Liverpool expectations have been adjusted to qualifying for the Champions League but Cody Gakpo surely has to be part of the plan.

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Gakpo v Wirtz

Had a bit of a blow-up in the mailbox over Slot this weekend. My main gripe? He consistently refuses to pick the best XI. Case in point: shoehorning Wirtz in, despite offering next to nothing to justify his place. Most recently, he’s dropped Gakpo—7 goal involvements this season versus Wirtz’s 2, and Gakpo’s played 400 fewer minutes—to make room. Madness.

I’d just about calmed down (credit to my therapist for the deep breathing exercises) when I read your piece on the 51 Premier League players who’ve created more chances than Wirtz this season. And lo and behold, Gakpo is number 3. Number bloody 3.

Slot cannot be shown his marching orders soon enough.
Oliver, London

A sensible mail about Liverpool expectations

Re-adjusting expectations isn’t the silliest thing in the world. Having won the title last year and then spending nearly half a billion pounds (seriously, that’s an absurd amount of money, whoever spends it ) – absolutely I thought we’d be title contenders. I couldn’t see the point of buying Isak when we’d already got Ekitike but other than that, the business looked really, really good.

I remember people thinking the game had gone mad when Stan Collywobbles cost ￡8.5 million and look where we are now, deeper into the maw of madness than we could have dreamed. What a complete t**t he was, but I digress.

I could see City sorting their s**t out because y’know, it’s Pep. He’s the best manager ever, simple as. It’s not just about the trophies won, it’s about the influence he’s had on the game as a whole. No one has ever had more, it’s inarguable. So City would absolutely be back.

Arsenal had to be there or thereabouts, their squad looked amazing. The repeatedly finishing second thing had to be a factor but they had all they needed to finally lay that to bed.

There was no-one else as far as I could see. So I thought we were very slightly favourites in a three-horse race. Best-case scenario, I thought, was still being in realistic touch by Xmas and then all the pieces fitting nicely together for a really good run in the New Year and we defended the title.

Absolute worst-case scenario was none of our big signings starting well, the team getting majorly destabilised and even previously good players losing enough form to become liabilities. It didn’t seem awfully likely, Arne having done so well last year, but it obviously wasn’t impossible. However this scenario wasn’t a major concern.

*Unfortunately* the worst case scenario is what’s happening right now. We’re pretty much s**t, the City game was 18 kinds of no fun at all. Forget the disallowed goal, it didn’t matter. Lose 3-0, lose 3-1, we were still played off the pitch.

The reason I’m not crying into my morning cup of tea is that we won the title *last year*. I do think that’s sort of important to remember. This isn’t spending a demented fortune to make a good side a lot worse – when we haven’t won the league in 30 years. That would be very depressing.

We’re the defending champions for goodness sake! We have won the title more recently than literally everyone else! In short, this is not the time to cry or get angry. Starting a dynasty again would have been fun, the 70’s and 80’s were great. But we haven’t made great strides in that direction.

However who’s to say we won’t have figured it out by May? It’ll be too late for this year, of course it will. Pep will win again and Arteta will bottle it for one last time – but I digress again. But next season is a different sausage indeed.

We’ve spent like a drunken sailor on shore leave for the first time in 12 months and that rarely ends well. Perhaps this will be a cautionary tale to be learnt from, perhaps not. But things will drastically improve, the only question is when. My bet is Feb/March and we’ll do just enough to qualify for the Champions League.

So chill. Take the slaps from other teams’ supporters, such is life. We’re still champions. We will be again.

Just not this year.
James, Liverpool ( seriously though, half a billion pounds – the game really has gone stark, staring bonkers)

MAILBOX: Liverpool fans trying to ‘retcon’ season expectations is ‘a(chǎn)bsolute bullsh*t’

Liverpool unlucky? Sorry, what?

I don’t understand the discourse around the van Dijk non-goal. If you’re stood offside in the 6 yard box when a goal is scored, that should be given as an offside. That shouldn’t be that contentious.

However, what I would really like to take umbrage with is the assertion in the Mailbox that Liverpool have been “unlucky” this season. Are you kidding me?! Did you watch the Newcastle game? Battered by 10 man, somehow scabbed a win. Bournemouth didn’t deserve to lose opening night. Won an interminably dull game against Arsenal with a late, one in a thousand worldie. On the balance of performance, Liverpool are lucky to be in the top half.

For rivals, it’s absolutely hilarious after the “dynasty” chat, but don’t deny reality. You’ve been sh*t in nearly every game. Often really, really sh*t. So sh*t we beat you. At Anfield.
Lewis, Busby Way

…That email you guys printed by Darren, replete with obligatory “YNWA” sign off, was manna from heaven. Everything that encapsulates just how delicious Liverpool’s current malaise is for other fans, squashed into a single mail.

Even if schadenfreude weren’t currently running rampant up and down the country, that four-paragraph ode to buffoonery would have stoked the fires. I understand, like most fans of other clubs, that Liverpool have as high a % of sane fans as anyone else. But my god, when they pull a wrong ‘un out of the think tank, they amp that shit up unlike anyone else.

Pointing out all of the supposedly horrible luck that has befallen Liverpool over the past few weeks, without mentioning their previous run of good luck as they staggered from one stoppage time win to another. Top stuff.

Desperately trying to dress up a transfer spend of nearly half a billion as “buying young players who will take time”. Huh? Were Wirtz and Isak aware they fell into that bracket?

Manager directly assessed to be tactically incompetent, less than 6 months after winning the league. Am I missing something here? Has Darren got more coaching badges than Slot?

But the part that really had me howling, even more than the “clear vendetta” line, was the “we don’t have the distraction of having any snakes running down their contract to go to Madrid” salvo before IMMEDIATELY identifying one slithering around at centre half. I swear you couldn’t make it up.

Darren, I don’t know you and I suspect I’ll never meet you. But I reckon you might be provoking reactions from other fans that fit into a perceived vendetta against you (and I mean you as an individual Liverpool fan, not the club as a whole). They’re being levelled at you because you talk utter tripe, not because people want to crush poor ikkle Liverpool. The sooner you realise that, the better for you.
Keith Reilly

Time for a referee shake-up?

As Mat stated so well in the Tuesday mailbox, we are seeing lots of decisions, for all teams, in different situations, in which VAR says the original decision can’t be overturned as not being a clear and obvious error. A Schrodinger goal or foul or penalty, etc.

Of course, Webby, I am sure that is what all the other chummy refs refer to him as, says the Liverpool goal being chalked off was fair.

So now, any time an opposition player is standing on the goal line during a corner, the defensive team will claim an infringement if a goal is scored. Why not?

What this highlights isn’t just that the quality of the refereeing is poor in the EPL, but worse, they have no spine. Not one of them. Looking at referees from across Europe in the European competitions, we constantly see refs overrule assistant refs and VAR, and stand by their decisions. They have backbone. They are not all chummy with each other.

VAR is not the problem in itself, but it does highlight that our referees can’t easily determine the correct outcome under the laws of the game. Even after extensive replays. They cite a portion of a rule to support their decision while ignoring the law’s fuller context. It is far easier to fall back on ‘clear and obvious’ as a refereeing ‘get out of jail free’ card when needed.

The overhaul of our refereeing setup is long overdue.

Perhaps something our Football Regulator would look into – after all it brings the game into disrepute. What did happen to that role?
Paul McDevitt

More on that Liverpool non-goal

I disagree with Matt, Sheffield’s conclusion that Robbo was offside. I cannot see what Robbo did that clearly impacted any one’s ability to play the ball. He stood out the way, on the spot and ducked. If anything, he made it easier for him. However, I completely agree with him that anyone in the 6 yard box should be automatically considered active and would add in the goal mouth to that too.

What is worrying was the PGMOL misquoting the law to make their decision fit. Good process lads!

Slot has until January 8th to figure this out. That’s the next Arsenal game. We have a very much easier run from now until then. No derbies, no teams from Madrid, a Dutch team, two promoted teams, the bottom 3, Spurs.

All we need between now and then is for points deductions for City (115), Arsenal (shareholder loans) and we might even finish top half.
Alex, South London

…With regards to the Liverpool non-goal as Bill Shankly once said: “If a player is not interfering with play or seeking to gain advantage, then he should be.” Then again he also said: “The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they don’t know the game.” So who knows where we stand?
Brett O’Shaughnessy

Arsenal are rather good, you know

At the beginning of the previous international break after seven games, to the best of my knowledge Arsenal were top of the table leading Liverpool by one point. They’re now eight points ahead of them. They were three points ahead of City but are now four points ahead of them. Chelsea appear to be getting better but Arsenal are six points clear of them compared to five points after seven games. If Spurs are going to be included than that would be two and now eight.

Concentrating on Arsenal and City: Arsenal have won eight and lost one whereas City have won seven and lost three.

Of course this doesn’t mean much in November but it’s just a counter-argument to various comments I’ve come across making out conceding a late goal is the beginning of an Arsenal meltdown. A few tough fixtures coming up but we will see.
Chris, Croydon

READ: Ranking Arsenal’s next six Premier League games on slippability with cock-up vs Spurs unlikely

Trivia question

I saw this on social media (some readers may have already seen it), but found it quite a fun pub topic with a few mates, so thought I’d share, especially during an international break.

Apparently, there are only 13 British (exc. English) players to win the Premier League – how many can you name?

To qualify, they must be Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish, have won the Premier League (not the Old First Division) and done so as a player, not as a manager.
Jack (For anyone wondering, I don’t think Kevin Gallacher counts as he only played one game during Blackburn’s title winning season which at the time didn’t qualify for a medal?) Manchester