Liverpool should repeat ‘better player’ Coutinho trick with Salah and remove Klopp’s ‘easy option’
Mo Salah needs a playmaker like Philippe Coutinho to properly thrive, but the Brazilian was the âbetter playerâ and Liverpool survived without him anyway.
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Tuchel out
Dear Football 365.
So far so awful. England were very much sub-par in Thomas Tuchelâs first game as manager. Itâs only the fact that we were playing Albania that we won playing like that. There wonât be recriminations but there certainly wonât be heaps of praise. And should we play like that in our opening group game at the actual World Cup next year Tuchel will probably be slaughtered.
Dan, LondonÂ
Rash decision
Will Matt Stead turn on Tuchel when he boots out Rashford to make England a better team capable to win the next World Cup?
Cheers
Ashwin (Man Utd & England fan)
Desperately keeping my eyes open
For those questioning the Nations League, it does tend to produce better games than the majority of European World Cup qualifiers. Granted the recent complaint was more about the oddity of the rewards to lower placed teams, but the idea of providing an incentive â a carrot rather than the stick of being thrashed all the time â to hopefully help raise their game â does have some merit. This is only evident when the qualifiers come around and were exposed to a lot of dross. A lot of dross preceded and followed by even more banal punditry.
On a different topic, I was surprised when Johnny Nic mentions Dunfermline having Ultras. Not that I knew they had them but why any team has them. The idea that these are your most loyal or best supporters seems bizarre, at least from the perspective that they seem to be more about making trouble. Or have I missed the point and they are all just super people? One would think that by preventing known ultras attending games there is the chance more people would go to games. Surely they are a deterrent to most sane people who follow football. And, I would imagine, future sponsors â unless selling steel toe capped boots or knives.
It does seem in some instances that there is a real fear of them â as in players and management wary of being physically attacked by ultras if they cross their path â hence the after match kowtowing we sometimes see â grovelling and apologizing after a loss.
Just a thought as we hope for an inspirational England game to break us out of the doldrums of another international break.
Paul McDevitt
READ MORE:Â Enormous list of weird and first-time qualifying hopefuls shows massiveness of 2026 World Cup
Liverpool should move on
I agree with the mail sent in about Salah. Now is the perfect time for Liverpool to part ways with him. Salah can ride off to the sunset(Saudi) leaving Liverpool to officially begin a new era under Slot with VVD likely to be the last man standing from Kloppâs team. It is a strange situation this as Liverpool donât usually hold on to their star players this long.
Liverpool should look back to how they handled Coutinhoâs exit(a better player imo). Rival fans like to insist it was luck (VVD and Alisson did help though) but as Klopp would go on to explain, without âthe little magicianâ gone was the easy option of simply giving him the ball and hoping he conjures up something special. Instead the players had to look for other solutions, in other words take responsibility themselves.
During his time at the club Salah hasnât missed a lot of games largely due to his impeccable injury record(one thing we will miss as much as his goals) but he missed arguably Liverpoolâs most important game in recent years; the 4:0 win against Barca. I have always wondered if the outcome would still have been the same had he played but I suspect not. Of course that game could be dismissed as a coincidence but I found it rather amusing that the only goal Liverpool scored against PSG came literally seconds after he came off.
After the defeat to Newcastle in the Carabao, the media was quick to reveal Mo Salahâs goal contributions in finals and they donât make a pleasant reading. Just one goal which was a penalty and an assist in multiple finals is not good enough. But it is not that surprising, as opponents have long figured out that he is our biggest threat and come up with plans to stop him. The thing with Salah is at his best he is often unplayable but when he is off it he is actually a limited player; he can be too predictable as he likes to cut in while his take on success isnât the best. He struggled against Mendes and I still remember when he somehow wound up 1v1 against Mata at OT and was unable to beat him.
Personally I think Salah would have been even better if we had a natural playmaker. (Am a little jealous of Arsenal in that regard at least Saka has Odegaard.) Itâs not a coincidence that Salahâs best season came when we had Coutinho at his prime and the Ox. Coutinho was a wizard on the ball capable of unlocking the meanest defence and he did give Mo some unreal assists. The Ox was slightly different but when he was in full motion what a sight it was. Opponents seemingly bounced off him unable to stop him. Give him time and space and he was capable of unleashing a rocket as City can attest but more often than not he attracted enough players to him leaving Salah free. Simply put Salah was a bigger threat when he wasnât the only threat. For so long we lacked that X factor in midfield which is why we were never quite able to get the best of City and Real who had better players in that area of the pitch.
I realize I might have gone astray. But the point is Liverpool need to start a new era without Salah.
P Correa
Would you rather?
To Dion,
âŠâSo again I ask, would Arsenal fans trade their last 4 trophyless years, for 1 FA & 1 Carling Cupâ
As a Utd fan, Iâd much rather be in Arsenalâs position. Not quite challenging but firmly in the top 4 and realistically could be a couple of signings away from actually a title (but we just donât want that North London, yes, you and the spuds, psychological losers mentality).
However, being sh*t for years yet still being able to brag about winning more trophies is still funny and the last straws we have to clutch on to. The way weâre going weâll probably have a barren run across all competitions for a while so weâll take the p*ss as much as we can while we still can. Weâve given you all enough amusement for years.
Jon, Cape Town
Quick suffix
In response to A, LFC, Montrealâs claim that United and City donât have the monopoly on the suffixes United and City: they are the only top teams that actually need them to be identified. There are two Manchesters and thus the suffix is required to confirm which one you are referring to, or you have to say the whole name each time (or at least add âManâ ahead of the suffix). You donât need to say United to refer to Newcastle or Leeds for example.
Sheffields Wednesday and United would have a similar issue if anybody actually talked about them.
French Fried (Interestingly, foreign types used to refer to United as just âManchesterâ, hence Robinhoâs confusion)
