Georginio Wijnaldum

Private Jets, Insomnia And Donuts – A Normal Week At Anfield

Here is the latest in a sequence of ways in which writing a daily football column knocks your perspective into a cocked hat. Number 73: Comparing your reality to that of Roberto Firmino. Having missed a day from both my jobs for what the Twitter kids call "reasons," your columnist was left incapacitated enough that he...

Matip, Wijnaldum & Mane Proving Klopp Should Be Trusted This Summer

Many past Liverpool managers have experienced utterly disastrous summer transfer windows. Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez and Brendan Rodgers all spectacularly failed to build on near title-winning seasons in 2001/02, 2008/09 and 2013/14, respectively, with dross such as El Hadji Diouf, Salif Diao, Philipp Degen and Alberto Aquilani bought in. Even Kenny Dalglish, for all his...

Manchester City v Liverpool Preview – Key Battles

Liverpool have back-to-back Premier League wins for the first time in 2017. If ever the Reds needed a boost in confidence ahead of a daunting trip to the Etihad Stadium, the games against Arsenal and Burnley have provided just that. Pep Guardiola's side will be still nursing their wounds from Wednesday's humbling Champions League exit in...

Mané Happy Returns – Sadio Finally Playing For Klopp

Did you know that Phil Coutinho has a new tattoo of Mickey Mouse on his abs? Or were you aware that Le Bron James, nominal celebrity Red, is very disgruntled at going bald and has almost EIGHT times my country's population following him on Twitter? How about the fact that Ben Woodburn has been called up...

Wijnaldum Bites Back But Reds Need To Be Quiet

Sometimes things just pan out, don't they? This morning, as Latest News queued for coffee, the friendly gent who runs the shop offered complimentary ciabatta to your correspondent. A glorious breakfast ensued. Later, whilst scanning the news on Planet Liverpool and quite literally ruminating, there came another moment of serendipity. Following this column's recent lamentations...

Alexander-Arnold Looking Very Much At Home

James Baldwin once wrote that "perhaps home is not a place but an irrevocable condition." People, by nature, attach a massive significance to the concept of where we belong. We struggle all our lives with trying to reconcile the spectrum of emotions that our native place can evoke in us. Indifference, hatred, fierce pride...

How Gini Put on a Magic Show against Spurs

"Yeah, but what does he actually do? We paid £25million for a quicker Joe Allen, didn't we? There's no output, he misses sitters and he's pretty safe on the ball." This was a perpetual argument/debate earlier on in the season when it became apparent that Gini Wijnaldum wasn't going to fulfill the expectations so many had...

Liverpool’s Win Against Spurs is a Gentle Reminder

Liverpool's win against Spurs was Jurgen Klopp's men putting the league on notice. The Reds went into the evening kick-off on Saturday having not won a game since the turn of the year. Swansea City, Wolves, Plymouth and Southampton had all turned to Anfield, frustrated the hosts and walked away with something to show for...

Both Wijnaldum and Can Have Roles to Play This Season

Farewell then, Tottenham Hotspur. They came, they saw, they met a frosty-faced Senegalese who wanted a word. Despite a dislike of them which has survived decades and has no basis – though maybe it had something to do with Glenn Hoddle’s louche hair and tight shorts – I do find them fascinating. In the 90s they...

Wijnaldum: Klopp Believes In Us

"Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime." Rupert Pupkin, King of Comedy In Martin Scorsese's King of Comedy, the central protagonist, the splendidly monikered Rupert Pupkin, is a quietly unhinged man with delusions of grandeur and dreams of celebrity status. Pupkin, whose dark psychopathology eventually sees him resorting to kidnap and...