LIVERPOOL’S MANÉ MAN
Considering their almost total lack of interest in the history of the club they support, which they are always loth to mention under any circumstances, Liverpool fans might not be aware of the fact that their team last lost four consecutive home games in 1923. Back then, their resistance crumbled in the face of onslaughts from Aston Villa, Sheffield United, Cardiff City and Newcastle, while this year Chelsea hope to riff on home pain inflicted by the powerhouses of Swansea City, Southampton and Wolves U-16s. Should they lose on Tuesday night Liverpool will emulate their unwanted record and, with home matches against Tottenham and Arsenal to come, could be looking at the kind of embarrassment few foresaw when Jürgen Klopp, their latest messiah, descended from heaven.
Of course, back in 1923 Anfield was a more hostile environment for visiting teams, rather than the overpriced tourist attraction for selfie stick-wielding day-trippers it has become today. It is a problem that was bemoaned by one particularly eloquent young fan last week and with visits to Premier League matches increasingly resembling a trip to the opera, the sight of Klopp exhorting supporters to get behind their team instead of their mobile phones has been a staple feature of the Anfield experience this season. It’s no great surprise, then, that visiting teams seem to be finding it easier to prevail in an environment that these days is not so much hostile as downright hospitable.
Liverpool could welcome back Sadio Mané into their ranks for a game where anything other than victory will result in their season being reduced to a hunt for nothing more than a top-four finish. Obviously, qualification for Big Cup should not be underestimated – the opportunity to tank out of Europe’s biggest competition by sending a reserve team to Real Madrid doesn’t come around every season. It is rather ironic that Liverpool’s hopes of ending their current run appear to rest on the return from Africa of a player whose last significant act on a football pitch was to miss a sitter from 12 yards, but the general media consensus seems to be that Mané has been badly missed while playing in the Cup of Nations.
Considering how visibly distraught he was following his culpability in Senegal’s exit on penalties, it will be interesting to see if his head is in the right place for the game against Chelsea and Klopp has said he will be assessed before any decision is made. While Liverpool had laid on a private jet to whisk their man home from Africa, for mysterious reasons that remain unspecified it did not leave when it was supposed to. “In this moment, I have no idea – I have to look into his eyes and see whatever is possible with him and then make a decision,” said Klopp, upon being asked if Mané would be ready to play. Whatever he sees in those eyes, could make all the difference, even if Mané’s importance to the cause has been slightly overstated. Let’s not forget that the last time he played for Liverpool, they somehow failed to beat Sunderland.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I’ve just picked myself up off the floor. We talked about the Wimbledon game [in the third round] being our FA Cup final, then [Nasty] Leeds United was our European Cup final. This will be like our World Cup final. It’s as big as that for us. To have Arsenal coming to Gander Green Lane is just incredible” – Sutton United manager Paul Doswell on his team’s zinger of an FA Cup fifth-round draw.
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FIVER LETTERS
“That announcement of that £25 shirt-swapping ‘deal’ by Karren Brady (yesterday’s Fiver) was probably the lowest point of the whole sorry West Ham season. Smacking of an exercise from The Apprentice, this must be the worst example of a PR gaffe since Krispy Kreme UK decided to start up a ‘Klub’ in Hull and called it KKK Wednesday” – Andy Marriott.
“Having followed this link featuring Adebayo Akinfenwa looking simply magnificent in yesterday’s Fiver, I was dumbstruck by the awesomely underwhelming Lincoln City badge. What is that exactly? I thought maybe a poor likeness of Yoda or maybe a preschool scribbling of Hong Kong Phooey. Either way, he has a severe case of leg-gah” – Mark Davies [an Imp? – Fiver Ed].
• Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And if you’ve nothing better to do you can also tweet The Fiver. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day is … Rollover.
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NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Northern Ireland U-21 manager Jim Magilton has appeared at Antrim magistrates’ court accused of assaulting his 14-year-old stepdaughter. The court heard that Magilton allegedly made “a couple of slaps to the head and dragged her down the stairs by the arms”. Defence lawyer Ferghal MacElhatton said the accused “isn’t accepting the allegations made against him”.
You’ll be stunned to learn that it’s not been a particularly thrilling transfer deadline day. Anyway, if anything much does happen, it’ll be here on our liveblog, and here’s our comprehensive list of every move involving Europe’s top five leagues.
One player on the move, at least, is Emmanuel Adebayor, who has hotfooted it to Istanbul Basaksehir. “The player is impressed by the club’s project and the president’s vision so it is clear to us that the club and the player will contribute to each other,” cheered club suit Mustafa Erogut.
Matty Taylor has become the first player in 30 years to do one from Bristol Rovers to Bristol City. “It’ll be a big step up in standard for him,” shade-hurled boss Lee Johnson, while City’s social media disgrace account tooted out the zingers: “Welcome to Bristol #MakingBristolProud.”
IMAGE: #TaylorSigns #MakingBristolProud #WelcomeToBristol pic.twitter.com/0EcCtRBJNX
— Bristol City FC (@bcfctweets) January 31, 2017
Manchester United won’t let Wayne Rooney leave before the end of the season.
Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka is back in one of his funky moods. “I always said the aim in the transfer window was to improve the squad. At the moment, we haven’t done that,” he fumed as Rudy Gestede and Patrick Bamford wept in the background. “We will be disappointed if nobody else comes in, but I have tried my best. When we got promotion last season, there were a lot of people who got a medal … and a lot of people had done their job. Now? I don’t know. With this group of players, the only thing I can do is trust and believe.”
Liverpool are to relocate 1,000 supporters and increase disabled seating at Anfield to more than 250 for the 2017-18 season.
And Notts County have swooped to register their manager Kevin Nolan as a player. “He will of course need to continue building his fitness but, when he’s ready, I’m confident we will have one of, if not the, best midfielders in the league,” whooped chairman Alan Hardy.
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