Liverpool 'implosion' fears dismissed as even supposed 'lost cause' backed

Any Liverpool negativity is dismissed as they cruise towards the Premier League title, while Enzo Maresca gets a kicking.

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Why it’s been a decent season

F365 have recently taken the editorial line that this season in the Prem has been a bit rubbish, but it’s close to content-farming claptrap to suggest a whole season should be consigned to the dustbin of history because there hasn’t been enough title or relegation drama.

The football itself has been great; watching a competitive match, at any level, remains as enjoyable as ever.

While the economic politics around the sport continue to hurtle down an unsustainable path, the game at the centre of all the noise persists. Even if narrative is more your thing than actual, y’know, football, there have been plenty of enjoyable stories.

It’s admittedly a little disappointing when we enter the final stages of the season without any great drama at either end of the league, but that’s the nature of sport. If there’s an AgüeroOO moment every year it wouldn’t be so memorable. Rather than getting in a strop because this season’s not as exciting as that other season what happened before, let’s appreciate some of the awesome things that have already happened.

1. Palace improvement

Start: awful. Improved slowly by being hard to beat. Gained confidence and kept improving until something like the levels of last season have been achieved again. Eze is a joy to watch. Double over Brighton and hopes of finally breaking that 50-point barrier. Oh, and an FA Cup semi-final. Marvellous stuff.

2. Moyes back to Everton

It’s been unexpectedly wonderful to see the Ferryman return to his spiritual home after more than a decade, and Everton getting back to being a dependably decent, committed team after a couple years of retentive self-strangulation under Dyche.

3. Man City being bobbins for a while

They really were bad for a significant stretch of time: relegation form across November and December. Rubbish in the CL. World-class players suddenly looking like they were hauling caravans. Smashed 5-1 by Arsenal. They’ve spent some money (of course), pushed some youth talents and seem to be back on more of an even keel, though far from the all-conquering force of yesteryear; probably closer to it next season.

4. Southampton have been hilariously shit haven’t they. I think they’re still going to sneak past Derby’s godawful 11-point record one way or another, thus robbing their season of even the dignity of hitting true rock-bottom.

5. Young English players

Superb, exciting, technical players seem to be everywhere. This season there have been England debuts for Gibbs-White, Angel Gomes, Morgan Rogers, Lewis Hall, Curtis Jones, Livramento, Harwood-Bellis, BDB and Lewis-Skelly (spot the odd one out). Prem debuts for Tyler Dibling, Archie Gray, Nico O’Reilly, Romain Esse, breakthrough seasons for Nwaneri, Liam Delap, Tim Iroegbunam. Difficult years for Rico Lewis and Mainoo but experiences they should be able to learn from.

In the shadow of the ever-encroaching corporate dystopia that is eating away our lives, remaining optimistic about human potential is a radical act. “With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world,” Max Erhmann wrote. And Charles Bukowski:

“there is a light somewhere.

it may not be much light but

it beats the darkness.”

What I mean to say is, it’s always worth celebrating before you start bemoaning, especially when negative outcomes are the random variations of a natural cycle, and not especially important anyway. Enjoy the football!

Very best of wishes to Pete and his wife from this old scoober.

Scriv O’Scoob, Wandsworth

READ: Premier League winners and losers: Pereira, Spurs, Newcastle, Manchester United, Moyes…

Liverpool don’t have a left-back problem

I think that article against Robbo was drafted before the game, rather than a reflection of it.

He came on as sub on Sunday and was entirely untroubled. He wasn’t at fault for the goal, wasn’t badly placed, had clearly shouted to VVD; He was alert, and had moved across to easily cover the danger. If anything, you could have just swapped Robbo’s name out for VVD and written a hatchet piece on him as it was an alarmingly error-strewn performance, all game.

Admittedly Robbo was terrible against Fulham…. in the first half. But so were most of LFC. He was perfectly fine and untroubled defensively in the second and contributed to several attacks.

I’m just not seeing this apparent body of evidence to suggest he’s a lost cause. Obviously the club not only need a first-team left-back, but have clearly identified him and started (tapping up/contract negotiations) depending on your interpretation and loyalties, and if you are a Bournemouth fan.

But I’d be very, very surprised if Robbo left in the summer, rather than Kostas. Of the very many changes at LFC over the summer, I’d wager left-back is the easiest and least disruptive change. Unlike Kostas he can (and has) played in a back three; Unlike Kostas he’s very effective running with the ball into the middle (and beyond). He’s a leader in the dressing room, and a UK national for the old eight-from-25 Uefa-tick. I just don’t really get all the negativity.

What’ll happen with Darwin (clearly going, but will the club get the money they want/need?), Diaz (pushing for a move but the club want to stay), Elliot, Jota and Chiesa is far less certain (same too Konate, Gomez, Endo and Kelleher). There’s ample cause for speculation over most of the squad. I just don’t see left back as part of that. And writing about the left back, who played half the game, rather than the centre back who was very poor and at fault for the goal conceded, seems the wrong target.

Tom G

Do Liverpool have any problems?

In response to Soei (worried about Liverpool), can I paint a different scenario.

Liverpool are Premier League Champions and PSG win the Champions League, some of the best players around either want to join the Premier League or switch to join the most successful team in English football history. Being the team that only went out to the eventual champions on penalties (saves are a part of the game!) makes them an even more exciting proposition to many.

As a result, Arne Slot is able to rotate his squad far more than he did/had to in order to become Champions. Mo Salah is able and willing to be rested far more than ever before and does not suffer his now annual drop-off in effectiveness. Being supremely fit and surrounded by better players, he is able to break his own Premier League goals and assists record for a single season. VVD has a similar scenario and having a couple of new, young, talented full backs, is able to marshal the defence to be even more secure than this season where they have the second best (at this moment in time) defensive record.

The Anfield crowd, remindful of the 2019/20 total domination and with a weekly rousing chorus of “bring on the Champions”, energise the players to press even harder, push for even more goals and celebrate even more enthusiastically, team morale and bonding has never been higher.

In the meantime, the rest of the players in the squad look at the longevity and impeccable high standards set by these two and raise their game to the next level in the hope of getting somewhere close to impressing them. A year older, a year wiser, more confident and another year of the (still) new managers tactics and philosophy. Trophies seem inevitable.

If you think this is all wishful thinking and a dream, read Soei’s mail for balance.

Howard (Saka as understudy to Mo makes sense) Jones

Cute though, right?

It’s very cute of an Arsenal fan to write in and express deep concern for ‘Liverpool imploding’ next season. The hilarious, and obvious point to make here is that even if that implosion happened, Arsenal won’t be the beneficiaries! How did this season’s Citeh implosion go again? Same Arsenal fans that predicted Klopp’s departure meant Arsenal were going to clean up, VVD is old, Salah is washed etc blabla remember all that? Oh wait, they never said that, they all claimed at the time that Slot took over a world class squad and LFC were favourites 😂

There’s an alternative world of course where having secured Salah and VVD, Liverpool then do what ambitious big clubs do, and supplement that with eg an Isak + a Barella of Inter. Giving a team already infinitely superior to Arsenal, even better players and options. Mind you, I can understand how such ambition from a position of strength would be incomprehensible to an Arsenal fan. What’s that all about?!

It’s very strange that fans of a team that has achieved nothing in the PL for over two decades now, has so much expert concern for highly successful teams. Perhaps I’ll go advise LeBron how to make an All-Star team next?

PS: Sending Pete the best of wishes and positive energy.

Stewie Griffin (where are the celebrations for Arsenal’s 11th draw this season? 11 points out of a possible 33, pathetic. You’re able to draw conclusions from 90 minutes right? Perhaps they’re still hungover from the “3-0 Madrid” trophy, clinching the double after the “5-1 Citeh” trophy)

Well done Eddie (and Jason)

A convincing win for Jason Tindall’s Mags without really ever playing close to their potential – quite a lot of loose passes in midfield, a bit sloppy for Garnacho’s goal, and chances mainly generated via the press. But when you’re a team with a great set up and system, you can outplay teams that don’t, even not at your best.

Best wishes to Eddie Howe who I hope is on the road to recovery – I hope he hasn’t been too exhausted by a long but already successful season and that he’s fully back to normal soon. Howe has been a fantastic manager for us – as I’ve said before in the mailbox – and it’s a credit to his system and the strengths he has built into his team that they can go on confident winning runs like this even without the first choice CB, LB, and LW – and now without the first choice manager – as the system and set up allow others to slot in. In this case Barnes and Tino have been great for the last 5 games, and Burn has done well all season. The midfield workrate, defensive shape, press, and transitions at pace demanded by Howe were all on good display yesterday.

It’s great that the wider footballing community – and F365 – have been giving Howe a bit more credit lately. Ending a trophy drought and pushing for CL again will do that. But also I think Man Utd, Spurs, and to a lesser degree City, have shown that no matter the investment (and Newcastle have not spent that much in comparison to some of those clubs), it does take managerial talent to build a cohesive and effective team with even some big signings.

Eddie and his team have continued to make pre-takeover players like Murphy, Schar, and Joelinton, and low-budget signings like Burn, far more than the sum of their parts alongside the now-top-class Bruno, Tonali and Isak. For my money he’s now the outstanding English manager of the last 20+ years.

In contrast Man United remain less than the sum of their parts – they clearly own some good players but too many are playing beneath themselves (or playing in the wing for Villa…). There’s clearly some quality there but not a clear system or style. On Sunday I rarely doubted Newcastle would win – I found myself just hoping we’d get a winning margin early enough to rest players for Palace and Villa, who on their current form will both be more challenging games. That’s a completely different era to the Man U we’ve almost always known before, who whether or not they were winning titles you at least expected to be a threat, and you’d think it will take change and time at every level to correct.

Well done Eddie, (you seem like the kind of football aficionado who would read the mailbox) get well soon and hope to see you back in the dugout when ready. And well done Jason slotting in…

Roger, Newcastle in London

Chelsea fans to blame?

So now we know the real reason for Chelsea’s catastrophic decline in 2025. It is not the clownish goalkeeping of Robert Sanchez, nor the ghostly ineffectiveness of Christopher Nkunku.

No, it is all the fault of the Chelsea fans. How dare they demand that their team periodically change from the crab-like football so beloved by the master coach Enzo Maresca and actually look to progress forwards at a more than snail-like speed. The game is all about possession says the Italian Guardiola – goals? They’re not what the game’s about.

Keith Miller, Gordon, Victoria, Australia

READ: Premier League winners and losers: Pereira, Spurs, Newcastle, Manchester United, Moyes…

…Few and predicable are the losing-team manager excuses: pitch, refs, weather, unavailable players, unfair schedule, opponent having scored from their only shot on goal etc. Most people simply yawn during that part of the post-match interview.

Not anymore. Don Quixote Maresca has entirely re-invented the category by adding a never-suspected villain: The Long Pass! Both Ipswich goals came from long passes gone astray, Fernandez and Sanchez being the named culprits.

Alas, if only Don Quixote’s dumb asses restricted themselves to short passes, the club would never allow a single goal! Fernandez, Caiceido and the center-halves would calmly pass the ball among themselves until the opposition abandoned the match altogether.

It is under the bright light of this insanity that we must again contemplate the disaster of having downgraded from CL-winner Tuchel to Short-Pass Don Quixote Maresca. One can only wonder where we’d be now, had we kept the temperamental Teuton.

Radu Tomescu “Conference League Here We Come Again! (Maybe), Taipei, Taiwan

Still unbeaten at Wembley

As I confidently predicted on Friday, Peterborough United continued their proud record of never having lost at Wembley.

Comprehensively outplaying a team 47 points ahead in the league, scoring two fine goals that would have graced any final and cementing Ferguson the younger as the best manager in his family, a glorious day.

Having beaten both Wrexham and Birmingham on the way to the trophy, next season can be approached somewhat confidently. A very young side will certainly be better next season and if not gutted by sales, a promotion push is likely,

Dan – tongue firmly in cheek for one or two of the above statements

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