Category Archives: FC Liverpool

Arne Slot at Liverpool – what the rest of football thinks: ‘He’s cool as hell’

Liverpool’s style impressed Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler
“To fully gauge the impact of Arne Slot at Liverpool since his arrival in June, you need only talk to those around his squad. The Athletic has been told that at least three players at Anfield have said in private that Slot’s methods could have served the team well during times in recent seasons when they just missed out on the biggest prizes. This is not to denigrate Slot’s predecessor, Jurgen Klopp, an Anfield legend who brought the club unparalleled success in the Premier League era and over a far longer period of time than the Dutchman has worked on Merseyside. The ease of the transition has also, in part, been down to Klopp laying such solid foundations. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Introducing the most dangerous pass in football

“A sharp, anxious intake of breath, followed by a round of applause that carries a mixture of quiet admiration and, more than anything, relief. On other occasions, it ends with supporters shaking their heads and asking why. We are talking about the crowd reaction to — and I’m borrowing this description from a colleague who is a regular at Stamford Bridge — ‘the most dangerous pass in football’. It’s the short, vertical ball from the goalkeeper to — typically, but not always — the midfield pivot, who is receiving under pressure, back to goal and close to their own penalty area. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)

Liverpool 2 Fulham 2 – Slot’s team come from behind twice after Robertson red card

“Liverpool dropped points in the Premier League title race on Saturday afternoon, but after coming from behind twice with only 10 men, a 2-2 draw with Fulham feels like a semi-positive result. Arne Slot’s side played most of the game with 10 men after Andy Robertsonwas sent off for bringing down Harry Wilson when the former Liverpool man was through on goal. By that stage, Liverpool were already losing, Andreas Pereira’s acrobatic finish putting the high-flying Londoners 1-0 up. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Champions League projections 2024-25: Each team’s probability of qualifying for knockouts

“The Champions League has a new format for 2024-25. Forget group tables, we now have a 36-team league stage before we get to the knockout stages in February. But who has the best chance of qualifying for the knockout stages, either directly or via the playoff round? Throughout the season, we will publish projections — powered by Opta data — to show how teams are expected to perform. These will update after each gameweek. When the league stage is over, there will be probabilities for reaching the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final. The competition’s expanded format might take a little time to get used to, but these projections can show you how it might all unfold. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Girona 0 Liverpool 1: Was it a penalty – and what now for Darwin Nunez?

“Liverpool are within touching distance of the Champions League last 16. A sixth straight win in the competition this season, secured through Mohamed Salah’s penalty, controversially awarded after a VAR check for a foul on Luis Diaz, tightened Arne Slot’s grip on first place in the league phase. This was far from Liverpool’s best display but Slot is unlikely to be concerned. Here, we analyse the major talking points. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Steven Gerrard’s Olympiacos goal, 20 years on: ‘What a hit, son! What a hit!’

“Even now, 20 years on, it is a moment which takes the breath away. Steven Gerrard had no right to score the goal that he himself described as the most important of the 186 he plundered for Liverpool. He was around 20 yards out, faced with a ball bouncing across his body, and with two Olympiacos defenders desperately closing him down. But with a perfect swing of his right leg, Gerrard hit the sweetest of half-volleys to secure Liverpool’s passage into the Champions League last 16. … Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of Gerrard’s goal and to mark the occasion, The Athletic spoke to those who were there to unpick its brilliance and significance. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)

Liverpool have made Virgil van Dijk contract offer in attempt to keep captain at Anfield

“Liverpool have made a contract offer to Virgil van Dijk as they attempt to end uncertainty over his future by tying the Netherlands defender to a new agreement. Van Dijk is among three crucial players — alongside Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander-Arnold — whose existing terms are scheduled to expire in the summer. Their situations have become a subject of intense discussion and Salah, 32, recently said he has not yet received any proposals to prolong his Anfield career. That remained accurate as of Sunday’s 2-0 win over Manchester City, however, the anticipation is it will change soon. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
W – Virgil van Dijk
NY Times/The Athletic: How Virgil van Dijk added another layer to his game at Arne Slot’s Liverpool
NY Times/The Athletic: How Ryan Gravenberch became one of Liverpool’s ‘untouchables’
W – Ryan Gravenberch

Liverpool 2 Man City 0: Slot’s side dominate struggling champions to go nine points clear

“A team flying at the top of the league playing at home against a side without a win in six games brought the result you would expect, as Arne Slot’s Liverpool went nine points clear on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Manchester City. The home side went at City from the start and were ahead early through Cody Gakpo after a brilliant cross from Mohamed Salah, but that was surprisingly the only goal of a first half Liverpool dominated. City manager Pep Guardiola made tweaks in an attempt to stop the Premier League leaders, but his wobbling four-in-a-row champions could not cope and victory was sealed when Salah converted a penalty in the second half after goalkeeper Stefan Ortega fouled Luis Diaz. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
NY Times/The Athletic: Liverpool vs Manchester City dissected: The rivalry, key battles – and predictions
NY Times/The Athletic: Pep Guardiola on ‘sacked in the morning’ chants during Liverpool loss: ‘I didn’t expect it at Anfield’

How Liverpool’s Caoimhin Kelleher’s technique makes him a penalty expert

“Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez wasted no time when chest-bumping his way into Caoimhin Kelleher to congratulate his goalkeeper. Kelleher had just denied Kylian Mbappe from the penalty spot in the Champions League on Wednesday night. Right-back Conor Bradley did the same in appreciation for the Republic of Ireland international. Kelleher had just helped preserve Liverpool’s clean sheet by palming away the Real Madrid forward’s spot-kick in a game Arne Slot’s team went on to win 2-0. Andy Robertson, who gave the penalty away against Madrid and in the previous game against Southampton, said he owes Kelleher dinner. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

How Arne Slot is proving to be the master of the half-time tactical tweak

“It’s not like Arne Slot needed to fix Liverpool’s attack at half-time against Real Madrid. But despite his side creating multiple chances in the first half, he was able to tweak a few things in search of an improvement. And since the start of the season, Liverpool have been noticeably raising their level after the break — with the 2-0 victory against Madrid just the latest addition to the list of impressive second halves. This was on show in Slot’s first Premier League game, a 2-0 victory away to Ipswich Town, when during the break he told his players to focus on winning duels and playing balls in behind because of the opponent’s man-to-man approach. That tweak guided Liverpool to victory, and another half-time tweak against Madrid brought Slot’s team closer to reaching the Champions League’s round of 16. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
NY Times/The Athletic: Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0: Are Slot’s team the best in Europe? And what now for Mbappe? (Video)
NY Times/The Athletic: Kylian Mbappe’s night to forget: That tackle, a missed penalty and attitude questions
NY Times/The Athletic: Liverpool’s Conor Bradley and a tackle for the ages

Champions League projections: All the talking points after matchday five

“Five games into the new-look Champions League and the 36-team table is finally starting to take shape. Sort of. Strong favourites to progress have emerged, with Arne Slot’s Liverpool sat top of the pile after an impressive 2-0 victory over Real Madrid made it five wins from five. Inter are yet to concede a goal, while Barcelona and Arsenal— with convincing results this week — have increased their chances of qualifying for the knockout stages, via the play-offs or otherwise, to at least 90 per cent. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Man City loss feels seismic, Salah’s contract claim, is Mascherano right coach for Messi?

“… Hello! Manchester City have won fewer games than San Marino in the past month and Mohamed Salah could leave Liverpool. It’s all happening. City show weakness again. Another friend to coach Messi?. Galaxy shining bright. ’Keeper howler of the season? Every once in a while, the Premier League throws up a genuinely seismic result that feels like it symbolises the end of an era. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Liverpool’s 2019-20 Premier League champions v Slot’s 2024-25 contenders

Arne Slot
“With a five point lead over a faltering Manchester City, and a nine-point advantage over the rest of the chasing pack, Liverpool have a 60.3% chance of winning the Premier League according to Opta. Arne Slot’s team, who visit bottom-of-the-table Southampton on Sunday, have 28 points from the opening 11 games. Liverpool have bettered that only once in the past 34 seasons, when last winning the Premier League in 2019-20. We assess how the current Liverpool squad compares with Jürgen Klopp’s champions. …”
Guardian
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)

The Slot Machine: How Liverpool set up against elite teams – and beat them

“It was the elephant in the room that Arne Slot went out of his way to address. Up until the last international break, Liverpool’s head coach repeatedly referenced the kind early-season schedule when assessing his team’s start. The run of fixtures from the October break to this international window was meant to give a clearer indication of where expectation levels should be set. Premier League matches against Chelsea, Arsenal, Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa were broken up by Champions League fixtures versus RB Leipzig and Bayer Leverkusen, with a trip to Brighton in the Carabao Cup squeezed in. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

The Premier League Owners: Who has invested the most?

“From the local businessmen propping up boyhood clubs to the Gulf states chasing reflected glories, an eclectic mix has taken over English football’s top 20 clubs. Owners of Premier League teams have spent millions to secure a seat at the top table but no two stories are the same. Some are in for billions, gambling on long-term prosperity. Others have already assured themselves of vast returns. To begin a series on the Premier League’s owners running across this week, The Athletic has calculated the total investments of those at the top of all 20 clubs. And, yes, we’ve even put them in descending order for you to argue over. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Fear and loathing in Premier League academy football: Scouts in a pen, no team sheets and denying access

“At a Manchester City Under-16s game last month, 21 academy scouts were corralled into a tight square next to one of the corner flags, far from the rest of the spectators. They had not congregated together out of choice. This was the designated area, outlined by bright cones, other clubs’ talent spotters were frogmarched to before kick-off. A few years ago, it would have been a peculiar sight. Today, it is a scene recreated every weekend across most of the Premier League academy landscape. The motive? To keep rival scouts isolated from parents, so they cannot lure away your top players. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Is Premier League title race already down to two teams?

“Has the Premier League title race been whittled down to two teams after just 11 games of the season? Leaders Liverpool had the dream weekend after victory over Aston Villa coupled with defeat for Manchester City against Brighton – and Sunday’s 1-1 draw between Arsenal and Chelsea. They now lead City by five points – and the rest of the pack by nine points or more. Opta’s ‘supercomputer’ gives Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal just a 3.5% chance of the title, with Chelsea down on 0.2% and anybody else on 0%. …”
BBC

How Liverpool turned the underlap into a potent weapon under Arne Slot

“Different season, same Mohamed Salah. Nine goals and nine assists in 16 games in all competitions show how the 32-year-old is in white-hot form. Questions will continue to swirl around the club until there is greater clarity over Salah’s future — his contract is up in the summer and he is free to negotiate a pre-contract move with a foreign club from January 1 — but there is little doubt his dual-threat from a creative and goalscoring perspective. As The Athletic has recently analysed, much of Salah’s creativity has been directed towards the back post, with last week’s assists for Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz against Bayer Leverkusen adding to his suite of services provided to his team-mates from his switched crosses. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

The Briefing: Are we set for a thrilling title race and can Forest’s form continue?

“Welcome to The Briefing, where every Monday this season The Athletic will discuss three of the biggest questions to arise from the weekend’s Premier League football. This was the round of games where Tottenham produced a brilliant second half to thrash Aston Villa, Southampton finally got their first win of the season — and Ipswich came so close to theirs — while Chris Wood’s amazing form continued. We will ask whether the flaws of the contenders will give us a thrilling title race over the coming months, what Ruben Amorim will think after watching Manchester United’s draw against Chelsea and whether Nottingham Forest are the most impressive team in the 2024-25 Premier League so far. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)

Why the Premier League table after 10 games is a reliable guide to how the season will end

“There is an understanding that a league table does not truly “take shape” until clubs have played 10 of their allotted matches in that season’s competition. It is an ancient and arbitrary threshold we have created for ourselves, but it has merit. First, it is a nice round number. Second, it’s… double figures. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

RB Leipzig 0 Liverpool 1: Rampaging Nunez, Liverpool go three from three and Leipzig stutter

“Darwin Nunez’s poacher’s finish fired Liverpool to victory at RB Leipzigand maintained their flawless start to life in this season’s Champions League. Arne Slot’s side made it three wins from three in the competition with a 1-0 win in Germany, with former Leipzig players Ibrahima Konate and Dominik Szoboszlai tasting victory against their old team thanks to Nunez’s first-half goal. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Liverpool’s patience out of possession under Slot is working – but Chelsea showed the approach isn’t flawless

“For long periods of their 2-1 victory over Chelsea on Sunday afternoon, Liverpool didn’t feel quite like Liverpool. It’s been two months since Arne Slot’s first competitive game in charge, but this was something new: his first Premier League match at Anfield against genuinely strong opposition. Previous home games were against Brentford, Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth — sides you expect Liverpool to dominate. There was no guarantee of that against Chelsea, who wanted to play out from the back and enjoy long spells of possession. Liverpool, for most of the last decade, would try to deny opponents that luxury. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Premier League: 10 talking points from the weekend’s action

Wolves 1-2 Manchester City
“… 2 – Tight margins go against O’Neil again: The obvious topic of debate at Molineux centred on whether Bernardo Silva impeded José Sá’s ability to save John Stones’s 95th-minute header. The officials concluded Silva had no impact on the goal and, while hugely disappointed, the first thing Gary O’Neil did when he got into his manager’s office was to study how Stones was able to register an effort on goal. O’Neil acknowledged the minutiae make the difference in tight games, leading him to bemoan having to substitute the 6ft 4in Wolves goalscorer Jørgen Strand Larsen, owing to fatigue. …”
Guardian

Liverpool have the best defence in the Premier League – can they maintain it?

“Liverpool are the early leaders for the best defence in the league competition. Yet while there has been plenty of talk about the impact of Arne Slot’s possession-based philosophy, less remarked upon is that his side have conceded just two league goals in their opening seven games — four fewer than the joint-second lowest, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. In their 10 matches in all competitions, they have conceded just four goals and kept six clean sheets. That is a significant improvement from last season when they kept the same amount of clean sheets in their final 27 games. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

How the best Premier League managers stay one step ahead: New ideas, adaptation, evolution

“In the future, looking back on current tactical innovations and unique styles of play will not provide a dopamine hit. By then, they will be normalised. What seemed novel 20 years ago is the minimum requirement to excel in football nowadays — just ask Jose Mourinho and Rafa Benitez. Their meticulous planning before Chelsea and Liverpool faced opponents was on another level by Premier League standards and helped them create defensive structures that opposition players hated. Mourinho also worked on attacking and defensive transitions in his first period at Chelsea — when he won the Premier League in 2005 and 2006 — which was not conventional at the time. ‘Mourinho placed more emphasis upon the transition than any previous Premier League coach,’ writes The Athletic’s Michael Cox in his book, The Mixer: The Story of Premier League Tactics. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

The Biggest Question Facing Every Premier League Team

“The most popular soccer league in the world returns on Friday at the Theatre of Dreams as Fulham visits Manchester United. If it feels like the soccer season is never-ending after the European Championships, Copa América, and Olympicinternational tournaments all summer, you’re correct. Just 89 days after Manchester City won a fourth straight Premier League title, the English top flight is back for the first of 38 matchweeks. While many in England remain on summer holiday, the clubs have been busy with preseason tours and final preparations for the grueling marathon season that will go into late May 2025. To preview the 2024-25 Premier League season, I ranked all 20 teams by posing the biggest question facing each club. …”
The Ringer
BBC: Who will finish in the Premier League’s top four?

Why Liverpool want Giorgi Mamardashvili – the ‘Georgian Wall’ goalkeeper coveted across Europe

“Before an unforgettable footballing adventure had even begun, a nation had one man to thank. Such was the magnitude of Georgia’s penalty shootout win over Greece in March — a victory clinched by Giorgi Mamardashvili, and which ensured the country reached their first major international tournament — that every player, coach and member of the football federation received the Order of Honour from the national president. Mamardashvili’s reputation has rocketed after a shot-stopping clinic at that tournament, the European Championship in Germany this summer, with onlookers incredulous as the saves stacked up. It’s no surprise the man known as the ‘Georgian Wall’ has admirers — although Liverpool might not have been the first team on everyone’s lips to be among them. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
W – Giorgi Mamardashvili

2024-25 Premier League – Location-map, with 3 charts

“The map is a basic location-map, with an inset map of Greater London. Also shown are small labels which point out both the three promoted clubs (Leicester City, Ipswich Town, Southampton), and the three relegated clubs (Luton Town, Burnley, Sheffield United). And there are three charts… The Attendance chart, at top-centre of the map page, shows 4 things for each of the 20 current Premier League clubs…A) 2023-24 finish (with promotions noted). B) 2023-24 average attendance [from home league matches]. C) Stadium capacity [2023-24]. D) Percent-capacity [2023-24]. At the right-hand side of the map page are two more charts. The chart at the top-right shows Seasons-in-1st-Division for the 20 current Premier League clubs. …”
billsportsmaps
W – 2024–25 Premier League

The Transfer DealSheet: Latest on Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Barcelona and more

“Welcome to the latest edition of the Transfer DealSheet, your weekly guide to what is happening in the summer window. Our team of dedicated writers, including Adam Leventhal and David Ornstein, will take you inside the market to explain the deals being worked on, the players who could arrive and the ones who are on their way out across the Premier League and beyond. In last week’s edition, we looked at Liverpool’s pursuit of a No 6 and the situation with Chelsea’s Englandmidfielder Conor Gallagher. The information found within this article has been gathered according to The Athletic’s sourcing guidelines. Unless stated, our reporters have spoken to more than one person briefed on each deal before offering the clubs involved the opportunity to comment. Those responses, where they were given, have been included in the Transfer DealSheet. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

Is the cult of the manager over? How English football’s power structure changed

“There is no escaping the cult of the manager in English football. From Busby to Ferguson, from Chapman to Wenger, from Shankly to Klopp, from Revie to Clough, from Mourinho to Guardiola, it sometimes feels like one of the last bastions of the 19th-century ‘great man theory’ — as if, to bastardise the words of Thomas Carlyle, the history of English football is but the biography of great men. Some of the greatest are commemorated with statues outside their clubs’ stadiums: Herbert Chapman and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley at Liverpool, Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Sir Alf Ramsey and Sir Bobby Robson at Ipswich Town, Don Revie at Leeds United, Stan Cullis at Wolverhampton Wanderers. These men did not just win hearts, minds and trophies. They shaped eras. …”
NY Times/The Athletic

2023–24 Premier League

“The 2023–24 Premier League was the 32nd season of the Premier League and the 125th season of top-flight English football overall. The season began on 11 August 2023, and concluded on 19 May 2024. Manchester City, the defending champions, won their fourth consecutive title, the first men’s team to do so. … All three of the newly promoted teams were relegated (Luton Town, Burnley, and Sheffield United), the first time this happened since the 1997–98 season; those three teams had a combined total of 66 points. Nottingham Forestavoided relegation with 32 points (including a 4 point deduction), a record low for a team to do so. …The new stoppage time rule was used in the league for the first time this season. In an effort to improve clamping down on time-wasting and to improve the accuracy of time added on, stoppage times were longer across matches. The new rule accounted for stoppages due to injuries, goal celebrations, yellow and red cards, and VAR reviews. …”
W – 2023–24 Premier League
Watch: How 2023/24’s FINAL DAY unfolded (Video)

The Real Jurgen Klopp, part 1: The ‘normal guy from the Black Forest’

“After almost nine years in charge and seven major trophies, Jurgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool. He has been one of the most transformative managers in the club’s history and in English football’s modern era. To mark his departure, The Athletic is bringing you The Real Jurgen Klopp, a series of pieces building the definitive portrait of one of football’s most famous figures. …”
NY Times/The Athletic (Video)

How to win a Premier League penalty: A deep dive into the best masters of the dark arts

“Arsenal are still level with Bournemouth after 41 minutes and are getting frustrated. They need a win to keep the pressure on Manchester City, who play Wolverhampton Wanderers later that day, in the battle for the Premier League title. Kai Havertz has made a career of finding pockets of space and does so again, gliding into the penalty area to meet Martin Odegaard’s through ball. He uses the outside of his left boot to flick the ball away from onrushing goalkeeper Mark Travers — before keeping that foot down on the turf, elongating it towards the floor like a ballerina performing an axel turn. Travers cannot avoid it and makes contact. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Why progressive actions are football’s most important metrics

“Every sport needs a currency, some basic stat to keep track of the important stuff that happens along the way to scoring and winning. A good currency should be easy to count and have an obvious relationship to the point of the game. … Progressive actions are not advanced metrics. You can see them with your eyes instead of a statistical model. If you got bored enough, you could sit in the stadium and tally them up with a Sharpie on some accommodating seat-mate’s bald head. But simple as they are, progressive actions are fundamental to how the game works and can give you a pretty good idea of which teams and players are good at it. …”
The Athletic

Echoes of errors: why has VAR sparked so much fury this season?

“Seven months ago Englandthe country came the closest yet to entering thermonuclear war over a refereeing decision. When the referee Simon Hooper mistakenly ruled out a Luis Díaz goal at Tottenham for offside and the video assistant referee Darren England failed to correct him, the initial response was heated and only bubbled up from there. … The next morning, Liverpool released a statement arguing ‘sporting integrity had been undermined’ the supporters’ group Spirit of Shankly said that ‘VAR and PGMOL are not fit for purpose’ and the club’s former striker John Aldridge alleged corruption. …”
Guardian

Liverpool have run out of steam. But Klopp’s legacy is already cemented

“And so there will be no glorious farewell for Jürgen Klopp. Saturday’s 2-2 draw with West Ham, coupled with victories for Manchester City and Arsenal, means any realistic hope of a second Premier League title is effectively over. Klopp is exhausted, his team is exhausted and the manic emotional energy that gripped the side during the League Cup final and immediately after has dissipated. …”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
The Athletic – Liverpool squad audit: Who could be the winners and losers under Slot?

Tottenham 2 Arsenal 3: Quick start key again? What is Havertz? How unlucky were Spurs?

“The title race remains on. Arsenal made sure of that at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. For Spurs, though, the race for a top-four spot looks less likely to be won after a chastening defeat to their north London rivals. This derby victory put Mikel Arteta’s side four points clear at the top of the Premier League before second-placed Manchester City’s match against Nottingham Forest. City’s victory means there is now one point between the top two, with City having a game in hand. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic: Nottingham Forest 0 Man City 2: Haaland’s impact? Champions League exit benefit? – The Briefing

How Arne Slot plays football – and can it work at Liverpool?

“Arne Slot is set to become the next man in charge at Anfield. On Friday night, Liverpool agreed a compensation package with Feyenoord that will allow the 45-year-old to become Jurgen Klopp’s successor following the conclusion of the current season. Slot’s pedigree has grown across European football in the past 18 months after he led Feyenoord to only their second Eredivisie title in 20 years last season, losing just two games in the process. …”
The Athletic

West Ham 2 Liverpool 2 – Quansah lesson? Soft goal problem? Diaz the trusted forward?

“Liverpool were held to a 2-2 draw by West Ham United on Saturday afternoon. West Ham took the lead when Jarrod Bowen rose highest from a corner and headed past Alisson in the Liverpool net. Shortly after the break, though, Andrew Robertson curled the ball in to level the game. Liverpool went ahead in the 65th minute courtesy of a fortunate goal, which saw the ball ricochet off Alphonse Areola and into the back of the net. But Michail Antonio levelled the game for the hosts with 77 minutes on the clock. …”
The Athlete

Everton 2 Liverpool 0: Klopp’s first-ever Goodison defeat all but ends title dream – The Briefing

“Wednesday evening’s Merseyside derby was as intense as so many of its predecessors. As they have so often in recent weeks, Jurgen Klopp’s team began the game sloppily, handing Everton the advantage in a crucial game for both sides. VAR ruled out an early penalty for the home side for offside but one of the most slapdash goals of the entire Premier League season put Everton into the lead midway through the first half. Liverpool fought back, but their other constant current issue — wayward finishing — ensured Sean Dyche’s team led at half-time. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Slot, Amorim, Lopetegui; Liverpool, Bayern – which managers are going where?

“The transfer window for players will open when the season ends but the movement of managers has no deadline — anyone can switch roles at any point. Jurgen Klopp’s announcement in January that he would be leaving Liverpool at the end of this season after nine years at Anfield kicked off speculation over who would replace him. Soon after, Xavi said he would be stepping down as Barcelona head coach this summer before Bayern Munich joined the party in February by confirming they would be parting ways with Thomas Tuchel, leaving three of the biggest jobs in European football open for applications. However, Xavi has now reversed his decision and will stay on at Barca. A disappointing season for Manchester United, meanwhile, has also led to questions over Erik ten Hag’s future and a potential vacancy at Old Trafford. So who are the managers expected to be on the move in the coming months and who is staying put? …”
The Athletic

Many Premier League champions have ‘choked’ – the true test is can you recover in time

“Fred Done had been a bookmaker for more than three decades, with more than 100 betting shops across the north west of England, before he unwittingly stumbled upon a brilliant but expensive way to make more people aware of his brand. In March 1998 he announced he was paying out early on the Premier Leaguetitle race. Manchester United were 11 points clear of second-placed Blackburn Rovers and 12 points clear of third-placed Arsenal. Both of the chasers had games in hand — three in Arsenal’s case — but, as far as the bookie was concerned, it was all over. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Liverpool’s failure to keep clean sheets is proving deeply damaging

“Liverpool’s defending was indefensible against Atalanta. Conceding three times left hopes of winning the Europa League dangling by the thinnest of threads and also brought to the forefront bigger problems that could derail their Premier League title challenge too. European comebacks are a Liverpool speciality, including incredible nights under Jurgen Klopp. Yet, if his side have a chance of turning around the 3-0 deficit, they will probably need to keep a clean sheet. After the 3-0 defeat to Barcelona in the 2019 Champions League semi-final first leg, Liverpool famously won the second leg 4-0 to go through. Despite being ridiculed after the game, the Spanish side’s tweet below was valid. …”
The Athletic
Guardian – ‘This must feel bad and it does’: Jürgen Klopp rues Liverpool’s mental fatigue

Liverpool’s threat from corners has increased and could help turn their season around

“As Kostas Tsimikas placed the ball on the edge of the corner arc, the Anfield crowd held their breath. With 88 minutes on the clock and the scores level against Ajax in their second Champions League group match, having lost the opener badly, Liverpool needed a winner from their 10th corner of the night. The delivery was excellent, as it was all game, and Joel Matip rose highest to head the ball home. Cue bedlam. To coin a Football Cliches classic, it had been coming. Jurgen Klopp’s side were a constant threat from corners and had already forced a number of saves from Remko Pasveer. …”
The Athletic

Manchester United 2 Liverpool 2: More Mainoo, more chaos, Klopp’s side made to pay

“Three weeks on from their seven-goal FA Cup classic, Liverpool and Manchester United met again — and again, we were entertained. Though this contest resulted in only four goals, Liverpool could have had significantly more in the first half alone, missing several chances while United failed to take any sort of attempt at Caoimhin Kelleher’s goal. …”
The Athletic
Guardian: Ongoing sense of shambles at Manchester United is unsustainable – Jonathan Wilson
The Athletic – Virgil van Dijk criticises ‘wasteful’ Liverpool: ‘It’s our fault again’

Football’s elite are tightening up – and Arsenal lead the pack

“Tho said football was supposed to be fun? Sunday’s meeting between Manchester City and Arsenal was billed as an epic showdown between sorcerer and apprentice that might decide the league title. It produced a total of three shots on target – which is to say as many as Brentford had against Manchester United between the 53rd and 55th minutes. Admire the tactical machinations if you like, the levels of concentration and the planning that went into it, the obviously refined level of the lack of action, but this was shit on a stick for the TikTok generation. ….”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson

Why Mac Allister and Bradley are integral to Liverpool’s reimagined right-sided triangle

“Liverpool’s right-sided triangle was synonymous with their 2019-20 Premier League title win. Mohamed Salah coming inside from the wing, Trent Alexander-Arnold pushing on from full-back and Jordan Henderson rotating wide to cover — Liverpool won 21 of the 22 league games the trio started together. Among the 21 was a 2-1 defeat of visitors Brighton & Hove Albion in November 2019. But since then, Brighton have been a bogey team for Jurgen Klopp’s side — with three Brighton wins and four draws in the nine matches before the two sides met at Anfield again on Sunday. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic: Immense Mac Allister is providing the calm and control that Liverpool need right now

Manchester City 0 Arsenal 0: Defences on top as title rivals cancel each other out – The Briefing

“Manchester City versus Arsenal was one of the most anticipated games of the Premier League season but its sheer importance in the title race — and how equally matched the two sides are — resulted in a cautious and goalless first half. The energy and aggression were dialled up after the break but chances remained at a premium. After we witnessed 99 touches in the penalty area in Brentford’s game with Manchester United yesterday, this was a very different sort of game. Technical, tactical, tense. …”
The Athletic

Appointing a Liverpool manager: A guide to the dos and don’ts

“To understand how Liverpool are going about hiring their next manager, it’s worth reviewing how they appointed the current one almost nine years ago. Ian Ayre, who was the club’s chief executive, made first contact with targets. Two of those conversations produced interviews, the first with Carlo Ancelotti and the second with Jurgen Klopp. Both men flew to the United States, where Liverpool’s owners Fenway Sports Group (FSG) are based, following dialogue instigated by Ayre. …”
The Athletic

The Premier League, where scoring first doesn’t matter anymore

“It takes commitment to support Norwich City. There’s the flitting between the Premier League and the Championship. There’s your arch-rivals becoming very good at football. There’s competing in a financial world that feels increasingly distant from Carrow Road. And speaking of distance — the travel distances from East Anglia make every away day an odyssey. …”
The Athletic

Ten Hag’s job is not safe, but Liverpool win will resonate for decades

“And in the next round, Mark Robins. Football has found itself assailed in recent years by states, oligarchs and private equity, the concentration of resources at a handful of clubs in a tiny number of western European countries destroying the balance that once sustained it, the potential of its soft power meaning that it has been preyed upon by regimes desperate to launder their image and secure influence. But, despite all that, the sport has retained its mischievous sense of humour. …”
Guardian – Jonathan Wilson
The Athletic: Angry Klopp, a ‘dumb’ question and when managers lose their cool (Video)

Champions League quarter-final draw: Predictions, tactics and players to watch

“The Champions League quarter-final draw is complete — and there is no shortage of intrigue. From the winners of the last two seasons (Manchester City and Real Madrid) being paired against each other to Harry Kane returning to north London to face Arsenal, or one-half of the draw opening up for one of the less-fancied teams in the last eight (something unlikely to ever happen again given the format changes from next season), the sub-plots are fascinating. The Athletic assembled an expert panel to cast their eyes over the four ties to explain where they will be decided, who they are tipping to go through and which team they are expecting to lift the trophy at Wembley on June 1. …”
The Athletic (Video)

Liverpool vs Manchester City: This is what a Premier League classic looks like

“Jurgen Klopp summed it up perfectly: ‘What a game, what an atmosphere, what an afternoon.’ Even his wife enjoyed it. ‘She was completely buzzing,’ the Liverpool manager said — and just about everyone inside Anfield must have felt the same. It ended with the points shared: Liverpool 1-1 Manchester City. In that respect, perhaps the biggest beneficiaries were Arsenal, who remain top of the Premier League with 10 games left, ahead of Liverpool on goal difference. But it was one of those afternoons when it feels legitimate rather than trite to suggest football was the winner — another epic battle between these two teams who, in terms of speed and imagination, can give you the feeling you are watching 4D chess. …”
The Athletic (Video)
The Athletic: How Guardiola’s double substitution helped save Manchester City against Liverpool
The Athletic: Breaking down four minutes of chaos that could change course of Premier League title (Video)
The Athletic: Liverpool’s ‘exceptional’ display against Man City should fuel belief this team can go the distance (Video)

The Premier League Title Race Hasn’t Been This Thrilling in Years

“… And, of course, there’s the three-way ongoing slugfest in the English Premier League. Ahead of Man City and Liverpool’s consequential matchup on Sunday, the Reds are top of the table with 63 points, while City, the reigning champions, are on 62 points and third-place Arsenal have 61 points—each with 11 games left to determine who will lift the Premier League trophy in May. …”
The Ringer

Inside Liverpool’s commercial strategy: Blue-chip deals, U.S. focus and closing Man City gap

“The battle off the field in the Premier League is as keenly contested as the one on it. Liverpool’s recently published accounts for the 2022-23 season showed that commercial income had risen by £25million to £272m ($345.5m at the current exchange rate) – moving above broadcast and other media revenue to become the club’s biggest source of cash. That figure has almost doubled in the space of five years but they are still playing catch-up on two of their domestic rivals. Manchester City lead the way with annual commercial revenue of £341million, followed by Manchester United on £303m. …”
The Athletic

Goal kicks: How does each Premier League club take them?

“An outfield player taking a goal kick used to be a rare treat, a sign that the goalkeeper had pulled a muscle and needed a willing team-mate to launch the ball towards the centre circle. But since a tweak of football’s laws in 2019, the once-humble goal kick has become an increasingly integral part of how a club chooses to build up play. Some teams choose to have a defender pass the ball laterally to the goalkeeper, some ask the goalkeeper to play short to team-mates in the box, while some still prefer to go long and direct. …”
The Athletic

Nottingham Forest 0 Liverpool 1: Was this the kind of win champions deliver? – The Briefing

“Somehow, Liverpool keep finding a way. An afternoon which looked certain to finish in frustration ended in frantic, joyous celebrations as Darwin Nunez’s header in the last minute of stoppage time secured a 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest. It extends Liverpool’s lead at the top of the table to four points ahead of Manchester City’s game against Manchester United tomorrow and Arsenal’s at Sheffield United on Monday. We dissect the main talking points of another remarkable day. …”
The Athletic
The Athletic – Explained: Liverpool’s winner, a drop ball, angry Marinakis and a vocal Clattenburg cameo

Erik ten Hag is imagining bad faith from Jamie Carragher. Perhaps he senses the ground shaking

“As Erik ten Hag addressed reporters in a media suite at the club’s Carrington training ground, he opted for the oldest trick in the book of any Manchester United manager: go after a man from Liverpool. Sir Alex Ferguson was never shy in reminding the BBC how many former Liverpool pundits the national broadcaster had on its books. In 2012, Ferguson accused the ex-Liverpool defender Alan Hansen of criticising United publicly as a favour to his friend and then Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish in a bid to rile United before a cup tie between the two clubs. …”
The Athletic

Introducing the 8.5, the hybrid role that is shaping the Premier League title race

“This season’s battle for the Premier League title is now unquestionably a three-horse race. In May, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City will become the first side in English football history to win four titles in a row. Or Jurgen Klopp will win his second Premier League title before departing Liverpool. Or Mikel Arteta will lead Arsenal to their first league title in two decades. Whichever outcome transpires, the victorious side will have depended on a player who has fulfilled an unusual role this season. …”
The Athletic – Michael Cox

Liverpool could face 26 games in 99 days – can they cope?

“… His Liverpool side played 63 games in pursuit of perfection across four competitions during that campaign and now there is the possibility of doing it all over again. That edge is where Klopp and his players want to return before parting ways this summer and last weekend marked the point when the long stretch towards the season’s conclusion began. …”
The Athletic