JRC

He's OK when he's in the Zone.

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Saw the 'Facts' thing being recycled again after Monday. Now routinely presented as a meltdown that cost us the league, 'master of mind games etc.' At the time, nearly all commentators - apart from the well-known Ferguson shills - admitted Rafa was right in pretty much everything he said (even the Referees?). Also - we won more points per game that season after the rant than before (we were already in a mini-slump of draws), but Utd were simply unstoppable (13 1-0 wins virtually on the bounce, iirc)

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FFS - poor as we have been these last 3 games, it's still a long way short of a meltdown and pretty comparable with what the supposedly challenging teams have been through at some point this weird season; yet we are the ones for whom it is terminal? Poor for a month when we won 7-0 away 17 days ago, 3 days after beating (well) the team then at the top of the table? Whilst primary challengers City were - like us - drawing at home to West Brom - yet they are now unstoppable? In anything but the last 2-3 seasons, 2 defeats at this stage would be League winning form. We have been spoilt for a few seasons, but this is much more the norm. Considering we still managed to get worked up even when we were running away with it last year it's not surprise that a nip and tuck season with highs and lows might f*** with our collective heads. Bring on United and let's batter them back to the s***e mean they have been delivering for much of the past 12 months. Beat City at Anfield - and believe we will - and any apparent advantage they may have will be gone. It's still ours to win, and we are still more than capable of doing it, it just won't be a cakewalk and there will be disappointments on the way. So come on - get a grip. (And win the Champions League while we are at it)

Yep - default is Onside. If you can't tell immediately from a decent image that a player is offside, they're on. Look at Mane vs Brighton - fractionally offside, but one look at the image and everyone agrees, no lines needed even. (And yes - that means I could happily accept Son's goal - as much as Hendo's and Salah's) Whatever issues VAR was brought in to solve, it sure as hell wasn't that there were too many goals being scored by players whose toes were a mm offside.

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Yes, that looked messy when it went pear-shaped. Have already heard rumours the sites on the edge of Chinatown/Baltic are part of it - on Wapping by the KFC, and at the lights opposite the proposed re-opening St James station.

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David Preece - after a nomark career - has made a name for himself as a specialist goalie pundit/journalist, often on the Radio (esp Talksport). Usually talks well and insightful, but maybe I just haven't heard him give an opinion about one of ours that I consider less than flattering and so been obliged to consign him to the deepest bowels of hell.

I think Winter called the problem right in his tweet - it's the pedantry I dislike so much. If the reaction of the Refs last season was to take the hump because their authority was being undermined by VAR, then this year it seems to have swung back with a familiar meme - the ref (VAR or on pitch - or IFAB) as wannabe centre of attention, having the tools and the authority to set the game narrative, like the Traffic Warden waiting by the meter for it to click over and 'start to write' a ticket even as you unlock you car. The worry is that 'Clear and Obvious Error' and pitch side screen usage ought to mitigate the Ref concerns about their authority - for which I have some sympathy - but the only thing 'Clear and Obvious' about Saturday is that that no longer applies. That incident is only a foul because we have allowed the technology to set the parameters around contact etc. based on slowed down, post-incident close-ups rather than the actual reality of 22 players partaking of a robust, physical contact sport. Some contact when 2 players both challenge legitimately for the ball is inevitable and not necessarily a foul, otherwise the VAR should be looking at every hand placed on a player as he is challenged in the box and calling penalty. Not only is that not given as a foul anywhere else on the pitch, I'm not sure it is looked at to find a reason to suggest a penalty by an over-excited t*** in Stockley Park, relishing the opportunity to wield his new-found power, any time other than the last minute or two - nor whether the Ref would concur anyway that it was a pen if it was half way through the first half. As for Off Sides - I know they are all checked so not a question of Clear and Obvious Error - but if it can't be determined as offside from an instant review, without putting the decision in thrall to a questionably authoritative and unnecessarily over-engineered technology and arbitrary protocols, then benefit of doubt should be with the attacker (as opposed to On-Field decision). Mane was barely inches off side on Saturday, and no-one disputes that decision, and the technology makes it clear without lines or frames needing to come into it; taking 3 minutes to find Salah's toe offside - not convincingly - is nonsense, and the ultimate revenge of the pedants against those who actually enjoy the game.

Does that mean we could sign him now as a backup CB? The Circle Turns.....

Who would they want to replace Loew?

Rick Edwards enjoyed that too - he's a Red. They had a Scouser on that a couple of weeks ago who wanted LFC questions and Rick admitted that would be good for him too.

The positive spins are: - His career will be longer than most, because he won't have as many miles in his legs by the time he is 32; he could end up being as effective a perma-crock CB as say Paul McGrath or Ledley King; and he will miss the waste of time and effort Euros next Summer. Win-Win-Win, basically.

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I thought of that thread immediately, heading off there now for the deep insight into people's psyche.

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To be honest, his adapting to a new club and way of playing has been exceptional - one of our key strengths now is how we work a game out, find out what we need to do to win. When we are flying, he has clearly got all the skills and capability to contribute at, or close to, the level we have come to expect from Mo, Bobby and Sadio, but he also already seems to have that functional, pragmatic, do-what-you-have-to ethic that Klopp has instilled.

Last night for him appeared to be so much one of those mares that you can more easily write it off, especially as it was in the context of a disjointed team performance. We know - from those games against us, from Klopp and the team buying AND still playing him, from cameos in games he has played - that he is better than that. He may not make it, but much too early to write him off.