Klopp leaving and City playing sub-standard football have coalesced to me being firmly convinced that the Mighty Reds will take the league. I wouldn't be surprised if they blagged the FA cup or Europa Cup too. Sunday's stunning victory with a much depleted squad showed the desire and the unity behind Klopp's leadership. Many of their injured players will start coming back in the coming weeks making selection a bit easier, while they have growing well of young talent pushing for minutes.
City are in a bit of a trough this season and just can't get going.
Clean sheets are hard to come by and they seem inable to put teams to the sword like they did last season. The victory at Bournemouth being a case in point. City scored first for a change, and kept a clean sheet for a change, but couldn't get the second to make things more comfortable. In the end they held on for a hard fought victory, but this is not sustainable in a title race. A seemingly disinterested Haaland got subbed off after 75 mins, while KdB was only capable of 10 minutes due to hamstring niggles. Next month City face Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and Brighton. I just can't see 12 points from that run, 6 or 7 at best. March is a mouthwatering prospect for the viewer.
Will all three teams still be in the running come April?
Arsenal would appear to be the biggest fly in the red ointment for Klopp. They have got some momentum and are blowing teams away, but it is hard to forget that they have blew up in the last 2 seasons chasing the final UCL spot and then the league title. They have Jesus, Tomiyasu, Partey and Timbre set to return soon. Is that enough to maintain their run of form? Big doubts remain.
I just can't shake the feeling that it is une fin d'cycle at Liverpool with Klopp leaving, a new stadium refurb and probably the sale of Salah while they can still command a decent payday. It seems that they are in a determined push for silverware before the German bids farewell. And they got their hands on the first silverware of the season last Sunday. I can imagine how jubilant the dressing room was after that game finished and how that will drive the desire for Premiership glory. At this moment they sit top of the table, it is theirs to lose.
City are in a bit of a trough this season and just can't get going.
Clean sheets are hard to come by and they seem inable to put teams to the sword like they did last season. The victory at Bournemouth being a case in point. City scored first for a change, and kept a clean sheet for a change, but couldn't get the second to make things more comfortable. In the end they held on for a hard fought victory, but this is not sustainable in a title race. A seemingly disinterested Haaland got subbed off after 75 mins, while KdB was only capable of 10 minutes due to hamstring niggles. Next month City face Man U, Liverpool, Arsenal and Brighton. I just can't see 12 points from that run, 6 or 7 at best. March is a mouthwatering prospect for the viewer.
Will all three teams still be in the running come April?
Arsenal would appear to be the biggest fly in the red ointment for Klopp. They have got some momentum and are blowing teams away, but it is hard to forget that they have blew up in the last 2 seasons chasing the final UCL spot and then the league title. They have Jesus, Tomiyasu, Partey and Timbre set to return soon. Is that enough to maintain their run of form? Big doubts remain.
I just can't shake the feeling that it is une fin d'cycle at Liverpool with Klopp leaving, a new stadium refurb and probably the sale of Salah while they can still command a decent payday. It seems that they are in a determined push for silverware before the German bids farewell. And they got their hands on the first silverware of the season last Sunday. I can imagine how jubilant the dressing room was after that game finished and how that will drive the desire for Premiership glory. At this moment they sit top of the table, it is theirs to lose.
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| Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports |
Reds kids were fantastic V Saints ; tough game @ Forest @ 3 pm on Saturday , followed by City @ Anfield on Sunday week . Portugese LFC youth coach Vito is working miracles . Still reckon fresh Arsenal are the team to beat to the title , especially if they exit to Porto !
ReplyDeleteRed Ron
DeleteI think we have beaten yous once in the Pep era at Anfield and that was in an empty stadium. Given our inability to keep a clean sheet I expect a routine victory for the Reds. Nil-3 up at Luton and we concede 2. If Pep doesn't fix it immediately then we lose the league in March.
Liverpool pulled off a great victory yesterday but it wasn't as sweet as Galloway beating the two Tory leaders, Sunak and Starmer, in Rochdale. I have never been one of Galloway's admirers but he sure called those two war crime cheerleaders out.
ReplyDeleteLabour didn't stand in Rochdale. Galloway has been a war crimes cheerleader in Syria and Ukraine. Vile man.
ReplyDeleteLabour didn't have to stand in Rochdale to be trounced. It opted to shaft its candidate because he made accusations against the Israeli state. As Galloway said: “Keir Starmer, this is for Gaza.”
DeleteIf Galloway is a vile man because he supports war crimes in Syria and Iraq, that puts him on the same level of vileness as Starmer who supports war crimes in Gaza. Labour has always been happy to have as its leader people who are either war criminals or who support war crimes.
And as much as I have resiled from Galloway's perspective over the years, the Rochdale result was a powerful statement against genocide in Gaza. For that reason I wholly welcome it.
Galloway was backed by Nick Griffin. Tells you all you need to know about the horseshoe theory about politics, the convergence of far right and far left.
ReplyDeleteLabour's pro war crime stance in Gaza is backed by the right wing Tory leadership. Convergence how are you?
DeleteBarry,
DeleteThis article is worth considering:
"Like him or loathe him, Galloway’s appeal is broad. He’s not just liked for his views on Israel and Gaza. Galloway’s campaign machine in Rochdale promoted small businesses which are the lifeblood of those kinds of local communities. Antisocial behaviour is rife and neighbourhood policing has been gutted. In response, Galloway has emphasised a robust law-and-order approach. While the Labour party in recent times has become the political arm of Stonewall, Galloway has defended biological reality in the name of traditional family values. Some of his specific goals on the campaign trail included the reopening of the Maternity and Accident & Emergency departments at Rochdale Infirmary without delay, making the open-air market the heart of the town, and securing the long-term future of Rochdale Association Football Club – a treasured local civic institution which was founded 117 years ago. Galloway is not simply a threat to Labour within ‘Palestine-focused’ Muslim communities: he also has the potential to be competitive when it comes to pro-Brexit, protectionist, white-British working-class voters who are fed up with the socially and economically liberal political establishment."
https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-galloway-won-rochdale/
Labour does not support war crimes or genocide in Gaza as it's ceasefire motion in the Commons recently showed. It's candidate in Rochdale was rightfully disowned because of his promotion of a despicable conspiracy theory about 7 October. Would that Sunak show the same backbone in getting rid of anti-Muslim racists like Anderson , Braverman and Truss and Scully
ReplyDeleteBarry - your use of the present tense is revealing. The genocide started immediately after October 7. So I have to assume you think Labour was supporting war crimes prior to Starmer's February statement. His call for a ceasefire was very late in the day and only then to veto the SNP wholly legitimate view that Israel was collectively punishing the Palestinian people.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, you know he was supporting war crimes - you recently referred to his about turn on his support for starving the Palestinians as collective punishment.
He is a vile person, an anti-human rights lawyer who has given support to genocide. He even rowed back on the two state solution which both Miliband and Corbyn said they would call for on obtaining office.
He would have done a much better job had he stopped hounding MPs who who tried to have legal sanctions employed against those who sign up as terrorists with the IDF. He is a louse in the locks of humanity.
But Labour has always been comfortable being led by those who either are war criminals or who support them.
Starmer has the backbone of a jellyfish. He has never once hit out at Israel for its genocide.
Chris, that is a valid analysis only Mthat Galloway has a reputation for doing little for his constituents, using his status as an MP as a bully pulpit for his various causes. His social conservatism is a repellent as his dog whistles like his "You are not a Celtic like me" to Hamza Yousef F
ReplyDeleteICJ has not declared Gaza to be a genocide yet. People are entitled to hold that view but not to make defamatory statements that Labour supports genocide and child murder simply because they do not come across as totally condemnatory of Israel. Personally I have no problems with the collective punishment accusations. Hospitals should never be the site of any combat activity. Labour being in opposition has no power to influence events on Gaza.
ReplyDeleteTook long enough to declare Rwanda a genocide too. There is nothing defamatory to claim Labour supports child murder and genocide. What else did Starmer think he was supporting when he backed the plan to starve Gaza? What else did he think he was doing in blocking a ceasefire?
DeleteLabour has power but it uses to back those perpetrating mass murder and to persecute those speaking out against it. It could very easily make a statement that anybody joining the IDF is a terrorist and will be treated the same as Shamima Begum. How can Isis be terrorists but the IDF not? It could endorse the South African government's stance. It could vote against the Tories every time they try to arm the terrorist state. They do nothing because they are at heart defenders of Western aggression. Racists who think Palestinian lives don't matter.
Who does Labour persecute for speaking out against the onslaught on Gaza? Like it or not, the IDF is the defence force of a sovereign state who are legally (if not always in practice) accountable for their actions, ISIS are accountable to no legal democratic authority. To say that Labour is racist towards the Palestinian people is simply not true. What standard or definition of racism do you use to come to that conclusion?
ReplyDeleteBarry - if you are prudent you might consider reflecting on the following to see if your moral compass is in working order.
DeleteLabour councillors in two London boroughs - Lambeth and Victoria Ward - were last month suspended for calling for a ceasefire. One of them was Jewish.
In January Kate Osamor The MP for Edmonton was suspended for expressing the opinion that Gaza should be remembered on Holocaust Memorial Day.
Graham Jones, candidate for Hyndburn was suspended in February for expressing the view that those British citizens who go off to join a terrorist army responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes should be dealt with by the law.
Like it or not the SS and Wehrmacht were also the defence force of a sovereign state who were legally accountable. There were as many SS and Wehrmacht soldiers convicted for murdering Jewish people as there are IDF troops for murdering Palestinians. So legal accountability is a veneer - empty words.
Labour is racist towards the Palestinian people because it railed against the massacre of Jewish civilians on October 7. It has backed the mass murder of Gazans since then. That is a deeply racist attitude. Its leader backed the mass starvation of Gazan civilians. If a Labour MP were to call for the mass starvation of Israeli civilians or hostages they would be booted out of the party. The reason Barry is quite simple - racism. Palestinians can be starved because their lives are worthless compared to Israelis in the eyes of the despicable Labour leadership.
Now, as to where your moral compass points - what is the most egregious of the following?
Believing that British members of the IDF should be brought before the courts or that all the victims of genocide should be remembered on Holocaust Remembrance Day because they are all human.
Believing that mass starvation of a civilian population is justified.
Which one of those positions merits suspension more than the other?
Mic drop good Anthony.
ReplyDeleteI nearly stood up and clapped after reading that.
Excellent points, brilliantly put.
The Skin - thanks. The Starmer firm sees Labour as a political career ladder. The way they threatened the speaker was brazen Tammany Hall politics. His own careerist MPs were said to be crowing that Sir Keir had 'fixed' the speaker. Starmer would not have been out of place in the Tory leadership contest.
DeleteWell this thread segued like fuck.
ReplyDeletethat's one way to put it.
DeleteBritish members of the IDF should abe brought before the courts if there is prima facie evidence of their participation in war crimes. Starvation whether practiced by Israel in Gaza, Galloway's mate Assad in Syria or Houthis in Yemen is always a war crimes. Holocaust Memorial Day always commemorates other genocides, Gaza may well figure in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe IDF is a war crime institution currently committing genocide in Gaza. No British citizen should be allowed to join it any more than they should be allowed to enlist in Isis. But even if we disagree on this, there is absolutely nothing wrong to call for the law to be used against those who join. There is plenty wrong with supporting starvation. And again, I pose the question - who should be suspended from the Labour Party: the person advocating that no one should be allowed to enlist in the IDF or the person advocating mass starvation? Should anybody be suspended from the party for advocating that Holocaust Remembrance Day include those slaughtered in Gaza?
DeleteOh and Galloway has been uncovered on his Mother of All Talk Shows saying that the 2020 US PE was fixed and in John Dore show enunciating climate change denial and antivaxxer lies. Has been in the company of Steve Bannon. Spews his bile on RT and Press TV. A stain on humanity like his ally Nick Griffin.
ReplyDeleteAll the more reason for me not to share Galloway's politics. Is he any more a stain on humanity than Sir Keir Starver?
DeleteThe importance of Rochdale is not who won but what issue won. That is why Galloway's victory is welcome. He stood on a platform against the genocide while Starver has backed it.
Barry, you come across as a fanatic with your consistent and creative ambiguity. You say Israel is accountable for its actions yet Israel hasn't seen sanctions for their long list of breaches of international law committed well before Hamas committed their own breaches. This lack of punishment gave Israel the confidence to carry out ethnic cleansing, collective punishment, manipulating a people into starvation, thirst and inevitable genocide.
ReplyDeleteI almost feel physical thick thinking an intelligent human being, after over one in every 100 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed and many more horrifically injured can still cheerlead Israel's case.
'Victor's Justice' is what passes for the rule of law on the international stage. This needs to change urgently. With the international Criminal Court looking at the case now more than ever justice not just needs to be done but it needs to be seen to be done.
The cheerleaders of a genocidal regime, from the big to the small, are only a hindrance to justice and a threat to us all.
Simon, did you feel as sick when the Assad regime massacred 5,000 Palestinians in Yarmouk refugee camp as part of its industrial scale slaughter of 500,000 plus Syrians? You cannot point to a single statement that I have made that cheerleads Netanayu 's bloody war of self preservation and it is defamatory to day that I do.
ReplyDeleteAre there any other human rights causes that exercise you do much as Israel/Palestine? The proto genocide of the Uighur people in China, the genocide of the Royhinga people in Myanmar, Russia's war of genocide in Ukraine for example.
ReplyDeleteDoes Hamas not bear some responsibility for the Gaza catastrophe by siting ordinance and launching rockets from densely populated areas and hospitals, quite apart from committing it's depravities on 7/10 which they knew would lead to a overwhelming and disproportionate Israeli response.
ReplyDeleteBarry I said you cheerlead Israel's cause which undoubtedly you do. You make many excuses for the war and much whataboutery. However, I didn't say you were a cheerleader for the genocide..That's up to others to decide. Your parroting of the Israeli government to say its a war of self-preservation, self-preservation of a rich nuclear power, with a large conscripted army, funded lavishly by the west against an impoverished starving people with homemade rockets speaks for itself. Self-preservation? Don't make me laugh!
ReplyDeleteHamas are responsible for their actions and Israel is responsible for theirs.
All human rights abuse annoys me, nice use of whataboutery. You are the king of whataboutery. Good work.
Not that I expect you to listen but I have constantly opposed the Occupation of the West Bank and the conduct of Netanayu's war. I have never argued that it is a war of Israel's self preservation despite Hamas' p
ReplyDeleteDespite Hamas' promise to repeat 7 October again and again.
ReplyDeleteSimon there is a pattern of you distorting and misrepresenting what I say
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work, Smear Merchant Supreme.
Barry, you called it a "bloody war of self preservation" in your first reply to my first comment. I don't think pointing that out is a smear. If you don't like it, don't say it.
DeleteYou always cry slur and this is the second time you did so, along with denyng something you said previously on the Quill.. The last time you had to retract your denial. It was on the post entitled "Far-Right Interlopers Try To Claim The Tricolour". Have a read if you've forgotten.
I'm with Simon on this one.
ReplyDeleteNo matter what depths the occupiers of Palestine stoop to, Barry is always first off the mark with excuses and obfuscation.