Champions League

Stand And Deliver: Coutinho Back For Final Push

Following the announcement yesterday that the Centenary Stand will soon bear the exalted name of Kenny Dalglish, it was interesting to note the response from some fans. For many of an older vintage, like your columnist, there was an understandably emotional reaction to the honouring of a man we had worshipped on the field...

Klopp Says The Reds Will Get What They Deserve

With exam season almost upon us, I was reminded of an old teacher of mine who, when presented with a sea of anxious faces, used to say, "pressure is for tyres, lads." Now, plainly, he wasn't the most insightful or sensitive of gents, and no doubt he felt as though he was imparting something of...

Candidates For Liverpool’s MOTM Against Watford

Liverpool edged one huge step closer to qualification for the Champions League proper next term with a hard-fought 1-0 away win at Watford. Emre Can scored the solitary goal that separated the two sides - and I really cannot quite put the strike from the German into comprehensible words. In what was a first half deprived...

The Gerrard Obsession – Where Banter Goes To Die

There has been a tragic lack of truly iconic figures to have graced the Premier League in recent times. That, at least, is the only logical conclusion one can come to in the face of the overwhelming obsession the fans of so many other clubs have with Liverpool's former captain, Steven Gerrard. From Stoke...

Unnecessary Drama In The Liverpool Country

I'll be honest with you, lovely reader. The majority of my 7-day enforced sabbatical was spent being deliberately oblivious to the football world and almost exclusively devoted to the pursuit of solving the problem of a troublesome brainpan. The latter endeavour, sadly, was wholly unsuccessful, but at least I managed to entirely avoid the unending...

Is Klopp on his way to Building an Empire?

'There is a not insignificant chance I will have coached three clubs. It is always quite easy for me to fully commit to what I am doing because they are often long-term projects.' A welcome statement of commitment and intent by Jürgen Klopp, and one which vindicated the board and owner's choice of manager in...

Can Klopp Find The Right Folks To Win Trophies?

Bitter experience brings us all, inevitably, to the same conclusion - for the most part, people are awful. Now, optimistic philanthropist that you are, lovely reader, you may be bristling at such apparent negativity, but that is only because you are one of the good ones. You simply cannot conceive of the ugliness that...

Mignolet And Milner Staying Positive

I've been thinking about building a shelter. You know, a proper, dug out of the ground, own generator, multi-roomed, stocked-to-the-hilt-with-provisions-for-the-zombie-apocalypse type of shelter. Like that one in The Road that Viggo Mortensen and his kid have a few days of brief respite in, before reengaging with cannibalistic crazies and a decaying post-apocalyptic world. The...

Wary Klopp Remains Defiant

When writhing through the thick fug of a migraine, it can be hard to tell with absolute certainty what is real and what one might be imagining. On Friday, complications arising from some scheduled prodding and poking under the bonnet of your columnist's noggin, resulted in 3 days of pain-induced confusion and reality-bending altered...

Lallana Out: A mortal blow to Champions League hope?

As the Merseyside Derby draws closer, with pressure building around what seems the most important derby since the FA Cup semi-final of April 2012, and Liverpool immersed in a fascinatingly competitive rat-race for Champions League qualification, the FA could not help but get involved in some way or another. This involvement, unsurprisingly, yet still perplexingly, was...