Ruthless, Dominant, Hungry: Crystal Palace vs Liverpool 0-7

The boys recently came off at the back of a crucial top of the table match against Tottenham Hotspurs as victors. Just barely 62 hours later, we have an early match on a Saturday, but the Reds  in their groovy third kit kept the momentum up with a masterclass display of dominance.

In this show of relentless attacking, Liverpool came off with an all time away record win of 7-0 in the premier league and the first time the team won by a 7 goal margin. And in this game, 3 of the forwards found their hold and 2 of them finally broke the duck.

Liverpool
Takumi Minamino - 3", assisted by Sadio Mane
Sadio Mane - 36", assisted by Bobby Firmino
Bobby Firmino - 45", assisted by Andrew Robertson
Jordan Henderson - 50" assisted by Trent Alexander Arnold
Bobby Firmino - 59" assisted by Mohamed Salah
Mohamed Salah - 80" assisted by Joel Matip
Mohamed Salah - 84" assisted by Alex Oxlade Chamberlain

It was a massive team game, with a grand total of 9 different players contributing to goals that led to this massive route. And to be honest, it's not that we are just that good, Palace were simply awful which alone attributed to this humiliation.

PLAYER RATINGS

Alisson Becker - 7, had relatively little to do in goal apart from a couple of routines and that patch of time during the 1st half when Crystal Palace seemingly had the better spell of the game. 

Trent Alexander Arnold - 9, assisted a goal for Henderson and later initiated with the corner that led to Matip and Salah's involvement in the 6th Goal.

Joel Matip - 8 Imperious and he himself had an assist following a corner from Alexander Arnold. Paired well with Fabinho once again. But really defensively there was nothing that he really needed to do as Palace simply gave up after Henderson's goal.

Fabinho - 8 Along with Matip, had really nothing much to do. However he nearly gifted a goal from Zaha to Ayew. He did get away with it though. 

Robertson - 8. Launched an awesome counter attack, classic Liverpool style that led to him assisting for Firmino's 1st goal. As many assists as Kevin De Bruyne since the start of 18/19. And for crying out loud, he's only a left back!

Jordan Henderson - 10. A Captain's performance and really dictated the whole match in terms of his tempo. And oh my goodness, that goal was a thing of a beauty, again outside the 18 yard box. Always the one barking orders, like a true reflection of Jurgen Klopp himself. No one really gives Hendo the credit he actually deserves and to be honest, it took me a long time to warm up to Henderson's work rate. And since the start of 18/19 season, he has been putting good shifts in. 

Gini Wijnaldum - 7. One of the quieter performers since most of the work was done by Henderson. Then again he had been playing so relentlessly for weeks straight, so 20 minutes before full time was given a needed break.

Naby Keita - 8. Nice to see him back in the squad and being the secondary engine with Henderson.  Still finding his rhythm  but according to stats he did win 100% of his tackles and duels in this game. Definitely needs more game time if he needs to get match fit again after being out for so long.

Takumi Minamino - 9. Started ahead of Salah and he was a constant menace and set up the Reds atmosphere with a VERY early goal. Happy for the guy, it is his first Premier League goal. Been excellent all game.

Bobby Firmino - 10. In red hot form, carrying on his momentum from the Tottenham game where he scored the injury time header, he was a monster again creating all sorts of problems for the Palace defense. 2 Goals and 1 assist is a good day in the office for him. If he hadn't been subbed he could have tried for a Hat Trick. But Bobby's not complaining, compared to...

Sadio Mane - 9. Yeah, this guy. I can understand he is always hungry, maybe abit too hungry. That explains why he was abit upset when he got subbed. However doesn't take away the gloss that he also put up a good show with 1 goal and 1 assist. And a timely manner to break his goal scoring draught thanks to stupid VAR calls.

SUBSTITUTES

Mohamed Salah - 9. Guy is just not stopping eh? He achieved the same amount of goal contributions as Firmino in a shorter amount of time, also a brace and 1 assist. And of all goals that he put in, 1 header from another header, and a 2nd beautiful curler in the same manner he did that against Chelsea a couple seasons ago. To be honest, Salah didn't need to come in, but ah well, some game time is also good for his confidence.

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain - 8.  Another one to make his comeback from Injury. And even in his brief cameo, he notched an assist to Salah's jaw dropping goal.

Curtis Jones - 6 Came in place of Gini Wijnaldum, didn't really have anything to do except to allow Gini to have a break.

NEXT GAME:

West Bromwich Albion
Venue: Anfield
Time: 27th December 4.30pm GMT, 1230am SGT

This may be a tricky fixture as this is Sam Alladyce's first game as WBA's head coach. And Klopp knows all too well, and mentioned that any team with Big Sam will be a challenging match.

Champions League MD5: Liverpool 1 - Ajax 0 - The kids are alright ya? But INJURIES I WANT IT BANNED!!!!

First off, the injuries.... my fucking God when is it gonna end?? Because now we have this whole bloody  chunk away on the stupid treatment table. I really want to ban injuries already for good.

Alisson (New Injury to Hamstring)
Trent Alexander Arnold
Van Dijk (ACL wrecked by the damn Pickford, I hope he dies, like seriously)
Joe Gomez (Injured in International training which is VERY dumb)
Thiago Alcantara (STILL NO RETURN IN SIGHT WTF!? Richarlison is another one I want dead!)
Keita (Seriously)
Alex Oxlade Chamberlain (When the hell is he returning??)
James Milner (Hamstring)

Really, enough is enough of injuries,  I've had it, I'm banning them.

That said which means our choices remain extremely limited in our squad. And our bench is filled with youngsters.

But speaking of youngsters....the 3 kids are alright no? And the new defense in yet another formation was pretty solid, without a shadow of a doubt. Secured the win, and qualified for the last 16 with one game to spare, the game that they can afford to take a breather regardless of what happens there.

----------------------------------------------
CAOIHMIN KELLEHER - 9 (King of the Match)

Picked ahead of usual 2nd Choice and tossed right in the deep end. But surprisingly, the Irishman Kelleher was absolutely immense, and commanding his line standing his ground as he made save after save against waves of attacks from Ajax. He made a few crucial denials including a really critical point blank header at the dying stages of the game. He gets a 9 for conducting this masterclass and the King of the Match. Talk about a heck of a Champions League Debut.

NECO WILLIAMS - 7

To be frank, I've never liked Neco Williams as his defending can be extremely clumsy and he lacks the delivery rates that Trent Alexander Arnold have. He still has his nervy moments until that beautiful cross over the Ajax Goalie Onana, catching him off guard, leaving Curtis Jones to slam the ball home. His first assist in a Liverpool shirt, and in the UCL. Still I won't let him off just yet, because his performances most of the time prior to this was extremely alarming and the weak point in the right hand  side. I understand he is young, but until Trent comes back, he needs to get good, and VERY fast and consistently.

JOEL MATIP AND FABINHO - 8

Marshalled the back line well with the rest of the back 5 and the new keeper. Kept the forward line of Ajax quiet. Both partner very well and Fabinho is slowly making the Center Back Role his own which was partially why Ajax's finishing has been made rather sloppy.

ROBERTSON - 8

Had a slight injury worry in the first half but soldiered on and really committed to his left side while fucked off the injury.

CURTIS JONES - 9

Narrowly missed the King of the Match but he was the brightest spark of all the outfield players. Missed his first effort which was unlucky but later caught the opening when Neco sent the cross over Onana and broke the deadlock. First UCL Goal for the scouser! An excellent day in the office for him. 

JORDAN HENDERSON - 8

The pace setter and the metronome, put up a typical captain's performance.

OUR FORWARDS MO 7, JO 6, SADIO - 6

Gotta give it to Ajax for keeping these 3 quiet. Mo Salah tried and was causing problems and was the most threatening of the lot, the other 2 less so.

At least now we can rest players for the Midtjylland fixture, which is pretty now redundant having won Group D and qualification was never in doubt even if we lose there.

NEXT 3 FIXTURES

LIVERPOOL VS WOLVES
06 DEC 715pm GMT
07 DEC 315am SGT

MIDTJAYLLAND vs LIVERPOOL
10 DEC 155AM SGT

FULHAM VS LIVERPOOL
13 DEC 430PM GMT
14 DEC 1230MN SGT

And good, now we have 5 days of rest as the hardest match of the 3 will be Wolves. Even with a heavy injury to their best forward Raul Jiminez, we still can't discount the fact that Nuno still is doing wonders to the squad. Following that with the MD6 of UCL which we can afford to bring a fringe side to allow our players a break before Fulham and later Tottenham. By then we should see Trent as well as Alisson and perhaps Milner against Fulham at the very latest.

Champions League 3 - Atalanta 0-5 Liverpool - New DeeJay on the Block, Diogo Jota's hat trick masterclass

There is a new DJ in town, enter Diogo Jota!

4 games in a row, 6 goals... that is our new guy Diogo Jota's form right now. After bagging 3 goals in 3 consecutive games earlier last week, he just bagged his first Euro / UCL Hat Trick in a Reds Shirt. Such is his dominance in the match played away against Atalanta earlier today. Interesting enough this is his third hat trick in his career.

'The Italian side who punched well above their weight in the last season's champions league, simply had no answer against Diogo Jota.

To be perfectly honest, I almost completely forgot how good this young Portugese was, especially in his time at Wolves. And this was a signing that we almost completely didn't expect as we have been thinking over people like Kylian Mbappe, Adama Traore, Ismal Sarr, etc. 

But in came Diogo Jota, 10 games in, and 7 goals to his credit. All credit to him, he has only started 2 of these games and now he is in the form of his life.

THE MATCH

Klopp entered a match with a majority of our key guys returning from injury Alisson (Earlier than expected), Kostas Tsimikas, but still doesn't take away the fact that we are still without Virgil Van Dijk which I still can't get over Pickford, (I wish he dies to be honest because that was beyond disgusting), Oxlade Chamberlain, Fabinho, Thiago. But it does give some valuable minutes to some new members of the squad while giving an earlier break for some key guys for the Man City Match.

GK Alisson

RB Trent Alexander Arnold  (1 Assist -> Diogo Jota Goal 16", Subbed by Neco Williams 82")

CB Rhys Williams

CB Joe Gomez (1 Assist -> Diogo Jota Goal 33")

LB Andy Robertson (Subbed by Naby Keita)

CM Henderson (Subbed by James Milner)
RM Curtis Jones (1 Assist to Salah Goal 47")

LM Wijnaldum (Subbed by Kostas Tsimikas)

RW Mo Salah (1 Goal 47", 1 Assist to Mane Goal 49")

LW Sadio Mane (1 Goal 49", 1 Assist to Diogo Jota Goal 54")

ST Diogo Jota (3 Goals 16", 33", 54", Subbed by Firmino 65")

Just by looking at the front 3, just look at em'. All 3 on target!

Diogo Jota instead of his usual left winger side started down center playing a more traditional striker but often playing switcheroo with Mane and Salah's wing cause' in the Atalanta game, he scored from both the left, right and the center. And that's the advantage of being ambidextrous with both feet, you can cut in from either wing to support your wingers. And interestingly, he's supposed to be stronger with his right foot, yet in his career, he has made more shots with his left than his right.

The new thrilling 3 proved so devastating and Mo and Mane both feeding to each other. And 2 of our youngsters of Curtis Jones and Rhys Williams proved they can run the show when needed while the others of the backline provided additional artillery support with both Gomez and TAA also assisting for the goals. 

It was a combination of pure genius along with classic Liverpool counterattacks, with the 2 of the 3 2nd half goals all breakaways from goal to goal.

Quite a statement match to prepare for Manchester City this weekend. And should Jota keep his place in the starting lineup? Hell, yes. That is the difference of having someone very young and threatening and with eye on Goal instead of Firmino. Still you can't overlook Firmino and you can still play both in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Jota as the main traditional striker with Firmino as Attacking Midfield.

SOME INTERESTING STATS AND RECORDS

Fewest Games to 7 Goals in all campaigns since 2000

10 apps DIOGO JOTA

12 apps Fernando Torres

Mark of an Elite Player - Diogo Jota

13 apps Daniel Sturridge

13 apps Mo Salah

Diogo Jota also became the fifth LFC player to bag a UEFA Champions League Hat Trick

Starting with:

2002 Michael Owen

2007 Yossi Benayoun

2017 Philippe Coutinho

2018 Sadio Mane

2020 Diogo Jota

DIOGO JOTA Match Stats and these are the most amongst the players of the match

3 Goals

11 Total Duels 

4 Shots on Target

2 Fouls won

Took the on-the-job training well
Rising to First Team Rhys Williams

4 Shots on Goal

RHYS WILLIAMS

Another player to credit and a meteoric rising star is Rhys! From a non-league football this year to straight into the deep end. But as you all know that this decision has been forced which is why he started. Couple of cameos at first but for cup match against Arsenal and now the UCL campaign he has been playing a major role in keeping goals out ever since he stepped up and finally has his first start and played the full 90 minutes.

92% Pass Accuracy

2 Tackles (Both Successful)

3 Clearances

1 Clean Sheet 

Career all 3 UCL Apps, all 3 Clean Sheets

And let is sink  in... he's only 19 and nowhere experienced at all. But you can just pop him in there and he just looks like he belongs there easily and plays like an Elite. Today was no exception, read the game brilliantly. Sure he may not have some good few touches, but he's otherwise composed and calm, the basics you want in a center back. Give him some time, and Rhys will get there. You can say that he's our equivalent or Mathis De Ligt.

Liverpool vs Arsenal double: It's gonna be a wild ride.

Well, we didn't perform well vs Arsenal this year. And now we have to face them twice, one in the EFL Cup and one in the Premier League. This is the week where our depth will be tested quite a fair bit. However when the league restarted earlier this month, we have shown we have a point to prove. We may be dicey with the win over Leeds. However we dominated Chelsea despite them fielding Kai Havertz and even Timo Werner. We also comfortably dispatched Lincoln with a heavy 7-2 mauling. But granted, Arsenal have had harder matches in the EFL cup, facing Leicester before facing us. That said, the advantage is we have both matches played in Anfield. That said, to play Arsenal twice is really trying, because we have all the hard crap.

That said, as long as we win Arsenal in the PL legged match then we should have a solid foundation running. And now here are the lineups I am predicting for both, noting we have to do one after another.

BPL: Tuesday 3am GMT+8

The backline picks itself up. However 2 formations Klopp can employ, either a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1. However the main front should come to no surprise. Just the matter who will be employed in the midfield. Thiago is an interesting option because he can play anywhere on the center midfield, whether attacking or defensive.

If it is a 4231, this would be my lineup: With Minamino as a Number 9 before SFM.

If Henderson cannot start on this match, Keita would be my 2nd option over him at either of these formations.

EFL tie: 5th October 2:15am GMT +8

The depth that we have now thanks to the additions of Jota and Tsimikas mean our B squad is nearly good enough to take on an experienced squad. If you can remember the last time we face Arsenal in the EFL cup, and Everton in the FA Cup, we were using an entire string of youngsters with some exceptions.

As far as the back goes, our backline consists of Koumetio and Van Den Berg. Rhys Williams and Nat Philips can also be an option too. And by no means, our B squad isn't experienced, the youngsters actually are quite experienced and would know how to play some of the bigger squads. Jones turnover so far has been respectable, recording 2 goals against Lincoln. 2 Goals for Mini plus another during the Community Shield, Brewster performing well in Pre-season... they can punch above their weight. Brewster really should try to fight for his place, don't be sold, and then be used in the cups because an out and out striker would be lethal in front.

 Of course all these players especially the midfield and the front, since a lot of them can play in different places so they can be shifted around. But at least for the midfield the idea is 1 of them has to be experienced enough to captain the EFL squad like Milner, Wijnaldum and Curtis Jones and even Origi who captained the squad after Van Dijk left for Fabinho.

We'll see how it works for Klopp because we have a lot of gifted talent at our disposal against Arsenal.

Kicking off 2020-2021 Season: Leeds and Chelsea blitzes. Lincoln to come and starting XI predictions: Pls start Karius and Jota!!

Been a awhile since I posted this one! Now we just kicked off the season last weekend on the 12/13th September with a match with Leeds. My oh my, this game was crazy, Leeds was proving a worthy adversary thanks to the number of signings they did, including Rodrigo. However Liverpool wasn't deterred, even with 3 goals conceded, Mohamed Salah kept his cool in the 2 penalties he was involved and got a hat trick on his very first game. The defense wasn't that particularly good and back then we were starting to get increasingly worried for the lack of signings.

Enter Thiago, Thiago time it was.

Our scouser side snapped up with the UCL winner Thiago from Bayern which was huge. Now even if he didn't have that much training, and he did concede a penalty vs Chelsea, but he really demonstrated on what he was able to do. 73-75 passes, I dunno the exact figure, but it was more than any player by Chelsea, and that's in 45 minutes, not a full 90. That alone shows what the missing metronome Liverpool really needed.

In addition to Thiago, we also signed in Kostantinos Tsimikas from the 19/20 Greek Champions Olympiakos. And another signing we didn't expect that was done quickly, was Diogo Jota from Wolverhampton Wanderers. I completely forgot how good he was, and we got that deal snapped up fast, as part of a swap with our youngster Ki-Jana Hoever plus topping up the difference. With that said, we still need another CB, whether or not Fabinho can still deputise at Center Back.

That said, this Thursday's Carabao Cup tie against Lincoln will be a good match to try different lineups and get whoever else that didn't play against Chelsea or Leeds match fit. So some changes is definitely a must and there are some surprise inclusions in my starting lineup prediction that you may feel.

BACK FIVE:
GK: Loris Karius
RB: Neco Williams
CB: Joe Gomez and Billy Koumetio
LB: Kostas Tsimikas

Midfield and Front for 4231

CM: Curtis Jones, Thiago Alcantara
AM: Takumi Minamino
LW: Xherdan Shaqiri
ST: Rhian Brewster
RW: Diogo Jota

Midfield and Front for 433

CDM: Marko Grujic
CM: Curtis Jones, Thiago Alcantara
LW: Diogo Jota
ST: Rhian Brewster
RW: Harvey Elliott

Subs: Adrian, Sepp Van Berg, James Milner, Nathaniel Philips, Marko Grujic, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, Takumi Minamino, Divock Origi

The 4231 kinda picked itself out, it's an easier prediction to make. And due to the lack of defenders, the back is pretty much decided. But before anyone slates me for picking Karius, in all honesty, he is not a bad player, and let these matches serve as a way to regain match fitness. And as long he dons a Liverpool shirt he still is one of us.

And do note, Jota has been proven that he can go anywhere in front because he can utilise either feet for striking.  I always liked the 4231 formation so it provided an extra man in the attack. Thiago is ideal as the most advanced midfielder and he needs to get fitter, so maybe first half or 2nd half again appearance. Joe Gomez since he missed the Chelsea match, getting some minutes in will be crucial too.

So that is my Starting XI Predictions. Let's see if I get this one right.

How will the league finish? Battle for Europe, and against the Drop 19/20

Quick Overview and I'm sure many rival fans would be bored of hearing this but we Liverpool FC are the champions of England with 7 games to spare. Now it begs the question, how will the rest of the league finish? Here's a quick Overview of the table at time of this writing.

Remaining Matches:

Liverpool: Man City (A), Villa (H), Brighton (A), Burnley (H), Arsenal (A), Chelsea (H), Newcastle (A)

Man City: Liverpool (H), Southampton (A), Newcastle (H), Brighton (A), Bournemouth (H), Watford (A), Arsenal (A FA Cup), Norwich (H)

Chelsea: West Ham (A), Watford (H), Crystal Palace (H), Sheffield (A), Norwich (H), Liverpool (A), Man U (A FA Cup), Wolves (H)

Leicester City: Everton (A), Crystal Palace (H), Arsenal (A), Bournemouth (A), Sheffield (H), Tottenham (A), Man U(H)

Wolves: Arsenal (H), Sheffield (A), Everton (H), Burnley (A), Crystal Palace (H), Chelsea (A)

Manchester United: Brighton (A), Bournemouth (H), Villa (A), Saints (H), Crystal Palace (A), West Ham (H), Chelsea (H, FA Cup) Leicester (A)

Tottenham Hotspurs: Sheffield A, Everton (H), Bournemouth (A), Arsenal (H), Newcastle (A), Leicester (H), Crystal Palace (A)

Sheffield United: Tottenham (H), Burnley (A),Wolves (H), Chelsea (H), Leicester (A), Everton (H), Saints (A)

Burnley

Arsenal: Norwich (H), Wolves (A) Leicester (H), Tottenham (A) Liverpool, Villa, Watford,

Crystal Palace

Everton

Southampton

Newcastle United

Brighton and Hove: Man U (H), Norwich (A), Liverpool (A), Man City (H), Southampton (A), Newcastle (H), Burnley (A)

Watford

West Ham

Bournemouth

Aston Villa

Norwich: Arsenal (A), Brighton (H), Watford (A), West Ham (H), Chelsea (A), Burnley (H), Man City (A)


BATTLE FOR EUROPE:

For Manchester City, we have to assume the scenario that their ban may be lifted for next season if their appeal goes through. So there's still a possibility that they may still be involved in the UEFA Champions League Football even though they may still be banned now. With that said, that'll leave us the Top 5 for UCL and 6 and 7 for Europa League.

At the moment, the battle here on out will be an interesting one. Because unexpectedly, Wolves are in the running for another European Competition for the 2nd year running. Nuno Esprito Santo, a cute and chubby manager has been doing good surprisingly for them. And any points dropped by Leicester, Man City and Chelsea will be huge cause' instead of Europa League which they did last year, they might even stand a chance to qualify for the UEFA Champions League. That said competition for places will be extremely tight as clubs in the 43+ points thereabouts still have a fighting chance.

UCL PLACES PREDICTION;

Liverpool: As Premier League winners, their place in the UCL is guaranteed. It's gonna be a long ride though as we will need to defend our title at the same time. But for now till the end of the season we can afford to play around with new formations and rotate heavily to give game time to our young players like Elliot, Curtis Jones, Neco Williams and Ki-Jana Hoever.

Man City:
We have to not rule out their ban overturned. If so, there is a small chance they can still at least compete in the UCL. With their current position on the table for the remaining games, qualification should also be no problems provided they can play. Their remaining games should be easy work for them too,  with the only exceptions of Liverpool. They can't get complacent against Brighton either, seeing their morale heavily boosted with the Arsenal win too. However they are still in the current UCL, so chances are they may want to reserve their best team for the remaining UCL rounds and rotate heavily for the PL games.

Leicester
The Foxes have been on a bit of a slump lately, not picking up as many points as they should  That said, their UCL Qualification chance may come under threat with Chelsea and Wolves both at their heels. Until their last few games, they need to notch up wins and fast.

Chelsea
Coming out from a massive 2-1 win over Man City, they'll have the adrenaline to go all out. Their next few games are easy enough, but the last few games is gonna be a doozy.

Manchester United:
Their road to the last 7 PL games will be an easy challenge. And provided they are careful they can also go on and win the FA Cup.


EUROPA LEAGUE PLACES PREDICTION:

Wolves:
To be on the safe side, I'll put them occupying the first of the 2 Europa spots although they have every chance to still gun for the Champions League position. They've been doing so well. But with Arsenal and Chelsea still to come for them, they have to be wary as this may present as a bit of a wall.

Sheffield United

Like it or not, Sheffield can be a very VERY stubborn team to break down. Drawing against Arsenal Chelsea, Man U and Tottenham, while they only narrowly lost to Man City and Liverpool in their encounters. Therefore it is an easy guess to say that the Blades have every chance to at least grab a Euro place.

BATTLE FOR SURVIVAL:

It's gonna be dicey from 16-20. Because this will seriously test their mentality in combating against relegation.

Predictions for relegation:

Norwich
I don't see Norwich able to escape the drop at the end of the season, with tricky ties to Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea. This may be a long slog for them. It'll take a good few wins and a whole lot of luck, so I don't see it happening


Page to continually be updated

LIVERPOOL NA NA NA!!!! - CHAMPIONS OF ENGLAND 19/20

Champions of England

Need we say more? This season is done after 31 games. Most Games to go at 7, least amount of games to win the PL. Football has been so good all season, with heavy wins from Everton, Man City and Leicester. Here are some of the factors that really played in Liverpool's way.

1. CONSISTENCY

There is no doubt beyond anybody's mind that consistency played a part there. Gotten 97 points last season and it is possible that we can actually eclipse this amount including the 100 set by Man City. We've only dropped 7 points so far. 2 draws and 1 defeat and all it has to do with keeping stuff plain and simple.

2. FORTRESS ANFIELD

With or without fans, Anfield serves as the Home Base of our operations, and a formidable one at that. We've yet to lose at home in the PL for almost 2 seasons straight.

3. NEVER SAY DIE MENTALITY

Sure we may have picked a few knocks along the way with heavy injuries to Matip, Alisson, earlier. And in the initial phase of the season we've been behind in games, and time and time again we turn them into late game wins or snatch a point like Lallana's equaliser vs United.

4. DISCIPLINED DEFENSE

Only 21 goals conceeded, which is like 0.67 goals shipped in per game is not bad. Sure we may have went behind a few times but we compacted ourselves whenever we go between thirds of the field. Also we were still leaking in goals alot with Adrian in Goal, but we managed to secure a lot of clean sheets later part of the season. If that wasn't enough, Alisson may have missed of third of games to injury, but he's still in the leading pack for the Golden Glove, quite an achievement to be honest with ya.

My Man of the season: It's actually difficult to pinpoint who has been the stand out performer because all of them have been consistent. But there are few I can give a shout out. Sadio Mane, Virgil Van Dijk and Jordan Henderson. 4 Cups in a single calendar year is pretty crazy if you ask me.

WHAT WENT WRONG FOR DEFENDING CHAMPIONS CITY?

A lot of things worked in our favor and there's no doubt there's a lot of things going wrong for the defending Champions, and going wrong BADLY. And at the time of this writing, they've lost 8 of their 31 games and drew 3. And off these 9 games, there were 2 pairs of double legged (meaning both Home and Away) losses (Wolves of all teams and Manchester United) and another pair of double legged games where City Lost Points (Tottenham 1D 1L). Here's a quick breakdown on what happened.

1. Injury to Laporte and Shambolic Defenses.

Laporte is no doubt a world class center back. And his presence and absence are both felt on and off the pitch. Without a fit replacement, Fernandinho has to abandon his duties as a defensive midfielder to fit in as a center back which is not in his natural position. With only Otemendi and John stones as the only CBs left and John having muscle injuries since September, it ain't ideal. As a result, their defenses are absolutely in shambles. It's like Liverpool's glassy backline of Karius and Lovren, Moreno and Klavan again.

2. Lack of Leadership

With Vincente Kompany gone, there's a lack of capable leaders that whose leadership can come anywhere close to the talismanic figure of Kompany. These are big boots to fill, but the vice captains that take over from his position, can't really command the backline as effectively.

3. Failure to reinforce and a rapidly aging squad

As if the lack of fit center backs ain't enough, face it their squad is aging quite heavily, with their squad age average at 27.1, their energy levels will wane eventually. Some of them have been in here for ages, like Aguero, Kyle Walker, Fernandinho, David Silva still playing well in their 30s. Without the services of Laporte, that has come to bite the squad in the ass. It's not the fault of Pep, he's still a world class manager. It's just with the squad aging fast, the balance is totally off.

WHAT NEXT FOR OUR NEW CHAMPIONS FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON?

Well, choices are pretty open. Some are crazy enough to want Reds to just eclipse the 100 points set by Man City. Actually I don't need that. Just let fringe and young members to get some starts off their belt. Definite chances I would give to if I were Klopp would be people like Neco Williams, Curtis Jones, Minamino, Harvey Elliot.

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't reinforce. Just because of loss of income due to Covid-19, is no valid excuse at all as soon to be defending champions. The team to keep an eye on is Chelsea especially bringing in my priced target Timo Werner in which I'm still pissed about, and Pulisic too, who is on fire, scoring against Man City earlier. Really a world class defender and another Attack Midfielder for us like Koulibaly and Adam Traore would round the squad off nicely. It's either that, or we need to get our youth to be world class in 2 months.