who may not be considered legends for their footballing skills but might have gone on to great things out side the game or had to overcome real life adversities, like Paul McGrath and im sure there are plenty of others.

Would be really interesting and inspiring to read about some footballers as people and not just their football if that makes sense.

{Ed001's Note - most of them have had interesting lives off the pitch to be honest. Good choice to add McGrath, probably the most naturally gifted defender ever to play the game.}

21 Oct 2017 02:02:06
"Have to do god"! Lol ed, bet you don't say that everyday! (Although my gf does)

{Ed001's Note - ;-)

21 Oct 2017 03:19:28
Hopefully you don't mind a suggestion list Ed001. I will try and refrain from naming too many Liverpool players!

Goal keepers

Lev Yashin
Gordon Banks
Ray Clemence
Peter Schmeichel
David Seaman
Gianluigi Buffon (I really don't care that he's still playing)

Defenders

Cafu
Maldini
Javier Zanetti
Roberto Carlos
Bobby Moore

Midfielders

Steven Gerrard (obviously)
Claude Makelele
Patrick Viera
Zico (obviously a legend as I share the same birth day as him)
Gheorghe Hagi

Forwards

Filipo Inzaghi
Alessandro Del Piero
Romario
Matt le Tissier
Michael Laudrup

Hopefully there are some in there that you didn't think of and consider worthy of it!

{Ed001's Note - there is quite a few in there I had not thought of, nor been suggested yet. All are added to the list, though it is lengthy so it might take a while, depending on whether I stick to working down the list of just pick names randomly or on some sort of basis to pick them.}

21 Oct 2017 07:17:41
Not sure if he has been suggested yet ed01, but my dad raves about Emlyn Hughes, I’m too young to have ever seen him so if it’s possible a review on him would be a good read.
Cheers.

{Ed001's Note - good shout that had been missed out until then.}

21 Oct 2017 13:26:37
Really enjoyed the Higuita article Ed, sad that he was never really able to truly escape his past - will always remember that scorpion kick though, magic. Has anybody suggested you do a write up on Jose Chilavert at all? I've always been fascinated by him as a goalkeeper (lots of goals, only keeper to score a hatrick, almost became the first keeper to score from open play in a world cup in 98') would be great if you could do profiel on him. I know you have millions to do like so no rush but it would be much appreciated.

{Ed001's Note - glad you enjoyed it mate, Chilavert is on the list. There is a lot to write about him, he was quite a character too.}

21 Oct 2017 14:48:47
Hagi! What a left foot. Forgot about him.

20 Oct 2017 14:44:48
In the wake of last weeks Premier League game I have been arguing with my friend all week about why "UTD are so great" and "Liverpool are so bad" etc.

What is the funniest banter people have had with UTD fans/ supporters.

Ill start it off with this one:
2001 after Liverpool won the Uefa Cup, League Cup and Community Shield:

"That doesn't count as a treble”

2017 after UTD won the Uefa Cup, League Cup and Community Shield:

"Jose has won the treble in his first season"

20 Oct 2017 15:14:26
My Utd mate was adamant man u's late winner agaimst Munich was better than Istanbul. His argument was that it was dramatic. Don't worry I can assure you we aren't friends anymore.

20 Oct 2017 15:23:58
We won the FA Cup in 2001 as well.

20 Oct 2017 16:38:38
One of my Man United supporting friends has just recently been sacked for his first mistake! He was so good at his job as well and saved countless lives. All those years at medical school wasted because he slept with one of his patients in a moment of unbridled passionate madness. It is just so unfair how your life can fall apart so quickly. I hope everyone here will spare a thought for him.

He was the best vet in the country.

20 Oct 2017 17:05:08
Haha nice one mk.

20 Oct 2017 17:38:21
i actually enjoy the banter with my utd friend, he was against Mou's appointment and already predicted himself he wouldn't watch away games against big clubs, cause they wouldn't be playing football at all.

20 Oct 2017 22:07:06
My mate reckons pallister was better than Hanson! Nutcase.

Not football related but a mate of mine who supports utd once said to me "if I could play guitar I'd play it better than you"

20 Oct 2017 23:12:32
My mate claims the class of 92 was the best in PL era. Without being bitchy I agreed!

21 Oct 2017 07:40:11
Liverpool win the league cup (and nothing else that season)
UTD fan: “the league cup doesn’t count, Liverpool didn’t win anything this season.
Fast forward to united winning nothing but the league cup and Liverpool winning nothing:
Me: “we both won nothing this season then. ”
Him: “no, we won the league cup”
Me: *rolls eyes*.

21 Oct 2017 08:28:55
Love it MK.

21 Oct 2017 08:30:48
Most United fans think sky invented football in 92 and nothing happened before that.

{Ed025's Note - it did though gmil, the romans invaded britain, the wheel was invented...and liverpool were a good team...dont you just love ancient history..

21 Oct 2017 11:04:45
Yeah ed 25 your right in history it does say we were a good if not great team thing I'm struggling to find out is anything to do with Everton lol. It appears they've always been crap.

{Ed025's Note - that is so unfair p1, its only been the last 30 years or so..

20 Oct 2017 13:51:52
I was watching the goals from when we beat Spurs 0-5. What struck me was how involved Henderson was. He was playing a freer more attacking midfielder role at the time and was heavily involved in the first 3 goals, scoring one of them.

He was constantly making runs into the box passing the strikers and moving defenders around, creating space for the other forwards.

I remember when we last challanged for the title and lost at home to Chelsea (the famous slip) . Henderson was suspended and we missed him. Against a team that sits back, a midfielder to constantly make runs into the box and through the defenders is oft a thankless job as the ball will almost never come to you. So most automatically stop agter a while and look for the ball deeper. But making those runs does make a half yard of space here and there as the centre halves take a step left or right to cover/ block the run. Sometimes a half yard is all players like Couts, Bobby or Salah need. Henderson doesn't stop making those runs when in a role allowing him to.

I know his role has changed due to injury etc but it's a pity. He was really good at it.

20 Oct 2017 14:06:20
Spot on, Fitzy. Like you, I do not have a short memory. Hendo was a key cog in our play throughout that season and the fact that BR wanted rid of him for the supremely inferior Joe Allen, is a bullet we dodged royally as BR's incompetence would have done us in on that front. Remember his goal at Anfield vs City in 14/ 15 and his goal vs Chelsea last season? Yeah, Hendo actually did that.

Many of his detractors seem (some, conveniently) to have forgotten his great contribution to that season and our play. The fact that his heel condition and injuries have slowed him down, does not change the fact that when fit and on form, he is a very good player nor the great contributions he has made to this club's progress. You don't become LFC and England capt. if you are a scrub.

20 Oct 2017 14:09:47
It is devastating to see him like this. He clearly isn't right and i fear Ed001's prediction may be correct, and he may be replaced next summer if nothing changes.

You have to love the guy for his passion, desire, and commitment but at the end of the day, we want to win titles. If Hendo can't get back to full fitness, we have to move on and maybe he accepts a squad player role like Lucas did, or he goes elsewhere in search of first team football.

Ideally the injury clears up because as you say, he was top class a few years ago. I watched him from the Kop when we beat City 2-1 in 2015, and he was the best midfielder on the pitch by far on that day. City didn't get a kick and Hendo capped it off by putting one in the top corner from 25 yards. He really was vastly under rated. Nowadays it is getting harder and harder to dispute the criticism because he just doesn't have it in him to keep proving them wrong.

Milner does not deserve to be dropped after Tuesday.

20 Oct 2017 14:34:35
Haha Have a look how involved Suarez was.

20 Oct 2017 14:50:36
Coz he was natural and his role was to win and press the ball high! He wasn’t asked to sit deep and protect the defense or create / launch attacks from the deep! So he was good infact very good.

Some plonker decided to drop him deep and signed many more players similar to Henderson which will eventually see him getting sold! You can say thank you to those fools!

Hendeson is neither a Playmkaer nor a DM. He is a ball winner and one he was very good at it 3 years ago! Now it was your stupidity to drop him deep and NOT Buying a player that should have replaced Alonso or Gerrard in the deep.

Keep playing players out of their natural roles!

20 Oct 2017 15:29:02
He didn't score enough- just lacked that little bit of composure. That's my only criticism. I'd love to see him back at his best, let's hope there's progress with his injuries. Im sorry mk- I just can't see why Milner deserves to keep his place against a team who offered no resistance. If he played that well against a premier league team then you may be right- as it is, he's certainly done nothing to hurt his chances but I doubt he's suddenly become the answer to our midfield woes. The only one I thought who didn't perform was gini- so if klopp was to drop one of the three- he might be the first.

20 Oct 2017 15:48:20
I disagree on Milner aoe. I don't think the opposition comes into it. It wasn't that he was better than Henderson, it was that he gave us more balance, was fitter than Henderson, and played well enough to keep his place. There is no point in having competition for places if Klopp sends out the message "it doesn't matter how well you play, I'll still pick my favourites".

I do agree on Gini though. I'd drop him, put Coutinho in midfield and put Chamberlain on the wing. Aurier would get roasted by the pace of Moreno and the Ox. He'd end up getting sent off because he cannot tackle for toffee.

20 Oct 2017 16:17:48
i just think Milner is really good at running around. Energy is always welcome but he's a terrible habit of leaving a great deal of space in the midfield. I always feel the rest of the midfield don't play as well with him on the pitch. He lunges into tackles when a bit of harrying will do instead. His crossing can be quite effective on occasion but for some reason never from a deadball situation. His passing can be horrendous when he is rushed and unfortunately he gives the ball away too often. It's a shame because he has a great attitude. I thought he made a decent left back- if nothing more than having the time to put in a cross from deep. I too would like to see coutinho in midfield cos he's far tougher than he looks. Thing is, I'm not sure he's fit yet.

20 Oct 2017 22:12:41
Totally different players Hendo and milly. Miner was amazing against maribor. Let's get it right, they aren't a poor side, we made me look poor. Perhaps Hendon miner and can or wijnaldum on Sunday.

21 Oct 2017 09:05:47
What is the injury? I know it's the heal by is it not something that could be fixed with an operation?

{Ed025's Note - it was a thigh problem mate..

20 Oct 2017 13:08:24
Few points to hopefully settle any early season nerves.

So far, Liverpool have played 6 games against teams currently in the top half of the table. City away, Watford away, Newcastle away, United at home, Burnley at home and Arsenal at home. We've had 4 draws, 1 win, and 1 defeat in those games, taking 7 points from 6 games. We have only played 2 teams in the bottom half of the table. Away to Leicester and at home to Palace. We won both games taking 6 points from 2 games.

I know at the time we all considered the Watford, Burnley and Newcastle results to be bad results and maybe they were considering we played well enough to win all 3 games, but when you look at the scalps they're all taking this season, draws seem like okay results in hindsight. We are not an easy team to beat now and that is a massive step forward.

Last season we probably would've beaten Man City, but potentially gone on to lose a couple of those games against Watford, Burnley and Newcastle and probably conceded an equaliser in the dying minutes at Leicester. So even if we have had to wait 14 games for it to click in the final third, I'm just pleased we're not rolling over every other week like last season, whilst papering over the cracks by stuffing our rivals. We are grinding out points against good teams and beating the teams below us and that is usually how you challenge for the title, even if City do look too strong for anyone this season.

Just wanted to share that with others as it made me look at our current league position in a different light. I think when we've played everyone once and not had three quarters of our games against the better sides in the league, we'll look much more comfortable! In contrast to our opening 8 fixtures, United have played 7 teams in the bottom 10 and just 1 team in the top 10! Draw your own conclusions from that!

I think it was Superred said the that we are the 2nd best team in the league? I actually wouldn't disagree. City are clearly the best, but I'd say it's a toss up between us and Spurs for being second best and we might get a clearer indication of who quite soon 👀

Here's hoping for a decent result at Wembley on Sunday!

20 Oct 2017 14:16:33
Great to see you back, MK. As for your post, I see your angle in your view BUT I can still understand the frustration with the Burnley, Watford and Newcastle results are that we could have won all these games had we either taken our chances (Burnley and Newcastle) or been defensively switched on (Watford) . That is the main gripe in my view.

I will say that on a slightly positive note in contrast to last season, we are creating more guilt-edged chances vs low block teams than we did last season and are taking more points off these games cos last season, we were not even drawing these games. I know it is a low bar but there you go. As of now, we are a better team than Arsenal, on par with Chelsea and Spurs. The Manchester clubs? Not there yet. As for Spurs game, we'll see what happens.

20 Oct 2017 13:59:04
I don't really get your point here MK. You've papered over the cracks, that you believe we haven't papered over if that makes sense. We didn't beat city which is fine because we drew v Watford, Newcastle and burnley. I might be being stupid here but your post makes no sense.

Whichever way you look at it, we dropped points, better team or not. There's reasons why we dropped points, same reasons why we always drop points. Our defending is poor and we are not clinical enough.

What I do whole heartedly agree with you is that on paper it does not look as bad as it may feel, but that is purely because some of our "rivals", for say the top 4 spot have also dropped points. But then we should not be focusing on what other teams are doing and getting the job done ourselves.

20 Oct 2017 14:36:42
I do agree Bingo that with the chances we had to win them games, they at the very least felt like bad results in the immediate aftermath. But when you see Burnley beating Chelsea and Watford beating Arsenal it puts it into perspective. At least we didn't roll over thinking those teams had no right to give us a game.

My post was more pointing towards the fact that until everybody has played each other at least once, it is very hard to start making final judgements.

United sit 7 points above us, but aside from the game against us, the highest placed team they've faced is Southampton in 11th. By contrast we've already played 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th and 9th, plus we face 3rd placed Spurs on Sunday whilst United have yet another game against a bottom half team in Huddersfield.

The fixture list is only fair once everyone has played 38 games. So for now, we should all back our players and manager and hopefully enjoy a 3-0 win at Wembley 😂 just wanted to put forward a case for our boys because they've not been anywhere near as bad as people think. Top of the Champions league group, and still mixing it up in the league with a very favourable run to come in the Premier League after Sunday is out the way.

I'm just trying to be positive buddy, but i completely get the frustrations 😉 my shrink has told me i need to be more "Ron Keague" whatever that means?

20 Oct 2017 14:52:13
Not sure what you mean by a decent result? Draw, loose or Win? Draw is decent! A Win is what we need and a defeat is not DECENT in any form!

20 Oct 2017 14:46:45
Perhaps i didn't make my point clear enough Istanbul. My main point was that we've got a lot of tough games out the way nice and early and at some stage we will have a run where we face Bournemouth, Stoke, Brighton, Huddersfield, West Ham, Swansea, Southampton, West Brom and Everton, with Chelsea tucked in there somewhere. So far this season, when we have played against sides significantly weaker than us on paper (Leicester, Palace and Maribor) we have won. So if we can keep up that consistency, in theory we could go on a very good run and clock up some serious points. Sure, we have no divine right to win those games, but if we turn up we should win most of them. That will be the measure of how much we've improved; whether we can finally stop dropping silly points. Not our inability to win every single game against other teams fighting for a top 6 finish. We have still only been beaten twice and both games had extreme circumstances involved ie, a cup game with our kids on the pitch, and playing against City for an hour with 10 men.

It'd hard to convey my 'point' i suppose, but what I'm saying in short, is we are getting a lot of the big games out the way early so we should have plenty of chances to make up the gap throughout the season!

20 Oct 2017 15:24:07
Harry I'd agree mate. A draw is decent and I'd come away content in my head, but a bit disappointed in my heart as we could do with a win to keep the Maribor momentum alive.

I really think we can do them at Wembley as well. The pressure on them is huge after half their team mouthed off to the press about the historic/ colossal 1-1 draw against a Real Madrid in poor form 🙄 they are bad enough at Wembley without that pressure on their shoulders, and they do tend to struggle against pace in the wide areas as their full backs are always their weak links. Walker and Rose were never in position to defend, Trippier and Davies are not that great defensively, and now they have Aurier who can't even manage defensive basics, and Vertonghen who has the turning circle of a freight train. If we can get Salah, Coutinho, Chamberlain, Moreno etc running at them in wide areas Spurs can be hurt.

I am really hopeful for a victory but realistically I'm only expecting a draw. Having said that, I've put Kane back in my fantasy team and he's stopped scoring again so we might have a chance of a third consecutive clean sheet 😂.

20 Oct 2017 15:44:49
I got what you were saying first time round MK.

I agree mate, by Sunday evening we will have played 4/ 5 of the top 6 teams and 3 other in form teams and still only be 7 points off 2nd.

20 Oct 2017 16:21:16
Glad it sort of made sense Noshbag 😂 obviously it all means nothing if we then fail to beat the teams in the bottom half, but i was just hoping to lighten the mood ahead of the gam because having watched our games, i don't think we've been bad at all. For weeks it's felt like we just needed something to give and we'd hit form. In the end it was a piece of grafting from Salah 3 minutes into the game, and the flood gates have opened. Spurs is a much tougher test but i am buzzing for it!

20 Oct 2017 22:19:36
I reckon we are better than utd. We were the better team last weekend.

20 Oct 2017 23:22:48
I think the frustration comes from our inability to defend. I know that sounds a bit sarky and I do get your points for they are many and educated, but two seasons in a row our biggest problem has been conceding and while we have certainly shown a little improvment against teams parking buses, amateur mistakes have set us back.

Not to mention the keeper fiasco which has certainly stirred a little dissatisfaction. Totally agree that halfway mark gives us a better idea of where we are. Let's hope the table is a little deceiving at the moment. Can I also ad- great to have you back mk. Hope all works out well for you soon.

20 Oct 2017 04:30:00
{Ed's Note - we have posted a new article entitled, Premier League Preview Friday 20th October 2017