You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Fabinho out till the new year. Not great news for Liverpool as they go into their crazy month.
Pish.
13 goals in Europe this season for Alfredo Morelos, the most ever scored in one European campaign for any Scottish club.
He'll be in the premier league soon I reckon, sadly.
Please please please, let it be Sol Campbell! 🤣
Seems to be behaving himself a bit more too, nobeer. Saw a rumour - I love the nonsense footy transfer gossip - which linked him with Leicester.
Fabinho will be a big miss. Guess they’ll play one of Milner, Henderson or Wijnaldum there? Would like to see the Ox get a good run in central midfield too, further forward.
Sol will have his application in already!
Seems to be behaving himself a bit more too, nobeer. Saw a rumour – I love the nonsense footy transfer gossip – which linked him with Leicester.
Aye, he's not getting himself wound up like he did last season, still young though tbf.
Canny see it being Leicester, neither him nor Vardy seem to play well in a pair.
True - but Vardy’s what 32/33? If he gets injured Leicester are in trouble, not many other options up top. Maybe Morelos as back up / sharing the load could work to then be the main man in a year or two?
Jon Jo, I take it all back. 😀
Well, that's Liverpool up to 40...cruising and then a moment of madness from Allison. What was he thinking? I think the goal from the free kick was a bit of shithousery - at least it didn't cost them the points. Probably safe to say they won't be relegated.
In other news...West Ham!! What a (PL) debut from the keeper - keeping a clean sheet at Stamford Bridge.
West Ham seem to be the club for this kind of thing. One of the standout moments of last season was Declan Rices first goal for the club. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player so happy!
I think the goal from the free kick was a bit of shithousery
How so? The ref blew the whistle, it’s not Dunk’s responsibility to wait for the Liverpool GK to be ready. I assume you were equally critical of TAA quickly taken corner against Barca last season? 😀
I think it shows how far we’ve come under GP in such a short space of time, we held on for a 1-0 loss in both games last season. Today we ended up taking the 2nd half to the European Champions at Anfield.
How so?
Who gives a shit now anyway? Didn’t affect the result on the day. Gulls gulled. My old fat boss, one of the greatest ****s I’ve ever known is miserable for a few hours. All good.
He’s probably not though. Why be miserable when little Brighton had 55% possession at Anfield? We lost but we’ve come a long way.
55%
And 33 and one third percent of the goals scored.
Well you seem more annoyed about the result today than me so I’ll leave you to it.
Annoyed? 😂
Relieved more like. And a chubby ex-boss who’ll be unhappy this evening. The ****. 👍
Quality reasoning DD.👍
Tbh I was glad Glenn Murray didn’t get a game . He would have scored.
I’m always “him” when playing against junior J . ( when GM was younger,he played for my hometown team)
🙂
Quality reasoning DD.
Not sure if sarcastic... 😬😀
Anyway, on reflection, I still think it was a bit of shitehousery, by the ref, not by Brighton. (Should have been more explicit in that.) The Brighton player said he asked, the ref blew and he took the easy shot.
From Adrian’s POV, he’d only just come on into a bit of chaos after Allison’s senior moment, and was setting his wall up. I dunno what the laws are around that these days, but whatevs bro, seems churlish to whinge too much about a goal scored by a beaten team.
Not sarcastic. 🙂
I worked with some very unpleasant Teessiders, whenever “the boro” are beaten . I know how miserable they are . Hahaha.
PSA for anyone who doesn’t already know. All tonight and tomorrow night’s games live on Amazon Prime (if you have it). (Dec 26-27 games also.)
We were just discussing this in the office Bravissimo. We were saying how successful its been breaking up Sky Sports monopoly. So instead of your old Sky Sports subscription, you now need a Sky Sports subscription, a BT Sports subscription and Amazon Prime
Cheers to the Competition Commission. You played a blinder there lads, fighting for the rights of consumers
It’s gone the same way as streaming TV/Movies hasn’t it? ☹️
Well this all looks very familiar
Is it the same production company that supplies all the premiership content for Sky, BT, the BBC and now Amazon?
Certainly feels like it
I’ll just wait for Gary to pop up
Much better picture than Now -TV - pretty scandalous how awful that picture is sometimes.
If Sadio isn’t nominated for player of the year I’ll be very surprised.
Dejan Lovren , not so much . 🙂 ha
Agree on Mane. Lovren has been fine since getting back in. Tonight showed Liverpool have some depth in their squad.
Yeah the fringe players did exceptionally well i have to say. I'm still not a massive Lallana fan, but he did ok, Shaq and Origi were great though without doubt.
32 games unbeaten in the PL and about 4,000,000 at Anfield now... the lads are doing exceptionally. Still a long long way to go of course and as commented on last night, if they want to go down as a great side of all-time, they need a league title. If they can win the league while being Champions League holders, that IMO puts them in with the all time great teams for sure.
Yeah, I was surprised at the team selection, especially Lallana ahead of Ox, but Klopp’s the boss for a reason!
How bad were Everton though defensively?! Such a high line, balls over the top caused them all sorts of bother. Pickford also in danger of losing England gloves I think.
What i did like though is that Liverpool played directly to Evertons weaknesses. With the balls, the passes, the running through, it was quite different to the usual style of Trent and Robbo flying down the wings, instead we saw the longer direct passes to pick holes at the back. That shows a lot of forward thinking and planning from both Klopp and the team.
Theres also the small matter of the 2 straight red cards and a stone-wall penalty that weren't given
Some of your best signings this season have been the refs and the VAR staff with their temporary but frequent blindness
😛
Bloody hell! Arsenal look even worse than us! Boo-ed off at half time at the Library. And rightfully so. Lucky to be only one down
Its fair to say that I'm not confident. But then I wasn't against Spurs on Wednesday and we looked good and got 3 points. I also thought we'd get tonked by the scousers too and it was probably our best performance this season and we went ahead then got a draw. We also battered Chelski. So we've had our best performances when we weren't expected to do much, so you never know
At the end of the day, its a Derby. Owt could happen. Its unlikely to be dull. City looked scarily good the other night, despite being without Aguero. Rashford is looking good at the moment though. Could (and probably should) have had 3 or 4 against Spurs the other night
Whats going to be weird though is that we'll be watching it with a load of our scouse mates, as they're all supporting United for the day. Surreal times, indeed. I'm not sure how I feel about that, really. I prefer the usual atmosphere of mutual abuse and contempt. We're all in our comfort zone then 😀
@binners - I've got a free ticket and the last Derby I went to at the Etihad, City lost 3-2. There is some hope for you....but not much 🙂
Taking my kid to see Everton tomorrow, playing Chelsea (don't tell the NSPCC). Duncan Ferguson in charge, heavens above. Actually expecting a good game, be interested to see if the Big Man drops any of the absolute cowards who have masqueraded in the Royal Blue Jersey this season.
It'll be a great atmosphere. Always is. Bizarrely, I had a ticket for the Liverpool Derby at Anfield on Wednesday night. I was going to go with my scouse season-ticket holding mate, but thought better of it and went to a gig instead. I've been with her to Liverpool matches before, but the Derby seemed a step to far for an undercover Manc
My expectations aren't high for tomorrow, but I just hope we give 'em a game. And if/when we lose, there is the slight silver lining of not letting Liverpool run away with the title
My present attitude to my scouse mates, and the line I'm running with on Saturday, is that the fact they're 8 pints clear at this stage is just going to make it even funnier when they chuck it away again at the end of the season 😉
Could be 5 up Binners! Maybe Ole is on to something after all. Young players are only going to get better I guess.
Taking my kid to see Everton tomorrow
The big man brings back the passion !!
The frustrating thing about that penalty from city point of view, is that why choose this game to start re-refereeing those decisions, it was the right decision, but we have had 5 or 6 of them already this season where we should have had penalties and it's been the bullshit about "clear and obvious error" that were even clearer errors than today.
It's really enjoyable seeing the plucky mid-table sides having a go at the champions.
👍
Well I had Rashford as first goal at 9/1 and us for the win on what seemed like a frankly bonkers 9/1, so us mid table supporters have to take our small victories where we can 😃
Have you got your United top on Bravissimo?
Nice to hear ‘Who the **** are man united!’ Ringing out round wastelands
Game on!
Ha. Just noticed this...
Some of your best signings this season have been the refs and the VAR staff with their temporary but frequent blindness
This is what you're reduced to now? Sad.
You'll be whinging about VAR tonight I suppose? Thought not.
Classy behaviour from City fans when Fred went to take a corner...one chap has been caught on Twitter doing monkey impressions. Hopefully that'll be a ban from the ground from him. Stewards right in front of him ignored it.
Even Roy Keane seems relatively happy
Have a thought for my 19 year old son. He's volunteering with St John's Ambulance at Piccadilly Train Station tonight. Christmas shoppers, boozed up party goers and loads and loads of boozed up football supporters....
It was actually a good game, full blood and guts commitment from first to last. City really didn't do that much wrong, just nothing seems to be going our way at the moment.
I think the title is gone now (unless VVD is injured for a few months) so as long as we are not in danger of dropping out of the top four, I hope Pep starts to blood our young defenders instead of slotting midfielder in, no matter how good a job they have done there, lets start looking to the future. We have a couple of really good central defender prospects, give them some game time Pep.
The behaviour of the fans in the corner was embarrassing, lets hope GMP don't turn a blind eye.
Stewards right in front of him ignored it.
What are the stewards trained to do? I don't think they are meant to go and grab people out of the crowd, they are just normal blokes not trained police officers. Hopefully they noted who it was and pointed him out to the police.
There was the case a couple of seasons ago where a Brighton steward dragged a city fan celebrating a goal over the barrier and onto the pitch. Then when Sergio Aguero tried to defend the fan, the steward claimed Sergio assaulted him, not realising it was all on camera. That has equally got to be avoided.
The big man brings back the passion !!
He most certainly did - best game I've seen at Goodison for a long time. My lad is easy come easy go with football but loved it today.
A great result but honestly though what does that say about (most of) these players? They try when they want to try - Absolutely ran their bollox off today but that shouldn't be a special occasion. Morgan Schneiderlin has been burglarising a living for the last two seasons but put in a MotM performance today.
Garry_Lager - I guess you could say the same about Spurs recent transformation.
@binners - City's defence were just carved open every time Utd went forward in the first 30 mins. It was a strange game in terms of City possession but with no end product. It was the introduction of Otamendi that gave them something else in the final third. Bizarre.
Before the game I said the one player I really wanted to see on the City team sheet was Otamandi as he’s the same turning circle as a supertanker and Rashford and Tony Marshall would have a field day running at him
I forgot what he could do at the other end.
Still... 6 points for the week against Spurs and City is a result I wasn’t expecting, and the attacking intent is fantastic to watch.
Good to see Luke Shaw back too. He had a great game considering he’d not played since August
Imagine if Liverpool blew their lead this season...to Leicester instead...
Leicester are a fantastic side. They’ve got quality in every area. I think they’re genuine title contenders.
I’m sure that they’re more than happy that everyone is only talking about Liverpool and City as contenders. Means they can get quietly get on with taking teams apart like they did with Villa this afternoon
They’ve got Liverpool and City over Christmas. That’s going to be an interesting run
Mr Klopp has done a shrewd job rotating players so far this month, they’ve done waaay better than I expected but the Boxing Day game now looks very crucial.
The fifa distraction is the last thing they need imo.
We also have spurs , Man U , Arsenal & Chelsea to play too.
Here’s hoping 🙏
"[Manchester] United have the quality to defend and the quality to attack on the counter-attack and you have to accept that," he added.
"That is the level we face against Liverpool, Manchester United, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Juventus. They are the teams we have to face and the reality is maybe we are not able now to compete with them.
"Maybe we need to live that as a club to improve, to accept the reality now and improve."
Anyone else read this from Pep and think WTF ????
Yeah, it was a strange statement, I can only think he he trying to divert the media attention away from the players. It isn't something Pep has been noted for in the past, but he has done it a few times this year. If Klop, Ferguson or the old Mourinho had said it, the press would be jumping all over what a psychological genius they were.
I just think he's not happy with the squad, particularly in defence, and is making a play for some January spending. Who you buy to replace Vincent Kompany is a bit of a problem, though.
The City team is ageing - a lot of the goal creators/poachers are getting on a bit now and can't play every game.
Leroy Sane was a massive loss for us in August.
But that's his fault surely ? It's not like the board have been shy with the wallet.
They have pulled out of quite a few deals over the past few transfer windows because the prices got too rich.
Personally I don't think the squad is that old, good mix of ages, just likely to be 1 or 2 replaced each year either by a purchase or some of the young prospects going through.
In reality I think we have been a little unlucky with injuries in the CB position, Laporte is a big loss, especially after Kompany leaving, they are both leaders, Stones and Otomendi are fine in a supporting role, but they need someone guiding them. If VVD spent a few months injured it would be the same for Liverpool, I could see it swinging back the other way.
But after the past two seasons we have had, watching some of the best football I have seen in my life on a regular basis, I can take a dip in form with a wry smile, it is city after all, it has been too good to be true for too long now something was inevitably going to go wrong sooner or later 🙂
It’s his fault he decided against signing someone to replace Kompany. Stones and Otamendi have been dodgy for a couple of years hence his preference for playing Fernandinho ahead of them. He’s obsessed with midfielders basically and I think was arrogant enough to resist signing another centre back.
That said you can’t do anything about another side winning every game but one.
“Who do you buy to replace Vincent?” Koulibaly maybe?
Most City fans were puzzled by Cancelo's signing as Walker is still a good player. Some backup was needed when Danilo left but it need not have taken such a chunk of the transfer budget.
I think Pep might need to come up with a new strategy as many teams now seem comfortable conceding possession, defending their own box and hitting on the break with pacy attackers. When City unpick this the goals can be great but having to score worldies every game is not realistic.
As MSP said earlier this is City so a bit of difficulty feels like coming home.
FFS I think a city player could be surrounded by the opposition and stamped to death in the center circle, and var would ignore it. It is starting to get beyond a joke, that was a clear, deliberate and forceful elbow to the face, and nothing.
Spurs are going to lose this by a cricket score... again.
Tough draw for the English teams, spurs with probably the easiest game.
Borussia Dortmund v PSG
Real Madrid v MANCHESTER CITY
Atalanta v Valencia
Atletico Madrid v LIVERPOOL
CHELSEA v Bayern Munich
Lyon v Juventus
TOTTENHAM v RB Leipzig
Napoli v Barcelona
Ouch... that's some tough draw for many.
Hoping for Rangers v Arsenal in the next draw, and for Celtic to get a decent draw, coefficient is looking good for 2 scots champions league places soon...🙏🏻
Some of your best signings this season have been the refs and the VAR staff with their temporary but frequent blindness
Your reminder that as usual, when binners whinges about something, events will unfold to show he’s talking out of his hole. 😀
Looks like EUFA doesn't want an all-English final again, then. 🙂
Just looking at it again, very few smaller teams have got through the group stages this year, Atalanta are probably the only weak team in there, RB Leipzig and Lyon might be preferred options and maybe Valencia. Realistically no one is getting an easy path to the final.
“Never win anything with kids”?
Well they never won tonight but I thought the played well, way better than the result seems to show that's for sure.
Good effort there from Sterling. A comfortable 5.9
What is the point of VAR?
What's John Pertwee doing managing Flamenco?
World club champions and at least they put a side out in a cup competition. Not like they were arrogant enough to abandon the FA cup. Can’t imagine the shower of scumbags that would do something like that.
I see binners is still whinging about VAR. He’s like STW’s very own 606 phone in fayn.
The Sterling penalty was very similar to Rashfords penalty against spurs a few weeks ago, no doubt that the contact took him down, the only decision to be made is was it enough to warrant a penalty, and in that question it was more obvious than the Rashford penalty because that was just a tangle of legs, where as today the Leicester defender went to ground and dived into the challenge.
De Bruyne was fantastic again today, he really is an absolute joy to watch, and he puts a bloody shift in as well.
Jeez DD, you’ve got a long memory! That was back when Fergie ran the FA, yes?
There's some proper angry fans out on BBC comments.
"Liverpool are rubbish, they've won nothing yet"
Well, apart from the champions League, super cup and world club cup lol
But just lots of anger all round.
I think I've changed and wonder if back in the day I was that angry regarding footie, I hope not.