REDS GET THE BLUES
“You lost the league at Goodison Park,” serenaded the Everton fans as Liverpool’s players trudged off the pitch on Wednesday evening after their 2-0 defeat, the footballing equivalent of Nelson Muntz giving his teacher a wedgie and yelling: “Ha Ha!” And while Football Daily is convinced that Jürgen Klopp understands the literal translation of schadenfreude, it’s rare that the Liverpool manager has been on the receiving end of the concept. This defeat at Goodison was the first and last of Klopp’s nine-year tenure, and Liverpool’s first defeat at their neighbours’ ground since 2010.
What a game association football is. In almost no other sport could a losing team “win” every other statistic – possession, chances, etc – and deservingly lose the game. But Liverpool did just that, and can really have no complaints. Make it make sense. Last Monday Everton were thrashed 6-0 by Chelsea (Chelsea!), which left the Toffees hovering above the bottom three like a nervous potty-training toddler using the toilet for the first time. But after two crucial wins over Forest and Liverpool, Everton are now eight points clear of 18th-placed Luton with four games to go. It’s nearly time for Sean Dyche to ditch the touchline tracksuit for his Glastonbury outfit (bucket hat, Superdry T-shirt, Billabong surfer shorts, Adidas Sambas) and push Ian Woan into the mosh pit with Premier League survival secured.
For Liverpool, out of the FA Cup, dumped out of Big Vase and now seemingly out of the title race, the mood was less Green Day and more Dire Straits. “It’s a mix of everything,” lamented Virgil van Dijk. “You can’t put a finger on it. It’s confidence, inexperience, challenges, maybe afraid to make mistakes in this part of the season. I don’t know … we have to stick together. We can’t have groups blaming each other.” Which is convenient, because fans could be forgiven for blaming the backline after letting Dominic Calvert-Lewin have a free run at the back post and give Everton a 2-0 lead in what was one of the most predictable corner routines of the modern era.
Arne Slot seems like a popular choice to replace Klopp and, mercifully for Football Daily, the new man has a name that is easy to spell, has no umlauts and rolls off the tongue like a pound coin disappearing into the nearest fruit machine. Slot also “fits the Anfield profile”, with Liverpool’s data nerds handily identifying the Dutchman as being quite good at “winning”. Feyenoord, last season’s Eredivisie winners, won this season’s Dutch Cup on Sunday but as Afonso Alves, Vincent Janssen, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Davy Klaassen, Jürgen Locadia, Jozy Altidore, Bryan Ruiz, Davinson Sánchez, Andy van der Meyde and Luuk de Jong have proved, being a hit in the Netherlands does not a Premier League great make. You might want Arjen Robben in a Ferrari, but end up with Marco Boogers in a caravan. The future is not always orange.
Attention now turns back to Liverpool’s title rivals Manchester City – who will be looking not to slip on the banana skin that is Brighton on Thursday evening – and Arsenal, who face a daunting trip across north London to Tottenham this weekend. The Gunners famously won the league at the Lane 20 years ago. Mikel Arteta will be hoping he doesn’t trudge off at full-time on Sunday to the chant of “you lost the league at Tottenham” ringing around his ears.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
27 January: “It wears you down terribly, in terms of health, of mental health, your mood, your emotional state. I am a positive guy but the energy goes down, down, down, until the point at which you say: it makes no sense, no sense to continue” – Xavi announces he’ll leave Barcelona at the end of the season.
25 April: “It wasn’t a question of ego or money, it’s a question of the club’s wellbeing and a matter of confidence in what we are doing” – Xavi’s new fount of energy means a U-turn. Sid Lowe has more.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Re: the introduction of ‘VAR Lite’ in the Cymru Premier (yesterday’s News, Bits and Bobs, full email edition). That suggests a version of VAR without the usual high levels of accuracy, integrity, consistency and efficient decision-making. Anyone know the Welsh for ‘good luck with that’?” – Tim Clarke.
Re: the reference to former Chelsea players with a Jethro Tull song (‘skating away on the thin ice of a new day’, yesterday’s Football Daily) it struck me that there a quite a few Tull songs could apply to Chelsea. Living in the Past, New Day Yesterday, and Wind Up just for starters” – Stephen Hodgson.
Re: John Barnes (yesterday’s Quote of the Day). Surely he should have known about paying his tax, he famously rapped about it in 1990: ‘You’ve got to hold and give but do it at the right time, you can be slow or fast but you need to get to the line.’ The ‘line’ here being the signing line of a cheque to the taxman” – Brian Fleming.
You’ve got to pay what you owe
But do it at the right time.
You can be slow or fast
But you must evade the fine.They’ll always hunt you and charge you,
Defence and attacks.
There’s only one way to beat them:
Avoid paying tax.Catch me if you can
The John Barnes Media man
Hiding from the HMRC
Is my master plan.No corporation tax,
Has been paid for so long,
Almost £200,000
I know we can’t go wrong” – Mike Rice.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Mike Rice.
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