Liverpool banter 9

14 Oct 2026
New image uploaded to the
Liverpool Player Sightings page entitled,

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14 Oct 2026 18:50:53
. and your point is??

14 Oct 2026 19:10:52
I was going to ask that delves.

14 Oct 2026 20:12:28
Florians foot did not make any contact with the city player, it landed on the pitch, that is a picture that has been well manipulated/frame enhanced to make it look like a red card, that would have been on Sky before the match finished, was not even shown, not even in one newspaper yesterday you have been scammed Suarez by the cheats!

Fancy falling for the old one-two?

YNWA Andoni.

14 Oct 2026 20:26:17
The frame above was captured by me from a recording of the full match. There has been zero manipulation.

My point, Delecs, is that, much like my father, Wirtz never (really) pulled out.

14 Oct 2026 20:47:36
@suarez,

you need to be Gary Neville's Sky partner, still not shown by Sky on the day, or this week because of "zero" contact with hans christian anderson!

I would not reveal anything that shows my LFC team in a bad way ever, and more to the point supports a load of cheats instead!

YNWA Andoni.

14 Oct 2026 21:32:54
I can see what you're saying Chewy, but I'm just looking at the body language Wirtz is not all in on that duel. He's not trying to get over or around the ball, he knows Anderson is coming in hot and he knows it's going to hurt.

I desperately want the lad to succeed, but I that 50/50 really left a sour taste in my mouth. Not necessarily because of the outcome, but more the attitude. We need to be winning those 50/50s, ideally at a rate higher than 50%. I applaud the running he does for the team, and he really does do create more opportunities than people credit him for, I just worry that we're at a point in the Premier League where it is necessary, not just a bonus, that your players are fully committed, and generally able to winning these marginal duels.

14 Oct 2026 21:40:34
007, you've got it all wrong, pal. It's my fault, though; I didn't give context earlier, as I was distracted with the football. It's not intended to show Wirtz in a bad light at all, the kid made a fair attempt to win the ball. I saw a fair few people whinging that he pulled out of the tackle, calling him a disgrace, saying he should be sold off the back of that alone etc. So I just thought I'd post it in reponse.

Wirtz challenged for the ball, but not in the way some would have liked him to, he tried to knick it as opposed to commit to a crunching tackle that might have seen him injured. And looking at the picture above, if you put Wirtz's ankle between Anderson's foot and the ball, he's not coming away unscathed. The manner in which Wirtz has tried to win the ball is exactly the type of tackle you would expect him to make, he's not the next Mascherano.

Last season, Wirtz won 95% of his tackles, compared to 85% this season and a 60% success rate in ground duels. In contrast, Anderson's tackle success rate was just 65% last season, though he still led the league with 297 duels won. It doesn't mean Wirtz is a better tackler, it means he's intelligent about when and where he tries to win the ball, he knows his limits and doesn't overcommit. Anderson on the other hand, doesn't mind overcommitting at all. Florian knows that, and he'd rather keep his ankles in one piece.

My point being, it's stupid for people to be expecting Wirtz to win a 50/50 against an aggressive high-volume tackler who's literally the best in the league at winning duels. Never judge a fish by how it climbs a tree. Shoutout Einstein.

14 Oct 2026 21:48:43
Chewy where you getting Wirtz tackle stats from mate?

Those stats put Wirtz as the top tackle winner percentage wise by a country mile.

Apparently James Tarkowski (Everton): 81.8% is the leading tackle percentage winner this season in the PL.

Any player that wins 95% of their tackles would be a unicorn.

15 Oct 2026 11:04:13
Good shout JK, I googled it and it said last season he made 26 out of 28 tackles, I never trust Google, but it cited FBRef so I took a quick look at Florians page and confirmed that it does list 26 tackles won, so I wrongly assumed it was the correct %, turns out FBRef doesn't list attempted tackles for Wirtz, a little more digging tells me Google used an OddAlerts listing that shows Wirtz in the top 6% (94th percentile) for career ball recoveries and just decided that this was the same as winning 94% of tackles last season, which seems to be where it got 28 attempted tackles from.

His actual tackles won in the PL last season was about 75%, apparently 26 of 34, but I had to check numbers from multiple sites, some conflicting, some not listing attempts at all, and now I don't trust any of them tbh!

The only thing I can confirm for certain is that Wirtz is not a unicorn, but I don't have the credentials to certify that!

15 Oct 2026 11:30:52
Chewy i wasn't trying to be awkward with my reply mate but i'm actually a little bit of a geek when it comes to stats and was actually wondering if you had unearthed a site i was unnaware of mate.

14 Oct 2026 18:40:29
Who's the sexiest Liverpool's player of all time? Patrick Burger or Dominic Szobosli?

14 Oct 2026 18:52:20
John Barnes.

14 Oct 2026 19:00:28
John Stones was hottt.

14 Oct 2026 19:42:35
Oops. I've somehow stumbled onto the lustpool page.

14 Oct 2026 19:44:09
Dirk kuyt.

14 Oct 2026 20:13:24
Peter Beardsley 👍.

14 Oct 2026 20:26:50
Barry is correct.

14 Oct 2026 21:50:08
I think when we're talking about the sexiest player we need to start by defining what sexy is. That is difficult as it's completely, but I like robust intelligence to complement devastating good looks. First impressions also count massively.

With all that said, and ruling out Alisson as it is just not fair on anyone else, I'll go for Simon Mignolet.

14 Oct 2026 21:54:22
A lass I was going out with back in the good ole days had a thing for Jamie Redknapp. Always going on about his hair??

14 Oct 2026 22:49:11
Beat me to it @Barrt, Peter Beardsley all day long. Great footballer btw.

14 Oct 2026 23:17:45
I've never watched the ladies game but it would be one of the LFC Women's side.

15 Oct 2026 10:42:53
Igor biscan.

14 Oct 2026 17:43:43
Why is Tsimikas captain? That makes no sense at all!

14 Oct 2026 18:29:01
Flo is running this game tonight. Playing really well.
I've got no problem with Tsimi being Captain for the night.

14 Oct 2026 18:29:07
A lot of European teams / coaches just give it to the most experienced player.

14 Oct 2026 18:34:22
Who should be captain?

14 Oct 2026 18:37:54
I was shocked it wasn't Alisson to be fair.

Doesn't bother me in the slightest though 😂.

14 Oct 2026 18:40:56
He's there to toss a coin Jonny not set a field for a fast bowler. Makes no difference in these sort of games without Vyrgil on the pitch & it should be a collective responsibility anyway.

14 Oct 2026 18:42:53
Why not?

14 Oct 2026 18:43:04
To be fair, he can be captain every week if we play like this!

14 Oct 2026 19:32:44
Seriously, who cares?

14 Oct 2026 19:52:04
Couldn't give a flying fish. Apparently Iraola doesn't like goalkeepers as captain.

14 Oct 2026 20:07:56
Iraola already explained that teams with the GK as captain are at a disadvantage, because only the captains can speak to the ref.

14 Oct 2026 20:28:22
Good spot Fornax I hadn't seen that.

14 Oct 2026 20:32:52
Greek scouser was immense, putting through balls in from midfield and amazing over the top passes from left back. Was up and down the pitch with every, amazing corners and brilliant defensively. Never let's anyone down and is great in the dressing room. Best reserve left back we've ever had. Give the guy some credit for a change on here.

14 Oct 2026 20:41:03
FORNAX is a public information service maintained by the Swedish Government. Please consider buying Swedish where possible.

14 Oct 2026 16:37:49
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Matchday 6 - Quick Round Up

14 Oct 2026 18:37:47
Hahaha. Ed1, nice one. Love how the ref is both the starman and the flop in your analysis of the game against Man City.

{Ed001's Note - thanks!

14 Oct 2026 18:52:20
Cheers as always Ed.
I can't get over that refereeing performance.
Ruined a game and gave it to City of all people.
I also feel the build up helped city more than us.

14 Oct 2026 20:01:36
Ed on the United vs Spurs game, never have I seen that many flops from one team in any of your Matchday reviews.

14 Oct 2026 17:52:53
Brilliant read up Ed, summed up the Liverpool game perfectly and loved the starman and flop, proper made me laugh 😆.

{Ed001's Note - thank you so much Tim.}

14 Oct 2026 20:46:02
Thanks for this, Ed01. Will we get a review of the game against city?

{Ed001's Note - yes mate, that is what I am planning to do tomorrow.}

14 Oct 2026 21:21:07
Thanks Ed.
Great read as always.

Just 1 bad point from me. you forgot to mention how useless Wirtz is, and should leave our club immediately.

{Ed001's Note - why would I mention that? It is simply not true.}

15 Oct 2026 00:54:46
I think JLC was firmly tongue in cheek when he said or Ed. It was a great write-up regardless. Looking forward to your match review for us against city too :)

14 Oct 2026 15:46:21
One for the Eds, and one that reminds me how much we miss Ed002 as he would've known this off the top of his head!

Why do lower table teams find it easier to get work permits for foreign players, especially from outside of Europe?

A couple of thoughts I have are to do with wage bills, and playing HG players.

I'm sure I read somewhere that we only had 1 available 'special' work permit and Ndiaye already had been allocated it so Ndukwe had to go on loan.

I would imagine that lower table teams probably have a far higher percentage of HG players and therefore would qualify for more of these special category WPs than we would.

Also, can't remember if there's something to do with wages for the new arrival and whether they represent a certain %age of our wageroll?

But I wonder if one of you would have more of a definitive idea?

{Ed001's Note - the HG players and special work permits certainly does help but the main thing is the wages. To get the permit, you have to reach a points threshold, which is made up of a number of things, such as international caps (and the level of the country they are earnt for affects the number of points). The easiest way to get the points is to put the player in the top bracket of earners, which is again easier at a club like Brighton than at Liverpool. It is almost impossible to get enough points for a player without recent international appearances unless you can pay them in the top bracket. That is when you would turn to a 'special' work permit, but that is a problem for us now.}

14 Oct 2026 16:16:45
Thanks for that Ed001, yes the wages as you explain makes a lot of sense. When we've got so many earners on £200k+ we'd have to pay a player a helluva lot of money to get into the highest earners bracket.

I guess that's where multi-club models come in useful, where you own a smaller club too where a player can build up points and maybe get into the international squad enough to then move to the larger club.

{Ed001's Note - spot on mate, that is exactly what they are used for, as well as money laundering and fudging transfer fees etc. We would need to pay over 300k, I believe, due to Virgil's wage. There is no way we would do that for an unknown youngster.}

14 Oct 2026 16:42:32
Great explanation, Ed - it certainly clears up a lot.
I did have one question about how we signed Leoni, though. Obviously no one can be expected to know the specifics, but would he likely be on the special work permit?

{Ed001's Note - yes.

14 Oct 2026 12:04:41
On the Wirtz topic my concern is we repeat the mistake Chelsea made with Salah and De Bruyne. Players that didn't settle in a new Country with the big club when they were 21-23 and had to leave. Only to return a couple of years later for another club and become legends.

Wirtz is in that age bracket now and his confidence is shot. For him the best thing may well be to leave but I'd hate to see another club flourish with him down the road.

14 Oct 2026 12:18:35
Salah and De Bruyne were not starters for Chelsea, and were never given a chance due to Mourinho's preference for ready made stars, rather than developing a project. Wirtz has been a starter from the get go and underdelivered for over a year now. There is a stark difference.

I swear I have never known a player to require so much for him to operate. Wirtz needs fast wingers to operate, we got it. Wirtz needs a striker with fast movement, we got that with Isak. Wirtz needs Ekitike to operate due to their quick exchanges, we have that. Wirtz needs to be rid of Slot and he will flourish, we got that. Wirtz needs to be given the freedom of the CAM role to operate, not be used at LW, we got that now with how Iraola utilises him. Wirtz needs someone like Klopp to put his arm around him and guide him, we have that. Wirtz needs to receive the ball more, we do that and he missplaces the most simplest of passes.

How much more does this man need!? Like, seriously. Never in all my years have I heard so many excuses for a player, regardless of his price. A 100 million plus should be able to elevate all those around him, not require additional 100 plus million players to operate at a high level. It is utterly ridiculous.

14 Oct 2026 12:22:45
Jon, that's the risk you take in giving up on players way too early out of impatience because they are not panning out quick enuff for you, regardless of how much you pay for them.

Esp. if after they are gone, the players start to to flourish elsewhere and the selling club starts to struggle. Chelsea suffered, as well.

Remember had we gotten rid of Hendo after one season, we wouldn't have had him leading us to glory for years under Klopp.

Essentially, be careful of what you wish for.

14 Oct 2026 12:45:43
Wirtz must go. he can't tackle.

14 Oct 2026 12:56:40
Henderson didn't join us with the expectation of Wirtz. Wirtz joined us as "the next generational talent". Up till now he's come nowhere near to living up to that. He has the remainder of this season to prove his worth.

14 Oct 2026 13:04:48
I think the reason there is a lot of support for Wirtz is partly because he works hard despite his obvious lack of confidence/quality atm. And because people know there is a world class player in there. He was the main man at Leverkusen and beautiful to watch. People want to see that and some still have hope that it can happen. He has been massively disappointing so far. Though I don't agree with people who say he's been crap since he came.

He has had moments namely last season before his injury and many moments in games where he has shown flashes of brilliance. i'm not ready to give up on him coming good yet because if he does and it looks like a big if as we stand he will absolutely light the Premier League up. At his best he is the type of footballer that makes his teammates better and makes football a more beautiful thing to watch.

14 Oct 2026 13:51:53
Truly @MANGO. I think we all want him to succeed and can't accept he just might not that's the reason for the many excuses.

If there's no major improvement by the end of the season, then we should be looking to sell in my opinion.

@OliRed, maybe we would have had someone else. Who knows? Besides Hendo didn't come with a lofty price tag so the expectation was much less.

We sold Coutinho and it wasn't the end of the world. In fact, we became better as a team.

We have been worse off since Wirtz joined the team. Of cause I am not saying he is solely to blame for our decline since winning the league as there are other factors as well. However, selling him wouldn't be the end of Liverpool. We might just be better for it.

14 Oct 2026 14:59:47
De Bruyne and Salah never played. Wirtz has played 60 games for us starting nearly all of them. Has till the end of the season to turn it around I'd imagine.

14 Oct 2026 17:23:31
I'd like to know if wirtz is working on weak areas in his game, extra training ect. I know he's put on more muscle when playing under slot. Eds1 says he needs more movement ahead of him but if we haven't got the players ahead to do that then adapt his game and try and make it work before it's too late and sold.

14 Oct 2026 11:55:58
I presume we can't appeal against the Gravenberch sending off as it was as a result of 2 yellows, and yellow cards can't be appealed?

14 Oct 2026 12:14:52
We wouldn't win anyway, it'd be a wasted appeal, just take the 1 match ban and move on.

14 Oct 2026 12:23:31
It's only one game. We can survive.

14 Oct 2026 13:03:42
Fair enough. Just caught the article on Struijk's ban being overturned and hoped! He was back to his old form for 60 mins so it'd be ideal to have him available for the next game.

14 Oct 2026 10:05:42
Won't be an easy game tonight with all the injuries. Some of the starters from Sunday will also need to be taken out if they are needed to start again the weekend. Big night for the likes of Nyoni and Ngumoha who should both start.

14 Oct 2026 12:01:57
I'm hoping we go strong. I think we have more chance of winning this (CL)than the PL. That's probably an obvious statement to make, I know.

14 Oct 2026 13:51:35
I think we will see a few fringe players starting from the likes of Gomez, Tsimikas, Frimpong, Nyoni and Rio. I assume we will have to keep Koumas up top unless we go with somebody like Barcola or Wirtz through the middle.

14 Oct 2026 15:05:19
Agree with Rome.
Hope we go fairly strong - get the points on the board early and a good win under our belts before a massive game for us on the weekend.
Confidence needs a boost.

14 Oct 2026 10:52:00
Hello all, I know this is unlikely to happen but I would love to see PL teams (especially those with limited squads) field weakened teams against the cheaters - the logic being that they believe any result against them will be nullified anyway.

It would highlight the depth of feeling against the cheaters. There is no way the PL would dare to punish those teams that did that.

14 Oct 2026 11:11:01
They would though, its almost match fixing what you suggest. Plus todays team in theory has nothing to do with the Team from 2009-2018 even though we all know they're probably still cheating their arses off to cook the books.

14 Oct 2026 11:41:48
Arne, we really can't say because the period post 2018 has not been investigated. And given the nonchalant arrogance of ManCheats management, I wouldn't be the least surprised if it is found to have continued since 2018.

{Ed001's Note - you can say because the finances showed the same income as when they were topping it up by over 100m. If they stopped cheating, their income would have dropped.}

14 Oct 2026 12:17:20
Now that is a very simple but most accurate assessment ED01. So obvious really!

14 Oct 2026 13:36:07
In by-gone years, teams were punished for playing what the PL called a 'weakened team' but as we've moved on with what's the point in having a squad? As long as they're in your 25.
They're no longer considered a 'weakened team.'.

14 Oct 2026 12:57:57
Ed, I saw somewhere that the income has dropped. Not saying it is true, though because there is no proof of that either. What do you think on this?

{Ed001's Note - the only time income dropped was during Covid and then nothing like 100m.}

14 Oct 2026 15:48:37
Very valid point Ed001. I hadn't thought of that. Do you think they will look at post 2018 or slide it under the rug along with announcement of penalties and punishments for the previous period?

{Ed001's Note - they are being pushed into looking at it, but so far they have failed to do so. I am not sure why, they should have started a separate investigation into each year following 2018 at the same time as the original one was started. Clearly they are reluctant to do so as they don't want people to know who riddled with corruption and cheating the game is, hence why they regularly have clubs report failed drugs tests as injuries. At one point a few years ago, it was revealed that there were over 20 players throughout the English pyramid serving drugs bans that were being reported as long term injuries.

I think they fear the collapse cycling initially had after Lance Armstrong was caught. Not in terms of the fans turning the TV off, but the sponsors that withdrew cost that sport huge amounts of money, I think they fear similar happening to the Prem.}

14 Oct 2026 16:06:29
My biggest fear is that they will allow politics to play a part in the scale of punishments that are handed out. The PL is dealing with a state, not just a team from an English city. The amount of humiliation and loss of face for that state would be colossal and they are acutely sensitive to that.

14 Oct 2026 16:20:58
In response to your reply, Ed001, do you think this is a bigger scandal than the Italian "Calciopoli"?

{Ed001's Note - yes, because it involves outright buying off officials such as Oliver, while Calciopoli just worked to get favourable officials appointed to the matches. This is also got to involve the entire ADUG group of clubs, which is worldwide, so much bigger than just the Premier League.}

14 Oct 2026 19:20:39
Some coutries didn't even do any steroid testing at all (Spain in 2016 did not conduct a single urine or steroid blood test all year) some countries have their testing license revoked multiple times after wada found their testing to to be inconsistent (Qatar, UAE and Saudi have all had this happen)

Even in the Premier League man city were twice fined for missing dope tests citing new protocols as the reason for missing it, ironically the exact same excuse pep used when some of his Barca players skipped drugs testing as well.

It's funny how the only league which made pep stick to the rules (bundesliga) is also the only place pep really struggle to dominate as expected and his team actually regressed. Interestingly pep repeatedly blamed his teams poor performances in Germany on the team doctor and insisted if he'd been allowed to bring his doctor from Barca (a dude who got pep banned for steroids as a player) then they would have won a lot more.

Doping is a far bigger issue than people realise and a lot of players get protected by their FA to protect the income of the league. This is why I find it funny that série a is labelled so negatively when it's the only league who publicly pursues and punishes cheaters repeatedly.