The video is naturally split into two parts, the Transfers OUT and the Transfers IN. I naturally expected the latter to be the juicier section, but I actually think some of the most interesting aspects of this are in who we decided to let go (and when and why).

The biggest talking points centre around Jarell Quansah and of course the Bundesliga conquering Luis Diaz, but there’s also fair mentions for Harvey Elliott and Tyler Morton. There’s also a little bit on the Gakpo v Diaz debate that has naturally cropped up this season.

With regards to the Transfers IN, it’s definitely been a mixed bag hasn’t it? I still believe that we didn’t buy a single “bad” player, but it does feel like I might be on a bit of an island on that one. Judging by the comments so far, it feels like everyone has got their own particular anti-favourites, a few of which really surprised me.

Anyway, yes, I hope you enjoy it and if you could head over to Youtube to leave a LIKE and a COMMENT, that would be great, but as always comments here are appreciated too!

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Cheers!

Maych

Well, that was something wasn’t it?

It could have been absolutely nothing, the first of five games phoned in as we counted down the days to the beach. Anfield bathed in sunshine, so many eyes on beer gardens, base tans and staying safe for the World Cup that for half an hour it definitely felt like a nothing game of football. A post-season stroll. But no it was something. Goals and drama and intrigue and the Lower Kenny Dalglish Stand trying to fight one of their players and a wonderful underdog story underpinning it all.

Listen, new goalies make me nervous, not in an overbearing way, more like watching your kids in the school play. Nervous for them not for me, if that makes sense? It’s been the best part of a decade since I put my gloves on in any meaningful capacity and yet somehow I still count myself as part of the goalkeeping fraternity. I probably always will. As such I have always paid closer attention to the lads between the sticks for Liverpool than any other position. They were my inspiration growing up, for better or for worse.

The pressure on them is immense. World class strikers can send you to Pop World, but at least a mediocre one won’t ruin your weekend the way a mediocre ‘keeper can. In fact even world class keepers drop weekend wrecking clangers from time to time.

The sad truth is that we’ve owned far more of the former than the latter in my life. But even so, I’ve seen loads of our actual first choice keepers go from number 1 to persona non grata almost overnight. I watched Newcastle destroy David James, Bolton destroy Westerveld, Real Madrid destroy Loris Karius. Three first choice keepers who suddenly went from hero to zero. So yeah, in a position where one mistake can define a game, can aggravate a fanbase, can change a career, I get a little nervous watching new lads in goal for us. Even more so when they are not even supposed to be in the side.

The bar of expectation for backups is lower, but their ability to impact a game remains the same. It’s one thing to come on for a cameo, another to do it for 90 minutes, when the opposition have seen you coming, are ready to make you the twat of the piece. “First chance you get, stick one on the goalie lads”.

Anyone who watches my Match vlogs will know that I don’t include anything of note that the opposition does during a match. The very simple reason for this is that I don’t even record it, the phone stays in my pocket during opposition attacks. The major upside to this is that I never capture the moments that break our hearts, the downside is that I have spent 8 years watching the best in the business in our goal perform miracles, and have next to no video evidence of it.

I cannot explain why, but yesterday I felt compelled to roll on a Palace corner. Just a feeling, an inkling. I even kept it rolling as we cleared the ball back to the flank, and as such happened to be pointing the camera right at our goal as Freddie Woodman wonderfully kept out a close range header from Mateta. A save which led to a counter from Wirtz, which in turn led to a carry from Jones, who neatly threaded it through for… checks notes… Andy Robertson to gallop in, slide it past the keeper and make it 2-0. All in all the clip in question is one minute forty seconds long and it might be my favourite one minute forty of the season.

I did not film his second, and possibly slightly better save, but did get 5 minutes of the Kop serenading him with “England’s number 1” and another song that mentioned the fact that his arms are clearly longer than Jordan Pickford’s. Magic stuff.

I have to admit that prior to this week I had next to no idea who he was, beyond the fact we’d signed him as a clear third choice from Preston. Turns out he won the U20 World Cup with England in 2017 in a squad that also featured Dom Solanke, Dominik Calvert-Lewin and Ademola Lookman. Ovie Ejaria and Sheyi Ojo were in there too, and it’s a funny quirk of fate that nine years ago, both were far more statistically likely to be involved for us in this game than Woodman. An additional amusing side note, his understudy in that squad was… Dean Henderson, his opposite number yesterday afternoon- mad that isn’t it? Either way, knowledge of his role in that England side settled my nerves a little pre-match, and so I was even more delighted that he was given, and has subsequently taken this opportunity with such aplomb. Forza Freddie!

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There are a number of lads in that team who have points to prove, and even though the call of the sun lounger is strong (as was the Ekitike-induced injury fear factor), it was immensely pleasing to see so many still fighting. Alexander Isak remains a confusing and unfamiliar presence, and 18 touches in 79 minutes still seems low to me, but a goal helps. It’s his job and he’s proven he can do it again (and for the first time at Anfield). Him and Wirtz are such an unusual pairing. Neither truly feel like Liverpool players to me yet, which is odd to say, especially for Flo who has played a lot of football for us this season. I guess what I mean is that neither have had that massive breakout moment yet. There have certainly been more hints for Wirtz, and that wonderful strike to seal the game yesterday was yet another. But if these guys are going to be the spearhead of the next great Liverpool side then there is still a way to go for both to firmly establish themselves in our hearts and minds. Neither seem like big charismatic characters, so both will have to win us over with their end product. Think Firmino at the Etihad. Mane at the Emirates. Salah racing away from Arsenal defenders at Anfield. Smaller moments like today’s goals are the building blocks, but future legends earn their status on the big stages. It may not come this season, but Old Trafford next week wouldn’t be a bad place to make it happen.

Villa dropping points to Fulham in the early kick off quietly added stakes to this game, and I was delighted to see us rise to them. This season has been the drizzling shits. If Champions League qualification is the last remaining goal then the lads should at least do the decent thing and go finish above United and give us something to smile about.

These are not the highest of stakes, but they are the stakes that we have.

That’s now three league wins on the spin and quietly up to 4th. Let’s see if these lads can sprint through the finish line and give us all a more positive view from our loungers this summer.

Top 3 Players

Freddie Woodman

• Two brilliant saves in the first half, desperately unlucky with their goal. Thankfully he was able to continue, it would have been too cruel to have him go off injured.

Curtis Jones

• Another fine right back performance, gritty and classy. Lovely assist for Robbo too.

Alexis Mac Allister

• Not in a vintage, classy Macca way, but in an angry Milner/Hendo way. Bang up for a tussle. We need more of that in the midfield.

Let me know yours and any honorable mentions!

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Match Reaction

Match Vlog

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Thanks for reading, and enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Cheers!

Maych

So yes, there are rumours that Alisson has a “verbal agreement” with Juventus for a summer move, despite only recently extending his contract until 2027. There’s talk of Liverpool wanting a fee (that could be in the region of £13m), and some counter-talk that his reported £250k p/w wages would be a problem for the Italians. Anyway, with Mo Salah having his contract cancelled and Robbo’s not being renewed, I figured there was enough here for a larger discussion piece.

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Apologies for the somewhat provocative thumbnail, as always I’ve tried to consider all of the points below from as many angles as possible.

On Alisson…

• Why now?

• Is Mamaradashvili ready to take over next season?

• Would Liverpool need to buy a new number 1 or a new back up?

On Liverpool’s wider transfer/squad management decisions…

• Another self induced summer of churn?

• Managing the wage bill v losing experience.

• Could they really be considering a Curtis Jones sale too?

• How many positions Liverpool need to buy for this summer.

• How Alisson, Jones, Mac Allister, Gomez and Ekitike’s injury could impact that.

There’s a few other bits and pieces in there too. Hopefully it’s all coherent. If you could drop a like and comment over on youtube that would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

Maych

Glorious. A wonderful, magical end to a dreadful game of football and I could not be happier.

Okay, in general I could, but derby’s defy football logic. In a world where ANY win will do, to win it like that, at that time, in that ground, with that mood and atmosphere? Incredible. I could not, nor would not, have hand picked a better way to do it. It is the only thing I would willingly give myself a sore throat for, and my word do I have a doozy of a sore throat right now.

Say it with me on three… Goals Change Games, Change Narratives.

These were the final rankings from last night’s Player Rankings Show. Can you imagine what that would have looked like without that Virgil goal?

It was a poor, poor game of football, from both sides. I hope the blues thought so too, because they are definitely crap. Now listen, they are meant to be crap. They have nearly been relegated in the recent past, they have David Moyes as manager and their best player is an on loan calf model who averages 1 goal a season. But what they have is a fresh start, a shiny new ground, dodgy photoshopped tifos and a dream. They were bang up for it and saw no reason why not to be. Liverpool were ripe for the picking. So with blue smoke in their lungs and (presumably) several dogs lifted above their heads, why would they not believe? New ground, new us.

Nope. New ground, still Everton.

That’s what made Van Dijk’s winner so important. Yes we need the points, more on that in a sec, but we also need to maintain the Merseyside Status Quo. There is pride generated for this season, happiness for now, but could somebody, for the love of god, think about the children? We’ve had a generation of Derby domination and long may it continue. This was a chance for The Ev to break the cycle, to begin a new tradition. Those things can build into something more, and maybe yet will. Best to nip it in the bud just in case, so yeah, nice one Virg!

Liverpool are not good. There are some good moments, some good performances, but it was not a good team performance and probably didn’t deserve to have such a heavenly moment to end it, but whatever. Cody’s pass for Mo’s goal is sublime, the finish is great. Mo equalling, but not surpassing Stevie’s Derby goal record (9) feels right. That he also gets to be the one to score the first Derby goal at the Hill-Dick is great too, a reminder for future Evertonians of his greatness. Like burying a time capsule in the foundations. Curtis is great as a makeshift full back. It is a more footballing impact than the last one at Goodison.

At 1-1 it could have been something totally different. Something much worse. The goalie carried off, fresh enthusiasm in the stands. Much love to Freddie Woodman striding in out of the cold and into the Derby fray like a modern day Brad Jones. In a week that saw the tragic passing of Alex Manninger there is more than a little hint of poetry in another 3rd choice Liverpool keeper taking his unlikely chance with calm and grace. He could easily have wilted or embraced the low hanging fruit of over exuberance, but instead chose stability and maturity. He was everything that we needed from him.

Most of everything else is a struggle. It is lovely to see Alexander Isak back, but it has been a long time since we’ve had a more traditional number 9: a player who needs the game brought to him, rather than one who finds it, grabs it and gives it to others. He might take some getting used to, on the pitch and in the stands. There will inevitably be talk of his paucity of touches, 9 in this game for what it’s worth. The same was said of Erling Haaland, except Haaland took his limited touches and scored loads of goals. Goals change games, narratives and perceptions. Careers too. We will have to give him a mulligan this season, and hope he re-breaks his duck (and nothing else) before the season ends to give him a boost heading into the World Cup.

But honestly right now all that matters is the win and the let off; that delicious post-match Sunday roast and an entire week to revel in it all before Palace. Liverpool FC, maybe not “The Originals” but still very much the best.

Top 3 Players

Curtis Jones

• Our most consistently good player throughout the game. Combined a cool head with bravery in possession.

Virgil Van Dijk

• In a game that had the Robbo/Salah farewell side story it was a timely reminder that the skipper is going nowhere, because he’s fucking boss.

Mo Salah

• Took his goal brilliantly and really got stuck into the aggression of it all when the temperature boiled up in the first half.

Honorable Mention to Cody Gakpo who was a real handful in the first half from the left. His pass to Salah for the opener is absolute genius

Let me know yours!

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Match Reaction

GOAL REACTIONS (aka the reason my throat is ruined)

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Cheers!

Maych

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I will begin with some simple statements:

• Liverpool are out of the Champions League.

• Liverpool will not win silverware this season.

• Because of the nature of the scoreline from the 1st leg, this tie was effectively over the moment that Dembele’s 72nd minute goal hit the back of the net.

• Liverpool did what most expected them to do and lost.

For some people this will be the be all and end all of the required analysis of last night.

I’m tired and part of me wants to be done with it too, done with this game, this tie; this season, players and manager. I could just stop here, because football is a results business and technically the above is all that really matters.

The thing is though, I felt something last night that I have not felt enough of this season in football, and 2026 in my life in general. Thrilled? Exhilarated? Optimistic? Yeah, them, and rather than immediately bow to the obvious negativity I’d like to talk about that, for a little bit at least, just because I fear that if I don’t, it’s like it never happened, and I really want it to have happened.

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Right now I feel sadness. Genuine sadness. Sad that we lost. Sad that Mo Salah and Andy Robbo won’t add to their Liverpool trophy cabinets. Sad that all that building emotion and fervour and the shared sense of place and spirit added up to nothing.

It was there wasn’t it? Right there. The noise. The energy. The passion. The pressing. The pressure. The skill. The belief. Players and fans in harmony. All of the ingredients required for a famous Anfield night and a season spinning game of footy. It was all there but the finish. Someone, anyone, by any hook or crook to just stick one in the back of the net. Get one and see what happens.

Liverpool are okay in the first half, are in the game without looking like the coming force. Hugo Ekitiké’s injury is a sickener, but credit to the lads (and the incoming Salah) for instantly creating the best chance of the game up to that point.

It left us with 45 minutes attacking the Kop, with Gakpo on for Isak, Gomez on for Frimpong, a song in our throats and a dream in our hearts.

God it was good. I’m not sure how it was on the telly, but my god, in the ground it was fucking good. I was literally jumping up and down, screaming myself hoarse as the Mighty Reds consumed the Champions of Europe. I watched PSG waver. I watched them fluff easy passes and have their usually incisive counters gobbled up at every turn. Liverpool were powered up Pac-Men, PSG were panicking blue ghosts on the run. The two goal mountain suddenly felt like those flat airport travelators. The Reds, speeding onwards with ease. Gomez and Gakpo, the theoretical ‘more defensive’ (or at least, ‘less attacking’) subs are both sensational. What they subtract in potential brilliance they put back in ten fold with physical dominance. Ibou and Virg imperious door slammers, Gravenberch slaloming forward, trinkle toed Wirtz, his shirt only wet through perspiration as he dances between the raindrops. Liverpool FC, a force of nature. They feel inevitable.

Alexis Mac Allister wins a pen. Then doesn’t. Rio on for Gomez is an eyebrow raiser until his shot nearly squirms in. It’s happening.

Ousmane Dembele. Goal.

Gutted.

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The feeling is gone in an instant. It is no longer right there, not for us, not this season.

Glory is not the theme of 2025/26. The theme is heartbreak. Personally, professionally.

I’ve felt football heartbreak before. I’ve come to know actual heartbreak far too well of late.

Last night felt like the death of a dream, rather than a great side meeting its match and narrowly being overcome. Liverpool, a team sitting 5th in the league, should have had no chance of getting past PSG and that is what is borne out across the two legs, but I am a hopeless romantic at heart and firmly believe that where there is life there is hope. Someone came up to me before the game and thanked me for the positivity and asked me to keep it up. All I could say was thanks, but I don’t think people want it anymore.

I’m pleased that so many stayed til the bitter end. In a week that saw Arsenal fans booing the Premier League leaders off the pitch, it gave me a crumb of comfort that we still had the grace to applaud our lads last night. It wasn’t the magical end we’d hoped for. It wasn’t quite the spirit lifting glorious failure either. In truth, and in the hard facts of it, it wasn’t much of anything. But I did feel something. I know I did, and I think that matters, if only to me.

There is something in this Liverpool side, but there is not enough of it.

They are small plates football. Intricate and tantalising at times, but not sustaining. Maybe I’m being too kind. Maybe they are the sugary treat that rots your teeth and ruins your dinner. The point remains that the best that Liverpool can offer right now is not enough to power a full season, and how could it be when it isn’t enough to power an entire football match?

I’ve seen magical moments, so many of them. Too many not to believe in the impossible, but in reality they have to come from firmer foundations than the ones LFC have this season. Gerard and Rafa had steadfast defensive systems. Jurgen had fight and workrate as his cornerstone. In many regards this Liverpool reminds me of Roy Evans’. We have so many of the good bits, the bits that most teams can only dream of but not the structure to back them up.

There is big work to be done, and there are hard conversations to be had this summer.

I don’t know what comes next. Well no, I do, but it’s not great. It is playing for par, playing to break even. Giving our all so that a future version of these players has the chance to put things right.

People tend not to write books or sing songs or make movies about teams that finish between 3rd and 5th in the league. We have feasted for many years and by comparison what follows is crap, but it is important. It is important because that spell of dominance and excitement in the 2nd half happened, not by accident but through desire and unity and ability. It is the seed of the next great thing and it needs to be nurtured. It needs the fertile soil of the Champions League.

We will not play a better team than PSG in what remains of this season, and there are now six games remaining to prove that we belong at that level again.

I hope these lads and this manager have it in them because I want to feel more of that feeling, I want to see what grows from a side with Flo, and Rio and Dom and Hugo, and Milos and Grav and the rest.

The last, worst, lowest of the season’s objectives remains in our sights, I really, really hope they have enough left in them to grab it.

Top 3 Players

Cody Gakpo

• Sometimes I think Cody forgets that he is massive. Not last night. He led the line brilliantly, winning flick ons, disrupting the centre halves and forcing errors.

Joe Gomez

• Yes it is a bit weird to pick a player who was only on the pitch for 20 minutes, but it was a great 20 minutes. Shut down Kvaratskhelia, helped us pin PSG into their half and linked with Salah flawlessly. Nearly scored from a set piece. I’m told it was an injury that forced him off, not a tactical decision which is both better and worse.

Ibrahima Konaté

• I could just as easily pick the skipper here, but in games like this (especially in times like the 2nd half) Ibou is the perfect centre back. In that spell he doesn’t just shut the back door, he builds a bomb shelter across the halfway line and patrols it with powerful intent.

Honorable mention to Mo Salah who showed that there is still a quality footballer there determined to fight for the cause, it’s just not quite the player who has won games single handedly for the previous eight years.

Who were yours, let me know, and any other general thoughts in the comments.

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Thanks for reading, and with Wednesday being the Hillsborough anniversary thanks for understanding my decision not to post this at the usual time.

Cheers,

Maych.

That was a much, much, much needed win…

There was such a weird vibe around Anfield ahead of kick off yesterday. Flat? Introspective? Miserable? Call it whatever you want, but the general level of hubbub was much lower than I can remember it being for a long time. There is the fact that it was Grand National Day. The weather too was shite. And of course there was the announced ticket price protest with the “Not a £ In The Ground” slogan that will have been weighing on people’s minds. Oh and Liverpool have been crap. Obviously.

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For any or all of the above reasons, there were a lot of tickets floating around for this one and as such there were lots of new and largely angry faces around me on the Kop. The somber walk and the air of annoyance left me feeling even more worried for the PSG game.

There has understandably been some defiant talk since midweek. The Barca game has been brought up plenty. The problem is that big nights don’t just happen. They require buy in. We’re probably not going to bounce into the ground, but we will need to at least walk in accepting that a win is possible. I literally heard one lad shout “we’re not going to beat PSG, we’re shite.” during the Fulham match. An isolated case? Maybe. The hubbub needs to be big and bubbling on Tuesday. Walking into the ground on Saturday it felt like we all needed a shot of positivity, just to remind us that happiness may not be guaranteed, but it is at least possible. Step up Rio Ngumoha.

That kid is something special isn’t he?

Both flanks for Liverpool functioned superbly last night, but Rio’s role deserves highlighting, for what was to my eye at least, his best all round performance yet. As always he was a willing outball and as always he was happy to test his man with as many limb twisting variations as humanly possible. And then there is the goal, and what a wonderful goal it was, but what I enjoyed the most was how much more integrated he looked into the side in general. His hold up play was better, he made some canny inside runs from deeper, and played one nice crossfield ball too. He looked like a proper Liverpool player, not just a trick card or special move. When a player has such a unique skillset it can be easy to spam it. Like that one mate who learned Ryu’s fireball and decided to make that his entire game, every game. Eventually even the unpredictable becomes predictable. Yesterday he reminded me of Luis Diaz.

To have made this much of a developmental stride in such a short spell bodes very well for Rio. I caught some of his Sky Sports Q&A video with Harriet Prior yesterday, and he seems like a pretty well rounded fella too- good chat, something most players at that age sorely lack. I haven’t met him personally, but I have interviewed quite a few Liverpool players at that stage of their careers and charisma-wise he seems miles ahead of where Trent (for example) was. Again, good stuff.

So Fulham. I realised on Saturday morning just how much of my focus has been drawn towards the Champions League stuff.

I’d woken up in London on the morning of the match for an appearance on Soccer Saturday. With Spurs plunging into the bottom 3, Smithy was a bit down in the dumps, but co-host Joe Thomlinson (Man United fan), was positively brimming with bravado. He is convinced that they are going to finish 3rd. Convinced. So convinced in fact that I presumed it must be a pretty academic thing.

It’s really not.

The Cup defeat to City, then compounded by the mess at the Parc Des Princes really did a number on my psyche. I have become obsessed with the do or die, European Champions or bust mentality that has developed. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

At half time I was genuinely asked the question: “Would you keep Slot if he wins the Champions League this season?” I had to ask the question back just to check I’d not misheard. ‘Are you asking would I sack a European Cup winning manager? I mean, I know it’s been shite this season, but not even Real Madrid would sack a European Cup winning manager.

Anyway, the league. We needed this win because we need to win league games too. Because the easiest way to save this season from total disaster is to finish in the (now confirmed) Top 5. Because try as we might, Liverpool have not yet totally fucked that up.

For me, Fulham was the last banana skin, the last chance to make it extra hard for ourselves. What follows next in the league is actual hardness. Big games. Big rivals. Six pointers. Loads on the line. Those are not games to be feared, they are experiences to be embraced. They bring their own atmospheres. There will be no silverware on the line, but these games instead represent chances to better ourselves, to go a little beyond par. To end the season on a flourish rather than a whimper. United, Chelsea, Villa. Back to back. But we need to be there, need to make sure that those games actually do matter. I want Carrick cracking and LinkedIn Liam sweating. I want Unai Emery making lovey Doe eyes at the Europa League.

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Listen, no songs will be sung about yesterday’s game. No new banners made. What the game against Fulham was, was an opportunity to roll over and be sad and let the season crumble to dust and I was delighted to see that the players chose not to take it. It would have been very easy for this game to be a complete shit show capitulation, swamped under the rolling snowball of doom. It would have been easy for this game to be an unwelcome distraction. It was instead a good solid win, three big points, and (injury to Jones notwithstanding) a wonderfully managed use of the squad between two testing games. All it really lacked was a second half goal just to put a bow on the evening, but hey ho. More minutes for Isak, some needed rest for Ekitike, Grav and Macca, a clean sheet and confidence boosting goals for Rio and Mo. Sound.

On the ticket price protests, I thought it was organised and well observed. With a massive night looming, I hope the club sees some sense. The win at the weekend has restored a sliver of hope, we’re going to need everyone together and behind the team, and it feels unthinkable that the Kop will be bare ahead of kickoff.

Top 3 Players

Rio Ngumoha

• His best performance in a red shirt yet. A genuine pleasure to watch. He’s absolutely put himself into the frame to play a part against PSG.

Mo Salah

• This was much more like it from Mo. His touch was better, his purpose restored. Took his goal with instinctive excellence and then set about trying to get everyone else into the game. Antonee Robinson is usually brilliant against us. Not yesterday, Mo had him on toast.

Andy Robertson

• Vintage Robbo performance and I’ll sincerely hope that I get to say that a few more times before the end of the season. He received a fantastic reception from the crowd before kick off and then went about earning all the times his song was sung throughout the game.

Who were your three? Let me know in the comments!

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Match Vlog

Match Reaction

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It’s been a while since i’ve said it, so thanks to everyone who has subscribed so far. It would have been lovely to start this Substack on one of Liverpool’s good seasons but here we are. Thanks for forcing yourselves to read when I imagine your instincts are to flee.

Cheers!

Maych

I don’t know about you, but I felt so sick in the hour leading up to kick off. Sick with nerves and anxiety and fears of the worst. It is a feeling exacerbated by Arne Slot setting the team up with 3 at the back. A feeling further exacerbated by seeing PSG and their liquid movement against our worryingly undertrained back line. And then they score.

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It is another stupidly, mind-twattingly unlikely strike. The xG has it as 0.05 which in itself is nothing unusual, lord knows we’ve conceded a few of them already this season. It’s the deflection though, the sheer odds-busting confluence of pace and deflection angle and spin that follows in order to put the ball on a postage stamp behind the keeper and under the bar. PSG are so good at footy, it feels unfair that a team capable of winning it in a million ways should get a slice of fortune like that.

Anyway it happened, and this is the nadir of my nausea. That horrible, horrible feeling that the collapse is coming.

But it doesn’t come. Mamardashvili makes some good saves and Liverpool slowly play their way into the game. By half time the feeling has subsided. A glimmer of hope exists with Wirtz picking up pockets of space and Frimpong pushing on down the right.

The second half starts and it’s okay for a bit. Then it feels quiet, too quiet. You look around and realise that you are in the eye of the storm. PSG players whip around you in free flow, the ball zipping unerringly between them, and then like a lightning strike, Kvaratskhelia’s genius carves us apart and the fear of collapse floods back again.

This time Liverpool did kind of collapse, but mercifully nobody told the scoreboard.

Ibou puts in a stunning tackle, concedes a pen and thankfully VAR does the right thing and intervenes. He should probably have had the opposite happen for his push on Mendes though. The aforementioned should also probably score but leaden foots the critical touch in the box. Dembele misses an excellent chance and later hits the post. Mamardashvilli makes more good saves. 3-0 would have killed it you feel, but that third goal simply never materialises.

I am reminded of a younger, less Ballon D’orified Ousmane Dembele fluffing his lines in the Nou Camp in 2019 to leave the score Barca 3-0 Liverpool. These things come to my mind because I am a hopeless football romantic.

But, let’s just circle back to this game before I deliver the inevitable “we can still do this” segment of the piece.

I get it, I do. There was an attempt made last night to pull off some sort of PSG-stifling masterclass. Liverpool went to the San Siro, kept it tight and nicked a win. They went to the Emirates, got a point and maybe could have gotten more doing something along the same lines. In both of those matches we frustrated the life out of the opposition and then grew into the games ourselves. That was not the case here. Whilst it was quite fun watching Konaté and Gomez pressing like crazy up the pitch; watching a 34 year old Virgil Van Dijk getting drawn into the midfield felt more like PSG toying with us than a controlled, defensive shut down.

And then there was the attacking side of things. Whilst Wirtz looks born and ready for this level, Ekitiké to my eye seemed a bit swallowed up by the occasion. When he’s feeling it, when he plays on pure instinct, he looks like an unstoppable star. Last night he looked like a lad too lost in thinking about how he was going to impress rather than just living it. The Reds found that the little resistance they mustered simply fizzled out before it could take hold.

The service was limited, as were the supporting options, but once again Liverpool needed a killer up top, someone who could pounce on the scraps, and once again did not have one. The sight of Isak from the bench offers a reminder that we do at least own one, but I can’t help but feel this return will be too soon for him, and too late for Liverpool for it to have the required impact next week. Half an hour or sixty minutes of Isak is better than none though. Hopefully it’s enough.

So yeah. Fulham next, and then the return leg. Both at Anfield. PSG have a week off. Joy.

Liverpool can absolutely get past PSG. They can. Stop laughing. They will not do it playing like this though.

There is being cautiously respectful and there is being passive. There is being brave and there is being naive. PSG can beat you any which way, so on Tuesday the Reds need to come out (and risk going down) swinging. They will need to dig deep and get stuck in and kick lumps and be aggressive and do the things that set the Anfield crowds’ passions alight. Score early. Give themselves, and us, something to plunge our teeth into and then, who knows? Maybe, there’s a chance.

It is football at Anfield so anything is possible, even if it feels really unlikely right now.

Top 3 Players….

Joe Gomez

• Fantastic performance from Joe, defensively excellent but also really good on the ball too. Loved him as the out ball on the wing, his touch was flawless. He was one of the definitive successes of the system.

Florian Wirtz

• Looked every inch the man for the big occasion, but was woefully under-supported up top. I would love to know what that game would have looked like if Isak had been fit to start.

Giorgi Mamardashvilli

• Could do nothing about either goal, but made some really good saves throughout to keep us just about alive in the tie.

Honorable mention to Alexis Mac Allister who looks a different beast in Europe. Crucially, he plays these games the right way, strong, skillful but with the right amount of dark art shit-baggery, exaggerating fouls and kicking people too. The closest thing we have to a Henderson/Milner type. We need more players with his nous.

Who were your three? Do you have any belief left that Liverpool can make it through to the Semis?

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FANALYSIS RATINGS

If you are looking for some football escapism then check out my debut novel “The Eternal Flame: Yester-Boy”. It is a teen adventure comedy about a boy who finds himself trading lives with a forgotten World War 2 super-soldier. It’s good fun, I love it and I think you will too. You can buy it now on www.maychpublishing.com signed editions are on there too!

Cheers, Maych

Did you have a relaxing international break? Get up to much? Have your head done in by 11 lads in Red? No? Boss wasn’t it? (Sorry to all my Welsh readers by the way). Anyway, Liverpool are back in our lives and right back on brand for 2025/26, so break out the Pritt Stick and lets dive in…

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An absorbing first half full of energy and skill and guile, and for the first 37 minutes you would not know that this Liverpool side had been anything other than brilliant this season. Wirtz is electric between the lines, he elevates everyone around him. Gomez and Kerkez at full back look bang up for the fight, both defensively and in striding out. Some of the linkup play up top is as good as anything I’ve seen.

Liverpool are not running the show per se, but they have held their own and are threatening to take the game away from City. For that period of the game, everything positive felt possible.

But once again one of this season’s shittest aphorisms raises its ugly head. Goals change games, change narratives.

Hugo streaks one over the bar, and Van Dijk does a mad flying Cruyff, but Mo Salah, working a cast iron opportunity from Mamardashvilli’s long kick, is the one, and once again he’s just not on it.

The game is long gone and academic by the time his 2nd half pen is saved. It is not a game defining moment like the first half chance, instead it serves as an exclamation point. If you are muttering ‘fucksake Mo’ under your breath in the first half, in the second it’s a shout at the sky, hands thrown in the air and a big back slump in your seat. If people were heading for the exits at 3 and 4-nil, I’m stunned there was anyone left after that. It would be foolish to suggest that at 4-1 the fight back was on, but what it represented was a chance to show a little pride, to keep City honest, to give us something, anything to hold on to. Restore a little hope ahead of Wednesday. But nope. Half an hour watching Liverpool chase shadows at the Etihad, whilst four goals down. Yuck.

It does make you think about the logic behind Salah’s public departure announcement. Maybe he thought it would give him some extra juice. Right now it feels like he’s just put more pressure on his shoulders. Like a high jumper who has failed his first two attempts so goes higher with their third. Ermm, sure, okay mate, your call. I know people have always loved his bold social media statements, he’s built a reputation for demanding the bar be set higher and then flying over it.

Since he made his decision public there has been a lot of online discourse about the reasons that brought him to it. Is it the squad around him? Is it the manager? The tactics?

It would be so much better if there were some fixable X-factor that could turn his fortunes around. Oh, Superman’s new undies have got Kryptonite stitching! Well that explains it. The truth is more simple and much more sad. Whether it’s mental or physical or a shit cocktail of both, the deciding X-factor here is the quality that Mo has lost. The fine margins that turn the very good into the very, very best.

Think about how many times Salah has turned these games on their heads through a moment of magic, and then look at him yesterday, and in fact most games this season. He is not that force anymore, no longer the man to turn to when the chips are down. He is not the clinical killer that Liverpool need in fine margins games. Erling Haaland is that man for City. 3 shots, 3 on target, 3 goals (including a pen). Any other of the 8 seasons of Salah gets a goal there yesterday and maybe gives us all something more to get behind.

Now, before anyone thinks that I’m placing blame solely at the feet of Mo Salah here, let’s be clear that that is not the case. City are rather jammy in the build up to their pen, but then score it to make such matters moot. What happens next is the big underlying concern of the season. Liverpool need to get in at half time 1-0. That has to be the mission statement. Get in. Regroup. Go again. But no, it becomes two, and two is a killer. Two gives City all they need and in the second period they take the game away from Liverpool. We’ve seen that before, been that before. Good teams have that ability. It’s April and I’m pretty certain that Liverpool 2025/26 are not one of them.

It’s so frustrating because recency bias aside, I saw so much to love in that first half an hour both offensively and defensively. You can see a way forward with these players, see how it could all make sense. But instead it’s 4-0 and it’s so bad that the ref has to perform a mercy killing on us by ignoring two goals and ten subs to add on 0 minutes of injury time. The worst part is that we were probably happy with that call.

Yes, there was good in what Liverpool did yesterday, but you cannot lose by that margin to one of your rivals and expect people not to feel annoyed, ashamed or embarrassed. At this stage of the season you shouldn’t be surprised to see Liverpool fans chanting Xabi Alonso’s name as they pour out of the ground. Dominik Szoboszlai should not be stunned to find that the remaining handful at full time are not in a party mood.

Listen, losing at the Etihad happens, in fact it happens more often than not, and in isolation it is possible to shrug such results off. The problem is that we have now hinged the entire season on games like these. Silverware is no longer the crowning achievement of a positive season, it is the lifeline that is supposed to save us from drowning. Success or total failure and nowhere in between.

That is the wrong kind of pressure for the wrong kind of team.

PSG away next. Christ.

If Liverpool play like they did in the first half an hour at any point over the two legs AND take their chances within, they can absolutely win that tie. But can they stop themselves from getting blown away in any (or all) of the other spells? That is the big question and yesterday tends to lean you towards the obvious answer.

Top 3 Players

Florian Wirtz

• Looked back to his best, picking up space, grabbing the game and making the whole experience look effortless.

Milos Kerkez

• Pace and dynamism and commitment. Made some really smart moves defensively as well.

Ryan Gravenberch

• There was a point (in fact several points) in the first half where Grav is the perfect man for the occasion. City try to stifle him and he just shuffles and glides past, getting us up the pitch with intent and grace. The perfect DM for a game that is going your way, less so when the tables turned.

Honorable mention to Joe Gomez. When Liverpool were good, so was Joe. He looked really up for the physical battles too. Our best performing centre half, just a pity he was playing at full back.

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Fanalysis Ratings

Sigh. A big fat, weekend-is-ruined-and-the-fanbase-is-on-fire, sigh.

Anyway, how are you doing with it all? I'm planning on eating my bodyweight in chocolate eggs and going on a media blackout til Wednesday.

I’ll be honest, Mo is not my favourite Liverpool player. It’s probably an age thing, but he has been responsible (often single handedly responsible) for more great football life moments than anyone else who might lay claim to that crown.

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In no particular order, here’s a selection that I was in the building for…

Man City - Etihad 2017/18

• Champions League Quarters, but felt like the Semis. Liverpool’s 1st leg lead is wobbling early doors as City score then pin us back, hammering us into the verge of submission, always on the edge of totally blowing us away. I remember feeling physically ill at half time with stress. The 2nd half though brings the breakthrough, Salah striding in, picking up on the rebound and dinking it in over Otamendi. The cold as ice celebration. The blue smoke. The fact that I was stood next to Pajak, Laurence McKenna and Stephen Tries. Mad. Perfect. Wonderful.

Spurs - Wanda Metropolitano 2018/19

• It’s “only” a pen. Except that it’s a pen in the early stages of the Champions League final, I nearly fainted and then I celebrated in the stands with my Dad. Oh and after the heartbreak of the year before this felt right in so many ways.

Man City - Anfield - 2022/23

• We had no idea how bad Liverpool were going to be that season, and Mo absolutely destroying Joao Cancelo did a great job of covering up Liverpool’s shortcomings.

Bayern Munich - Allianz Arena 2018/19

• “Just” an assist this one, but how can you extoll Mo’s virtues without mentioning the assists? This was the one that set the bar for all the stellar outside of the boot assists that would follow. This one, a peach of a Mané header that sealed the game, might still be the best one.

Porto - Dragao Stadium - 2018

• The man basically did keepy ups over Jose Sa, in torrential rain, dressed like a traffic cone. I also did a rainbow flick in Porto city centre…

Rangers- Ibrox 2022

• Mo comes off the bench and absolutely wipes the floor with Rangers. Mad to think we were actually 1-0 down in that game. I went out for a pint in Glasgow with James Allcott and Laurence McKenna after this match and got ridiculously drunk and the radiator on my car blew up on the drive home the next day whilst I had the hangover from hell. Great Mo performance though!

Chelsea - Anfield 2018/19

• Peace.

Southampton - St. Mary’s - 2018/2019

• Weirdly I remember this game more for it being Hendo proving that he could still do a job in the 8, but in reality it was another masterclass in Mo Salah just willing a win into existence through his own brilliant finishing. It’s also the game where I was interviewed by Gary Neville for Sky pre-match which I also use as my avatar because it looks hilarious.

Man United - Anfield 2019/20

• Alisson does his trademark big kick, Mo holds off Dan James and slots in front of the Kop. The top comes off and here comes Ali, with a full pitch dash to knee slide into our hearts. The Kop starts singing “we’re gonna win the league”, for the first time despite STILL being unbeaten in January. We were right though. The goal that made it feel like the 30 years wait was about to be over. (Just don’t mention Covid).

Honorable mentions to these few which sadly fell foul of my “No Win, No Vlog” ethos.

Spurs - Anfield 2018

• One of the great forgotten goals. An glorious Salah mazy dribble and toe poke finish and an all timer of a let off. Should have been the winner but for Harry Kane and shit refereeing.

Everton - Anfield - 2017

• Snow is falling, all around us. Puskas winner. Fucking Rooney.

Man City - Anfield 2021

• An even better version of that goal. At this point, I was utterly convinced that he was the best player on the planet. De Bruyne ruined it.

And for a laugh, here’s me and the Redmen team in the summer of 2018 trying to recreate Mo’s best goals of the season.

There will be loads more that i’m forgetting, of course there will be, because he’s scored so many. Mo Salah is volume, he is output personified. Those other goals and moments will come to me tomorrow, or next week or a year from now when I’m standing in the queue in the chippy. Why? Well because I’ve had a season ticket in the Kop for Mo Salah’s entire Liverpool career and have also been blessed by a job that has taken me to see his adventures around the world too. He is in my brain, and will remain there like 90’s song lyrics and Jim Carrey movie quotes. Ready to pop out when I least expect them and make me smile. He isn’t just the fabric of these last 9 years, the entire god damn tapestry is of him. There are others on there too, Bobby, Sadio, Jordan, Milly, Gini, Trent, Jurgen, obviously Jurgen. But Mo? He’s front and centre isn’t he? Star of the show. The front man, the main attraction, the man who puts bums on seats then lifts them up off them.

He is not my favourite ever Liverpool player but he probably should be. Because though there have been many others who have thrilled us, and there will be others to follow, no one in my life as a Red has done it for as long, done it as well, and done it on the biggest stages quite so many times as Mo Salah.

If he never kicks a ball again for the Reds he will be enshrined as a legend. But I’m greedy (and so is he), and I would love it dearly if he could add one more trophy to that big shiny cabinet of his before he goes.

Anyway, what are your favourite MOments? Let me know in the comments!

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Also, here’s my latest video talking through his decision to leave, and what it means for Liverpool moving forward.

Cheers!

Maych

What is there to say about yesterday that hasn’t been said before?

The most annoying thing about being able to predict the future is having to sit through all the rubbish stuff that you already know is going to happen. Oh for a fast forward button on this season. Get me that remote from “Click”. Ta.

The first half starts well, the team look lively, fluid, energetic. It is broken up by Milner’s physical bombardments, and takes a huge blow when Ekitiké is forced off with a dead leg. I should be absolutely fuming at James Milner, but there is something he possesses that is sorely lacking from Liverpool’s squad, and having accidentally been sucked into watching all of Liverpool’s Champions League goals from 2018/19 on Monday I’m feeling a bit misty eyed. That season was something special. 97 points and Madrid. As good a season as any side in footy has put down. A feast of football, twice a week, every week.

That season is not this season.

Liverpool’s 2025/26 Champions League campaign feels like finding £20 on the floor when you’ve maxed out your overdraft. Like coming home from work to find your partner has picked up a chippy when there’s nothing in the cupboards for tea.

The problem of course is that the Premier League campaign is the other side of that coin. The larger side. The thing that is actually your day to day life. It is getting your card declined at the till for milk. It is putting £5 of petrol in your car and having to abandon it on a random street corner on the commute home. It is the last strands of spaghetti and tinned tomatoes for tea.

At their best the Reds this season are a Happy Meal. There’s a toy, and the packaging looks great, but it is no healthy way to live. It is not sustaining. Sometimes you just need some goddamn vegetables in your diet. James Milner is the living embodiment of roughage.

Let me be clear. Given the choice, I would always have taken the midweek win at the expense of this one. It doesn’t change the fact that having made that particular deal with the devil, we still had to sit through the absolute enthusiasm hoover of a match that was Brighton 2-1 Liverpool.

The first goal is this season’s archetypal conceded goal. An avoidable individual error (this time from Mamardashvili) that sews total disharmony in the backline allowing Brighton to win two headers and get Danny Welbeck on the score sheet.

The Reds are actually alright in the immediate aftermath and Milos Kerkez is great for the equaliser. But it never really gets better from there. At half time the game is reasonably poised. But at no point in the second half do you truly feel like the game is in their hands. The energy levels drop, and without real pace in attack our counters are fended off at arms length. By the end, despite a couple of half decent efforts from Gakpo and Jones, it’s Brighton who should run away with it and don’t.

Good lord. Liverpool just do not have the fitness or squad depth to be good twice a week do they? We know this by now of course, but it doesn’t make the living of it any easier.

Anyway enough about that misery hole of a match.

This weekend I have had an epiphany (or perhaps a reawakening). It’s about football at this level, which is to say football in the fight for Champions League places.

Get on this…

The fight for Champions League places is defined as much by the points others lose as the ones you do.

You see, in isolation it was utterly rubbish watching the reds play, but in the fullness of the day, seeing Chelsea get humped by the Ev, it almost kind of doesn’t matter.

It feels weird, almost a little dirty to say it, having spent so many seasons on the knife edge where one defeat can undo everything. We’ve lost 10 games in the league this season. TEN. And yet here we sit, 5th. Still.

I’d almost forgotten it was like this. Title races are like going 12 rounds with peak Mike Tyson. They are running a marathon whilst also being machine gunned with punches (and also being expected to give them back and more). As fans we are conditioned for it. When Liverpool miss a punch we reflexively clench. We cover up, because the counter flurry is coming. It does, and it hurts. But we’re still standing strong. We go again. And again. And again.

The top 4(5) race is like a Youtuber boxing match. We miss a punch, we clench, we cover up, we wait for pain and nothing happens. We look up, we prise open one eye and we see our opponents gasping for air and being sick in the corner. And then we go again. And again. Miss, hit, miss, sick, gasp, miss, hit, sick.

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We’ve known for weeks (months?) that Liverpool aren’t good enough to drag themselves above the 4th/5th/6th mire. They do not have a 5 game win streak in them, so the best we can hope for at this point is to limp into the Champions League places and hope one of Chelsea, Villa or United’s own limp becomes a trip and fall. With England’s coefficient so strong, that 5th spot is a whisper away from confirmed, and that is where Liverpool sit. Not comfortably so, which would have been ideal, but so nonetheless.

I could sit here and continue to lambast Liverpool for not being the team they were last season. I could scream at the players, slaughter the Manager, and make angry effigies of the Sporting Director. I could, you could, you can. But at this point it’s like shouting at an incontinent dog for pissing on the rug. It doesn’t mean to, it doesn’t want to, so at this point you’re just shouting at it to make yourself feel better.

Go for it. Get it all out. Impotent rage is all the rage right now.

These limbo seasons are a different kind of hard work. It is the not knowing coupled with the not trusting. Will this season buck the trend and end in glory? Will it all end in trending failure? Schrodinger’s season.

In 2004/05, to cope with Liverpool’s domestic flatulence I started playing 5-a-side again, binged Master League on PES 4 and if memory serves me, got drunk on all but two nights in a calendar year. We were knocked out in the FA cup third round by Burnley, lost the League Cup Final to Chelsea, finished outside of the Champions League places behind the Ev, and then somehow at the end, there was the Miracle of Istanbul.

Anyway, I’m in my 40’s now, my back hurts and PES is dead so I’ve decided to binge Fortnite and just become a weekend alcoholic to help get me through. Not really. Well, maybe a bit.

The thing that’s so hard is how complicated it all is. We’re all crying out for some old fashioned, good vs evil, binary simplicity. Sometimes you just need it to be as bad as it can be because it makes it easier to know where you should stand. Results like Wednesday give you hope. Results like yesterday make you want to burn it all down.

Liverpool can, in the space of four days go from potential European Champions to mid table Premier League fodder, and that is a tough thing to digest.

At the risk of repeating myself though, in the absence of a title challenge, I will take this reality over the other possibility. The lingering potential of glory. As per Andrew Beasley, this is only the 5th season in the entire history of LFC that they are in both the FA Cup and European Cup Quarter Finals. And yes, rocky as it is, they also remain on course for the Champions League places.

On days like Saturday, and so many of the others like it this season, it may all feel like failure. But it isn’t, and least not yet.

A season that could yet be the envy of most remains possible, and whilst that is the case (and whilst no decisive decision is being made by the board) I will try my hardest to be as laissez-faire about the missteps, stutters and faceplants along the way.

Now pass me the pad, and crack that can open for me. Forza the International Break.

Top 3 Players…

Milos Kerkez

• A truly exceptional goal. It was a stunning individual moment of intelligent anticipation, pace and then skill to lift it over the keeper. A good solid performance around it too.

Dominik Szoboszlai

• Tried his hardest to make something of this game. Not sure if his work rate stood out or just his natural fitness, but in a side of 6’s and below, he was a 7.

Alexis Mac Allister

• As above, but without the fitness or athleticism. Had a good header saved in the first half, missed another in the 2nd.

Honorable Mentions to Florian Wirtz who needs better, faster attacking players to pass to, but also put in an admirable physical shift in the middle of the pitch as the game wore on.

Who were yours?

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Match Reaction

Fanalysis Ratings

If you’d like a bit of football escapism over Easter/The International Break (and Fortnite isn’t your bag), then check out “The Eternal Flame: Yester-Boy” and “The Man Who Stole The World Cup”. Both books for sale now on www.maychpublishing.com and signed editions are available too!

Cheers!

Maych

That was more like it.

Good morning and welcome from a wonderfully sunny Liverpool!

Have you seen Bad Boys? I must have watched that film 50 times. Throughout the movie, Mike Lowry the smooth as butter, ready made action hero lambasts his partner, the sensible, safe as houses family man Marcus Burnett for his less than thrilling approach to life, gun fights and car chases. The film therefore, of course, culminates with Marcus behind the wheel in a foot to the floor, head to head race with Fouchet, the scenery chewing, drug dealing bad guy. “You better fucking win, that’s all I know!” Mike yells at him, as certain, speeding death looms. Hurtling towards the concrete retaining wall of an airfield, and a gap just wide enough for one car to fit through, Marcus unearths his inner action man and pulls it out of the bag, slamming Fouchet out of the way at the last second. The jet black Porsche 911 sails through to safety as the baddie flattens himself into a vintage car pancake. As Marcus screeches the car to a halt, victorious, Mike screams at him:

“Now that’s how you supposed to drive! From now on THAT’S HOW YOU DRIVE!!!”

Yeah.

Great film, and last night, with all the eyes of the world upon them, so were the Reds.

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Last night we were a team of Mike’s and Marcus’. The cool kids were the coolest of the cool and even the sensible struggling Dads played like absolute bosses.

The closest thing to boos were the ones that accompanied yet another dominant manhandling of his man by Konaté. The only people leaving early did so with a spring in their step and with thoughts of cheap Easyjets to Paris.

That was just a totally wonderful, spirit lifter of a night. The inverse (or re-verse?) of Sunday, fans and players together in inspired harmony.

The manager going nuts on the touchline (in a very Rafa v Chelsea 2005 kind of way).

Oh and goals. Lots of lovely goals. Six celebrated, four given (should have been five). Every whisper of Galatasaray counter threat snuffed out. Magic.

The first half is pretty good, certainly one of the better ones of the season. The second half is everything we’ve been crying out for on the Kop. Attack our goal. Make us sing and bounce and believe. It reminded me of so many of the great performances I’ve seen from my seat. Under Brendan, under Jurgen, and yeah under Arne. A reminder of what once was and what still remains possible.

Once again, I find myself questioning my sanity over the manager. It really felt like Sunday was a threshold crossed. The seesaw tipped just that bit too far. Believers to Doubters. The end, inevitable.

On the Redmen Originals Podcast on Monday the panel seemed to be leaning heavily towards sacking Slot. Not just after Galatasaray, but there and then. Judging by the vibes in the ground, online and in general around the city, it wasn’t exactly a crackpot stance.

For what it’s worth, my take on the podcast was that Arne Slot should at least be given the chance to see out the Champions League campaign. I firmly believe that our best chance of winning it is with him in charge. If we’d gone out last night, which definitely felt like the direction of travel pre-game, I could have made my peace more easily with calling time.

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But Liverpool were fantastic. The players, who could quite easily have used this game as their break glass Slot-escape mechanism, decided to take Sunday (and the reaction to it) personally. If they are done with him, they are hiding it extremely well.

How on earth can we sack him now? We’re in the quarters of the Champions League, the same in the FA Cup and in touching distance of par in the league.

I know, I know, I’m an emotional meff. Too obsessed with feelings over stats and maybe therefore too easily swayed. Listen, I just want to love and to be loved. I want to watch my Liverpool be aggressive and fast and front foot and I want them to score loads of goals and inspire us to sing our hearts out. And then I want to tell anyone who’ll listen about the love that it inspired.

I want more nights like last night.

The league form has absolutely done my head in, it’s done your head in, it’s done all of our heads in. I can’t process that it’s possible for us to be that abject on Sunday and yet that ace on Wednesday, other than to just do a massive shrug and say ‘come what may’.

I appreciate that there is an opposite approach to that stance.

I had a random DM on Instagram yesterday:

Hi. Why are the Liverpool fans doing nothing? Isn’t there some association there that would put an end to Slot’s lawlessness? He’s the worst manager there has ever been. Even Hodgson’s arrival wasn’t this bad. There’s no play. It’s impossible to watch. Liverpool used to play so well that even defeats were exciting to watch, but now they’re a dismal mess. Slot breaks new anti-records with every match. I can send you a list of them later. Please, somehow, influence this.

My short answer back, if I was inclined to accept messages from angsty randos, would be erm… no.

I’ve never been a total convert to Slot’s style of play. I am an unabashed disciple of Klopp. I miss the madness. But I lived through Hodgson, went to games and made content on the Internet during the Hodgson “era” (blip). I also love hyperbole as much as the next man (have you noticed? Hahaha), but it is either batshit crazy, blind belligerence or total stupidity to compare what we have now to what was forced upon us then. Honestly. I’m happy to live in a world where we nostalgise out the bumps from Klopp’s time, but the Hodge? Get to fuck.

Cool? Cool.

Anyway, regardless of the maddening league form, the less than thrilling footy and the post match Sunday boos, Liverpool’s hierarchy have chosen to stay the course for now. That may change in the summer, and conditions may yet force a change before then. If they choose to sack him at any point then I’ll feel a tinge of sadness, but I’m unlikely to be in floods of tears or manning the protest barricades. But after last night “Slot Out” is not a bandwagon that I’m comfortable jumping on. I say again, I think he at least deserves the chance to try and win it.

This may all yet blow up in their faces of course. PSG will be some game, a much sterner test indeed, and I know there will be many who foresee us getting beaten. But what if we don’t? What if we win? What if the manager, who has clearly spent 12 months planning his revenge, pulls it out again? I don’t have a clue which way it will go and totally understand that my flight of fancy won’t be in line with the form guide or the bookies odds, but for now I’m happy to live for the chance to dream.

But to the manager, and the players… Last night? THAT’S HOW YOU SUPPOSED TO PLAY. FROM NOW ON, THAT’S HOW YOU PLAY!

Top 3 Players

Dominik Szoboszlai

• Best player on the pitch by a distance in the first half and everyone else decided that it looked lovely and joined in with him in the second. Took his goal well and probably should have taken the pen.

Ibrahima Konaté

• The living embodiment of the difference between last week and this. Commanding performance.

• Hugo Ekitiké

• Looked a bit lost in his own head in the early stages barring a few lovely touches. Second half he flourished.

Honorable mentions to Mo Salah for a stunner of a goal, and for missing the pen to make sure the game still had some real stakes to strive for in the 2nd half. Also to Alexis Mac Allister who was the complete midfielder. And Flo, who played left mid in a 442 and yet produced the most chances any Liverpool player has in a match since Opta records began (8) and had a heat map that looked like a one man, full court press…

Who were yours?

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Match Reaction

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Cheers!

Maych

Oh and why not magnify your good mood with a good book (or two!). With the sun out ‘The Eternal Flame’ and ‘The Man Who Stole The World Cup’ would make excellent back garden reading material! www.maychpublishing.com

There have been times this season when the decision to post these pieces the day after a game has been a shrewd one. Today is not one of those. If I’d posted this last night, that sub heading would have been your lot, the sum total of my feelings on the matter, and I’d have been done with it.

Anyway here we are… deep breath….

THAT was grim.

What were they doing??? It was fucking Tottenham lads. Tottenham. And even worse, Richarlison.

And even, EVEN worse, it was absolutely on the cards from around the 60 minute mark. As inevitable as a Thanos snap and post-curry IBS.

For what it’s worth, I agreed with a lot of the pre-match decisions and planning. Much like the Wolves FA Cup game, it was nice to see Slot trust in his rotation options. Nice to see Rio starting in the Premier League, nice to see Gomez at the back, and Robbo too. I could even forgive Szobo at full back for the chance to see Frimpong’s pace from the off. I had no issues with Cody starting up front, for me he’s a better false 9 than a winger at this level. It was one of his better recent games.

The first half attacking the Kop was another marginally above average game of footy, lit up by Szobo’s freekick taking magic and offering enough promise on the whole to kick on from.

I didn’t hate the overall gameplan either.

Using fresher lads to get us to 60 and then bringing on Ekitike and Salah should have given us the injection of quality to really stretch Spurs. And it kind of did. The game opened up a bit and Liverpool had absolutely tons of counter attacking opportunities to put it to bed. The problem with this is that we are rubbish at counter attacking. We have been for quite a while, possibly even since the pomp of Mane, Firmino and Salah. It is not a new problem, but it is one that is undoing Slot’s idealised version of games like this.

The sad fact is that Liverpool make poor decisions in transition, are not ruthless in front of goal and cannot keep the backdoor shut. It is maddening because I could scream at the players as much as the manager, they are the ones out there tripping over their own feet. With a few exceptions (mainly Szoboszlai) they don’t look fit enough, strong enough or aggressive enough. Is it Mental? Physical? Coaching? Yes, it probably is.

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Spurs are crap, shorn by injuries and devoid of confidence. They play like a team waiting for a knockout blow to be delivered, to fulfil the prophecy of their season. In fact the only player on that pitch who looked even remotely arsed was Richarlison, and possibly Porro. The rest of Spurs are there, ripe for the picking, desperate to be rolled over so they can apologetically slink off the pitch, another inevitable step closer to the relegation they all know in their heart of hearts is coming.

Liverpool huff and puff and you think they might just do it, because you remember Liverpool sides that did.

But no.

Because Liverpool 2025/26 are something else. Something worse. Soft. Nice. Sleepy. They have cute touches and nice ideas that don’t come to fruition. They are a children’s crayon sketch of a football team. Put it on the fridge if you don’t want to hurt their feelings, but don’t you think for a second it’s going anywhere near the Louvre.

Fucking Richarlison.

I do love a demonstrably loathsome player in football and he plays the part so well. His presence adds to the knife edge. It makes the equaliser all the more annoying. There is a mini exodus when the goal goes in and it tells you where our heads are at. I pissed off my mum for this???

The full time boo was not spontaneous. It was there, ready. Locked and loaded. You could feel it in the air. It was heavy in the chest.

It comes out at the full time whistle and it is fully deserved. It’s been brewing for a while. There were a lot of tickets floating about for this game in the week, and I’m told there were even some available to members on the site in the morning. A guy sat by me asked pre-match if I thought that was to do with the feeling about the team/manager or just that it was Mothers Day? Either way the atmosphere in the ground was pretty tepid until it turned febrile in the closing stages.

4th place was right there. One minute plus injury time away. But also it wasn’t, because that result wasn’t coming, this one was.

On Anfield’s best days the team and the crowd feed each other, elevate each other above and beyond. But today was the opposite, the absolute inverse. The season’s follies have bred fear and frustration into the crowd, and now there is mistrust. That manifests itself in increasing unease, growls of annoyance, and roars of anger; and this team, who cannot do it with reliability when the crowd is on their side, certainly cannot do it when the cauldron is turned against them, when they themselves are stoking the fires.

The truth is, I actually write the bones of these pieces in the hours following the game and then tidy them up in the morning. I do a post match reaction video for Redmen, and the internet is always awash with hot takes, so it’s nice to allow myself time to breathe and take stock before adding to the noise. I’m interested to see how much of the rawness I feel now remains after a night’s sleep*.

*(It’s about 95% the same, with a tinge more sadness)

I do genuinely feel sorry for the manager. I finished posting my Match Reaction video and Fanalysis Ratings just in time to catch the end of his Radio 5 Live post-match interview. He was asked about the boos, and I thought he answered it openly and honestly. We dropped late points against the worst form team in the country, at home, and we’ve done that type of thing too many times. Boos are understandable.

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Booing and leaving early are what we have as fans; they are our first tools of protest and last night we used them. I’m glad he hasn’t hidden away from that reality. Less intelligent, desperate and deluded managers would have tried to bury their heads or spin truths. So in that regard Arne Slot gets my respect, and in doing so adds to my sadness around the situation. He’s clearly a good man. He has proven himself to be a good manager and has conducted himself impeccably under unfathomable pressures this season, but tonight felt like the beginning of the end.

There is a rot on the pitch and it has spread to the stands. That can be turned around by winning of course, and especially with a big European night on the horizon, but the boo is out there now. It’s in the short term memory buffer. It is the Sword of Damocles, hanging over the players heads. I hope I’m wrong but right now it feels terminal…

Top 3 Players…

Dominik Szoboszlai

• Another freekick for the scrap book, but another game where our best player is hamstrung out of the game by defensive responsibilities.

Joe Gomez

• An assured performance at the back.

Alisson Becker

• We might have lost that by more if he isn’t as good as he is.

Who were yours?

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If you want to see/hear my perspective on the full time boos I’ve included those clips in my Match Reaction Video

And Fanalysis Ratings.

Eurgh.

Cheers and I hope you didn’t piss off the mums in your life too much in order to watch that shower of shite.

Maych.

This is nothing to do with whether or not you think, hope or believe that he will be in charge beyond the summer. I am also not talking about criticism. It’s been pretty crap this season and it’s fine to say so. But saying Slot’s tactics haven’t been good enough, or his style of football isn’t to your taste is different to saying he’s a bald fraud who should be hounded out of the club (for example).

Anyway, this was all probably superfluous as you’re all good, reasonable people, and i’ve said my piece, so let’s continue….

Will Slot Be Liverpool Manager Next Season… Yes?

I saw some quotes floating around from The Athletic’s David Ornstein this week:

“Liverpool, from what we hear, are steadfastly behind Arne Slot.

“He’s under contract until 2027 and they want him to be their head coach. The hierarchy are determined that he is the man to get things right.

“If they were looking at a recruitment process for coaches, he’s said to be the exact profile that they’d be looking at, and that’s there’s not people on the market that they think better suit what they’re looking for.

“Of course, the situation needs to improve, but they think he can be the man to do that, and he’s happy there, so I’m expecting this [Slot and Liverpool] to go on.”

This coincided with a noticeable up turn in chat about his future on a few of the (non-Redmen) LFC websites and podcasts that I follow.

It also more obviously coincided with Liverpool losing 1-0 to Galatasaray which was an okay result (for a two legged tie), achieved in a far from okay manner.

When topics spill from the online bubbles out into the real world (by barometer is people asking me about it on the school run), then they certainly deserve more attention, so here I am.

My opinion on the manager is in the video, but this time i’m mainly focussing on the perspective of the Liverpool hierarchy, how they operate, and the factors that could cause them to come to, or to change their stance on the manager.

It’s all in the video below, but the key points are…

FSG’s have always tended to be steadfast when it comes to their overriding ethos for the club and within that, tend to stand by their big decisions. We’ve seen this most obviously in the transfers strategy, but it also extends to calls off the field too. Their mission seems to be to trust in data and experience and try to block out as much of the volatility of football in general. There have of course been very note worthy examples where they have altered or reversed course on issues, and this is broadly what I discuss in the video.

If their decision is to stick by the manager, who might they listen to that changes things…

Which lead me to the Hierarchy of Opinion, in this case, whose opinions they are most likely to follow…

1. The LFC Football Brains Trust. (AKA, Michael Edwards, Julian Ward, the Analytics Department probably down to Richard Hughes.)

2. The Playing Staff. (Particularly the ones that Liverpool feel are essential to success in the next two/three seasons.)

3. The Fans. (Predominantly those who attend matches or those who demonstrate in public- see £77 Ticket and Super League Protests).

Within the video I attempt to dissect all of the above, and play out potential scenarios that would bring each or all of them to the table.

For what it’s worth, I think that the fans and players’ opinions en masse will likely be shaped by what Liverpool do or don’t win this season. My sneaking suspicion is that FSG/The LFC Hierarchy have probably come to a decision already and there is little else that happens this season that will impact it. But we’ll see.

Anyway, again this is all better explained and rationalised in the video. If you could drop a like and a comment on YT that would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers!

Maych

Can you remember the first 7 minutes of that match? Those seven glorious, heavenly minutes of Liverpool dominance? Energetic, aggressive, smash mouth, spit in your face and love us for it, high pressing lads in green. If we weren’t intercepting their passes, or winning it back with well timed tackles, the Galatasaray players were simply panic passing it straight to us. Over and over again. Liverpool flooding forward, getting into dangerous places, creating (and being handed), chance after chance. Thrilling stuff, perhaps the best spell of the season. Wirtz should have two, but it’s okay lads, we’ve got their number, it’ll come, it’ll come, it’ll… Oh.

1-0. From a corner. Osimhen rises at the back of the box like a fresh Dan Burn out of water and Lemina pops it in whilst our lads are presumably wondering whether they can fit in a spot of low price dental work before the flight home. It is wildly simple stuff. Two lost headers. Goal. Aren’t we meant to be better at this stuff now?

Anyway, what follows is… okay? Galatasaray remain surprisingly open and Liverpool continue to coast through them, looking great at all the stuff that isn’t playing a killer pass or shooting at the goal. But there is enough there to suggest that this might yet be alright for us. The Gravenberch turn makes a triumphant return. Gomez plays some really smart passes out from the back. Szobo plays some really creative angled balls through the lines. Wirtz floats with menace. Not for the first (or tenth) time this season I find myself saying “if this is our baseline to build on we should win this one”, and once again Liverpool do not.

There is a rot in the foundations of this performance and it would be very easy to simply name it Ibou. And whilst it is a mind bogglingly mad performance that rivals Dejan Lovren v Spurs in 2017, he is not alone in undercutting Liverpool’s hopes of bending the game back to their will.

The goalie ultimately makes some good saves but starts the game nervously. Few things give rival players (and fans) hope quite like an uncertain goalkeeper. The decision not to at least give him the FA Cup games seems a glaring oversight given Alisson’s injury record. But, given his own kicking issues and seeming preference to stick to his line it’s pretty easy to see why an underperforming Ali has kept the gloves. The eternal goalie conundrum ticks on. Keepers need games. But underperforming keepers cost games. It was not that dramatic a night for Mamardashvilli, but it is something of a looming elephant in the room.

The skipper struggles to impose himself on the game, or perhaps struggles from having to over impose himself on it. I really like it when Virg flexes from time to time, but this felt more like him firefighting than dominating.

Mac Allister is everywhere he should be but half a second too late, and an inch too short. Every pass, shot and touch just not quite what it needs to be.

And then there are the tactics.

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Galatasaray realise that we are killing them with our press but struggling with their long balls, so they simply ditch playing from the back and stick to that. It is a shift that Liverpool never seem to truly get to grips with. Our plan A was great, but what was plan B supposed to be? Because by the closing stages it looked a bit like us just kicking it long and hoping for the best.

There is of course the referee. It would be easy to gloss over his own wild level of ineptitude for fear that it might sound like excuse making. But no, he is fucking dreadful. He penalises Liverpool for things that he lets go for them. He books Kerkez for accidentally standing on his man’s heel, but lets at least three cynical counter attack stopping fouls go with barely a whisper of a warning. He allows their goalkeeper to have a freekick for us breathing heavily near him, but allows Van Dijk to be wrestled by the neck to the ground. It might be the worst refereeing performance I’ve ever seen in the Champions League. It was very, very Burnley at Turf Moor under Sean Dyche type officiating and it allowed Galatasaray to foul and dive with reckless abandon.

This is not to excuse Liverpool’s overriding crapness. The ref was crap and so were Liverpool. Both can be true, but only one of them contributes to the other.

I have some sympathy for the manager’s tactical issues and particularly with the sub options. The thought of hooking Konaté must cross his mind, particularly after the debacle around their disallowed goal. And with Gomez there, you could argue the simple solution might have been to move Joe central. But then who plays right back? And moreover if Gomez is struggling to handle the aerial bombardment, who can you put there that doesn’t make Galatasaray’s job even easier? Who are you hanging out to dry? Frimpong? Jones? Szobo? There is the case that a more attacking sub gives them more to worry about. As ever it’s easier to propose things like this from a distance and after the fact.

As we sit here in the aftermatch aftermath, I can safely say that Liverpool have three things going for them.

1. It is only 1-0.

2. We have to play them at Anfield

3. We are fortunate that Galatasaray are not actually very good. You only have to look at the first half of Atletico v Spurs to see that a better side could and perhaps should have blasted Liverpool away last night.

As a result of these, and as always because we have very good players, qualification remains a very strong possibility. But what tonight does breed is further doubt. As an ever willing optimist and romantic, I can see a pathway to silverware for the Reds this season.

Honestly.

Stop laughing. I can.

But I can also appreciate how the smart gamblers, the people who live and die by the form guide, would be staking their money elsewhere.

And that’s the mad thing about this match. I’m not annoyed because Liverpool were shit, it’s because once again we showed how not shit we can be, but once again failed to live up to that promise.

Anyway, 1-0 is not an inherently bad result (even if the performance was) and as a man who loves the emotion of footy, Wednesday is nicely primed as an archetypal big Anfield night.

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Top 3 Players…

Good lord… Erm…

Giorgi Mamardashvilli

• Despite my earlier critique, he can still point to several moments (especially the save from Sanchez’s header) that contributed to us only losing by one. If we win the tie by that margin then he will have played his part in us reaching the quarters.

Andy Robertson

• Is absolutely fine.

Ryan Gravenberch

• I’m wondering if Liverpool included a ‘Gravenberch turn’ quota in that new contract of his. It was nice to see it back in his repertoire, next time out hopefully he remembers what to do next.

Scraping the barrel with these, I know…

Honorable mention to my cousin Neil whose birthday it was yesterday. He texted me during the match to say that “Gakpo has come on dressed like a Sticky Bandit” which might actually be the best moment of the whole game.

Match Reaction…

Fanalysis Ratings…

And as always, before I go, if you want a bit of escapism from the footy and grew up watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer and boss shows like that, then take a look at my debut novel, The Eternal Flame. It’s a fun, time travel, teen, action adventure story about a boy who finds himself trading lives with a World War 2 super soldier.

Signed copies are also available! https://maychpublishing.com/

Cheers!

Maych

How are you feeling after that? Better right? Like a weight has been lifted off your chest? Maybe it’s just that the Five Guys I had pre-kick off has finally digested. Either way, I’m feeling a damn sight lighter than I was 24 hours ago, in fact I positively bounced out of the Redmen studio last night. Like all of us, I just want to be able to dream again, and a combination of fortuitously timed crapness from our rivals in the league and the chance to go again in cup has put a Tigger-like spring in my step heading into the weekend

It’s funny how quickly these things can change.

On Monday we were having the inevitable “Would You Rather?” conversations about the week that lay ahead. Keep pressure on 3rd/4th/5th or get to the Quarters of the FA Cup? Obviously at the time, the smart money was actually on both, afterall it was two games against bottom of the table Wolves. Of course we’re going to win both! Hahahaha! Oh…

Anyway, after the mood popping debacle of Tuesday night, suddenly Friday night’s cup expedition carried a hell of a lot more pressure. We’d already put our best available XI on the pitch; taken our biggest swing and missed. Logic followed that Friday should have therefore been even harder. It is yet another example of how rhyme and reason had been dropkicked into row Z this season.

How can a team with that many changes be that much better? The answer might be as simple as “RIO”, but for the sake of the word count, let’s delve a little deeper.

Yes the 17 year old superstar, but also the approach. We were faster and more direct, more dynamic. There’s also the fact that Wolves had more pressure on them, and possibly a little bit of inflated ego after a pretty amazing 7 days. That we were able to hit them twice on the counter in the space of a few minutes was a blessed joy to behold. Sometimes it’s nice to beat a team at their own game. Hi Ho Wolverhampton indeed.

Look I get it, I see the problematic inconsistency, I do, but yeah, we are where we are. The Race for 4th is a stumble, trip, calamitous affair.

If the fight for the title is Formula One, the battle for 4th is Wacky Races. It is wild, dishevelled, noisy and filled with an endless amount of new, fabulous and down right rage inducing pitfalls. All soundtracked by the pervading presence of faceless social media managers Muttley-ing it up with endless snarky posts snickering at our misfortune.

The cup though! Oh the cup!

No one gives a shit how you win cups, only that you do.

Cup runs are by their nature a sequence of random events. Individual dice rolls, spaced out by weeks and tied together by corporate branding and Mitre footballs. Not quite mutually exclusive events, but certainly distant cousins.

All great cup runs are laced with magic and madness. That Robbo scoring was about as weird as it got is testament to the control Liverpool exerted over the match. Being able to use substitutes proactively and protectively was the reward. Having Wirtz and Frimpong to come into a football match to add to our attacking impetus, but also to fine tune for Europe is a rare gift. Being able to give Kieran Morrison and Trey Nyoni minutes made the night feel like an early rounds FA Cup greatest hits collection. In fact I was so buzzing with it all that I failed to let Wolves scoring from their first meaningful attack bother me in the slightest. The Magic of the Cup is as alive and well as our chances of winning the whole thing.

Back to the “Would You Rathers?”

Ste made an interesting point during the Watchalong, that in hindsight, Arne Slot and Rob Edward would probably rather swap results. The logic being that Wolves’ season in the league is run, so the escapism of the cup would have been preferable. Conversely, Liverpool need league points.

I disagree.

Thanks to Newcastle, and the fact that it’s Villa who Chelsea thump, we live to fight another day in the league, it’s still going to be a slog, but it’s not dead and buried. Thanks to Rio’s tricky Reds though, we also get to go again in the FA Cup; another game, another chance to make memories and a continued chance of silverware. AND as an added bonus, we look primed and ready for Galatasaray on Tuesday.

So yeah, not quite how we would have chosen it to go on Monday, but a damn sight better than we’d have feared it on Wednesday…

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Top 3 Players…

Rio Ngumoha

• He’s great isn’t he? The end product will come, so will the robustness, but the skills he already has are unteachable. He has a unique gift and last night it was a pleasure to watch him use it time and time again, twisting his opponents inside out for a laugh.

Andy Robertson

• A collectors item of a goal but accompanied by a vintage Robbo assist with the cross for Salah. Lovely stuff.

Joe Gomez

• Stood up to a stern physical test brilliantly. Once again reminded us all of his quality and sparked another flicker of sadness that we don’t get to see it often enough.

Honorable mentions to Curtis Jones for an archetypal Curt assist (where the goal scorer does most of the heavy lifting), but mainly for a wonderful run and great left footed strike to put the game to bed. Also to Trey Nyoni with one of the most perfect cameos possible, 100% passing accuracy, 3/3 ground duels, 1/1 tackles, 1/1 successful dribbles and 1 interception. Lovely stuff.

Let me know yours!

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Match Reaction

Fanalysis Ratings.

Before I go…

My exclusive interview with Jamie Carragher went live on the Redmen Plus app this morning. In it I posed him the hypothetical: “What would you do as Liverpool Director of Football this summer?” As always he was great value for it.

You can download the app here (it’s shit hot and worth a download just to have a nose around to be honest). https://redm46d4.sqd.link/RedmenPlusApp

All the free stuff from Youtube and Spotify is on there, but also tons of brilliant extra content if you want to subscribe, including the Carra interview, and the full live event of us playing Family Fortunes against Kenny Dalglish and the entire Dalglish family.

Anyway, have a boss weekend!

Maych

I was feeling alright you know. Upbeat. Optimistic even. Not about life in general, oh no. Our entire family continues to be embroiled in unfathomable, cosmically unfair health related stress and heartbreak. I won’t go into it now, because fucking hell, but yeah not life. And not the world in general because, well, you’ve seen the world right?

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So no, not life or the world in the general, but definitely upbeat about football. Supporting Liverpool was in danger of becoming a dependable source of escapism and enjoyment again. Some wins under the belt, rivals dropping points, winnable games and cup runs on the horizon. Lighter nights and sun in the sky.

But no, no optimism for us, because Liverpool 2025/26 are up to their old tricks again.

Listen, there is a world where having seen Arsenal draw at Molineux, and Villa lose there on Friday, I could be sat here saying, “you know what, it’s one of those.”

There are mitigating circumstances. There is bad luck. There are fine margins. All of which on any given day in any given game of football would be enough to elicit a shrug of the shoulders and a rueful smile at best, maybe a little bedtime sulk at worst.

That a team who are bottom of the league win a game with a deflected shot, to take 7 points from their last 9 at home is surely one of those things that makes football so wonderful right? Right?

Turns out I prefer the magic of football when it goes in our favour.

The reality is there have been too many of these for Liverpool this season. Too many “in isolation” results. It’s March. They aren’t isolated events any more. It’s a pattern of behaviour. This is the 5th game Liverpool have lost in the 90th+ minute in the league this season. The most of any side ever. If Grandma keeps having too many Sherry’s and falling off the kitchen table, then maybe it’s time to lock the liquor cabinet. But then again she is the life and soul of the party until that point, so maybe not. Maybe just let her live her carefree sherry-soaked best life...

Indulge me in a thought experiment.

At 1-1. Did you think that Liverpool should continue to throw the kitchen sink at it for all three points, or hold firm and see out the draw? Be honest.

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In my late teens, I used to work in Game on Lord Street. Behind the cashier desk we had a Gameboy Advance and inside was a copy of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”. When the shop was quiet, usually after the lunchtime rush had died down, we’d sneak it out of the drawer and the two or three of us on shift would lean on the back counter, gather around the tiny screen and try our luck at getting to the mill.

We never did. In fact every single time, across dozens of attempts, we’d always fall short. There were a few times when we got close of course. Those times when we reached the threshold, sat on £500,000 with just one question between us and the big one. Staring into the digitised whites of digitised Chris Tarrant’s eyes. £32,000 or £1m. No life lines left. Stick or twist?

The answer was always twist. Go for it. All or nothing. And why not? It’s not real. It’s only a game. It’s not my money. The stakes couldn’t be lower.

The stakes last night were significantly higher, but the decision point remains. Liverpool could have chosen to batten down the hatches and get out of Dodge with a point and a severe scolding.

What did you choose?

For what it’s worth, I was grudgingly happy for Liverpool to twist last night, and judging by the overwhelming response to the question during the Redmen watchalong, you probably were too. And why not? Liverpool need wins, and as we’ve said here for the last few weeks, they can’t really afford to be picky about when or how they arrive. And, y’know, it’s bottom of the table Wolves. If you can’t twist here, when can you? Also, Mo Salah had just equalised, ending his Prem goal drought, and Liverpool were on top, a win was definitely possible.

This is all is part of the wider problem. In most seasons getting back level, seeing it out, taking a point, holding your hands up and saying “we got away with one there, we live to fight another day” is alright. It’s a blow but you roll on. But Liverpool 2025/26 are living in a pressure cooker of their own making. We have enough good players to win any given game of footy, so you should always try to win. We are Liverpool and we should not be meek. BUT, we’ve also gambled and lost so many times that one point is now almost as big a failure as none. We are trying to win for the future and somehow appease the past. It’s like trying to win 6 points every game. The weight of the season is heavy on the shoulders, not just for the points dropped but the fear of not winning the ‘right way’ as well. Christ, Liverpool went on a 13 game unbeaten run and we all hated it. The players know that and so does the manager.

This is where Arne Slot makes his money though, these are his decisions to take.

In the cold light of day I have sympathy for the situation he’s in. I am prepared to acknowledge the mitigation. On the night, Liverpool are both not quite good enough, and also really unlucky.

Wolves defend well. The goalie has an excellent game. There’s powerful tributes from both fanbases for Diogo Jota. Liverpool create chances. Gakpo, the least fashionable player on the books right now, somehow kicks one off Jones’ chest and onto the bar. Ngumoha hits the post. Rodrigo Gomes turns into prime Hernan Crespo. Salah scores with the worst shot of the game. Liverpool lose thanks to a massive deflection.

Watch out for that last step, it’s a doozy.

I think that’s fair to say these things. All of them. Even if we are fuming about the result. But regardless of the mitigation, the fume remains because we’ve been here before. Too many times. And also, lads, it’s fucking Wolves.

Liverpool 2025/26 are head fuck personified. We have seen them do big wins. Good wins. But we’ve seen them do this game enough times (too many) this season. They keep telling us what they are, and maybe we ought to listen and decide if it’s something we can still get behind. Liverpool 2025/26 are a team that will spend the rest of the season inconsistently scrapping in the Premier League for a Champions League place. For defending champions that is rubbish. In isolation it is the kind of season that is going to leave the manager exposed come the summer.

The saving graces are the cups. Like many seasons of my life, scraping Top 4 (5) and a trophy can still be a worthy season. But will they be able to? Can they stave off more implosions? I honestly have no idea, but we can start by winning in the FA Cup on Friday.

We should win that one right? Afterall, it’s only fucking Wolves.

Top 3 Players…

Alexis Mac Allister

• Once again he set the bar for defensive work rate and dirty work. His reading of the game was excellent, it genuinely felt like he knew every pass the Wolves backline were going to make before they did. Tried to add quality in attack too.

Dominik Szoboszlai

• Another bar setter. If we had a team of Dom’s we’d be unstoppable. Looked good in the 6, but again it probably robs us of his quality elsewhere.

Ibrahima Konaté

• Defended brilliantly at times.

Honorable mentions to Curtis Jones who really added something to the team when he came on and was unlucky not to grab a goal. Also to Rio Ngumoha who was a livewire again before getting swamped by the pressure of the occasion.

Who were yours?

MY MATCH REACTION…

FANALYSIS RATINGS

Cheers!

Maych

The way that people perceive the world fascinates me. We all agree that the sky is blue, but are we all seeing the same blue? What if your blue is my indigo, etc, etc. I say this because I watched us score five good goals and win, but there were a lot of really angry fellas around me at the match yesterday. A lot. Not just a bit annoyed or a touch tetchy. I mean, full blown furious, red faced and raging. Like teachers in a Beano comic. One step short of steam coming out of their ears type shit. I have no idea whether this was similar in other areas of the ground or the rest of the Kop or if it was just localised to a 7 seat radius around me, but yeah it was something. It threatened to take the shine off a really solid win. Well, that and the two goals we conceded. The angry fellas really hated those. I found them more irritating than enraging. Like wearing your new white trainers out in town all day then scuffing them on the doorstep when you get back home.

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At full time I wasn’t overjoyed or anything. I didn’t bounce out of Anfield like Julie Andrews in the Sound of Music. But after two close ones it was nice to watch us have a game sewn up by half time for a change, AND finish strongly too.

I have a theory. It’s a simple theory really, but it has stood me in good stead over the years. It’s called “Everyone’s Crazy But Me”.

Simply put, if you find yourself thinking that everyone else on earth is crazy apart from you, then it’s actually you that’s crazy. In that regard I was pleased by how many people there were who shared my sanguine feelings on the performance. A definite majority, even if I did overhear one guy, shortly after Soucek’s goal, ask another why on earth the Democrats hadn’t released the Epstein files.

Like I say, it was a weird game.

Anyway, you can drive yourself mad thinking about what drives people like that, so let’s just move on to the footy.

This was Liverpool doing the kind of thing that they should have been doing all season long at Anfield. They should have done this to Leeds. To Burnley. To Forest. To Wolves (I know we won that one, but it was still a bum clencher of a last 15). In short, we’ve been poor against the worst that this season’s Premier League has to offer, and that needed to change.

On Saturday (3pm!!!) Liverpool rocked up and showed that things have changed. Set pieces are now our friend. Luck is on our side. Our good players are scoring goals. We are winning without needing to be perfect or having all four sides of Anfield blow the roof off.

Many of the long-standing problems still exist; we lack power and aggression in the middle of the park and pacey wingers remain a threat on the counter. These problems can be mitigated for, the edges can be rounded off them, but it feels like it’ll be the next batch of summer recruitment before they can be truly expunged. (If it’s ever really possible to stop being vulnerable to pace on the counter).

Addressing the woeful set piece balance is a huge part of this. Yesterday’s goal flurry brought about this wonderful stat from Michael Reid:

Mad, right?

There are so many ways to win football matches. Some are divine. Some are pig ugly. The thing that unites teams that struggle to win anything and teams that win everything is that neither are picky about how they do it. Principles are great, but not if they mean you’re shit at scoring from corners.

To quote Spenser (the fictional private Detective, not the poet)

“There were few things more annoying than a visibly principled person.”

So if the Premier League is going to be about angry big lads and set pieces, and Liverpool are going to be a bit lacking in depth, pace and aggression then yeah, let’s get our Stoke on in the meantime.

The beauty of our set piece improvement is that it doesn’t have to mean hurling a harem of Robert Huth’s at the opposition. In fact I was a little surprised when someone told me at half time that all three of our goals had come from corners. It didn’t feel that way. Because yeah it’s not all towering headers at the back post, it can also be littler lads disrupting, it can be second and third balls and in the case of Ekitike and especially Mac Allister, really, really nice finishes too.

I suppose we shouldn’t really be dancing jigs in the street when Liverpool beat teams that they should be beating. But it’s another sign that Slot and the players are starting to put things right, that they are learning from mistakes and improving on the job. If the mantra right now is simply to win games of football, this was a fine example. Since the Man City collapse that’s four wins on the bounce. Ten goals scored. Two conceded. Yesterday added a nice +3 to the goal difference too.

We’re not exactly shooting up the table, but with Villa dropping points, 3rd to 6th is starting to compress nicely. An opening is going to form in the next fortnight and Liverpool need to keep chugging along the track so they are best placed to capitalise.

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Top 3 Players…

Hugo Ekitiké

• If one game a week has benefitted anyone it is Hugo. He looked refreshed, hungry, up for it. The stats say a goal and two assists and whilst it’s a little generous to give him the Gakpo one, i’m in no mood to rain on his parade here. Just give him two assists for his delightful cushioned pass to Mac Allister instead. Big fan of his thumbs up celebration too. He’s weird and funny and dead good at footy and I love him.

Virgil Van Dijk

• I really like games when the skipper just decides to will a win into existence. Defensively him and Konaté had a shakier time than recent weeks but scoring the 2nd goal really set us on our way. In the closing stages of the second half he was actively pushing the team upfield to try and put it to bed too (which we did). Excellent leadership.

Alexis Mac Allister

• Great goal and a better performance in general than recent weeks.

Honorable mentions to Jeremie Frimpong, it’s soooo good to have him back, changing the shape of our attacks within seconds of coming on the pitch. It’s probably a cross not a shot for the 5th goal so, sadly, giving it to Disasi is right, but if nothing else it’s yet another unregistered assist. A brief shout out to Rio Ngumoha for another electric cameo too.

Who were yours? Let me know in the comments!

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Match Reaction

MATCH VLOG

FANALYSIS RATINGS

And lastly, a plug for my debut novel “The Eternal Flame: Yester-Boy”, if you’ve seen a flicker of sunshine this week and want to start stocking up on your beach reads, give it a look!

Maychpublishing.com

Cheers!

Maych

When is a win not a win?

First things first. If you had asked me who I would have preferred to get in the Round of 16 draw, it would 100% have been Galatasaray over Atletico. Yes we lost to them in the league phase and triumphed over Atleti, but I think they are eminently beatable, and as such we’ve got the best standalone draw of any of the English teams.

So yeah, good… Good, right?

Err… No. No, probably not.

The Gala draw puts us in the bracket with PSG/Chelsea, Real Madrid/Man City and Atalanta/Bayern. Or the side of the draw that contains the last 10 winners of the Champions League. Also known as the brown trousers side of the draw.

Liverpool’s potential path of progression to the final is the stuff of sweaty sleepless nights.

Beat Galatasaray and you are likely rewarded with PSG. Beat the reigning European Champs and it could be Real Madrid, Man City or Bayern in the semi finals. And then there is the final itself. Barcelona could be waiting for us in Budapest in a straight fight for a 7th star.

And then there is the alternative.

Arsenal.

Can you imagine losing to Arsenal in the Champions League final? Could you imagine having to live in that world? Their first? Against us? A summer, a season, the rest of time having to deal with the fallout? Robbie and Ty dancing in the streets? Good lord. My anxiety is through the roof just dipping my toe into that pool of thought.

This is of course shit bag thinking. Because, if it’s possible to squeamishly fear the worst, it is equally possible for us to dream of the glorious other side of the coin.

First off, a rematch with Paris St Germain, the team that knocked us out on penalties last season and lives rent free in Arne Slot’s lizard brain. I’m not going to sit here and say that such a match up would be a walk over, far from it, but it is juicy isn’t it? I’m certain that Paris’s late season flourish was a big part of Slot and (*sigh* Big Moves) Hughes’ conversations about strategy over the summer. It would be very interesting to see how Liverpool approached it this time around. Have lessons been learned? Which of the new boys were bought as PSG killers? Last season’s game was lost on the lottery of pens, is it too much of a stretch to imagine the lottery balls falling Liverpool’s way this time?

In my Hollywood script, for the semi finals it’s either Real Madrid or Man City (soz Bayern). There are healthy storylines in both, and I could happily spin out both of those threads, but my gut feeling is Real. As much as it would be nice to put right the wrong of our Anfield collapse against City, the chance to knock Trent out of Europe is just too tasty. Anyone who watched our live draw show on Redmen (another tour de force performance by Mister Champions League Draw himself, Chris Pajak by the way), will have noticed me almost myopically focussing on my next point.

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All I asked for from the draw was two things. 1) Galatasaray. 2) To be on the same side of the draw as Real Madrid.

My reasoning for this is very simple. I NEVER EVER, EVER WANT TO PLAY REAL MADRID IN A CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL EVER AGAIN. Liverpool’s European pedigree is such a thing, but it can’t be a thing and Real Madrid’s not be. I do think that they are beatable over two legs though. Again, not easily, the Bernabeu is a nightmare, but going there, maybe shutting up shop, and then Anfield in the second leg is the best way to get the job done.

Call me crazy, but even now seeing the absolute unbalanced state of the draw, and the mountain it gives Liverpool to climb, I would STILL take it over the alternative, because it means we can’t play them in the final.

The flip of that is that no team on the blue path fills me with that kind of dread.

Except Arsenal.

Again though, that is an anxiety thing, it is my darkest inner thoughts cut loose. It is not based in reality. Arsenal are good. Really good. They are likely going to win the league and they have the squad depth to compete on multiple fronts whilst doing it. Right now, they are my pick to win the whole thing. But, despite being Champions-elect they have taken just one point from a possible six against us this season. They have also never won the European Cup. In fact it’s twenty years since they were even in the final. We have seven players in our first team squad who have played in at least one final themselves. Five of them have won it, all of them for Liverpool. It wouldn’t quite be the same as playing Spurs, but you would have to feel like that lived experience would tip things in our favour on the day.

The fear of it going wrong is massive, but can you imagine the alternative? Could you imagine Arsenal winning the league and then Liverpool beating them in the Champions League final? A million people descend on the city for the parade and no-one on earth cares about the Prem? The ultimate disaster or the ultimate high and no middle ground whatsoever. THAT is Hollywood shit. I live for Hollywood shit.

Listen, this is all a flight of fancy. There’s a lot of footy to be played, and there are 16 very good teams in that draw. We might have more injuries, or have to shift all focus onto fighting for 5th in the league. Hey, Arsenal might get Bodo/Glimt’ed all over the place in the Quarters.

Anything can happen.

Anything.

Watch the video version of these musings here:

And if you are looking for a bit of football escapism, and happen to love the Marvel movies then why not pick up a copy of my debut novel, “The Eternal Flame: Yester-Boy”? It’s a fun, action packed, witty, time travel adventure story about a boy who finds himself trading lives with a forgotten WWII super soldier on the French frontlines. Can he harness the awesome power of the Eternal Flame? Can he face down a Tiger tank? Will he be able to catch the eye of his school yard crush? And will he ever remember to bring in his kit for P.E lessons?

Signed copies are available too!

www.maychpublishing.com

Cheers!

Maych

Be honest, you thought Virgil was offside didn’t you? I did. In a joyless, soul sapping game of footy that had already seen one late winner ruled out, it seemed pointless to dream of better. It felt like the footballing Gods had shaken hands on a nil-nil draw pre-match then set about doing everything in their power to make this game a weekend mood killer.

But no!

It turns out there’s a little luck and magic in us yet. How Liverpool end up dancing out of the City ground with all three points is one of football’s great, wonderful mysteries. The kind of situation that has caused countless FIFA/PES controllers to be lashed at TV screens in contempt at a cruel error in AI balancing. Cue this year’s raft of “EAFC IZ BROKEN” YouTube vids.

The first half was crap. One of the crappest ever. Not catastrophically shite, just really, really crap. Like ordering an expensive meal and each course tastes even more disappointingly bland than the last; rather than like, a meal that gives you instant, explosive diarrhea.

A borderline comical inability to pass to other lads in cream shirts, no foothold in the midfield and a waif-like lack of aggression up front. Yeah, crap.

The thing that keeps it all from slipping into total and utter shite was committed defending at the back, and Forest’s bizarre obsession with shooting from everywhere. The xG for them was 0.89 at the break, but barring a good early save from Alisson v Hudson-Odoi, it was like filling a pint glass with thimbles of water. Lot’s of sore ankles and calves and little else to show for it.

Wirtz getting injured in the warm up is a kick in the knackers to be sure, and it will certainly have had a tactical knock on effect. But Liverpool were nowhere, trapped on an island of their own making. Alisson’s wayward kicking. Jones getting caught in possession. Salah isolated on the wing like a kid waiting for the next door neighbour to throw his ball back.

The second half was… improved? Yeah, Improved, not necessarily good. It was something though. There were moments. Liverpool were more present in the game, more dangerous, more flavourful. It was a Nandos of a 2nd half. Fine if you’ve never tasted actual good food, lacking if you have.

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The Reds created 1.64 of their 1.70 xG in the second half. All 4 of their big chances come in the 2nd half. They scored 2 of their 1 goals in the 2nd half.

The attention will of course fall on the madness of the closing stages but it’s worth saying again that Liverpool keeping the back door shut makes it all possible. They defended well in the first half, they defended excellently in the second half. All aided of course by not endlessly giving the ball away, but nevertheless, a clean sheet. The third in a row.

So yeah, that ending. Beautiful stuff. Alexis Mac Allister’s smiling face could prove to be one of the surprise enduring images of the season.

His first “goal”? Yeah. Okay. Letter of the law stuff innit? Hate that. Middle management, devil’s advocate nonsense. It is such a pity that it isn’t the deciding goal because it’s a lovely piece of play in the build up. Rio Ngumoha comes on for Gakpo on the left, with Chiesa the swap for Salah on the right. It doesn’t work. Or rather, Fede toils. Credit to Arne Slot for seeing this and tweaking. If Frimpong can be an answer on the right wing it always made sense to me that Rio could have a similar impact. It’s a delightful cross for Ekitiké’s header, and the Ola Aina/Alexis elbow chaos that follows surely deserved to be a goal, simply in the interests of preserving comedy in the modern game.

As a man who grew up on Nick Hancock’s Footballing Nightmare’s VHS’s, this is a hill I am prepared to die on.

But no. Alas.

Thankfully it doesn’t matter.

Having torn my throat up celebrating for the 2nd time in eight minutes, I was convinced we were about to have our hearts broken again. In fact I had already begun to sink into a big old existential sulk. But then, miraculously it’s given! The fact that it ends up being Ola Aina who plays Van Dijk onside, and Macca who grabs the goal feels like the universe’s way of righting a wrong. I for one welcome our VAR overlords.

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This one feels big. Liverpool are in the muck and bullets of the season now. Chelsea dropped points again. United don’t play until tonight. Chelsea now play Arsenal and Villa away. After The Ev, United play Palace at home and Newcastle away. We play West Ham at home and Wolves away. There is a chance to be back in the UCL places by the time we next kick a ball in that competition. The football does not need to be pretty right now. It needs to be effective.

Top 3 Players

Ibrahima Konaté

• Another really solid performance, with the additional pleasure of some Joel Matip-esque adventures down the pitch in the 2nd half.

Dominik Szoboszlai

• In hindsight, once it became clear Wirtz couldn’t start, he should have been moved into midfield straight away. This wasn’t his best game by any stretch of the imagination, but he put in a great shift when tracking back and built a bridgehead on the right with Jones and Salah that helped the team to get up the pitch more. Great cross in the build up to the winner too.

Alexis Mac Allister

• If he didn’t score he wouldn’t be on this list, and i’d be adding this game to the long list of anonymous, bordering on poor performances of the season. As it is, you have to give him immense credit for keeping going, and twice being in the right place at the right time to eventually be the match winner.

Honorable mention to Rio Ngumoha for his delightfully nimble footed right wing cameo. Also to Curtis Jones who was dreadful in the first half but found a way to turn it around and nearly scored too.

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Fanalysis Ratings.

Also before I go, a big thank you to Pritchards Bookshop in Crosby, Liverpool, the first physical location to stock our books! On Tuesday last week I dragged the whole family out of bed and up to Crosby so we could get a few photos and videos. It the midst of so much shite of late it was a lovely, spirit-lifting afternoon. My dad’s book has kind of fallen by the wayside in the last few months so it was great to be able to do this with him.

If you are in the area pop in, they’ve got signed copies available.

My sister and I also spent last night post-match trying to sort his instagram out so he can post more about it, which was loads harder than we’d anticipated, but it’s done! You can find him at instagram.com/jmachinite

And lastly, the books are also available to order online on maychpublishing.com if North Liverpool isn’t quite on your doorstep!

Cheers!

Maych

A delightfully routine win for the Reds in the FA Cup.

I say routine, it wasn’t though was it?

Routine has been sorely lacking this season. So in that regard, Liverpool taking the lead, extending their lead, getting a penalty (and converting it) and not capitulating in any ridiculous ways was anything but routine.

Last night was one of the most complete Liverpool performances of the season so far. It took a little while to get going, but when it did there was so much there to get your teeth into.

I also have to give credit where it’s due, that was a perfectly managed week of football by Arne Slot. The manager isn’t exactly flush for senior options right now but by bringing Jones, Kerkez, and Chiesa in, it meant there was the right amount of hunger as well as fresh legs.

Liverpool looked fit, fresh and revitalised, which is great considering how leggy they’ve ended the last couple of matches. Across the 90 they looked balanced in their tactical setup- able to stretch their opponents without leaving themselves too exposed. Most importantly on the night though, they also looked bang up for the dirty stuff too. Happy to get in faces and shake things up, willing to give as good as they got. The challenge presented by Brighton was met by every Red shirt on the pitch, but each did it in their own way. Like a themed dinner party where each guest brings along their best dish. The theme? Spice.

One of my biggest concerns this season has been with the general level of passivity within the side. Seeing James Milner on the bench, and Adam Lallana on touchline pundits duties I couldn’t help but be reminded of what we once had, or moreover what we once made.

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I’ve been introducing my son to Red Dwarf in recent weeks, in one episode (Meltdown) the crew end up on a planet of warring Wax Work models. Like a dystopia Madame Tussauds, all the good guys of history are pitted against the worst of the worst in a battle to the death. The quick, slightly spoilery lesson in this is that when you are fighting monsters you need more than a squad full of Mother Theresa’s and Gandhi’s.

What I saw from Liverpool last night was a pleasing divergence from that. And whilst it may remain true that we probably need a few more ball hungry, dark art wielding shit bags in the squad, the aforementioned Milner and Lallana are great examples to follow. If two former wingers can find the belly fire to hold down a place in a Klopp midfield then there’s hope for our current crop too. Kerkez, Mac Allister and the magnificent Szoboszlai were excellent tone setters in that regard. Fight is contagious, it raises the stakes and expectations for the rest of the players. When you later see Cody Gakpo getting stuck into scraps on the touchline, that is no isolated incident, no moment of madness, it is a response to the efforts of those around him. We’ll need that and more in the coming weeks.

Right now, Slot’s use of the left backs is absolutely perfect. I am convinced that Kerkez is our best one, but the bar is still set by Robertson, and he did a great job of raising it again in the midweek. It’s like watching two Olympic high jumpers battling for gold, and that can only be a good thing for the standards moving forward.

At right back, Jones did a great job but the fact that we managed to play 3 of our remaining options last night and have none of them get injured is some form of minor miracle in and of itself. We also saw a left back setting up a right back for the opener, which felt very pleasingly 2018 of them.

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And then there was the attack. I had feared a lack of pace might limit us, but it was aided immensely by some sublime moments of touch and skill from Mo Salah. He no longer has the blistering pace, and all of our attacking efforts are no longer geared around him, but last night he was really good. We’ve seen signs in recent weeks of Mo coming to terms with his changed status. Fading stars have a tendency to grab too much of the ball, terrified to let it go just in case it doesn’t come back to them. It feels like Salah is starting to trust the process. That he may not be the first pass in everyone’s mind, but if he’s the best pass, then yeah get ready to see some Mo greatness. His movement, awareness and touch for Szobo’s goal is a thing of beauty. If Salah can’t be the best version of his former superhuman self, then he needs to trust others to take that mantle, and then focus on being the best version of his current self to support that. Last night’s assist and penalty takes him to 6 goal contributions in 7 post-AFCON appearances. Liverpool are moving away from the Mané/Salah era where ALL the goals have to come from those areas, so two goals and four assists from a winger in a team built for goals through the middle is not to be sniffed at. For those counting, in the Premier League he now has the same amount of goals and three more assists, in four less appearances, than Bukayo Saka.

Mo’s creativity has always been there, but it’s always been secondary to his goalscoring. If he can flip his priorities and be a super talented cog in a team where other lads are the stars of the show, then yeah wow, we’ll be singing his name on the Kop plenty between now and summer.

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One last note, how great was it to be able to make substitutions from a position of strength? It was brilliant to see Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni able to strut their stuff without the crushing pressure of having to go and save us from impending doom. Ekitiké also looked really hungry when he came on. The sight of Alexander Isak back at the AXA this week is a reminder that his place can only be assured by being on the pitch and earning it. Here’s hoping a fight for that position has the same impact as the fight for left back. And then there was also time on the pitch for Calvin Ramsey, his arrival greeted by some tongue in cheek ironic cheers from the crowd. Funny stuff. And you know what? He was fine too, albeit at right wing not right back- maybe our right back injury crisis isn’t all that bad after all ey? Hahaha! Overall though the subs were those of a manager just managing, not fighting for his own survival. A good sign.

So yeah, what a week! And now, breathing space. The draw for the next round can be eagerly anticipated, and the Champions League playoffs can be enjoyed with feet up from a warm sofa. Marvelous.

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Top 3 Players

Dominik Szoboszlai

• The Hungarian Superman strikes again. And what a strike it was, distinctly Gerrard-esque, there was a genuine, wonderful sense of inevitably as he pulled the trigger. Beyond all that though he was just the business from front and back. We are watching the evolution of a world class superstar before our very eyes.

Milos Kerkez

• Narky, gnarly, pacey and surprisingly skillful at times too. He is getting better every game.

Alexis Mac Allister

• I’m bang up for more angry Alexis you know. Played this one like the seasoned pro that he is. Milner-esque.

Honourable mentions to right back turned number 10 Curtis Jones, great to see him back on the scoresheet for the first time in 57 games. Also to Mo Salah, that was by far and away his best performance since returning from AFCON.

Who were yours? Let me know in the comments!

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The Match Vlog!

Match Reaction

Fanalysis Ratings

And lastly, I now have a massive TWO different books available to buy on the Maych Publishing store! Mine and my Dad’s. We’re also going to be at Pritchard’s book shop in Crosby this coming Tuesday at around 11:30am, where both books will be available to be bought and signed, if anyone wants to pop in and say hello!

Have a look at the Maych Publishing Store HERE!

Cheers!

Maych