I only part-watched the Chelsea game last weekend because I had to do something else. I mention this because it is decidedly unusual for me to do anything other than watch a game with my undivided attention, yet I didn’t pay all that much attention to the Chelsea game because we’ve already won the title. It is so rare to have so little pressure on any given match in the Premier League. Arne Slot showed with his team selection what he thought of it and I agreed. Things were slightly different for yesterday’s match against Arsenal, if for no other reason than I was lucky enough to get a ticket to go and watch the match at Anfield. It meant I was able to sing ‘bring on the champions’ for the first time in my adult life and repeatedly let the Reds know how much we love them and how proud we are of them as champions of England. What a joy it was to see Arsenal have to give them a guard of honour and to applaud the players onto the pitch for the first time since they won it.
The best Arsenal can do is 74 points.
Liverpool had 76 a month ago when Virgil scored against West Ham.
Up the champion Reds.
— Andrew Beasley (@andrewbeasleyfootball.com) 11 May 2025 at 18:32
Arne Slot also showed with his team selection that he understood the importance of the game with reference to next season, given the fact that the Gunners are likely to be one of the teams vying to stop us from retaining the title. In the first-half, Liverpool were brilliant and made an absolute show of Mikel Arteta’s side, which was still reeling from its loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League. Not that the Spanish manager will admit as much; such is his level of delusion about his team’s performances this season that he probably thinks they’re gearing up to face Inter Milan in the final. The second-half saw an obvious drop off from Liverpool, but it felt more like a team that knew that it had proven its point and had nothing left to prove than one that was desperately trying to demonstrate anything. I was privileged to be inside Anfield and it will be a memory I’ll have for a long time. Hopefully you get to experience it at some point in the future, because it feels like we all should get to.
I Don’t Blame People for Booing Trent
I didn’t boo Trent Alexander-Arnold yesterday. I did choose to boo an unnamed 31-year-old Premier League player, who I think it’s pretty disgusting is still playing games for Arsenal, but that’s a conversation for another time. Whilst I personally chose not to boo Trent, I have zero problem with those who decided to make their feelings on his departure known. One of the things that I think a lot of people tend to forget is that football supporters are generally powerless. If you want to show your disappointment in Alexander-Arnold’s decision to leave Liverpool for Real Madrid, how exactly are you supposed to demonstrate it other than by booing him? I certainly wouldn’t advocate people approaching him in the street and giving him abuse, for example, or heading online to send him vitriolic messages on social media. It is also worth noting that booing is a long-held right of football fans, who boo players for all sorts of weird and wonderful reasons, few of which are as worthy as what Trent’s done.
🚨 Trent Alexander-Arnold has confirmed he will leave #LFC at the end of the season.
— Theo Squires (@theosquiresecho.bsky.social) 5 May 2025 at 10:04
Yes, he ‘won the lot’ with the Reds and that is to be admired and appreciated. Yet the manner in which he has handled his departure from Anfield has been little short of disgraceful. We shouldn’t forget, for example, that he only signed a four-year contract in 2021 when everyone else was signing five-year deals. It has been clear from that moment that his intention was to run his contract down and depart Liverpool on a free, knowing that Real Madrid wouldn’t be willing to pay a substantial sum for his services. We should also remember how he has behaved at times this season, such as when he made the ‘talking’ signs with his hands or the shushing gesture. It is clear now that they were aimed at the supporters who sang about him being the ‘Scouser in the team’, which is poor form at best. Real are a direct rival of Liverpool’s, given how often we’ve faced them in the Champions League in recent times. If fans want to express their disappointment in him, I think they should be allowed to.
It’s Always Important to Ignore Bad Faith Actors
There are plenty of people who you should listen to when it comes to discussing the booing of Trent Alexander-Arnold. As many of you will know, I regularly do shows for The Anfield Wrap and I think the discussions on there have been measured and sensible around the player’s decision to leave the club for pastures new. Jamie Carragher is both a former player and a supporter, so I think he’s had some interesting things to say about the matter. Yet there are also plenty of bad faith actors offering their thoughts on the matter who should be ignored entirely. Search social media for the player’s name and you will be greeted by a wealth of messages from fans of other clubs desperate to stick the boot in on Liverpool supporters, all acting as though they’d have had plenty of good things to say about us before this but now they’re really disappointed. In short, you should listen to Reds about it and basically no one else. Even then I’d be selective in your choice of voices.
My 2 cents on the booing of Trent Alexander-Arnold yesterday is I was surprised that he was even in the squad for the game.
He is leaving, I wish him well and I would not have booed him but he no longer wants to play for #LFC so he shouldn’t.
— Burning Astronomers (@burningastronomers.bsky.social) 12 May 2025 at 12:45
I would pay no attention whatsoever, for example, to Gary Neville, who is rarely worth listening to when it comes to his opinions about a club he’s readily admitted to spending his entire life despising. It is my fervent hope that we don’t have to put up with any of this again now, which will largely depend on whether or not the manager chooses to play him in the last two games of the season. I hope he doesn’t pull on a Red shirt again, given the fact that he’s decided his career lies elsewhere. There is clearly a wealth of bad feeling towards him and the rest of this campaign should be about celebrating the title win, not showing disgust for a player who sees his future elsewhere. If there is more booing between now and the end of the season, however, then that is down to the supporters who choose to do it and is not worth listening to anyone else’s opinion about it. He has broken Liverpool hearts and now he knows exactly how we feel about him. That, as they say, is life.
