Football News: Everton v Liverpool

Everton v Liverpool

A truly awful performance from Liverpool, almost every player failed to turn up. Trying to write this review is very difficult to do without swearing, my notes on the game were nearing 50% curse words! How do you express just how bad Liverpool played without emphasising it with a sprinkle of swear words. Truly awful does not really tell you the truth of it, while truly fucking awful at least comes close. The thing is that losing happens, we as fans can cope with that, it is when our team lets us down that bothers us. Playing badly is fine, it is not trying that really hurts because they represent us out there on that pitch and it is like they are saying we fans do not matter enough to bother trying. In reality there is lots more to it, but that is the feeling it leaves behind, which is why fans get so upset and some can act irrationally. It is because it genuinely hurts. Even more so when it is a rival and you know that there will be a hundred gloating messages on your phone afterwards.

That is not really relevant to this review, it is just me prevaricating rather than ripping into the team. The thing is that this has been coming. There are so many things over the last couple of years that have been holding Liverpool back that now, with hindsight, it feels like maybe Klopp should have left two years ago, much as I love him. I was clinging onto a hope that he would somehow come back to being Klopp, the Klopp that was a breath of fresh air (and not fresh of breath air as I initially typed for some unknown reason!) and brought that heavy metal football that was so enjoyable to watch and brought so much success. Instead he has been moving further and further away from it. Now when I look back and remember how he tried to step back before the start of last season to let Lijnders have more control to develop him as a successor, that should have been the moment he left.

Since then Klopp has not invested all of himself in the job, which is sickening when you consider the huge amount of money he is paid to do so. I get there is stress and pressure, but it is first world problem stress and pressure of the privileged rich. And this is why I had so much trouble with this review and it took me longer to even get started than normal. Criticising Jurgen Norbert Klopp as a Liverpool fan feels so wrong. He has brought so much joy that it is not that I begrudge him the money or wanting a break, I am annoyed that he stayed too long. Instead of…