Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 39 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Liverpool heard it as anything else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nick Woltemade was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2038
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
289 appearances across 15 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.18 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.63 beside his name.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Alexander Isak had Liverpool level again within 2 minutes, and Brentford never got to play with a lead at all.
17 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad30 Aug 2038
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liverpool they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jacob Richardson. 1‑0 against Cardiff City, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Crystal Palace kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Liverpool will be asked about the last half hour all week.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad23 Aug 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2038
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Liverpool will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Aug 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Aug 2038
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The phone has started ringing about Edward Bell again, and this time the name on the line is Crystal Palace. Liverpool are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Liverpool heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
In brief
SquadWords at Liverpool training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Paul Green will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liverpool the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Jul 2038
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Liverpool will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The club had no hand in it and the town will claim it anyway, which is exactly as it should be. 86 caps now, a summer that will define how his name is said for the rest of his career, and a manager quietly wondering what it does to a man's appetite for a wet Tuesday.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The offer from Reading for Josh Sonni-Lambie was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The name of Edward Bell has come up in conversations Liverpool were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liverpool can pretend not to have heard.
The bid was some way short and Liverpool did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad28 Jun 2038
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Liverpool, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Jun 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josh Sonni-Lambie will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liverpool the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 41 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadCarlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Carlos Baleba's mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
145 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Reading will make the call about La'more Lee-Forrester this week. Liverpool have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 May 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2038
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
In brief
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Carlos Baleba's mistake
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Liverpool heard it as anything else.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadWords at Liverpool training over how hard people work
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Liverpool heard it as anything else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dominik Szoboszlai and Liverpool agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nick Woltemade was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2038
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.72 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
8 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Jeff Ekhator
482 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Benoît Badiashile and Liverpool agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2038
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Shots: 9. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
13 goals and a season average of 7.39. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad29 Mar 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
A 1‑0 win over Newcastle United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Sheffield spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2038
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
9.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Marked 9.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Hugo Ekitiké had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Wolverhampton were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.76 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad15 Mar 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liverpool lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Aston Villa had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Liverpool did not stop to explain themselves.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.33 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
565 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
564 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Liverpool know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
7 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
In brief
MarketPaul Carter returns from a loan that gave him nothing
Player ratingsThe one thing Hugo Ekitiké could not do
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
At 36 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.33 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2038
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liverpool they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
10 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liverpool lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Liverpool scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 30 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
In brief
SquadWords at Liverpool training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 59 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Alexander Isak was at the centre of it, Manchester United were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Liverpool heard it as anything else.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Liverpool support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Squad1 Feb 2038
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liverpool lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.33 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. John Pearson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liverpool the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liverpool can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Jan 2038
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
83 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liverpool lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.25 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The words a physio says slowly. 91 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.28 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Nick Woltemade was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The bid was some way short and Liverpool did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad11 Jan 2038
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 100 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
15 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Liverpool heard it as anything else.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
8.96. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liverpool lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Sheffield go through and Liverpool go home, 4‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.04 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Agustín Medina has just signed for Liverpool, and for once the answer mattered.
8 goals in one match, Juma Bah on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Liverpool and Sheffield.
The words a physio says slowly. 118 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.44 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liverpool they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad21 Dec 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liverpool lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Derby days make names, and Jorrel Hato made his against Everton. 2‑1, bragging rights secured, and one half of town will be tired of hearing about him by Tuesday.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Liverpool heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them and it is a story a city tells for a decade. Liverpool have their man.
Squad14 Dec 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Leoni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
6 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.72 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Liverpool will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I watch every Liverpool game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Derby County runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Marked 8.43 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Two goals and a mark of 9.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexander Isak provided it, and the 9.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.78 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2037
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Michel Ndary Adopo has just signed for Liverpool, and for once the answer mattered.
6 goals in one match, Jacob Richardson on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Liverpool and Newcastle United.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nicholas Cunningham will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liverpool the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Liverpool, and both men came out saying it was fine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.22 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad16 Nov 2037
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Wolverhampton tried to reorganise, Liverpool did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Omari Hutchinson provided it, and the 10.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Queens Park Rangers had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Liverpool did not stop to explain themselves.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.42 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Liverpool heard it as anything else.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hugo Ekitiké. 2‑1 against Brighton, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Brighton spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
0‑3 to Chelsea, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liverpool they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 Oct 2037
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Shots: 11. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.96 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Víctor Muñoz will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liverpool the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 9.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Liverpool, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nick Woltemade. 2‑1 against Bournemouth, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad12 Oct 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Giovanni Leoni is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Beaten 2‑4 by Manchester United in the one fixture that is never just a fixture. Work, school, the corner shop — there will be no getting away from this one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.71 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
6 goals in one match, Hugo Ekitiké on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Liverpool and Manchester United.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Nottingham Forest the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Liverpool will enjoy reviewing.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.13 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Tottenham will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑3, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Liverpool were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.47 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Hugo Ekitiké was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Liverpool and Tottenham, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Ibrahim Osman at his very best
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liverpool can pretend not to have heard.
The name of Samuel Miller has come up in conversations Liverpool were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liverpool lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.95 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The phone has started ringing about Víctor Muñoz again, and this time the name on the line is Spezia. Liverpool are listening politely and promising nothing.
36 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liverpool lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.67 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Conor Bradley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Add another name to the list: Reading have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nicholas Cunningham. The answer from Liverpool has not changed — yet.
15 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 10 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.28 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The offer from Aston Villa for Edward Bell was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Marked 8.82 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Boardroom24 Aug 2037
Nobody left the Liverpool dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Liverpool, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Ipswich Town for John Pearson was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Squad17 Aug 2037
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Boardroom17 Aug 2037
10 academy players handed senior numbers at Liverpool
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
The offer from Rayo Vallecano for Víctor Muñoz was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
In brief
SquadConor Bradley falls out with a teammate over standards
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Liverpool, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad27 Jul 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dominik Szoboszlai signs something — a contract at Liverpool or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ibrahim Osman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liverpool the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Liverpool, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad20 Jul 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Conor Bradley is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The offer from Milton Keynes Dons for Samuel Miller was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad13 Jul 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Liverpool will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Newcastle United for Mika Biereth was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Liverpool heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Jul 2037
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Víctor Muñoz has agreed terms with Tottenham for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The phone has started ringing about Víctor Muñoz again, and this time the name on the line is Rayo Vallecano. Liverpool are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad29 Jun 2037
Conor Bradley falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Newcastle United will make the call about Mika Biereth this week. Liverpool have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Liverpool have paid $47.6M for Peter Shaw, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liverpool they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Peter Shaw has just signed for Liverpool, and for once the answer mattered.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Liverpool, and it is not being withdrawn.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 95 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 65 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Hugo Ekitiké was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The bid was some way short and Liverpool did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad15 Jun 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 104 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Wolverhampton for Mika Biereth was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Bolton Wanderers have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Nicholas Cunningham. The answer from Liverpool has not changed — yet.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 113 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
106 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Liverpool, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad25 May 2037
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liverpool they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 May 2037
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Liverpool will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Mac Allister signs something — a contract at Liverpool or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Ibrahim Osman’s negotiating for him
BoardroomThe Liverpool production line keeps running
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Liverpool lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Ibrahim Osman has agreed terms with Arsenal for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad20 Apr 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Apr 2037
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alexis Mac Allister signs something — a contract at Liverpool or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Ibrahim Osman’s negotiating for him
BoardroomThe Liverpool production line keeps running
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.44 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
537 appearances across 11 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Liverpool have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad30 Mar 2037
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Position 3, 59 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
At 37 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.26 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Mar 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alexander Isak. 1‑0 against Sheffield, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.86 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.51 with 11 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad16 Mar 2037
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 goals in one match, Alexander Isak on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Liverpool and West Ham United.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Benoît Badiashile will call it something else in private.
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.22 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dominik Szoboszlai and Liverpool agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Hugo Ekitiké was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Mar 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
6 goals in one match, Rio Ngumoha on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Liverpool and Arsenal.
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ibrahim Osman will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liverpool the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.45 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dominik Szoboszlai and Liverpool agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alexander Isak provided it, and the 8.65 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Henry Wood will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liverpool the goodbyes have quietly begun.
12 goals in one match, Alexander Isak on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Liverpool and Brighton.
Marked 9.16 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Out, 0‑1 to Brighton, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings16 Feb 2037
A brace, and Hugo Ekitiké takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hugo Ekitiké provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Feb 2037
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
13 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.54 at 37, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Benoît Badiashile and Liverpool agree another 2 years.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Feb 2037
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Liverpool support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Liverpool have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad2 Feb 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Liverpool, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.23 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
27 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The offer from Red Bull Salzburg for Harry Hamilton was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad26 Jan 2037
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Two goals and a mark of 9.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.60 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Hugo Ekitiké was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad19 Jan 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jan 2037
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.66 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.66 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liverpool they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The bid was some way short and Liverpool did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad5 Jan 2037
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Add another name to the list: Cardiff City have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Rio Ngumoha. The answer from Liverpool has not changed — yet.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.30 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Dec 2036
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.68 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Position 3, 36 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad22 Dec 2036
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.32 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Dec 2036
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liverpool they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad8 Dec 2036
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Carlos Baleba is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
13 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.56 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Liverpool, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 9.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
In brief
SquadWords at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.47 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
28 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Nov 2036
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alexander Smith has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Benoît Badiashile. 1‑0 against Sheffield, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
Player ratingsCarlos Baleba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.22 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Nov 2036
Carlos Baleba falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It needed Hugo Ekitiké to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against West Ham United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
5 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Arsenal kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Liverpool will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liverpool have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liverpool is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.21 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.43 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Liverpool hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Nov 2036
Jorrel Hato falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Giovanni Leoni. 3‑1 against Birmingham, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Benoît Badiashile was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. John Pearson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liverpool the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad27 Oct 2036
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jorrel Hato is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Shots: 13. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 15 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.84 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liverpool this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 25 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Marked 9.53. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Liverpool.
Squad20 Oct 2036
Words at Liverpool training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alexis Mac Allister is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.