Liverpool, Chelsea and the cautionary tale of the offside patella
THINK OF THE CHILDREN
To read or listen to some of the reports from Wembley yesterday, one could be forgiven for thinking the gnarled and streetwise, serial-winning veterans of Chelsea had just lost a Fizzy Cup final by a cricket score to Liverpool’s Under-14s. As is often the case, some mid-match musings of a Sky Sports pundit were used as a stick with which to beat the losing manager after the game and a visibly distraught Mauricio Pochettino was forced to defend his vanquished team against Gary Neville’s slightly melodramatic suggestion that the Blues were overpriced donkeys for losing a final to children by a solitary goal, scored in the knockings of extra time.
Never mind that here was a game that, give or take an offside patella, could easily have gone the other way. Or that Pochettino started five players aged 22 or under, compared to Liverpool’s three. Never mind that the combined age of the XI that finished the final for Liverpool was higher than their opponents. Ignore the fact that the scorer of Liverpool’s winning goal cost £75m six years ago and had more big-match experience than most of Chelsea’s players. Never mind that the post-match narrative dictated that Chelsea’s considerable injury issues were ignored. And that they are a demonstrably worse team than Liverpool, who sit 25 points and 10 places above them in the league. “It’s Klopp’s kids against the blue billion-pound bottle-jobs,” announced Neville, whose scathing summation was seized upon by many who heard it and went on to form the basis of no end of chin-stroking post-match analysis from writers and broadcasters who couldn’t possibly have watched the fascinating game of exceptionally fine margins that had just been played.
“I didn’t hear what he said, but if you compare the age of the two groups, I think it is similar,” said Pochettino, upon being asked to comment on Neville’s analysis. “I have a good relationship with Gary and I don’t know if that’s how I can take this opinion. But I respect his opinion. We made a few changes with [Conor] Gallagher and [Ben] Chilwell in extra time. But it is true we didn’t keep the energy of how we finished the second half. I don’t know how you can describe this situation. But I feel proud. I feel proud of the players, I think they made a big effort.”
While Football Daily could scarcely agree more with the consensus that Liverpool’s young academy graduates performed commendably upon being thrown into the white-hot heat of battle, it also behoves us to note that they are – to a whey-faced teen – all very good at football and were not just some ragbag assortment of random street urchins who had stowed away in the Liverpool team bus before it left Merseyside. While talk of blue, billionaire bottle-jobs might make for a snappy and alliterative soundbite, we can’t help think Gary’s glib, gantry gripe was a bit unfair.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Dockers 1-0 Hedge Funders” – David Linden, MP for for Glasgow East and apparently at Wembley in the Liverpool end for their win over Chelsea, posted his smug post-match musings on his Twitter/X/Social Media Disgrace, which was only slightly spoiled by the community note reminding everyone that Liverpool’s owner, John W Henry, is a famed hedge fund manager.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
It’s very nice that Jim Ratcliffe wants government help to build a new stadium and rejuvenate that area of Manchester. However, since south Manchester and its environs are one of the richest areas of the country outside of London, and given they have already built a stadium in east Manchester, wouldn’t it be simpler to just use the Etihad for all the internationals and FA Cup semis he is envisioning?” – Nick Livesey.
“I travelled from Dublin to London to watch QPR play Manchester United at a packed Loftus Road on 1 Jan 1974 to watch my two favourite players, George Best and Stan Bowles, in opposition. George played his last game for his club while Stan the Man tore United apart, scoring two goals in a 3-0 victory. Thanks for the memories Stan” – John Weldon.
All this talk of the Harry Kane statue (Football Daily letters passim) reminds me of a mid-1990s newspaper match report, in which absolute Spurs legend and centre-back Gary Mabbutt (towards the end of his career, and being done for pace by all manner of pesky youngsters) was described as ‘solid as a rock, and about as mobile’” – Tim Clarke.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s winner of our letter o’ the day is … Tim Clarke, who lands a copy of Pat Nevin: football and how to survive it, published by Octopus Books.
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