IT’S TOUGH AT THE TOP
When Liverpool took just one point from the three available against Leicester last week, their more optimistic fans fell over themselves in the rush to view what others might consider a setback as a huge positive. Manchester City had somehow lost against Newcastle the night before, after all, which meant Jürgen Klopp’s side were still five points clear and that was still one hell of a cushion. Having seen City swat Arsenal aside over the weekend, Liverpool had the chance to restore the gap against West Ham, but were again forced to settle for a point. While undeniably better than the no points they almost certainly deserved, this particular one has not been welcomed quite as effusively by supporters who had to sit through another performance that was more nervous than a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
“The questions won’t go away and the only way they can answer them is on the pitch, but they are still three points in front,” said Jamie Carragher after the game, in his Sky Sports role as Scouser eager to accentuate the positives. Saying he had faith in the experienced Klopp to calm dressing-room nerves and steady the ship, Carragher appeared to overlook that the German’s nerves seem so frazzled that he blamed a match official’s error that went in his own team’s favour for Liverpool’s inability to win. “We had good moments, coming through the channels and scored the goal, which I’ve now been told is offside,” tooted Klopp. “This explains a little bit the second half, because I think the referee knew at half-time. He knew it for sure at half-time, and then you saw a lot of strange situations. They were not decisive but just rhythm-breakers. That obviously didn’t help us. There were so many situations where it was 50-50 or 60-40 … [he gave a] free-kick for the other team.”
Perhaps as baffled as the rest of us by a manager appearing to moan about match officials gifting his team a goal, the FA has asked Klopp to provide written observations over his comments and may well fine him if it decides he was accusing Friend of being deliberately biased in favour of West Ham by being accidentally biased in favour of Liverpool. It’s a philosophical conundrum that could have the blazers at FA HQ scratching their syrups in bewilderment but in the meantime there’s a fascinating title race to be run. With City facing Everton on Wednesday, Liverpool find themselves in the degrading position of having to root for the team that currently passes for their city rivals.
“Goodison Park is always a tough game for us but the approach is the same - going there to try to win the game and, of course, we have the chance, because Liverpool don’t play, to go top of the league,” parped Pep, whose team can go top on goal difference if they can riff on the pain currently being endured by Everton. “What I’m more concerned about is to never forget who we are as a team. That’s what I want to watch every single day. After we will see about the results, how the table is.” In a title race generating more knee-jerking than a Riverdance chorus line, the idea of simply enjoying this soap opera as it counts down to its natural conclusion seems far too sane.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Barry Glendenning from 7.45pm GMT for hot MBM coverage of the FA Cup fourth-round replays.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Well, there is no better way to invest than doing it in art, culture and creation” – Sergio Ramos explains why he has a giant statue of former Exeter City director Michael Jackson in his bathroom.
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Here’s the latest Football Weekly podcast.
RECOMMENDED LOOKING
David Squires on … Everton’s annual crisis and celebrity cats.
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FIVER LETTERS
“In response to Nathan Eaton, I’m glad to say I have a few footballers with pop star names (yesterday’s Fiver letters). And a lot of them are South American. John Lennon, who plays left-back for Cruzeiro, is an obvious standout. Claudio Mejolaro, simply called Pitbull is one to mention as well. Shame he’s still based in South America, or he’d really be Mr Worldwide. And finally, the King of Pop himself: Adriano Michael Jackson, who plays in South Korea! He does the moonwalk when he scores as well” – Akshay Kulkarni.
“Burnley once had a player called Paul Weller and I might have imagined a ‘Weller gets Burnley out of jam’ headline, but I can’t recall imagining any Style Council-related headlines” – Frankie Dodds.
“How about Girona goalkeeper Bono and Middlesbrough midfielder Adam Clayton?” –Peter Oh.
“There’s Chris Martin of Derby County, who is currently on loan at Hull City. However, the best answer is surely Santa Cruz (Rio Grande do Sul) striker Creedence Clearwater Couto” – Noble Francis.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our letter o’the day is … Akshay Kulkarni, who wins a copy of 1966 And Not All That. Plenty more prizes to come.
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
British football fan Ali Issa Ahmad has been arrested and detained in the UAE after wearing a Qatar shirt to a Qatar match at the Asian Cup.
Rochdale midfielder Joe Thompson, who has been in remission from cancer twice, has retired aged 29.
José Mourinho dusted Russian ice off his backside just in time to accept a one-year prison sentence for Spanish tax-knack, a term he won’t serve because he has paid a whopping fine to avoid the Big House.
Manchester United have begun sweet-talking Marcus Rashford into signing a new contract to beyond 2021.
Pontus Jansson has rowed back on comments he made in Sweden suggesting Marcelo Bielsa was training Nasty Leeds too hard. “Everything he done for us is just amazing so don’t think anything else,” he yelped. “Sometimes I say things with a bit of irony so don’t take every word too serious.” Like this backtracking?
And Alex Bruce sounds like he has the battle fever on after being unveiled at Kilmarnock. “I intend to play up here, I intend to give it a proper go,” roared the defender. “I left my family, my kids, back in England, I mean business coming up here, that’s for sure.”
STILL WANT MORE?
The brilliance of Gerry Cranham.
“A magical figure”: Trevor Francis tells Simon Burnton what it was like being the first £1m player, 40 years on.
That sound you could hear at West Ham was Liverpool’s defence starting to creak, writes Barney Ronay.
Manchester City hope that playing their women’s and men’s teams against Chelsea on the same day will prove a double delight, explains Suzanne Wrack.
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO!
