Another false alarm as Liverpool resumes normal service

Liverpool were popular before Craig Johnston Played for l f c As were man utd and Leeds utd back in the 70 s Goes way back to the British migrants and growing up with British parents I grew up watching the match of the day or the big match . That show was a terrific even though I was a rugby league player., the English soccer on tv was surreal as a kid growing up Living there in the late 90s in the Midlands allowed to go to the blues villa wolves and Coventry. Good times .

Aaarrghhh - try supporting Newcastle. Only then will you know truly what a nightmare is :)

This has always been the case, Liverpool did this in the 80s, don't you think every English club wanted Kenny Dalgish when he left Celtic, but Liverpool outbid them. John Barnes, Peter Beasley. I'm a Derby fan, came 5th in 1991 & Liverpool brought our 2 best players, ask Southampton what they think about spending power & Liverpool. Liverpool is just not as big as Man city in the spending area, go in circles.

Jeff, I don’t quite follow? I’ve met hundreds of Liverpool fans here and by the look of how full the various grounds are when they have toured, the supporter numbers are in the tens of thousands. Whether it is born from migrants and their descendants or just people growing up admiring them here in the days before live football became the norm, I wouldn’t like to say, although I often ask the “why question”. In bygone days it was more common that people supported their local team - at least in football this was true although I suspect it would be true in many codes. In cities like Liverpool where there are two teams, it was often the case that support would be divided along religious grounds, mainly protestant and catholic, best example really being Glasgow Rangers and Celtic. In cities like London where there are a dozen or so teams in the greater London area it would be purely geographical with a certain amount of family influence....like father like son type of thing. The other consideration is the age of supporters. In the UK it is around 8-10 years when kids begin to support a team and the playgrounds divide up and that is an interesting process to watch. There is a fair bit of research done that shows the changing patterns depending upon success and failures of teams. Consequently, Liverpool picked up thousands of supporters in the late 70-s to late 80-s and they are the ones that bought the merchandise and went to the games and after a while it becomes a way of life and then you have children and you tend to influence or perhaps indoctrinate them. These days you see so many Man City and Chelsea fans around the globe as success on the field undoubtedly grows the fanbase very quickly. I have noticed a growth in PSG shirts just in the last year since Neymar went there. This is probably a bit off topic now but an interesting subject across many codes and if you remove the regional aspect what makes someone support one team rather than another? In AFL, will the Richmond fan base grow as a result of a GF win? What makes someone support the Eagles rather than Dockers, or Crows as oppose to Port? Definitely more exciting to have two teams in a city though irrespective of the sport. I’d argue strongly that the arrival of WSW in Sydney has made Sydney FC a much better organization than when it was a one club city and they took things for granted. Even off a smaller base, it would or could be good for Brisbane at least but we tend to get distracted by the gold coast...but that’s another story.

No goalkeeper in to end the careers of the current ones? Lorus Karius has now assumed the mantle as Liverpool's number one goalkeeper. Klopp made a change a couple of weeks ago, did you miss it? Karius is now Liverpool's number one keeper after five seasons of Simon Mingolet. Loan of international striker to a side that just dumped you from the FA Cup? What you mean is that Liverpool's now 4th choice striker, Daniel Sturridge, who has spent half his five seasons at the club injured, and is now 4th choice striker behind a 20 year old Solanke ( Klopp's preferred forward substitute } and another often injured player Danny Ings, and a player who is on astronomical wages, who was barely even given playing time, has now left, with said team paying Liverpool a loan fee plus covering all his 150,000 pound weekly wage, thus saving Liverpool money. Terrible move to get rid of a guy who rarely makes it on the bench, let alone the field. Right? Is Fenway Sports Group telling Klopp not to make any more transfers until after the World Cup? Are the Yanks running the club from across the Atlantic? Are the moneyball experts counting the cash from selling Coutinho? I'm not exactly sure what the writer of this article is supposedly a guru of, but knowing anything about Liverpool Football Club isn't one of them. The answer to all these questions is NO! FSG don't run the club, they don't choose which players to buy, they don't tell the manager which players to buy. FSG are the owner's of the club only, They don't run it. Peter Moore, the CEO runs the club, along with the Managing Director, CFO and COO. And for the 500th time. Moneyball has SFA to do with football or Liverpool Football Club. Why? Cos ' moneyball " is a system of statistical analysis of baseball players used to determine an over or under market value for each and every player in the major leagues based on their in game statistics. It does not apply to football players in any way, shape or form. Next you lament that Liverpool aren't strengthening as opposed to their rivals, while the Reds haven't made any additions, then go on to say that the club has blown its Coutinho cash on stop gap signings. BS! Have you forgotten that Liverpool signed the most expensive defender in the history of the game, ( and a player that the manager has chased for 12 months )for 75 million pounds. Who exactly are the stop gap players the club has signed this transfer window? Oh that's right, the club haven't done that. Why would Jurgen be unhappy with management? The club have clearly shown they are willing to back him to sign the players he wants. Think VVD, Keita, Salah etc. The club are also prepared to wait until the players that he wants are available in the summer window. You cant make a club sell their players just because Liverpool want them. Transfers don't work like that. Is Liverpool a selling club? Yes they are. But so is every club. Every club buys players, every club sells players.

After Liverpool performed the way they did against Manchester City, which presented a blue print on how to get the better of a superb Manchester City team under Pep Guardiola, it was very disappointing to see the club drop back into old habbits by copping back-to-back defeats against Swansea in the league and West Brom in the FA Cup. The side showed positive signs by beginning their post-Coutinho era in the perfect way but have slipped back into their old ways. Klopp has had enough time now I believe to assemble a squad that suits his demanding style of football and now it's been almost three years without a trophy under the German. I think there is the possibility that Liverpool could soon look elsewhere in the near future. Don't get me wrong him coming from Germany and implementing his high press style has made Liverpool one of the most exciting teams to watch in the league over the last fews years, but they are missing titles to go along with it. While they have produced great results against the leagues big six, their results against lower opposition has affected them for years and that has not changed under Klopp's management.

It mus tbe hard being liverpool supporter in Australia, there are no other andwagon fans to talk to

The times are changing teams dont just dominate for years on end. At times i look at Salah and Jurgen Klopp and think you are too good for this club and it is not long before big name clubs buy them. If we can hold onto Salah and Jurgen Klopp we have a half chance for these reasons. 1. Liverpool is the 3 highest scoring club in Europe. 2. Man city will not be as strong next year just look at recent history. 3. Leicester city winning the premier league. If we strengthen in defence i dont see why we cant win.

I remember man utd went 26 years without a title too . I think Mourinho will eventually get the title in the next 2 years Guardolia will want a champions league this year or next . Then he will most likely move on for bigger money and challenge at psg. That’s what I’m speculating As for Liverpool FC , they probably blew there chance when they had Suárez. But they definitely have that sense of entitlement from 30 years ago . Leeds and forest , those previous great clubs have been in the wilderness for a while too.

Yes, Iwas a visitor to Highfield Rd in the days of Willie Carr and co when they were in the top flight. I often look at the league below division 2 ie non league and count the number of grounds I have visited at league level and then the number of clubs I have seen on tv playing in one of the divisions. That tends to give a sense of perspective on how times change just in our lifetime. My only gripe with Liverpool supporters has been that I unearthed a sense of entitlement and self rightousness that was borne from a combination of dominating the Engligh landscape, doing well in europe and then Heysel in 1985 and finally Hillsborough in 1989 and whilst I’m not talking about responsibility or anything along those lines, it just seems that there are fans who feel that as a result of that period, they should be at the top and as we know, the truth is that getting there is one thing, staying is something else and so much harder. Man Utd have been 4-5 seasons now with no epl title and it isn’t getting easier and the stakes get higher, so does the spending. Is it just about money? I don’t believe so although Man City and Real Madrid detractors will say otherwise.

Buddy So true Following Sunderland might be harder or Charlton athletic . And looks what happened to Coventry City in the 4 th division now with the wrong people in charge . Previously in the top flight for 30 years and f a cup winners . I remember going to highfirld road and Darren huckerby scored in injury time as Coventry beat man utd 3-2 .

I am more iclined to suggest that if you over an over 40’s Liverpool fan you have enjoyed seeing a golden period of the club’s history. If you a fan that is under 30 you have heard how great they were just a few years back and you live with the hope that the times will return but as the seasons roll on, the once blind optimism is gradually being replaced with pessimism and sonetimes despair. Similar things must have happened at other points in history. Blackburn, Burnley an Villa spring to mind as clubs that once dominated the landscape as did Leeds in the late sixties and early seventies. In Italy it was AC Milan who are a shadow of the club that once dominated europe. Maybe Ajax Amsterdam too, the foreign side that I grew to love in the 70’s. The lanscape has changed, structure, money and maybe ambition too. It must be the hardest thing to stay right at the top for any really long period unless there is little to no competition as in Scotland.