I've though for a while that if at any point over the last few years you'd have swapped out Bruno Fernandes for James Milner and Jordan Henderson they would be in much better shape as a club now. So much of the decline seems to be about culture in the dressing room that never gets sorted.

Lee Hendrie being on co-comms is the answer to this one. Gakpo absolutely worked his plums off today, was always willing, kept making things happen and carried threat...but the end product just wasn't there. To beat a very good team 2-0 with Barcola playing the same way...very positive.

James Nalton@jdnalton.bsky.social · 8h ago

Ronald Araujo Liverpool's best player today. Not sure how Sky have given MOTM to Gakpo.

The first image my football/cultural reference smash generator of a brain came up with in reading this was Negan dishing out some discipline in the Walking Dead season cliffhanger. ...and now I can't help but wonder who is going to be poor Glen when Conte arrives. Luke Shaw? Now that's an injury!

Iain Macintosh@iainmacintosh.bsky.social · 8h ago

Conte taking over would be funny. I don’t think it would work, but it would be nice to know that those players were getting screamed at every day.

I thought I was being wildly optimistic a couple of weeks ago when I wrote about bringing him in. Turns out that I was doing the great man a disservice. Serious performance today from Araujo. Love to see it. halfspacehacks.substack.com/p/and-then-t...

And then there were five

Smart bit of business or panic loan? Could Ronald Araújo be more than just a stop-gap or cult-hero?

halfspacehacks.substack.com

Plenty of debate this week about Florian Wirtz and his creative output for #LFC. Thought I'd give my take on what has been a good week for the player, and the club: halfspacehacks.substack.com/p/any-chance...

Here’s this week’s cartoon for @sport.theguardian.com (yep, I’m still on holiday, back later this week): www.theguardian.com/football/pic...

David Squires on … the endless growth of football vodcasts and banal digital banter

Our cartoonist looks at the battle for eyeball and earhole supremacy in the game’s rapidly changing media landscape

theguardian.com

I don’t think I’m ever going to get the appeal of pivoting to video for podcasts. I’ve been listening to podcasts for 20 years, and never once have I thought, my God, I need to SEE these people! I’m on a walk or doing the dishes, I don’t need video. 

One and the same for some time, though those running the game remain out of their depth in many aspects of this. I've covered this regularly in my Morning Star columns over the years and wrote this back in 2023.

John Muller@johnspacemuller.com · 3w ago

Time to play my favorite game, Soccer or Politics?

A key component of the Cambridge Analytica outrage was your friends subjecting you to data theft without your consent or knowledge. Facebook is running the same playbook on your text messages. Even if you’re not on Meta properties, they’re ingesting your interactions.

evacide@evacide.bsky.social · 4w ago

Meta Muse appears to read your Apple messages and upload them to the cloud even if you explicitly tell it not to: appleinsider.com/articles/26/...

'Actually existing Manchesterism' meet 'Manchesterism as a device for making Labour feel good about itself'

Andy Burnham 'really concerned' if Man City owners sell up after rule breaches

The prime minister compares the allegations against Man City to the plight of his own club Everton.

bbc.co.uk

Manchester City supporters (and the people of Manchester) should be furious. Because the first people who have had the piss taken out of them is them. Even now the City statement takes the piss. You are meant to back this pile of bullshit, it says. You are meant to back it unquestionably.

Tricky afternoon here for Disguised Funding Scheme FC.

Dan, Paul and John recorded a pod on this week's big news. theliverpoolway.podbean.com/e/manchester...

Manchester City - Guilty | The Liverpool Way Podcast

We’ve all known it for a long time, but now Manchester City have reportedly been found guilty of the vast majority of the Premier League charges against them. The punishment is still to be decided, bu...

theliverpoolway.podbean.com

Finished it off this week and couldn't agree more with this. The writing feels like real people being funny with their mates, the acting is great and the ending is really well executed.

Sachin Nakrani@sachinnakrani.bsky.social · 4w ago

Finished the third and final series of Colin from Accounts and I’m calling it: one of the most brilliant TV shows of the last 30 years or so. Brilliantly written and acted, funny and fully of pathos, and the most perfect of finales. Bravo Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, you absolutely nailed it.

David Conn has always been essential reading, especially when his specialist subject of sporting corruption intersects with his own football club.

How drawn-out saga of Manchester City’s alleged cheating came to this

Club’s ruthless approach was always at odds with their public image and this inglorious story has further to run

theguardian.com

@jamesskelly.bsky.social I'd never heard of Terry Reid until a few days ago. Had a great weekend diving into some of his stuff. Love those stories of musicians all the legends love that aren't as famous as they should be.

New one from me about how supporters can tend to under-appreciate what they already have and how the league seems to be tending towards more errors and less perfection: halfspacehacks.substack.com/p/the-grass-...

The grass is greener...in other stadiums.

Does familiarity breed contempt for some supporters?

halfspacehacks.substack.com

This is great stuff. Love a good football history podcast and these guys are consistently excellent. African football, geopolitics and Marxism. Yeah, wildly surprising it's my bag.

'The likeability and the results, progression, points on the board, will continue to be linked, one will be the other. And it isn't as simple as giving everything.' ✍️ @knoxharrington.bsky.social's review… 👉 Read here: mailchi.mp/theanfieldwr...

I make that six goal contributions from Cody Gakpo in around four full games of football. Almost as if he isn't as terrible as some people repeatedly told us he was last season. #lfc

but I can’t believe we’ve now got to the point of feminism which explicitly says “only women can do childcare”, well done everyone

…can female staff change boy babies’ nappies? what is her actual objection here, does she think all care should be segregated by sex or does she think all men are sex offenders

Hang on, can male staff change boy babies’ nappies? Or no nappies at all? Can men change their own babies’ nappies?

Jordan@jordanpfot.bsky.social · last mo.

Her worldview is so regressive. Male nursery staff can’t change nappies????

Pod from today. Difficult one to discuss, no idea how we got over an hour as virtually nothing happened! theliverpoolway.podbean.com/e/liverpool-...

Liverpool 0 Fulham 0 - Match Reaction | The Liverpool Way Podcast

A pretty demoralising day at Anfield as a lacklustre Reds barely laid a glove on winless Fulham in a goalless draw that maintains Andoni Iraola's unbeaten start, but means he's dropped as many points ...

theliverpoolway.podbean.com

Watching #MOTD this morning and the post match analysis from Danny Murphy is about Fulham being defensively suspect. That's one hell of a main takeaway from a football match with these numbers.

That's four times in two games and ten minutes that Gakpo has turned possession with 1% of a chance/threat into a goal or huge chance. Brilliant start to the season for #lfc.

It'll be interesting to see what shape the defence takes in possession with this selection. Araujo as a normal RB or does he tuck in to make a three and let Kerkez bomb on up the left.

New one from me about some of the madness of the summer transfer window. Come for the football, stay for the references to 1970's Roboticists and sub-prime mortgages. halfspacehacks.substack.com/p/artificial...

New one from me looking at the signing of Araujo, the defensive depth at the club, and leaning into some positivity as #LFC head into the new season. halfspacehacks.substack.com/p/and-then-the…

No matter how many brilliant goals he scored, and how many clips of his incredible technique there are, him pressing the ball and the keeper into the net in the FA Cup semi-final v City is still my go-to memory that sums him up the best. Absolute warrior. #lfc

The Anfield Wrap@theanfieldwrap.bsky.social · 2mo ago

On this day 10 years ago 🔙 The Reds beat Arsenal 4-3 at The Emirates as Sadio Manè introduces himself as a Liverpool player with a sublime strike⚡️