REDS MISSED
Considering 14 different teams have beaten Manchester United this season, you could have been forgiven for presuming Liverpool would finally add their name to the list at the third time of asking. Going into the weekend’s fixtures, much of the talk was about who would blink first as they contest the title with Arsenal and Manchester City, and on Sunday we got our answer. As Crystal Palace and Brighton fell to emphatic defeats against Liverpool’s only challengers, all eyes turned to Old Trafford. Most were left staring in slack-jawed amazement as they peppered the United goal and assorted fans behind it, the number of shots more common at happy hour in a trendy Magaluf nightspot, but somehow only scored two goals. They weren’t enough to secure all three points and, despite United suffering their third consecutive bombardment in eight days, it was Liverpool who needed a penalty to come from behind and rescue a point.
It is only in the future, after it has been examined by some cravat-wearing posh bloke with a jeweller’s eyepiece on Antiques Roadshow, that we’ll learn the precise value of that point, but for now it is the two they left behind that will be preoccupying Liverpool’s players. And while it might have been Jarell Quansah’s misplaced pass with his weaker foot that allowed United to get a foothold in a game that looked to have literally and metaphorically passed them by, one suspects it was the youngster’s vastly more experienced attacking teammates who incurred Jürgen Klopp’s post-match wrath. Perhaps mindful of the negative publicity generated by his efforts to publicly belittle a reporter who had the temerity to ask him a question in an interview, Liverpool’s clearly seething manager cut a surprisingly and almost comically restrained figure during his post-match debriefs, but is unlikely to have extended the same polite courtesy to his profligate players.
During his media duties, Klopp elected to focus on what his team were going home with, rather than what – in famous Bullseye parlance – they could have won, insisting there’s still plenty to play for. “We are fine with our situation,” he said, having seen his side drop to second in the league on goal difference that could yet prove decisive. “I wish we had more points but I’m absolutely fine and over the moon that these boys brought us into that situation. The same boys who missed a few chances today are the boys who brought us 71 points. It is likely to have more twists.” And with “over the moon” being exactly where several of the footballs kicked towards the United goal by Mo Salah, Luis Díaz and Darwin Núñez were subsequently spotted by astronomers, you have to applaud the German’s dedication to English cliche.
Sunday’s draw marked the end of a funny old week for Manchester United, who faced a combined 88 shots in three consecutive games but somehow contrived to only lose one of them. Appalled by his team’s overall performance but delighted with the result, it was a somewhat shell-shocked Erik ten Hag who singled out teenage centre-half W1lly Kambwala for individual praise after the game. “When old soldiers die, new ones have to come in,” he bugled, no doubt aware that fresh troops’ chances of survival are enhanced by a normally precise enemy opposition having a rare collective off-day.
JOE KINNEAR (1946-2024)
For reasons that should be obvious, the phrase Proper Football Man has acquired a meaning beyond the literal. But once upon a time it described a person steeped in, defined by and obsessed with this most wondrous thing, the game of football, which made Proper Football Man the richest compliment there could possibly be – and Joe Kinnear, who has died at the age of 77, was a Proper Football Man in the truest sense. He came into the game young, did everything he could to stay in the game, left the game only when he had a heart attack, returned to the game, did absolutely everything he could to stay in the game, left the game for a heart bypass, returned to the game, did even more to to stay in the game, left the game and was diagnosed with vascular dementia. But more than anything, Kinnear was a Proper Football Man because of one uniting factor, the secret superpower shared by all members of the species: if he thought you were a cee, he’d tell you. Sleep well, JFK.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It was tough, bad. We were inferior on all fronts – physically, on the ball. [They] were much stronger in terms of intensity from minute one. We didn’t get into the game. This was more than embarrassing. All of us. The staff and players. This is a blow that we all have to accept” – Ajax coach John van ‘t Schip laments his team’s humiliating 6-0 defeat to rivals Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, their largest ever loss in De Klassieker, eclipsing a 9-4 gubbing from 1964.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
I couldn’t help notice that there’s not much football on tonight, except for Serie A (although this isn’t the 1990s and there’s no Football Italia, even if ITV have suddenly decided otherwise) so, just to see what the quality is like, I may tune in to watch the Saudi Super Cup (apropos of nothing, I wonder if they’re holding the final in Spain? Just a thought). Presumably, some marketing bod has already called it ‘Al Clasico’?” – Noble Francis.
This Big Website article about a hermit crab contains the immortal line about Saint Piran: ‘His spells as a hermit attracted particular admiration and, when he rediscovered tin, his popularity among the locals became legendary.’ Is it possible your weird elderly relative is older than we thought?” – Kevin Davey.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Kevin Davey.
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