Had a gross thought a little bit earlier today - if Manchester City had signed Declan Rice last year, he’d just be finding his stride in their midfield after getting 16 minutes of Carling Cup game time last season.
The difference between City and everyone else isn’t the starting 11… it’s the £75m players they can leave on the bench for a year. That depth has looked weaker of late. Rodri’s heir apparent is a 34-year-old returning to the side or a Kovacic who isn’t fit to lace the boots of the Spaniard.
City is now having normie problems - like Arsenal suffered with Odegaard out, and Liverpool will suffer when Mo Salah realizes he’s not getting a 3-year deal on £350k a week at 32 years old.
Now… did I, or did I not, tell you that this was going to be an issue? Mo Salah has spoken to the media scrum after a game twice in 3 years. He made it 3 this weekend when he dropped this:
"We are almost in December and I haven't received any offers yet to stay in the club. I'm probably more out than in."
"You know I have been in the club for many years. There is no club like this. But in the end it is not in my hands. As I said, it is December and I haven't received anything yet about my future."
"I'm disappointed but we will see."
He did this the week they’re playing Madrid and Manchester City. Distraction FC looks like it might be interfering with the Liverpool freight train of a season so far. Carragher is FEEEEWMING.
What happens next:
Liverpool either make a horrendous financial error and commit £54m to a player who will dip like all players do at that age. Or, they’ll tell him he’s not getting a new deal, then the 100% focus he has on the job at hand will drop to 98% and you will see that impact his form, his interest in nasty away games, and his availability when he’s doing the long goodbye.
That £150m they turned down for him… I get it, cash in the bank doesn’t score goals, but it does give you the chance to spend a lot on a younger replacement.
Remember - the same issue is happening with Trent, who is being chased by Madrid, and Virgil, who is chasing down that fat Saudi pay deal. £150m worth of talent that could exit in one go. Magnificent.
City are also a kind of precursor to the issues Liverpool might have - Michael Edwards will be lucky to replace even one of those three with players of comparable talent. Look at City’s outside Rodri. No one can replace KDB. There’s no back-up if Haaland doesn’t sign. Kyle Walker has no replacement. They don’t have the next Ederson. This is two teams who rolled some incredible dice to get the very best in the business… and the magic is going to be very hard to replicate.
City is a tough sell in January…
Liverpool’s owners want out, I’m not sure they’re stumping up £300m to replace 3 generational talents.
Let’s talk about this Sporting Lisbon away game… it’s going to be a tough one. They don’t have Amorin as their head coach, but the team won’t lose its flow that quickly, so it’d be silly to think there will be any sort of dip in their form.
The real interest in this game is that they thumped City. I watched the game. They broke through the middle with ease a few times - but that won’t happen against us because we have better midfield.
Gyokeres against two of the meanest centre-backs in the league will be fun to witness - but I think we’d be remiss to think they’re a one-man team. They have lots of technical players who can kill us if we don’t show them enough respect. That said, it’s good to know Arsenal are taking his threat seriously. This is what Raya had to say.
‘We know his strengths, how he runs a lot in behind and scores a lot in one-v-one and he is a top player in form,’ Raya told a press conference on Monday.
‘We are going to try and keep him very, very quiet. Don’t give him any chances. We have to step up defensively. Hopefully we can do a great job and keep a clean sheet.’
We can’t get too carried away with that City game. They earned two very, very soft penalties they’d never get in the Premier League. City had chances to go ahead early in the game. It really was one of those ‘nothing is going to happen for us’ types of nights for them. I wasn’t mesmerized by the Amorin offering.
Arteta has plenty of options - including Kieran Tierney who is finally back in the mixer after a long spell out. We also have fresh legs in Kai, Martinelli, and Declan. That’s quite the advantage.
Question is: Does Arteta rotate with Saturday in mind, knowing this will be our last tough CL game, or does he go all in to get an away performance after failing to score in our last 4 away games? Full backs has to be a major concern for the manager - Timber and Calafiori aren’t exactly reliable given their injury history - and Champions League against Sporting might offer the chance to try other players there. Zinchenko loves a UCL night, could he get a nod over the Italian so we have him ready for the Premier League?
I have to say - there’s no preference here from me. The only thing I’m looking for is a sign that the momentum we felt against Forest this weekend and against Chelsea is actually real. Champions League form will translate into a big game against West Ham (who beat Newcastle) - so do suspect the big dawgs will be in the starting 11.
4 away days without scoring is a pretty grim record considering the talent we have in the squad. It’s hard to pinpoint one particular issue. Experience, Italian teams, big games, shot shy… it’s not one thing. But one things is for sure, we need to address the run as soon as possible. Kai versus Gyokeres will be fun to see IRL. Keep an eye on the Swede off the ball, his defensive numbers look quite poor, but that might just my data on him. Fascinated to see if this guy is the one that got away from the whole of the Premier League, or is he just a modern day Mario Jardel?
Can’t wait to find out. The AOP will be going live after the game without me. Jacob, Johnny, and Matt Kandela will be taking things on.
ALSO - New Yorkers. Should have a fun announcement for you this week. Keep your EYES and EARS peeled for it. Enjoy the game. x
