Liverpool fans ‘can be optimistic’ despite Man Utd straw-clutching

Liverpool have triumphed over Arsenal and Manchester United in pre-season so they might just be okay under Arne Slot.

We also have more ideas for improving football, while somebody went to an actual game! Mail us at [email protected]

Liverpool 3-0 Man Utd probably better for Liverpool

I will start by saying that the results of pre-season games are ultimately meaningless, but I found it amusing that Garey found it so meaningless he just had to try and spin a 3-0 defeat, first thing on a Sunday morning.

Far from “Dominating” the game, it was a scrappy and on occasions sloppy affair on what looked like an average pitch. United’s best chances came largely as a result of Liverpool giving the ball away while trying to implement Slot’s new tactics.

Liverpool had more of the ball and created more “clear cut” chances and ultimately could have scored more if not for some wasteful final balls, primarily by Elliott and Salah when in good positions.

Ultimately the league game in September is much more important, but with almost a full XI still missing, Liverpool fans can at least be optimistic that Slot might do ok.

Chris

READ: Six reasons Man Utd optimism is misplaced ahead of 2024/2025 season

Antony on the left?

All this talk of Antony being binned off because he has been terrible as a right winger for Man Utd for 2 years (true) made me think – what about trying him on the left wing where he can be on his natural foot?

If it’s a question of attitude and effort then get that getting rid of him regardless makes sense but has he been tried on the left wing and has it worked before, Man Utd fans?

Tom

Too VAR to go back now

Anyone watching the Premier League & European teams competing in the US this summer may have noticed something: there was no VAR.

It was like the good old days, but just like an adult who goes to rewatch their favorite comedy when they were 12, it’s far worse than the rose tinted memories had convinced us it was.

Clear offsides, blatant fouls missed, dangerous fouls ignored. VAR for all its soul sucking does at least prevent much of these going unpunished or unnoticed. Its application during the Euros was a move in the right direction and something similar to be applied the the PL would be nice.

I hope this summers games can be one of the final nails in the “get rid of VAR” debate as it’s about as serious as ‘Dude where’s my car’ is funny in the modern day.

Calvino (And then…)

Powerplay time?

There’s been a lot of chatter in the mailbox about improving the quality of the game and I’d like to add to it. I think there’s one surefire way to reduce blatant cheating and gamesmanship and that’s to make yellow cards more punishing. I know a lot of traditionalists won’t like this change but you guys are the same people that complain about the game being slow, tedious and distasteful these days so please hear me out.

Yellow cards need to result in a 2 minute suspension from the pitch i.e. the player has to sit out the next 2 mins and their team plays with one less man. This means that players will have to think twice before committing that tactical foul, delaying the game or diving. Of course this depends on the referees and governing bodies actually enforcing rules in the game that they are responsible for instead of just feeding off the game selfishly.

This will result in less tactical fouls that slow down play, less time wasting which slows down the game (and is also an act of blatant unsportsmanlike conduct), less diving which is a massive win for the game and will attract more viewers. It will also create some thrilling periods in games where a team is a man down and has to buckle down while the other tries to make the most of the advantage. It will unquestionably allow more goals and scoring opportunities as all the bullshit, infantile behaviour that these millionaires engage in on a weekly basis will be mostly eliminated.

Our game is far too lax on sportsmanship. It’s embarrassing, especially when compared to literally every other possible sport. Yellow cards are nothing more than a get-out-of-jail-free card, a guaranteed chance to ruin the flow of the game through obvious cheating. We need to be harder on these childish millionaires and by doing so it’ll attract many more viewers who stay away from football because they perceive it as a game played by overgrown children that are constantly trying to deceive everyone. This also means more money for all the greedy interests in the game. We all win!

If the backpass rule was changed 30 years ago to improve the flow of the game, then so should the yellow card rule. The way the game is played changes and so modifications have to be made to the game to ensure it doesn’t become a drab shitshow.

Vish (AFC), Melbourne, AUS

Daylight saving football?

Re Darren’s mail on rule changes, there are more than a few others put up for debate.

The one I like best is from Giles , an English journo at The New York Times, who correctly lambasts the silly centimetre off side calls that disallow so many good & great goals.

‘Off side was invented to disallow goal hangers , which we had at under 8s park football before we played with linesmen.

His idea, I believe is ‘daylight ‘ as in, if the freeze frame shows clear daylight between the attacker and last defender then – fair enough. Otherwise let all those glorious goals stand.

Someone also mentioned that this rule already stands in Belgian leagues or somewhere.

One simple re-writing equalling so much more joy and forgetting the toenail or eyelash offside nonsense.

To finish, somehow it’d be a happy story if Erik Ten Hag goes on to be a relative success playing good football despite those horrible Glazers.

Peter (total disinterest in Olympics, 6 days till charity shield/curtain raiser, Andalucia)

Some actual football

Probably went unnoticed by the one-eyed keyboard warriors who follow the Big Four (or is it Six), but it was the extra qualifying round for the FA Cup this weekend, so as a footie fan, I decided to visit the oldest football ground in the world at Sandygate to watch Hallam FC play Lower Breck along with 678 others.

It cost me £20 in total to get in, have a couple of pints whilst watching the match, plus pie and peas at half time. There were quite a few Breckies (probably) who came over from Merseyside to follow their team, along with the usual decent crowd from Sheffield, all mixed together having a bit of bantz.

It reminded me why I actually bother going to the match. It was enjoyable. Okay, it’s not like watching Brazil, but it’s entertaining, competitive and it supports grass roots football. You might also stumble into some older ex-internationals such as Danny Pudil who came on as sub for Hallam, having previously won a load of caps for the Czech Republic (sadly, he also turned out for Wednesday).

So, this is a bit of a reminder to all you obsessives banging on about whether ETH should be kept/sacked/shot, or whether Arsenal are winning the transfer window. You are supposed to be football fans, so go and watch some football and leave your keyboards and opinions alone for 90 minutes. You never know, you might just surprise yourself and cheer up for a few hours.

Bladey Mick (Hallam won 2-1 BTW)