There is a haze of people, instructions and cameras at Vicarage Road, the corridors of Watford’s ground carpeted by chaos in preparation for the making of an advert, but cutting through it all is an unmistakable face, voice and energy. The Football Writers’ Association’s Women’s Footballer of the Year, who is also the Women Super […]

7 years ago

Dreams and schemes  It is July 2016 and at the ritzy Four Seasons in East Palo Alto, Jürgen Klopp is sketching his long-term aspirations as he undertakes his first pre-season with Liverpool. There is one theme he lingers on more than most: creating a significant legacy.   “When you sit in the main chair like I sit, […]

7 years ago

Where to look? At Gini Wijnaldum, his tears now washing the face that was so fierce and fixed earlier during a two-minute spell that helped make the implausible an actuality? What about at Virgil van Dijk – eyes closed, fists clenched – repeatedly thundering out the words “come on?” Wait! Over there, Jordan Henderson has […]

7 years ago

At the lower tiers in the belly of a beast that has hosted European Cup finals, home to some of the greatest players and teams the world has ever seen, there were two overwhelming questions… Was the manner of Liverpool’s defeat to Barcelona – an unreal away performance undercut by a catastrophic result – detrimental […]

7 years ago

We are so, so, close Finally, there was quiet. Finally, it was calm. In the away dressing room at the Etihad, Mauricio Pochettino cut through the intense anarchy of a fast, furious, what the actual hell is happening? 45 minutes with a simple, passionate message. The Tottenham manager had gone through video clips to indicate minor tactical […]

7 years ago

Liverpool were the neutral’s favourite to be crowned champions in 2013-14 because their chase seemed fictional – more fairytale than the return of a force. Now though, there’s external realisation that this challenge is serious, solid and a sign of things to come… On Friday, as Jürgen Klopp was peppered with questions over that game […]

7 years ago

Once upon a time, there lived a “flashy love rat”, who “flaunted” his bad attitude as brazenly as he did his “bling”. He was, without reservation, a “troublemaker.” He was, without restriction, “lazy”. As the “flop” matured, he only became more “obscene,” adopting a new hobby: being “happy to insult fans”. This “failure” was nothing […]

7 years ago

Is he messing? There is a billboard in Dakar emblazoned with #WeLoveSadio, followed by the words ‘De tout coeur derrière notre Lion’ – wholeheartedly behind our lion. In Senegal’s capital, a near 500-mile journey north of the birthplace of Liverpool’s match-winner against Bayern Munich, and the area where his desire to be a professional footballer […]

7 years ago

We will stand tall, face it all together  It is easy, given all that has transpired since, to have forgotten the reality of Mauricio Pochettino’s welcome to English football when he was unveiled as Southampton manager in January 2013. The Argentine was warned the club’s supporters intended to strike against the sacking of Nigel Adkins, […]

7 years ago

Rafael Benitez had to wait over a year to land Miguel Almiron from Major League Soccer with Newcastle finally breaking their transfer record. Now the player so skilled in transition will have to make his most important one yet… “Still Almiron, still Almiron, still Almiron…” Those words, excitably building to crescendo, will be familiar to […]

7 years ago

DESPAIR MEETS DEFIANCE Deep in the concrete belly of the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, Liverpool’s Champions League final grief was contoured by a brief post-match interaction. Winding past the Real Madrid dressing room – which was strangely muted following their third successive victory in the competition – Jürgen Klopp was returning to the coaching quarters […]

7 years ago

“When a Premier League club makes a signing that doesn’t work out, it’s like there’s a party,” a senior English club official declared in January. “Everyone is quick to make accusations about waste, but not as much fuss is made when there is good business.” It’s hard to disagree with that opinion when words like […]

7 years ago

“Feed the Scousers, “Let them know it’s Christmas time” Within five minutes of the first whistle in Liverpool’s 3-1 triumph over Manchester United, that chant – both mundane and moronic – chorused in the away end at Anfield and was audible in the worldwide coverage. A day earlier, when Manchester City beat Everton by the […]

7 years ago

“I cannot think of another manager that would relish coming to face us today as much as Jose” Ahead of Sunday’s kick off, Jürgen Klopp did not dine on the headline stat underscoring the distance between his Liverpool side and their opponents: not since Christmas Eve 1990 had Manchester United been so far behind them […]

7 years ago

It may not make the cut for the list of most famous nights under Anfield’s lights, but it was a significant marker of how assured Liverpool now are… Jürgen Klopp and Dries Mertens had divergent pre-match thoughts: while the Reds manager spelt out “if something special is possible, it is here,” the Napoli midfielder was verbally […]

7 years ago

“I said to him ‘It’s a great story, but you have to be careful in future. You’re not just anyone so you can’t go somewhere with just anyone.’ “He laughed at me and responded: ‘No, but it is just a normal thing for me to do. There is no problem.’ “I told him, ‘What is […]

7 years ago

Sadio Mane has joined fellow forwards Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah in committing his future to Liverpool after agreeing a new deal that runs to 2023. The Senegal international, recruited from Southampton for £30 million in June 2016, is expected to sign his fresh terms before the turn of the year. “For me, I have […]

7 years ago

“I saw, unfortunately, a few games like this already and it’s really difficult to find your mojo back, that you can do the right thing in the right moment very naturally” Jürgen Klopp’s post-match assessment from Liverpool’s pathetic 2-0 defeat at Red Star Belgrade was instructive as it pointed out that while the Merseysiders are […]

7 years ago

Ping, ping, ping… It is Tuesday, October 23 and the familiar, first slow then progressively incessant, WhatsApp dings surface. For six days, the notifications on the Monday Night Football group chat will pass with the regularity of Jorginho. Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville are the texters-in-chief. They usually bounce ideas around themes for the show […]

7 years ago

First game, a fine header – the match-winner, a new celebration. All good. Dele Alli started 2018-19 as he had mentally sketched it, exiting St James’ Park on 11 August having been pivotal to Tottenham’s 2-1 Premier League victory over Newcastle. Fast forward a month, and when Spurs hosted the League Cup fixture against Watford […]

7 years ago

Jürgen Klopp acknowledged Liverpool did not meet their performance expectations in a 1-0 victory at Huddersfield on Saturday, but saluted the base they have created for the season. A Mohamed Salah goal before the half-hour mark was enough to secure maximum points for the Reds, which saw them match their best start to a Premier […]

7 years ago

The international break is over and the What’s Going On at Manchester United? button has been unpaused While several Premier League managers will have been arrowing profanities at the domestic interruption, it brought respite for Jose Mourinho. There was no speculation over his future, no surgical analysis of the state of United and no simmering […]

7 years ago

It has become a stock image: Jürgen Klopp in a wide stance, his hands in his pockets, with his back to Liverpool’s warm-ups while his eyes are transfixed on the opposition’s pre-match routine.  That period before the teams return to the dressing room to morph into battle mode offers the German rare time to do a […]

7 years ago

“I remember driving through the Mersey tunnel and my thought process was just a mess. I stopped problem solving, or I was doing it in a different way, I think. “Cars were going past me, there were bends and stuff and there was this big, long straight. Cars were coming and I was thinking to […]

7 years ago

A fixture usually so entrancing, with a history of leaving the audience breathless and burning for more, morphed into something entirely different. Manchester City’s visit to Liverpool was poetically described as “title defenders against title contenders” by Pep Guardiola and the manner in which both teams played as though they dared not lose gave the […]

7 years ago

In the aftermath of an undercooked Manchester United display, a more frequent occurrence these days, behold the art of misdirection Look here: Paul Pogba played loud music on the top deck of the team bus ahead of the home draw with Wolves on Saturday. Or here: There was a ‘frosty’ exchange between the midfielder and […]

7 years ago

In the end, Anfield only received a spoonful of Xherdan Shaqiri, yet it was incredibly satisfying The Switzerland international served up a first Liverpool start heaped with boldness and effectiveness to help his side construct a 3-0 advantage against Southampton by half-time, empowering Jurgen Klopp to replace him at the interval and control proceedings. The […]

8 years ago

At 19:45 on Tuesday, as light rain trickled over Anfield, it was largely still and silent bar the 2,540 ceaseless voices in the away section. Thomas Tuchel looked over at the Kop with Paris Saint-Germain having concluded their warm-up and he seemed partly relieved. The chaos that the German had once witnessed here, which completely […]

8 years ago

“You have to tell me what is the most important thing. “When I win matches I come here many times and you are not happy and you say the most important thing is the way of playing. “So I need to know what is the most important thing. If it is to play well or […]

8 years ago

Jurgen Klopp has implored Liverpool to use Alisson’s ability with the ball at his feet in the “right moments” after the goalkeeper’s gaffe in the 2-1 victory at Leicester City. The Reds won their opening four games of a Premier League season for the first time, but saw their rearguard breached due to a poor […]

8 years ago

In early 2017, a few players were in the canteen at Melwood discussing which team-mate they felt had the makings of a future manager Gini Wijnaldum was the overwhelming response on account of his tactical intelligence, his ability to shape-shift according to what Jurgen Klopp requested, and the analytical way in which he could dissect […]

8 years ago

“We want to go to the next round so it is not our job to decide how we go there with the draw” These words from Jurgen Klopp, said after Liverpool were pitted against Manchester City in the Champions League quarter-finals last season, should be always be front, centre, in capitals and bolded at times […]

8 years ago

It is the dying days of January and Aymeric Laporte is in Victoria Haydn’s focus. Manchester City’s senior club photographer is prepping portrait shots for the announcement that the Premier League pacesetters have activated his £57.2m release clause at Athletic Bilbao, making the defender their sixth new recruit of 2017-18. Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, […]

8 years ago

Dysfunction may provide more entertainment, but there is magic in watching the unseen processes behind a 100-point Premier League haul… It is Saturday night, 30 September 2017, and delirium decorates the away dressing room at Stamford Bridge. Kevin De Bruyne has dictated matters for Manchester City against Chelsea and, on 67 minutes, he decides the […]

8 years ago

A ‘throw of the dice…’ It is New Year’s Eve 2008, hours before households engage in the customary countdown and trumpeting of fanciful resolutions, when Eddie Howe’s ringtone sounds. He answers and is offered – initially on a caretaker basis – the managerial position at Bournemouth: the club he has loved since childhood, whom he […]

8 years ago

Optimism flowed through Anfield this afternoon as Jürgen Klopp’s team got their season off to a flyer, beating West Ham 4-0

8 years ago

In a dusky room on an upper tier at the contemporary Garage Italia Milano in Piazzale Accursio, the excitable din from the audience below filters in. The principle reason for the fervour does not get lost in translation – the phrase Il Capitano can be continuously heard –  with the site of a former petrol station known as the […]

8 years ago

It was an ordinary afternoon and the conversation with his father, Ian, had started off like most others. It was so unexceptionable, in fact, that Rhian Brewster can’t quite recall where it happened or what exactly prompted its modification into a career-defining discussion. Then 14 and perched in the top tier of Chelsea’s academy prospects, the forward […]

8 years ago

Once upon a time… We are located at the genesis of a story seemingly so fictional, the protagonist feels it is more at home in the pages of a fairytale than in modern football. On an unblemished July afternoon, the sun streaking through the windows of a boardroom at Frankfurt’s opulent Kempinski Hotel, David Wagner’s […]

8 years ago

‘It makes perfect sense…’ When the enthusiastic response came, Mike Gordon mentally filed it as a pivotal movement. Sitting across Jurgen Klopp, the Fenway Sports Group president felt a fusion of relief and elation as the manager co-signed and applauded the decision to appoint Michael Edwards as Liverpool’s sporting director. There was no need for […]

8 years ago

Liverpool have fortified their starting XI with the signing of Alisson from Roma for £65 million inclusive of add-ons, which is a world-record fee for a goalkeeper. The Brazil international undertook a medical and inked a six-year contract on Thursday to become the club’s fourth new face this summer after the additions of Naby Keita, […]

8 years ago

Liverpool have clinched an agreement worth around £66 million inclusive of add-ons with Roma for Alisson, which is a world record fee for a goalkeeper Talks had progressed well on Tuesday, with a resolution speedily reached after the Reds upped their initial offer allowing the 25-year-old to press ahead with the move. Barring any late counter […]

8 years ago

Liverpool are cautiously optimistic of securing a world record deal for Roma goalkeeper Alisson, who is valued at £66 million and has been a long-term target for Jurgen Klopp. Talks have been progressing well between the clubs, with the Premier League side’s initial offer, which is inclusive of add-ons, short of the asking price by […]

8 years ago

Liverpool have added depth to their attacking options with the signing of Xherdan Shaqiri from Stoke City on a five-year deal after activating his £13 million relegation release clause. The Switzerland international interrupted his post-World Cup holiday in order to undertake a medical 0n Merseyside and finalise the terms of his transfer on Friday. ?#XS23 pic.twitter.com/HhnFVBAoJy […]

8 years ago

Lovren has a fraught history with Harry Kane, can he stop him in the semi-final?

8 years ago

“We’re trying to write our own history, and I’ve talked to the players about that. They write their own stories. We don’t have to be bowed by the pressure of the past…” In Gelsenkirchen at the 2006 World Cup, Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo was practically willing their quarter-final against England to be decided on penalties, despite […]

8 years ago

In defeat, Denmark still provided a triumphant portrait of one of life and football’s overarching themes: a parent’s love for their child… This was finally it. The moment. A moment to cut through the nothingness that had unwelcomingly followed the first five wondrous minutes of the fixture, during which both sides scored their only goal. […]

8 years ago

Liverpool have received a massive fillip as they kickstart their preparations for 2018-2019 with Mohamed Salah signing a new five-year contract without a release clause. The Egypt international, who joined the club 12 months ago for an initial £36.9 million from Roma, has been rewarded for a record-breaking debut season in which he supplied a […]

8 years ago

The World Cup scenes that stick with you longest, the lingering memories of which can birth a smile or generate imaginary dust in your eye, are often not match-related at all… At a fan zone in Moscow last Friday, a group of Mexico and Colombia supporters combined to lift up an Egypt fan in a […]

8 years ago

In roughly 30 seconds on Sunday morning, a window cracked open and a crucial panoramic on football punditry was provided… In this vista, as ITV built up to its World Cup coverage of Costa Rica versus Serbia, you observed Eni Aluko, an England centurion that swapped Chelsea for Juventus this summer, being demonstrably more […]

8 years ago