Liverpool v Newcastle

I typed in Newcastle Brown to get a picture for this article and for some strange reason pictures of highland cattle came up so I decided to run with it. This picture is especially calming when all around us in in turmoil. When I looked back to an earlier Newcastle match thread in December 2020 there was the threat of the game being postponed due to covid…..

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Whenever we play Newcastle I always think back to the 1974 FA Cup final (3-0) which was a shining beacon in the development of Liverpool FC and one of key highpoints of Bill Shankly’s revolutionary management career. Fortunately, we are now in the middle of another revolution with a similarly charismatic (but more manic) manager 😉

Lately, those good associations with Newcastle have been replaced by the depressing takeover of the club which may well herald a new wave of clubs being taken over by billionaires and Nations. I wouldn’t be surprised to see great names like Barcelona and AC Milan being next in line as the arms race escalates out of control and football is taken even further away from the fans and the people. Can you tell I’m feeling a bit down at the moment 😉

Anyway, team: Alisson, TAA, Matip, VVD, Robbo, Fab, Hendo, Thiago, Mane , Jota, Salah. The challenge going forward now will be how Klopp can reintroduce our players returning from injury such as Firmino, Jones and Keita (always), and also give game time to the fringe players such as Milner, Tsimikas, Gomez, Konate. Mini, Origi and Ox. This is especially difficult as he can only effectively use two subs per game Obviously the cups will help though there needs to be room still for the youngsters coming through. This suggests he will have to rotate the starting line ups too and a home game against a struggling Newcastle might be a good game to start with so there may well be a few changes I just can’t predict. .

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