Are those late Liverpool winners sustainable after all? Unlike Arsenal, this Liverpool side are never boring.<\/p>\n
This is a belting Mailbox taking in lots of subjects but there is a theme: Everybody seems to think they are being picked on.<\/p>\n
Send your whiny mails to theeditor@football365.com<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Liverpool do it again<\/p>\n
Last minute winners\u2026 completely unsustainable aren\u2019t they, aye? \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026\u201dLlorente it has happened again\u201d no, almost. Yes it happened again five times in a row. It\u2019s sustainable. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026I\u2019m getting beta blockers before the weekend. Not sure my heart can handle this twice a week until May. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026Forwarding a recent mailbox submission as it\u2019s the last time I use a subject line that\u2019s getting too repetetive:<\/p>\n \u201cSubject: Never in doubt<\/p>\n Think I\u2019ll be sending that a lot this season.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n What if football is meant to be like this?<\/p>\n What if we\u2019ve all been conditioned to believe that Guardiola-style strangulation and procession victories are what we should aspire to?<\/p>\n What if \u2013 and stay with me here \u2013 what if we lived our whole footballing lives in Fergie time? What if we lived or died by our sheer force of will to take the points in the last few minutes every single time?<\/p>\n What if this is how it\u2019s meant to be \u2013 how it should always have been?<\/p>\n I\u2019ll tell you what \u2013 I have never felt more alive than I do right now. I am so far past the exhaustion of Burnley 0 \u2013 1 Liverpool. I am adrenaline incarnate. As light as a feather. I could dance on a tightrope across the Grand Canyon. I want my 7.30am gym session to start right now.<\/p>\n A wise sage once said that Liverpool experience football miracles, on a weekly basis, season after season. Christ alive, maybe we do. Maybe this is how it\u2019s meant to be.<\/p>\n Bring on the Blues. Isak winner, 90+6. And you\u2019ve never felt so alive. \u00a0<\/p>\n Oh Diego<\/p>\n Watching Simeone lose it with the Liverpool fans reminded me of one Christmas years ago when my Gran got stuck in with the box of wine. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026Diego Simeone is what you get if you order John Wick from Temu.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll let myself out. \u00a0<\/p>\n Happy for Arsenal to be boring and good<\/p>\n I\u2019m an older Arsenal fan, I remember the chants of boring boring Arsenal<\/strong><\/a> from the 90s like yesterday. And you know what, I didn\u2019t care then and I don\u2019t care now. Do you know how many spankings we had to watch in the Wenger era because we \u2018tried to play the right way\u2019? Do you know how many pats on the head we got from rival managers who took 3 points off us?<\/p>\n Athletic lost twice at home last season, have been incredibly hard to beat. I\u2019m sorry we didn\u2019t go there and play champagne football. But we got the 3 points and that\u2019s all I care about. Considering the stick we\u2019ve been beaten with since Arteta has arrived is that he hasn\u2019t won anything (they don\u2019t count his FA Cup) \u2013 I think his pragmatism should be lauded. He\u2019s trying to win something. Every ground out win means there isn\u2019t an email the next day in the mailbox from you know who. And I actually like his emails!<\/p>\n So \u2018cry more\u2019 as the kids say. We\u2019ve conceded 1 goal this season, to a world class strike. We had 3 brand new players up top, and our subs (something we\u2019ve been criticised in lacking) came on and did the business. That looks like good management. Competition raises everyone\u2019s levels. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026Sorry, what is going on with all these negative Arsenal articles?<\/p>\n This would be the team that has played 5 competitive games, scored 11 goals, conceded 1, which was a fluke free kick away at the PL Champions.<\/p>\n But we have constant references to the failures of a new striker (3 goals in 5 games, getting more involved and livelier in every game) and now winger<\/strong><\/a> (1 assist in 2 games, known producer but a historical tendency for blowing hot and cold).<\/p>\n Bedding in new players is hard. Especially for systems that are more complex like Arteta\u2019s. Why that\u2019s an acceptable excuse for Liverpool but not us I don\u2019t really get.<\/p>\n Dion, mate<\/strong><\/a>, I am sorry you\u2019re not enjoying watching Arsenal at the moment, but this is the team that can win us the Premier League. Not winning close games sunk our year last year, along with the injuries- now this year we still have the injuries but we\u2019re winning them.<\/p>\n Give it a bit of time and appreciate how well we\u2019re doing missing some of our most exciting players. (Presume you missed this one about how brilliant that Arsenal squad is now<\/strong><\/a> \u2013 Ed)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Mikel Arteta does NOT have to win a trophy this season<\/p>\n I obviously have a lot of respect for Henry but everything he said on CBS on Tuesday was bollocks.<\/p>\n He mentioned you that you don\u2019t set up to go to the big 4 (it\u2019s the big 6 now) and play for a draw. He talked about his time before they won the league too in \u201802 after finishing 2nd 3 times in a row.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve never been in a locker room. I\u2019ve also never been on a training ground when a team is preparing for a game but I am willing to bet my life that there is no manager of a top 4 or 6 team, who goes into that kind of game to get a draw. I agree that the way you set up can sometimes give that impression, but there is no shame in admitting that a team is better than you and trying to play to their weakness. This was Arteta\u2019s post match interview in 2020 after the Liverpool game:<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see how Liverpool build their squad and there\u2019s no magic, you need to improve the squad with quality players, we need a bigger squad to compete in this competition. That\u2019s the challenge. It\u2019s a massive job. You only have to look at the difference between the two teams \u2013 it\u2019s enormous. The gap in many areas we can\u2019t improve in two months but the gap between accountability, energy, commitment and fight between the teams is now equal,\u201d.<\/p>\n This is the coaching part of the job. You adjust and set up your team to give you the best possible chance of victory against that particular opponent. Whether they are better than you or not. To say a manager (especially a manager who has come 2nd thrice) doesn\u2019t go for the win is insulting and makes no sense. One thing is for sure. You don\u2019t want this league title more than Arteta does.<\/p>\n To also hear Henry talk about Gyokeres in the manner he did was funny.<\/p>\n Finally, and I\u2019ve said this many times, Arteta DOES NOT have to win anything this season. It\u2019s not a right. There is nowhere in the laws of the game that says you must win the league the season after you come second. This is not how it works. Arsenal have been better every season than the last under Arteta. How many clubs (even the ones who win trophies) can boast of 5 years of consistently bettering the performance of the previous season? Arteta\u2019s time will come. If not at Arsenal, then elsewhere. I certainly home it\u2019s the former. \u00a0<\/p>\n The handball problem<\/p>\n I feel for the governing bodies when it comes to handball like the one given in the Madrid game because they\u2019re really between a rock and a hard place.<\/p>\n I\u2019m sure lots of people felt the handball was harsh and should have been let go. But what if the ball was going into the net for a certain goal and that handball prevented it? The penalty box handball rule is really designed for that scenario. Because if make it more lax and say actually we will let THAT type of handball go then you also can\u2019t then punish it if that same type of handball prevents a goal later without also invalidating the rule you have.<\/p>\n As much as people get annoyed by it, it\u2019s rare that it happens and at least it\u2019s consistent. Can the player do anything about it? Not really it\u2019s just bad luck, but bad luck is part of football. In fact it seems to be the consensus that VAR should go and if the ref fucks up then that\u2019s just bad luck for the offending team.<\/p>\n You can\u2019t fix the handball problem that people talk about because it doesn\u2019t happen often enough to be an issue and creating any kind of wiggle room will simply give players greater opportunity to cheat. \u00a0<\/p>\n Liverpool fans upset about something or other\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n I see Ryan\u2019s ongoing obsession with his belief that Arsenal really are the best team, and it\u2019s only outrageous fortune and unfair application of the rules that has prevented them from global domination has seen him sending in a thinly veiled criticism of Liverpool\u2019s late penalty at the weekend. And in doing so, he is trotting out the usual nonsense about the notion of deliberate handball.<\/p>\n Very few handballs are deliberate. For every Suarez V Ghana incident, which seems to be the only time Ryan thinks a penalty should be given for handball, there are a thousand penalties given for handballs that the rules argue are reasonably preventable. Everyone knows the rules now, that\u2019s why defenders block with their arms behind them. That\u2019s why Hannibal was immediately distraught at the weekend, because he knew he had broken the rules by flicking his arm out. That\u2019s why no-one argued the toss with the referee.<\/p>\n Foul play in football rarely has anything to do with where is about to happen with the ball, but when the action does deliberately prevent a goal scoring opportunity, the punishment is worse because of the intent, the deliberate attempt to cheat.<\/p>\n Whilst we will never be able to completely rid the game of controversial handball decisions, I would argue that the current rule is as robust and transparent as it ever has been. It was a clear penalty at the weekend, and I haven\u2019t seen one rational person suggest otherwise. I have, however, seen plenty of ABLs have a meltdown online about it. (Genuinely no idea what this is referring to; no Ryan has written in about the Liverpool handball this week \u2013 Ed)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026Surprised to see you bother to publish a listicle of reserve 11s<\/strong><\/a> although it\u2019s a silly bit of distraction and in Tickner\u2019s wheelhouse.<\/p>\n But where is Connor Bradley? I can accept Isak being in the starting XI despite never playing a game. And Szoboszlai looks like a first choice right back over injured Frimpong. Unless Liverpool\u2019s secret is that they\u2019ve been playing 12 players and no one has noticed!<\/p>\n Start Frimpong and you have one of Szoboszlai, Wirtz or Mac Allister in that second XI with Bradley at RB. That\u2019s enough to push Arsenal in to second. A familiar comfortable feeling for them!<\/p>\n Well done for Jesus being injured for both sides too!<\/p>\n Is the strength of the big 6 reserve sides actually a measure of how unbalanced the Premier league has become? \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026Arsenal have the best second XI eh? That eleven couldn\u2019t hit a barn door with a banjo. You said it yourselves often enough that I would have thought you\u2019d remember. I wouldn\u2019t put that Arsenal eleven in the top five. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u2026Jason Soutar with the latest instalment of a Talksport like \u2018hot take\u2019 (about TAA having his hamstrings destroyed by Klopp<\/strong><\/a>) which is designed to encourage reactions (and therefore clicks) at the expense of insightful and engaging writing. Will Ford\u2019s recent doozy being not far behind in the hot take stakes: \u2018And Burnley may be seen as something of a last chance, mad though that sounds after four games, for Wirtz to prove that he\u2019s worthy of a place in Slot\u2019s best XI\u2019. Sure Jan.<\/p>\n Back to Soutar. There\u2019s the snarky bitching towards Liverpool fans before declaring that the debate had been and gone, despite getting the last word in like a sh1thouse.<\/p>\n There\u2019s the erroneous use of Trent\u2019s injury stats to back up a fallacious argument. Unless Jason wants to compare and contrast distance covered, sprints made and injuries developed across all PL players over the time Klopp managed TAA he\u2019s just pissing in the wind and forcing a narrative.<\/p>\n And before you try to shut down debate by falling back on \u2018it\u2019s just an alternative opinion\u2019 please read the statement in the penultimate paragraph:<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s not that Klopp didn\u2019t manage Trent carefully; it\u2019s that his style of play has taken its toll on a player\u2019<\/p>\n
Adam, LFC, Belfast<\/strong><\/p>\n
WAFF TOWN MAN<\/strong><\/p>\n
Minty, LFC<\/strong><\/p>\n
Aidan, Lfc (also dropping \u201cBetter lucky than good\u201d although reckon we deserved this one\u2026ish)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Nick Glover, Scouser in Brum<\/strong><\/p>\n
Jason G, Falkland Islands<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rich<\/strong><\/p>\n
John Matrix AFC<\/strong><\/p>\n
Tom, Leyton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Damola AFC, Berlin Germany<\/strong><\/p>\n
Lee<\/strong><\/p>\n
Mat (being perennially second would mess with my head too)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Alex, South London<\/strong><\/p>\n
Niall, Annapolis<\/strong><\/p>\n