I feel like a lot of people, pundits and fans, have looked at 'Liverpool are going to win the league by dint of having done the most effective job in the market of the title challengers and by having the best forward in the league' and they've decided it's, I don't know, too boring or something? - ThreadSky

stephenkb.bsky.social • 5 days ago

I feel like a lot of people, pundits and fans, have looked at 'Liverpool are going to win the league by dint of having done the most effective job in the market of the title challengers and by having the best forward in the league' and they've decided it's, I don't know, too boring or something?

Comments

edmorrish.bsky.social•5 days ago

“effective job in the market”? do you mean transfers? because they bought a keeper they loaned back immediately and a winger who’s barely played.

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

Transfers aren't just what you do in the close season nearest to the window, though. Like, there's no one single window that means City's squad has grown old together, no single window in which Arsenal went 'guys, guys, shall we buy another leftback', etc. etc.

edmorrish.bsky.social•5 days ago

yes that makes sense sorry, i just see market as shorthand for “transfer market” so that confused me for a second.

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

No worries. I mean the weird thing is that it is both true that Liverpool have been the best-run club over the last decade and that is why they are going to win, but that their most recent window has not been wise and their contract management has been poor also.

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

Just a need to either add some narrative explanation on top or to see closeness when it just isn't there. It's weird.

rasmusbirk.bsky.social•5 days ago

Yeah, the narrative that Salah is on course for one of the best seasons in PL history is pretty ‘boring’ but also… 100% correct

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

It's a shame because if you want a narrative, we still haven't had the definitive account of 'what the hell was Ivan Gazidis thinking in the summer of 2017' and 'what the hell happened at Arsenal in the summer of 2020?' which are I think key parts of why no-one is going to stop Liverpool this year.

rasmusbirk.bsky.social•5 days ago

How do you link summer 2020 to this?

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

Arsenal's underlying problem is their 'seven leftbacks on the books, only two strikers, both of whom are crocked, one of whom is meant to play at left eight in any case' squad, where the decisive market moves and IMO personnel shifts happen in those two windows.

rasmusbirk.bsky.social•5 days ago

I mean, I agree with that, just not that it goes wrong in 2020, more 2024 (where we should have upgraded the forward line and gotten another creative midfielder in). 2017 is a whole other story. The worst was 2015 with no signings other than Cech though…

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

But the capacity to do things in 2024 is a consequence of what went wrong in earlier windows. It's not like there is, an actual forward or a creative midfielder who moved for the Merino money.

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

They're still not as important as 'Mo Salah's astonishing season', I'm just saying, if you want 'a thing to say that is not "wow, Mo Salah, what a player"', those two summers are still really interesting.

lordbonkers.bsky.social•5 days ago

In 2014, when Steve Gerrard slipped over at Stamford Bridge and cost Liverpool the title, Salah was playing for Chelsea. It's a funny old game, Saint.

notthathunter.bsky.social•5 days ago

there were two current Liverpool players on the grass that afternoon at Anfield in 2014

Mo Salah, starting for Chelsea, and...

Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was a ballboy

lordbonkers.bsky.social•5 days ago

It was Anfield - my memory's going.

aveek18.bsky.social•5 days ago

I think people have got a bit carried away by a lot of dropped points without noticing the underlying performances have if anything got better

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

And indeed where the dropped points have been. Everton have taken points off a load of top teams. Villa are a really good side! I basically feel like the tone and reporting around Liverpool draws has been odd since the 2-2 at our place, which was reported as if it were a disastrous result.

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

A lot of the mood music around it was a real 'did I just see a different game?' because it was like 'Arsenal blunder to 2-2 draw against some unknown team' and it was like 'I left that thinking I'd seen a title contender'.

dctrojan.bsky.social•5 days ago

For partisan reasons I had hoped to see at least a Liverpool wobble under a new manager - a full collapse was too much to hope for - but irritatingly they remain Good Actually and it’s not because everyone else has somehow failed to manifest being better

jonfmorse.com•5 days ago

Listen, the English football press is like Charlie Brown Had Hoes

jonfmorse.com•5 days ago

by the way a few days ago they also decided to get on a "Is Liverpool about to falter?" train...

...following a draw AT Villa, a team that's still playing in the UCL.

Deeply unserious people.

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

Right, like, the 'Liverpool wobble' is they drew at Everton (who held Arsenal at home and where Chelsea also drew at Everton) and they drew AWAY at Villa, it's just incredibly silly.

enlightbystand.bsky.social•5 days ago

Sounds a lot like a good chunk of the Lobby and the then Government’s position on the election this time last year…

morralexand.bsky.social•5 days ago

I think what's prompting this is that Liverpool probably aren't as good as they were in 2019, so people think that means they should at least be getting a strong challenge. But this ignores the fact LFC and City were getting points totals that would make the Old Firm blush in that period.

stephenkb.bsky.social•5 days ago

Yeah, I think there's a lot in that, though I think actually it is 'Liverpool 2018' that is the comparison, like, if you don't see off THAT level of title challenge you've fluked it somehow.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply