You could have got 18/1 on Arsenal winning nothing this season and that’s starting to sound like a good investment. Plus, more on Liverpool and West Ham.

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A thoughtful missive from Manchester

The last 2 weeks city have put 2 of your darling American owned red shirt mardar@e club’s under their stones, we ain’t going away you bitter tw@ts , we can smell your urine boiling and taste your salty tears, wait and till we’re fully cleared on the cartel made up 115 charges, think a lot of your lot will Need counselling. yours the Mancunian boys.
Steven Jones

The Arsenal bottling began in January

“We’re top of the league, we won the CL group and we’re still in both cups”
“It’s only the League Cup, we’re still on for the treble”
“It’s only the FA Cup, we’re still on for the league/CL double”

This was coming after the insipid draw against a finished Liverpool. It wasn’t “reactionary”, it was based on observing two decades of failure.

The Liverpool draw was the start of a run of just 2 wins in 7 league games, which means Arsenal failed to build a “bottle proof” lead. Now Haaland is looking ominous and Arsenal helped put Man City (the weakest Man City team of Pep’s era) back into form by not turning up in the League Cup Final – a defeat that was too easily brushed off.

Now right on cue, Arsenal have delivered back-to-back defeats for the first time this season, after that pathetic performance against Southampton. I knew I should have taken the “no trophies” bet a few weeks ago when the odds were 18/1.
Matthew

READ: How Declan Rice’s gypsy curse is responsible for Arsenal’s ongoing trophy drought

Arsenal have not won the league yet

I don’t know why LA Gooner is so confidentin thinking the league is still going to be won?

We have to play Bournemouth at home and are at City in our next 2 league games, after our CL ties in midweek against Sporting, while our opponents have free midweeks. We got 1 point from these fixtures last season. City and Bournemouth are both unbeaten in the league since January. If we drop points in both and City win their game in hand, the league is definitely back on.

I can see Arsenal getting to the CL semis, losing to Barca, whilst dropping points in the league and City stealing it at the end.

A City domestic treble is more likely than a single Arsenal trophy IMO at the moment, but I am generally a pessimist with Arsenal, so hope I’m wrong.
Izzy, London

YNWA – with conditions

You see the problem with having slogans such as “You’ll never walk alone” and “This means more” is that a relatively poor season shines a light on what a load of contrived nonsense it really is. Ask Arne if he feels like he is walking alone, as he makes his way to the dole office.

Fans who anointed him king a mere 10 months ago have left him out to dry, even though they can still make CL spots and made the quarters in the FA Cup and CL. They are still in the CL and could technically win it, as far fetched as that might seem. Oh but that’s right, this means more so they should be romping every competition at a canter.

The truth is that Klopp won 5 trophies over 9 seasons (not counting the CS and European/World equivalents – if you want we can start counting them all), whereby they had three outstanding seasons in the league when they hit over 90 points. Otherwise, there were a couple of seasons outside CL spots and the remainder were scraps to get into CL places. I’m really not sure where this sense of entitlement comes from. By winning the league, Slot has already done in one season that which took Klopp five (well technically four and a half).

Was Slot not the one who had misgivings about Salah, after he tailed off last season, and was kindly pushing him out the door before the demise became so painfully obvious? VVD was making mistakes last season (arrogance comes before a fall eh?) and Slot tried to sign Guehi in the summer. Granted there was an awful lot of money spent and it is yet to be seen if most was wasted but a squad isn’t built in a day.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t find the situation utterly hilarious. The smugness of those claiming Liverpool would dominate for years after spending millions in the summer grated on us all, and that five game “unbeaten run” at the start of the season, when they were prematurely crowned champions, seems so gloriously long ago now. You had me worried there for a month lads.

So, in the spirit of caring and sharing, I propose they rework their song/slogans and change them to “You’ll never walk alone if we are winning” and “This means more, and by more we mean a load of old balls”. You’re welcome.
Garey Vance, MUFC

READ: Who will be the next manager of Liverpool after Arne Slot sack?

Defending Virgil

Nuwagaba, a Liverpool fan from Uganda here.

I read Will Ford’s articlesuggesting that Virgil van Dijk’s Liverpool career is almost over, written shortly after Manchester City dismantled Liverpool, as well as the mail section criticising both Salah and Van Dijk. When it comes to VVD, I think many people are making sweeping generalisations.

Take City’s goals, for example. Yes, O’Reilly turns Van Dijk, but only because he had so much time and space. The ball ricochets off Gravenberch and lands perfectly for Cherki inside the box, giving him all the time he needs to slide the pass to O’Reilly. VVD didn’t have the luxury of being tighter, he had to commit, because any shot from that position would likely result in a goal.

Will writes: “Semenyo ran off the back of Van Dijk to score City’s second before Haaland made him look a right mug as he nipped in ahead of the Reds skipper to seal his hat-trick.” But did he actually watch what happened in the buildup to those goals, or just the moment the ball hit the net?

For City’s third, Gomez throws the ball straight to a City player (that’s two goals conceded from Liverpool’s own throw?ins—perhaps it’s time to bring back a throw?in coach). The recipient immediately feeds Cherki, who is already ahead of all of Liverpool’s midfielders, with acres of space and time to pick out a runner. Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, and Curtis Jones were all behind the play. The only way that goal doesn’t happen is if Cherki misplaces the pass or Semenyo fails to beat Mama. VVD isn’t even in the equation as long as Cherki is allowed that amount of space.

As for Haaland’s third, did Will not see how effortlessly City passed through Liverpool’s press and midfield? O’Reilly was initially tracked by Szoboszlai, who bizarrely stopped running. City’s left?back then drifted off Konaté and Gomez, was picked out by Doku, and suddenly had the entire left side of the box to himself. He could have shot, but instead squared it to Haaland, one of three City players waiting for a cutback. How anyone watches that and concludes the centre-back is the problem, rather than the midfield being far too easy to play through after the first 35 minutes, is baffling. No centre-half, however world?class, can stop City’s attackers when they’re given that much space and freedom.

Will, please rewatch the goals and take a moment before writing next time.
Nuwagaba

On Max F***ing Kilman

The guy is barely a professional footballer. Can’t pass, no pace, gets turned effortlessly and can’t even make a tackle when the ball is immediately in front of him. He is firmly the worst ever Premier League signing. ￡40 effing million actual pounds. What a disgrace.
Mike, WHU

…Wooaahhh! That message?was sent at 2-0 down 90th minute. Fking hell, football eh….. extra time here we go.
Mike, WHU

(We have yet to hear again from Mike, WHU. That will probably be all from him until Dave Tickner writes about Spurs again – Ed)