There were fewer international games back then but  even so I didn’t realise he played so few games for Ireland, relatively.

The way Ian Wright is coughing on TV I’d sit further away from him if I was Roy Keane

The managers should just invent injuries like Fergie did for Giggs.

It wasn’t just Giggs. Our entire squad would develop niggles that would keep them off international duty which would be miraculously cured once the premiership restarted.

Mind you, a lot of that wasn’t just about potential injuries, but about the disgusting abuse both Becks and Phil Neville were deluged with by Engerlands meat-headed, neanderthal fans, egged on by our moronic tabloid media, while the FA sat back and gave them absolutely zero support.

That set the tone for United’s relationship with the national squad ever since.

Jota, sometimes one player can make a difference. I didn’t think Liverpool would get best last season’s performance but they might now.

He’s absolutely on fire, looks great. Lots of people talking up Leicester but they were humbled tonight.

Also, how toothless do Man City look these days? Surely Pep is going to want some new players.

Jota has fitted in brilliantly, not just with his goals but he brings an extra dimension. Without being harsh here, Salah has at times been quite a bit out of games, drifting in and out and not massively making an impression. With Firmino not setting the goals on fire too, Liverpool have needed a bit of an edge… The great thing is, Jota has provided it.

Leicester fitted Liverpools requirements quite well though, not sitting back and pushing on at times, that’s what Liverpool like, quick attacking football and spacer for Robbo to exploit. It’s when teams still 11 behind the ball in their own half and 9 of them acting as full on defensive wall that they struggle sometimes to break them down with that incisive pass.

Also, how toothless do Man City look these days? Surely Pep is going to want some new players.

Pep needs to adapt our style of play, just compressing the play into 1/3 of the pitch isn’t working anymore, 10 defenders in the box takes a lot of breaking down, there is just no space to play, luck is required. Probably the only attackers in world football who could definitely currently make any difference are Harland and Lewandowski. Everyone is going to be competing for Harland so while it would be nice I certainly don’t see him as a realistic solution.

I am also disappointed that Delap hasn’t got more game time in the absence of Aguero and Jesus, his physicality gives defenders a problem they don’t expect when facing city and something none of our other front line offer. Still plenty of players on the pitch who offer a perfect cushioned pass, and control in tight spaces, making the defenders have to concentrate of that plus a bit of physicality could have been the missing key.

Leicester fitted Liverpools requirements quite well though, not sitting back and pushing on at times

This has become city’s problem, it not necessarily that teams are parking the bus, but that we push them back into their own box for 85 mins, and then our defence is out of position for those moments when they break out.

Jota has to be the best signing of the season, with Werner a close second. Both absolute quality players.

I was quite surprised with how easily Liverpool brushed Leicester aside last night, given their injury situation. Johnny Evans header was a belter of a goal. Pity it was at the wrong end

Signing of the season so far is a Spurs player. Signed for £15m with one of our younger squad players going in the opposite direction for £12m. Net payment £3m. People are getting excited about Kane & Son but he is the reason Spurs are where they are at the moment

Hojbjerg 🙂

I was quite surprised with how easily Liverpool brushed Leicester aside last night, given their injury situation. Johnny Evans header was a belter of a goal. Pity it was at the wrong end

I’m fed up of hearing this. Leicester had more players out than Liverpool but it wasn’t mentioned.

Commentators constantly banging on about how Liverpool weren’t hampered by their injuries but not once pointing out that Leicester were. The goals came down Albrighton’s side after he overcommitted himself constantly, he’s third choice for that position.

The big club bias, whether intentional or not is so out of control on Sky sports.

Wahhhhhh!

Have to admit I’m eating some Jose humble pie and it doesn’t taste good! Spurs have a real chance, they look solid, and if they can keep Bale off the golf course to complement Son and Kane I think they’ll push Liverpool. Jose has made some big calls, esp with Dele Alli.

Have to admit I’m eating some Jose humble pie and it doesn’t taste good!

I know, same 🥺

scandal42 totally agree. My Liverpool mad son keeps banging on about it. Spurs lost Alderweireld on Saturday. We are not planning a candle lit vigil for him like Liverpool.

Last season we had Kane & Son injured. We had to play Dele Ali up front. Last time i looked most of the players who played last night for Liverpool have more than a few appearances in the positions they played. Could almost be like for like for some of them.

In sheer numbers of injured compared to squad depth Liverpool have absolutely no argument. I say that in the same way as i dont think Spurs can ever make such complaints. Its teams like WBA, Sheff Utd who just seem to get on with things.

Have to admit I’m eating some Jose humble pie and it doesn’t taste good!

It also demonstrates, as if any further demonstration was required, that the problems at Old Trafford go way deeper than who happens to be the manager.

Jose didn’t just lose the dressing room at Utd, he did the same at Chelski and RM beforehand. I wouldn’t bite into that humble pie just yet, wait for the pressure to build and a few poor results to see if he has really turned it around.

To be fair, staying awake for a whole 90 minutes is progress when watching one of Maureens sides

Yeah I’m still not convinced Spurs will actually win anything and his shtick will wear thin at some point

Its teams like WBA, Sheff Utd who just seem to get on with things.

Teams that are aiming for mid table mediocrity – there’s a bit more interest in and pressure on the defending champions. Weird eh.

Teams that are aiming for mid table mediocrity – there’s a bit more interest in and pressure on the defending champions. Weird eh.

Last time i looked Liverpool were governed by the same set of rules as a mid table team in search of mediocrity. Thats what makes the PL so good. If Liverpool dont like it they can go off and try to form their own league behind the rest of the PL back….. They have zero right to anything that benefits them whilst hindering a team who is aiming for their own version of glory (5 subs)

I still think it’s going to continue to be a very strange season for a while yet before settling down to the usual suspects. West Ham are what, 8th? and City, ManU and Arsenal are beneath them. City are too good not to make Champ Lge, Southampton need Ings to even have a chance of top 6. Wolves aren’t that bad and I’d be surprised if Spurs or Chelsea can keep consistent enough. Injuries will be an issue for every club this season. I’m not sure about 5 subs though. Cups might be sacrificed.

Another lame penalty deciding the result of a game. I mean I suppose it was a foul but again a penalty is an utterly disproportionate response to that incident

The number of pedantic VAR penalties is seriously putting me off football and not just because it went against Liverpool this time.

Let’s disallow good goals in open play because of fractional offsides that no-one could see in real time, and let the game be decided by penalties instead – great. 3 players off injured, 2 penalties, 2 disallowed goals, in an empty stadium with fake crowd noise, what a **** spectacle.

I won’t complain about the decisions, they went the right way based on the current rules. However VAR makes the game so boring to watch, based on the current setup I’d rather go back to how it was in the knowledge that occasionally a poor decision will go against you.

It does seem that when a goal goes in unless it’s been smashed in from 30 yards out, whether it will stand or not is anybody’s guess

Its been an interesting approach to distract from the inexplicable offside decisions by making the handball decisions even more absurd

Biased, sure, I’m a Liverpool fan.

But here’s how football has become for me, I went out riding instead. Can’t recall the last time I went out randomly when Liverpool were playing. A long time ago.
Right now, if they closed football completely forever, I’m not sure I’d care.
I’ve been to 300 games at Anfield, travelled Europe to watch them, but today, instead of facing the pathetic excuse for a game we now have, I went out cycling instead

They need to bring back indirect free kicks in the box for anything other than a nailed on goal opportunity. Getting a pen facing away from goal at the edge of the box when you’re not in control of the ball is far too easy a way of scoring.

Why bother trying to actually score in open play when it might be chalked off for some unseen micro-infraction, better just to play for the penalty every time.

And the fact that when a great goal goes in your instant thought is ‘wonder if that’s going to stand’ is just rubbish.

It feels wrong but again I agree with Jose……he said a few weeks ago ditch VAR for all but goal line decisions. Spot on.

I do wonder if the stadiums were full as normal how the current farcical interpretation of the rules would be going down?

I hate VAR as I can’t get excited when a goal is scored as there’s been far too many chalked off after I’ve celebrated.
Liverpool did well to come away with 1 point today and they’ve definitely had their share of questionable penalty decisions (I don’t really see the difference between the Welbeck one and the one Salah got against West Ham) so they shouldn’t get too upset about one going against them.

I think this has gone far beyond individual teams or fans getting annoyed, I genuinely think it’s ruining the fun of the game and if it’s not fun to watch then what’s the point.

I think this has gone far beyond individual teams or fans getting annoyed

Absolutely this. Of course if you’re a myopic fan ^^ you’ll say something along the lines of “they get their fair share of questionable…blah blah bullshit bullshit…” but it’s beyond a joke now.

I was a staunch defender of VAR last season, assuming we’d have a season of it bedding in and it would improve in successive seasons. TMO got off to a bumpy start in rugby and even now, has its detractors but by and large, it works really well. Audiences can hear the discussions. American football video replays works slightly differently but again, in the vast majority of cases the right decision outs. Tennis does it really well.

Football as a sport has come late to the game of post incident video review. Many in the ruling bodies seemed to have been needed to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. I appreciate the purity of wanting every single game from Sunday league to premier league to be officiated identically. I can only assume now with how it’s been implemented more poorly this season than last that they want it to fail. We only get one shot at having clear and obvious errors corrected in this way. If this system fails, it’ll be years before there’s another try. The groundswell against it is too strong now and I don’t see it continuing in its present form for long. We’ll be back to howling errors being missed soon.

I agree, and I can’t stand it. I honestly never wanted it in football as I had a feeling it would cause just as many problems as it solved. It’s not going to go away now though unfortunately. Football is a different game and we’re going to have to get used to it.

Absolutely this. Of course if you’re a myopic fan ^^ you’ll say something along the lines of “they get their fair share of questionable…blah blah bullshit bullshit…” but it’s beyond a joke now.

Of course it is, but unfortunately it’s not going anywhere and the double standards of supporters that cry when the questionable VAR goes against them to when it goes for them is laughable. Today we saw Brighton get a questionable penalty, but then the linesman missed Mane being clearly offside. Basically it’s not really much different than it was before but now instead of blaming the ref or Lino for our teams shortcomings it’s now the fault of VAR.

Yeah you notice it more when it’s against your team but so what.

It’s the sheer quantity of penalties now that gets me. It feels like an awful lot of games are decided by them now, and there’s often several per game. Many are for instances where scoring looked very unlikely, and the foul is often very minimal.

It used to seem like a higher level of foul was required to award a pen, now it’s every tiny little thing, generally (except wrestling at set pieces which never gets penalised).

Today we saw Brighton get a questionable penalty

You see, there’s your myopia right there. Along with your view that because you feel that Liverpool get “questionable” penalties, they “deserve” it when something is given against them…of course I’m inferring that from your post but y’know, you could be being entirely even handed about it, who knows. It’s not just Liverpool fans complaining about VAR – it’s across the spectrum now. I want it to work – to correct clear and obvious errors, like Mane’s offside. I don’t want them using too-low frame speed cameras to judge a “moment.”

You need to remove yourself from the ninety minutes today, and the associated allowances you’re making for VAR and see the bigger picture.

VAR could work, and it could work really well. Its implementation stinks and this is unforgivable because other sports have made it work. One would think that after last season it could have been tweaked to make it better. I think most would have accepted a better if not perfect system. But no, for some reason they’ve decided to make it worse than it was. I can only assume they want it to fail.

I just meant I don’t see much difference between Welbecks today and the one Salah got against WHU.
VAR was sold as every decision will be correct and they’ll be none of this debate. The rules and every supporters general feeling of being hard done by was never going to let that happen.
If they change the offside rule to be daylight then no doubt they’ll still be marginal decisions there and just as many issues. If they say it’s got to be clear and obvious then just as it is now they’ll be as many debates about what constitutes that.
You can say my view is myopic but I know I’ve been consistent in laughing at how ridiculous VAR is. IMO VAR is the worst thing to happen to football and I’d more than happy to see them sack it ofF, but I know that won’t happen so it is what it is so no point crying about it.

I just meant I don’t see much difference between Welbecks today and the one Salah got against WHU.

You can say my view is myopic

and the double standards of supporters that cry when the questionable VAR goes against them to when it goes for them is laughable.

Certainly describes todays posts.

If I had my way and there was no VAR Brighton would’ve lost 3-0 today due to 2 offside goals and a penalty not being awarded so I don’t see how I’m being labelled as myopic.

One of those goals wasn’t offside in any sense of how we used to understand offside.

I don’t have any particular beef with that second penalty even though I think the punishment doesn’t really fit the crime – it was a foul though. It’s the cumulative effect of so many that I’m sick of. I can’t say I get excited when Liverpool get awarded one either tbh.

I can’t imagine being a Man U fan and getting awarded 7 per game (or something) is that much fun either really. Barney Ronay had a good rant about it on Football Weekly recently.

An example of how VAR could be used to improve the game, give penalties when a foul is committed but the player doesn’t go down. Punish diving properly, don’t just wave it away and say no penalty.

VAR could improve the game, but those in charge seem to have sidestepped this and seem instead to want to give a penalty for every touch in the box, who’d want to be a defender right now.

VAR could improve the game

It was all good fun when it was just being used to prevent plucky cash strapped outsiders, Manchester City, winning the UCL, but it’s gone too far now…