That’s a goal. How is that disallowed ?

Jurgen Klopp is a genius. This parade was on him. It was his idea. At midnight last night I could not conceive of the point of a victory parade . Felt for the players being ‘forced’ to do it. Looking at these pictures it suddenly makes all the sense in the world .

Last 10 minutes . Police in riot gear up our end . None up Madrid end . Why ?!

Don’t think I’ll ever have a relationship in my life that will confuse me more than the one I have with Divock Origi.

He leaves a legend of the club in this golden age, by the broader measures. Certainly the best and most important number 2 keeper in LFC history. He’s not Alisson’s level (who is ?) but a testimony to Kelleher’s ability that we were rarely fretting when Ali had to sit out spells of games.

Klopp asked for two things - the 5 subs option & the removal of the game 2 days after Boxing Day. Both things have been voted in. So Klopp has been entirely vindicated.

Yeah, 4 straight wins, top of the league.

Henry, you’ve not been objective on this at all. That’s such one sided analysis. It really does read as something sailing dangerously close to propaganda.

Pay Mo Salah what he’s worth . Please retweet.

There you go. 2-2 was a travesty. Liverpool murdered Atletico tonight. Another win to be celebrated. Winning games, a lot of games, should never provoke a negative conversation. LFC aren’t going to ‘get found out’. They’re going to start winning games 3,4 and 5 nil.

My favourite Sadio Mane goal was, ironically, in a way, the one he scored against Bayern Munich. One of my favourite goals of all time. It was genius. It was like ballet. Like actual ballet.

Isak’s agent is at Anfield tonight . An @TheAnfieldWrap exclusive

Martin Tyler trying to turn Kane scoring the biggest sitter in football history into a renaissance masterpiece . Fucking hell this is a long afternoon .

Big shout out to the Wolves fans for being some of the most classless , graceless , unfunny knob heads we’ve placed host to this season at Anfield .

Of course it’s PSR. It was brought in to curtail clubs who aimed to financially dope competitions over night. The fact that it’s been introduced after City and Abramovich’s Chelsea did exactly that, in no sense undermines the moral and sporting case for PSR. Quite the contrary. Their prior exploitation and abuse of the competition is exactly why the majority agreed that PSR was essential to prevent the sport basically becoming a flexing contest for wealthy states. What Newcastle fans are saying is we want PSR removed so that we can simply overnight plant ourselves as the world’s number one team. Not by dint of sporting success and/or careful off the pitch management but simply because a wealthy oil rich dictatorship deems that it wants it to happen. I get why they don’t like PSR, but at least have the dignity to admit that all you have against it is that it prevents you from literally buying the league or champions league. And btw, when after a few years of careful management Newcastle are able to boost their revenues and become one of the league’s top spenders, as is their direction of travel, then they will be the first to be grateful that PSR is able to stop a state, like say China, buying a low table team and turning them into Real Madrid overnight.

Surely this frees Guehi ? Or is Igor just a Callum Wilson replacement ? I'm getting confused.

Well, Darwin Nunez is my number one summer transfer priority for the reds.

Pep can’t not get this. City’s owners spent more money than has ever been spent in the sport to guarantee success. They took no chances. It’s one way of winning but don’t expect the world to applaud you for it. Who knew it all might feel a bit empty & not very heroic eh Pep ?

Just not having the ‘I wanted to get out of my comfort zone’ line. There is no comfort zone playing for Liverpool FC, and every new season is a profound challenge, playing in the world’s best league and competing to win the Champions League. Playing in la Liga is far more comfortable than playing in the Premier League. It’s not a ‘challenge’ to play against weaker teams, whilst living in luxury in a great country with a lovely climate.

The greatest title ever won in the history of the English game. The aim of the exercise is to win the thing as quickly as possible. Get it done. No one has done it faster.

As badly a refereed game as I’ve seen all season.

Equally determined for him to stay in London.

This is incredible. He was a force of nature. Never seen a better midfielder, before or since. Didn’t have bad games. Not really. Those talked about as being in his league simply weren’t .

A not very thinly veiled dig at his Man U bosses. Poor Jose. Wasn't given the tools like Pep and Jurgen see. Apart from Pogba, Lukaku, Sanchez, Ibrahimovic, Matic, Mkhitaryan, Fred, Bailly, Lindelhof. And he also had to inherit deadwood like De Gea, Martial & Rashford. Tough gig.

Arteta : ‘if you add the goals we scored against PSV in the earlier round to this round, you’ll find that we’ve actually won the champions league. It’s all about timing’ 🤷‍♂️

So, Man Utd have stumped up £60m on 30 year old Casemiro on ridiculous wages & still have dough to go for £85m De Jong & others. So what’s the protest about ? Cos it can’t possibly be about the capacity to invest in players . Is it about the quality of the bogs at Old Trafford ?

Renato Sanches. All day long. Perfect for LFC

Still managed to get on a plane for 13 hours though didn’t he.

Trying to create a siege mentality when you work for literally the richest club in world football is a stretch Pep. There are zero obstacles to your success . It’s bought and paid for. You can’t win, only lose. That’s what he’s realised.

I’m not graciously clapping Manchester City . They have defrauded the system, doped the competition . They did it in plain sight. Of course, even then you need to make good decisions , & they have , but so what, we dont have to laud the crooks for being good crooks.

Are they on drugs ? Nothing bad happened to them today. Apart from conceding a fair goal. We all love manufacturing partisan outrage in football, it’s part of the fun, but these are taking the biscuit today.

In the 3 biggest finals achievable. One point off the pace in the league, at a ridiculous points pace. This LFC team may win nothing else , but just right now, in this moment, at this time in a season, there’s never been a better team. Ever. In the history of the game.

The man.

A bit unprecedented this. An actual mainstream sports journalist with a reasonable profile who openly exhibits bias against one specific team. It’s very weird.

This is how close we were from not having to endure 24 hrs of pointless whinging.

Well, I’m in the Algarve, in southern Portugal, as I am many times every year. I went tonight with my youngest son Raffy to a Portuguese restaurant called ‘O Ribeiros’, in Almancil, where I have been going for 40 years. It’s a wonderful place and they have pictures of football greats on the walls and many team’s scarves. In fact they have an LFC scarf that I presented them after Madrid 2019. Tonight we brought them an LFC/Diogo Jota scarf, also featuring the Portuguese flag. They were suitably moved by our offering . Raffy and I were honoured that they have chosen to put this on their wall. RIP Diogo.

My team to face wolves : Grobbelaar ; Clynne, Ron Yeats, Jimmy Tarbuck, Abbie out of the Zutons ; Souness, Pete Price, Steven French ; Cilla, Jimmy Corkhill, Origi

If you didn’t celebrate @Darwinn99 second goal like it was the winner in a final you’re dead inside.

Team for Southampton Kellerher Bradley Gomez Quansah Tsimikas McConnell Clark Nyoni Gordon Danns Gakpo

So. We now need zero wins, to win The League. Just some draws. And despite our wretched wobble, and stumbling over the line, we’ve somehow contrived to win 5 of our last 6 prem league games. Best stumble evs.

It’s a bid in the context of proclamations/briefings of ‘bids need to start at £150m !’ And at one point ‘it would take near £200m!’ Those numbers were insults to intelligence. LFC probably thought, there’s a balance that needs correcting here. In no universe did they expect £110m to be their final offer, but probably felt something close to £120m plus add ons would be the right market price. £110m is as near as dammit a British transfer record. It’s a low ball number but hardly ‘an insult’. Newcastle’s ‘proud and tough’ Saudi owners would’ve served their club’s interests far better by showing ‘humility and guile’ and gotten the player shifted in June, and then had the proper money (PSR headroom) to secure targets in July and not spent the entire summer looking like a small club desperate to hold on to a player destined for bigger and better.

Mo Salah has scored more goals this season then Lukaku, Moratta, lacazette and Aguerro. Kane has one more. Where’s the plaudits ?

Back on our perch , Fergie ya auld cunt. 🔥🎉🍾

This is 1977 again . This is our year zero again. We’re the best team on the continent again. Liverpool begins here.

Bradley, Jones, Robertson, Frimpong, Ngumoha and Gomez are all British born footballers that will feature in LFC first 11s plenty. If we’re being jingoistic about it, how about the Liverpool double winning team of 1986 ? Not an ‘Englishman’ in site. Also - as if it needs stating - who gives a fuck ?

Luis Diaz - only 8 players have scored more non penalty premier league goals than him this season. Yet the ‘lacks end product’ fiction persists. He’s an elite winger in terms of goals contributions in Europe’s top league. Aside from that he’s LFC’s hardest working front player and most effective last third presser. He should not be a forward we lose this summer.

That was pretty much the worst Mo Salah performance I can recall. But he leaves the pitch with 2 goals. That’s his level.

Appreciate the head’s up from the experienced title challenger there.

Just not a penalty. A ridiculous decision.

I think Szoboslai is the ‘spirit’ of modern LFC. We are always better for having him in play. Hes hugely underrated.

This is unprecedented. The goal was chalked off due to an admin error. It’s as stupid as saying the game actually finished 3-2 to LFC cos the scoreboard got it wrong, but hey, it’s finished now, the score stands. Replay the game. It’s the only logical remedy.

On reflection, Mo Salah's positive test is beneficial to LFC . All being well, he gets a 2 & a half week break & misses just one game. A rest like that at any other time pre-xmas would mean he'd miss 4/5 games.

All not fit enough to start for LFC : Alisson Van djik Gomez Matip Keita Henderson Fabinho Milner Jota Try and win a league with that many out City. Try getting top 4 without half your team , the rest .

Naby Keita man of the match. Let’s stop intimating he’s the wrong player. He’s incredible.

I’ve thoroughly analysed Utd today . Crunched numbers. Brace yourselves . - Elanga - shite. No pace - Maguire - garbage - de Gea - fraud - Fernandes - fraud - mctominay - yard dog - Fred - shite - Telles - jesus - Rashford - finished - Pogba - what’s the point - Wan Biss = 💩

Liverpool are better than Chelsea . No evidence today to the contrary.

Calling for Gomez to ‘shooot’. It’s the woolest thing in the history of the club. Pack it in.

This guy might well deserve a statue outside the Kop.

They’re talking about this like it’s ’one of them’. It’s a scandal that this isn’t given. How can a review system not give this ?

This nonsense has to stop. It’s not a legitimate talking point. Never in our history would home games against likes of Brentford, Bournemouth, Forest or an early league cup round, in aug/sept be expected to generate any level of great excitement, unless it’s a mad comeback. Anfield has never gotten out of bed for any old game. We’re a big crowd for big occasions.

24 hours after Liverpool slaughtered Man United . Liverpool still slaughtered Man United. 🕺

Hot take on Trent - - Madrid knowingly submitted a bid that the player would not have wanted at this time. He clearly doesn’t want a January move. - therefore the bid was only to tempt LFC , not the player . - therefore Madrid aren’t sure that the player alone wants to join them . They want to gain an advantage by tempting LFC financially - in conclusion - they are not confident the player won’t sign again for LFC

Everton singing about Heysel needs calling out. It isn’t a tit for tat thing. Seriously pathetic to try & gain ‘bantz’ points. Or to pretend to begin to give a fuck about the loss of lives. It’s really low. & it want just a few. Just pack that in now. You’re better than that.

Origi’s replacement.

This is not good. It’s a full on hatchet piece. On the one hand portraying the player as the worst kind, on the other outlining why he should sign up for one more year with a release clause and accept PIF’s reintegration plan. A plan which basically boils down to ‘say sorry and throw your agent under a bus’. The tell, in the agenda so clearly evident, is that, unlike with the reporting of other north east journalists, that there is absolutely zero reference to the events of the past year which have apparently brought Isak to this place. These include the withdrawal of a contract offer by former DOF, Paul Mitchell and the reported assurances he was given that he could leave this summer should a suitable offer arrive. To paint a picture of the player as purely mercenary is bordering on defamatory.

More one sided analysis from the North East. Isak’s statement was an attempt to correct the endless briefings from the club that have sought to vilify him and his agent. Why on earth shouldn’t he seek to tell his side of the story ? NUFC have briefed that he has never indicated a desire to leave & haven’t admitted they reneged on a contract offer. The player says otherwise. Why is there a broad assumption that the club are the noble truth tellers here ? That Isak is the greedy liar ? Only one party has publicly sought to dominate the media narrative with its perspective. There has been next to zero consideration of the possibility that player may, just may, have been mistreated. Isak, no doubt, felt he needed to publicly end his pretty dignified silence, and speak out on a night when all eyes were on players scheduled to be present at the PFA awards. He clearly wanted it to be appreciated that it was not his fellow professionals that he was seeking to avoid but the glare of a media broadly committed to portray him as the worst of his kind. Newcastle viewing the statement as inflammatory, as they have briefed all, is mock outrage. They were set on thwarting the player regardless with their ‘conditions’ that were always pretty much destined not to be met, given their lack of competence and clarity in the transfer market and machismo in setting ever more unrealistic transfer fees.

I’m surprised the extent to which he’s not getting it. It shows how playing for the club and supporting it just don’t intersect emotionally. Not truly. He feels he needs a new challenge, he’s excited by Real Madrid. We can all get that. But leaving us, when you said you were one of us, after a long (cruel) ‘will he, won’t he’ saga, and leaving us without a crumb to reinvest (and it is our money ultimately) , isn’t an endearing way to go. Leave by the back door. The front door, which is how he and his team mates would like him to leave, is an option he chose to forego. Feel free to disagree.

£20m my arse. You don’t get to buy a first choice keeper for a top 6 team for much under £50m.

If we get city , when they come to Anfield I want us to shower their coach in rose petals and cum. And then I want to read the MEN report on it.

Liverpool v Leicester at Anfield is now beyond a cup final . We’re playing to win the league . God help us.

Can’t stop crying.

I have little interest in what happens with TAA from here on in, but this is just a trolling misrepresentation of what he actually said . His actual words : "[It was] good to get a feel of the ball and a feel of the heat training in this climate so it was a good session. "[It was] high quality. The ball moves very fast. Obviously it's a lot different to what I'm used to in terms of the players and the style of play but it's good and I'm enjoying the change and I'm enjoying being a part of it.’’ There is no dig at LFC there.

It’s hard to describe just how exciting it was in the autumn of 1987 when we realised we’d signed THIS footballer. No one foresaw just how good he was about to become. I don’t think I’ve ever quite seen his like since. It was the combination of technique, power and sheer balletic grace. No player before or since has ever got me off my feet like peak Barnes.

Just woke up. Had this mad dream that we’d signed Isak for £125m, and that I’d never have to follow Newcastle social media accounts ever again…… 👀

And Wissa would be a replacement for Shola Ameobi.

LFC’s £110m bid for Isak was sending a message that a ‘fair’ price needs to be the basis of the negotiation. This was a reaction to NUFC’s constant upping of the ante, which in turn was probably a consequence of a perception that Isak’s recent actions were undermining their leverage. Isak was ‘worth £120m’ 6 months ago. Now it’s £150m. The other day it was said that the bidding needed to ‘start at £150m’. The player wants to leave and apparently made that clear to Newcastle a good while ago. It’s fair, because of his contract, that NUFC get properly compensated, but no independent valuer would put Isak’s price at £150m. LFC are saying ‘yes, you will get a British record fee for this player, and we’ll probably end up overpaying, but let’s anchor this bidding process to more realistic numbers’.

That Thiago’s decent isn’t he ?

In a way , the amazing Bayern result tonight , means we need to go stronger for Benfica . The CL has opened up for us. Take zero chances.

If you take a step back, Newcastle’s reaction to Isak’s blatant desire to leave is borderline deranged. What proud institution thinks you try to equally outright defy a move and also ‘keep the door open’ for a player who so clearly wants away ? There’s no pride in that. Hate him. Thinks he’s the worst kind of traitor. But begging him to be yours again is just pathetic. Of course clubs should try and persuade wantaway payers to stay. But there’s a point of no return. The irony is that the Saudi’s want to show strength over Isak, but nothing shouts ‘small club’ more than their stance over the Isak saga. A biased LFC perspective? Definitely. But still the ugly truth.

Can’t help but feel that LFC paying the price of taking the haggle over Guehi to the wire. Could’ve over paid by £5m and had him 6 weeks ago

Fabinho is world class.

I used to really like Mourinho. Thought he was the man. Didn’t care about stylistic criticisms. Just a winner. He lost me when he threw Eva Carneiro under a bus. So cowardly. So small man. It exposed him. All doubts suddenly real. The worst egotist. Not charming. Just pathetic.

Craig ( @CraigHope_DM ) has covered the Isak story from first to last with such balance, honesty and insight. His audience was obviously a north east one, but he never soft soaped them, never played a side. Also, he entertained. His YouTube to camera pieces, personally, kept me going, throughout the summer. Craig was simply, the business. An appreciative LFC fan writes.

Worse than the day Kenny left. Devastated.

On Wirtz : Here’s what I think’s going on : - Wirtz gave Bayern his word on going there this summer or next ( see @cfbayern ) depending on Leverkusen’s pricing . - So what’s changed ? - ⁠Leverkusen don’t want to help Bayern and know that other clubs would pay big for Wirtz so are all but outpricing a Bayern move this summer . - ⁠meanwhile, the player is seeing his Leverkusen manager and key team mates leaving now. He’s getting increasingly keen to move this summer, rather than next year. - ⁠player is therefore a bit annoyed by Bayern wanting it all on their terms and not being prepared to pay up now to make the move happen. - ⁠enter LFC . A very attractive alternative in the very attractive premier league who are definitely prepared to do what it takes to make the deal happen now. - ⁠player is thinking ‘yes I gave my word to Bayern but things have changed in a nuanced but significant way.’ - ⁠I think if Bayern are prepared to pay all the money Leverkusen want this window and on not very favourable terms, they’ll get Wirtz. - ⁠but they’re not keen to do that and are up against a team (LFC) that Leverkusen would be very happy to do business with. Conclusion - it’s sort of in Bayern’s hands but not in a way they like. And every day they dither the player is incrementally less committed to them.

Team for old Trafford : Kelleher Bradley Quansah VVD Robertson Endo MacAllister Szoboslai Salah Nunez Diaz

Gonna say this - I’m angry with the stupid vanity of lfc support that thought we just roll Everton . Show more dignity. Dig in. Title isn’t win til it’s won.

Van Dijk was fantastic. Improves our defence immeasurably. The result doesn’t reflect his massive contribution.

Fair play to Rio F. ‘Any team who’ve been what they (Liverpool) have been through wouldn’t be in their position ‘.

LFC are effectively saying to Newcastle - ‘you can have Ekitike or Isak, but not both. They’ll be no ‘pairing’ of them next season’. Newcastle hold the cards on Isak for now, but he knows that they considered selling him to Chelsea in a PSR compliance related deal last summer. Newcastle will surely by now also know that the player will not sign a new contract and fancies the move to LFC. If they force him to stay it can only practically be for one more year. If however, Newcastle effectively ‘trade’ Isak for Ekitike now, they’ll likely see a £40/50m profit in the price differentials and have a younger player. If they ‘sit’ on Isak for one more year, the Ekitike opportunity probably passes, and the fee for Isak may be lower. Liverpool, are now publicly in the hunt for Isak. For that to be the case it signifies two things : That firstly, they believe Isak is actually ‘gettable’, but secondly, that they have the resources and will to pay the record fee it would take. We’ll be discussing all of these angles and more on @TheAnfieldWrap ‘s award winning Transfer Gutter Show later today.

We do have to ask questions about LFC ineffectiveness on set pieces. Corners feel virtually worthless. I can’t remember a time when we felt so impotent from dead ball situations. Which sort of shows how good we’ve been in open play. All good teams have a right to assume a certain level of productivity from set plays.

Top premier league scorers without penalties : Mane 22 Salah 19 Aguerro 19 Aubameyang 18 Sterling 17 Kane 13 Hazard 12 Wilson 12

Sancho, Werner, Minamino get the games started (this season) by Origi, Lallana, Shaqiri + the games Salah & Mane miss , cos Olympics/AFCON + games of midfielders when Klopp goes 4231 occasionally + domestic cups + covering for injuries + games where front 3 need rests.

Liverpool started this window aiming to get MacAllister, Gravenberch and Mount. No Mount but Szoboszlai and Endo instead. Lost a couple of old stagers along the way, but all in all, a decent refurbishment of the midfield. #butdefence . Yeah I know

It should . Manchester City have cheated . They may ameliorate their ban, but the fact that they have cheated doesn’t change . LFC were cheated out of a title last season . It’s undeniable.

No grasp of what’s going on around him . No ability to analyse. No real humility. What do they think they’re doing ? It beggars belief.

‘Injury crisis ‘ - two defenders injured is not an injury crisis . Not by any measure & certainly not to the most resourced team on the planet.

Wirtz, Isak and Ekitike are the 3 most premium signings in a window a British club has made in a very long time.

Happy ‘one week since we won *the fucking champions league*’ anniversary kids. ALLEZ.

Not arsed that @Carra23 did what he did. Just don’t give a flying fuck. If anything I’m made up he hasn’t lost his edge. No one died. No one hurt. A teenager got a bit wet because her dad was a terrible wanker.