Ah David Coote. How we all owe you a word of thanks. Not only because you gave us something to talk about at the start of yet another boring international break, but you also confirmed all of our worst suspicions. Sure, Gary Neville and his chums will take to the mainstream media to gaslight us all into believing that what happened wasn’t that bad, actually, but anyone with half a braincell knows that it was. Even if you ignore the clear xenophobia that was part of Coote’s declaration that Jürgen Klopp was a ‘German c*nt’, the very fact that he declared on camera that he hated our former manager is proof positive that referees take their biases into matches with them. We have all spent years buying into the blatant lie that the likes of Anthony Taylor supports Altrincham, bending over backwards to pretend referees are entirely independent and there is no problem with one of them elbowing Andy Robertson in the face. The video tape of Coote attacking Klopp means that most of us can finally stop buying into their nonsense.
David Coote and his mates slagging off Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool in an era when they won the Fair Play award virtually every season under Klopp
— Adrian Tempany (@adriantempany.bsky.social) 16 November 2024 at 09:29
Of course, the problem is that the Professional Game Match Officials Limited is like the Met Police, constantly pointing to the ‘bad apples’ when anything happens rather than admitting that it is in need of root and branch reform. The PGMOL isn’t fit for purpose, but the chance of former South Yorkshire Police officer Howard Webb admitting such is slim to nought. Instead, the media pals of his like Martin Samuel will tell us all that we’ve all called someone at work a ‘c*nt’ before and actually Jürgen was awful on the sidelines so really it’s all fine. Neville said that there was no evidence that Coote had given decisions against Liverpool so we should all just crack on, as if he wouldn’t have been asking Keir Starmer to make a statement in parliament if it had been Alex Ferguson that the Nottinghamshire official had been talking about. Anyone that has watched the Reds for any length of time will know that we’re refereed differently to pretty much every other team, with the work of Paul Tomkins showing as much with facts. Now we at least have a sense of why that might be the case. Thanks David.
Beat Man City & the Pressure Will be On
There is an extent to which any conversation around Liverpool’s possible title credentials assumes that we’re going to beat Southampton. Obviously the Saints could get a result out of us, not least of all because it is our first game back after the international break and the players are likely to be a little bit rusty. Southampton’s only Premier League win so far this season came against Everton, with losses to the likes of Newcastle, Brentford and Manchester United all thrown in there. The made life tough for Manchester City at the Etihad towards the end of October, albeit losing 1-0 in the end. Realistically speaking, though, if you have pretensions to win the title then you need to be beating the likes of them both home and away. If we do, we will head into the game against 115 Charges FC at least five points clear of them. I can’t see a world in which they drop points to Tottenham Hotspur, largely because of how Ange Postecoglu sets his team up to effectively defend on the halfway line. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t think I will be come Saturday night.
It is funny how quickly football opinions change, City are still favourites for the title, but beat them on Dec 1st, surely we are favourites then right? #liverpool #lfc
— Leeroy (@meeroylfc.bsky.social) 14 November 2024 at 06:46
For me, this season feels a little bit like 2019-2020 from City’s point of view. Back then, City had won the Premier League twice in a row and struggled to put together the kind of form needed to win a third. Soon we looked too far away from them and their heads started to drop as a result. If we can beat them in our game against them at Anfield at the start of December it will, presuming that we have beaten Southampton and they get the win against Spurs, mean that we’re eight points clear of them. There is still a long way to go, of course, but I think that might well prove to be a mountain that they’re unable to climb. It would mean that we could lose twice and still have a two point advantage on them, with this Liverpool team not looking like it will lose twice any time soon. I am also a firm believer that Guardiola’s side will, at the very least, be docked some points before the end of the season. They should be relegated down to League Two, but I’ll take my wins where I can get them. Beat them at Anfield I think they’ll be none of our business come May.
Arsenal are the Ones to Watch
At the time of writing, Arsenal are nine points off the top. That is a long drop away for a team that has dropped some points in unexpected places so far this season. The problem that Liverpool have is that the Gunners have some remarkably easy fixtures between now and January. Yes, we lost at home against their next opponents Nottingham Forest, but that will make Mikel Arteta even more aware of their threats. Manchester United will have Ruben Amorim in charge by the time that the two teams go head-to-head, but a new manager won’t change the fact that their squad is nowhere near good enough. West Ham, Fulham, Everton, Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town make up the rest of the teams that Arsenal have to take on and I’m afraid I can’t see any of them getting any points of the Londoners. Football isn’t played on paper, as the old saying goes, but I’d be astonished if the Gunners didn’t pick up at least 19 out of the 21 points available to them between now and 2025, with even that including a generous draw for the Red Devils in there.
Arsenal haven’t gone four games without a win since April 2023 when Draws v Liverpool, West Ham and Southampton, plus a defeat by Man City put paid to the Gunners’ title hopes.
#CHEARS
— Orbinho (@orbinho.bsky.social) 7 November 2024 at 16:32
Given we are only just shy of a third of the way through the campaign, any talk of a title race is a little bit silly. Yet the truth of the matter is that Liverpool have got the underlying numbers to suggest that they could well go on and do it. They will lose games between now and the the end of the season, of course. They will also draw more times, dropping points as a result. The big question will be how and when they drop them and which teams they drop them to. A draw with City wouldn’t be disastrous, for example, nor would it be the end of the world for us to drop two points at home to Arsenal. Both of those results being fine for the Reds is dependent on us steamrollering the lesser lights of the division, however. Dropped points against the likes of Southampton or Everton would not be good news for a team hoping to win the title. If we don’t win it then supporters of other clubs will be falling over themselves to say we ‘bottled it’, even as they’re pointing out now that it’s only November. Our job is to gets points on the board and see where we are come May.
