Dave Davis is joined by Paul Joyce to discuss:
• Arne Slot and the start to the season
• Contracts for the big three and Konate
• January window ok the horizon
• Names in the mix
• A huge week after international football v Madrid and City
Trev Downey is joined by Dave Davis for another episode of the transfer shows and everything LFC related
- The Villa win and performance
- Anfield Alive Again
- Salah brilliant again and resting
- Ibou Konate: Team and Player of Year Contender
- Wider football: City Lose Arsenal Draw..
Dave & Karl take a look back at the start of the Todd Boehly era of Chelsea, and they discuss the dealings that took place, whether they'd keep them or target other players, managers etc.
Dr Barts is away so Darth hosts Si and Hamzah to review the 2 big home wins over Leverkusen and Aston Villa. The lads discuss:
Part 1: LEVERKUSEN
• Strategic Rotation during block 2. Trent prognosis
• Xabi blinks first, changes from his default
• Match Summary: Possession, XG, XA, XT, Shots, Big Chances, Game State
• Reds controlling the game state again
• Reds deciding when to win games, how did we manage this one?
• Curtis Jones praise
• The routine brilliance of Mo Salah
• Diaz role and goals
Part 2: VILLA
• Villa lineups and rotation
• Match Summary
• LFC controlling open play - how?
• match decided on set plays - how?
• Set Piece wankers - debate on Villa's setup
• How did Villa's set plays cause us problems?
• Bailey/Salah/Coote discussion
• Is Kyle Walker washed interlude
• Ibou Konate praise
Statspacks:
Leverkusen: https://drbarts.quarto.pub/cl-match-day-4-season-2425/
Villa: https://drbarts.quarto.pub/match-day-11-season-2425
Jim Boardman and Jay Reid return to look at everything LFC from Liverpool, and despite yet another international break being underway, there’s plenty to talk about. There always is with this club.
Time and again referees get more attention than they should, but if there’s one week where the spotlight must be firmly on them it’s this week, and on one referee in particular.
The official in question is David Coote, he who saw nothing wrong in some basketball in the box from an Arsenal player, he who ‘forgot’ to check if Jordan Pickford deserved a red card for almost ending the career of Virgil van Dijk.
Now a video has been released, from maybe four years ago, which to many Reds suggests Coote has a deep-seated hatred of Liverpool Football Club, the city, its players and former manager Jurgen Klopp. The descriptions of Klopp in the video, “German c***”, is vile, something that would lead to a long ban and huge fine for a player, quite possibly enough to get a fan a banning order if uttered at the ground.
As Jay and Jim discuss, excuses that may come out about being, perhaps, under the influence of alcohol, won’t wash, because as Jay says, drunk people tend to speak the truth in a way they won’t speak it when sober. As Jim points out, the level of hatred on show in that video makes it seem extremely doubtful that others at the PGMOL would have no inkling of Coote’s true feelings about Liverpool and its people.
As referees go, there’s a long list of questionable decisions Coote’s been involved in, whether as referee, fourth official or VAR, but other referees have longer lists. For years we’ve had to convince ourselves it’s all down to incompetence, or basic human error, but the video released this week suggests there may be something more under the surface.
Is there really just one bad apple at the PGMOL, or is it just none of the others are stupid enough to go on video showing how rotten they really are?
As Jim says, the PGMOL shouldn’t be left to mark their own homework on this, a deeper investigation is needed to see how widespread this problem is, and to come up with solutions to avoid the integrity of the game ever being called into question to this extent again.
Whatever happens to David Coote, this has to be an opportunity to improve refereeing in the Premier League.
Something that this podcast has mentioned on numerous occasions is that just excluding referees from involvement in games purely based on the clubs they “officially” support isn’t enough.
This should also be a trigger for the introduction of post-match interviews for referees. As Jim and Jay point out, it needn’t mean a referee facing a barrage of questions from a roomful of journalists, but it could mean the chance for fans, players and coaches to hear very quickly what the thinking was being a strange decision. A referee with integrity would surely have no fear in facing such an interview.
Aside from David Coote and the video he’ll be remembered for more than anything else he did in his refereeing career, it’s been a good couple of weeks for the Reds since the last Scouser Tommies.
Three wins in three games sees the Reds topping the Premier League table and the Champions League mega table.
Jay and Jim discuss those games and the differences we continue to see at Anfield under Arne Slot, bringing plenty of smiles to Reds faces.
Certain other clubs are also giving Liverpool fans plenty to grin about, including – of course – that lot from across the park.
