TTT Free Friday: Gruelling Training Sessions and Hypocritical Commentary

16th December 2002

Free Friday will cover our work across The Tomkins Times’ Substack network, with it running via an opt-in or opt-out newsletter on The Main Hub (where almost all of the community commenting takes place), but covering TTT’s four sub-Substacks, or spokes.

First up on Free Friday is a wonderful script by Ross H, looking at the contrast in different commentaries depending on whether its club football, international or indeed individual players:

Corner for Liverpool, the ball breaks for Salah, surely he is fouled there?? No, Man City break and score.

Shearer, "Never a foul in a million years"

Murphy, "Salah went down easy there, has to be stronger"

Jenas, "There is contact, but it's a contact sport, not a foul for me"

Linekar, "I know there is contact but did Salah have to dive there?"

Wright, "I can understand Salah going down there when he feels the contact but we don’t want VAR going back 30 seconds to rule out a goal"

Neville, "This is what we all want to see. More contact, the ref letting the game flow, it's not a foul"

Jaime (I don't care what people say about Liverpool bias) Carragher; "It would have been soft, it's not a foul, no. Liverpool can't have any complaints there"

Salah goes into the box, Ruben Dias surely fouled him there?

Shearer, "There was a tangling of legs, I've seen them given but not enough for VAR to overturn"

Murphy, "He's looking for it. We don't want to see that in our game"

Jenas, "Looked outside the box, maybe a free-kick but nothing more"

Wright, "Salah is unlucky there, I think it was probably a penalty"

Neville, "It's a coming together, no doubt about that, on another day it might have been given"

Jaime (I don't care what people say about Liverpool bias) Carragher; "Once the referee doesn't give it, I don't think VAR will overturn it"

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Corner for England, the ball breaks for Saka, surely he is fouled there?? No, France break and score.

Shearer, "That's as clear a foul as you're ever likely to see, VAR HAS TO bring that back"

Murphy, "That's a clear foul on Saka, the referee has a clear view of it too, terrible decision"

Jenas, "There is clear contact, he takes his leg away, how's he not given that??"

Lineker, "If there is contact, the attacker is entitled to go down to show the ref that he's been fouled surely?"

Wright, "We are told VAR can bring the play back for an earlier foul and that's exactly what should have happened there, unbelievable"

Neville, "A foul is a foul, it's as clear as day, this ref is having a nightmare"

Jaime (I don't care what people say about Liverpool bias) Carragher; "Clear foul, poor that from the referee"

Kane goes into the box, Upamecano surely fouled him there?

Shearer, "We could be here for years and years and you won't see a clearer foul than that"

Murphy, "He catches him and he's entitled to go down there, it's a penalty"

Jenas, "It starts outside the box but the foul continues into the box, penalty."

Wright, "Kane is taken out, it's clear, he's got to give that"

Neville, "He is a joke of a referee, people say it's excuses but he's just a bad referee"

Jaime (I don't care what people say about Liverpool bias) Carragher; "VAR has to overturn that. That's what VAR is for!!! "

TTT Main Hub

The initial published piece was a new idea for the Substack version of TTT, and that’s ‘The Thread’, which is used to discuss things like friendlies, breaking news such a the club being up for sale, or - this season especially - the news that someone else in injured again!

THREAD: LFC Friendlies, World Cup Exits, Diaz Injury, Youngsters, and Transfer Talk

Next up is the weekly look at the best LFC-related media in an ever-increasing and diluted market. In this piece Daniel Zambartas (and Paul) pick out the high quality stuff, and sometimes with added comment.

One of the most insightful comments was this interview, surprisingly on the official site, with Joe Gomez.

On training camp: “It does have the pre-season feel in some ways. The gaffer has let us off a little bit with single sessions but they're gruelling, so it has got the pre-season feel in many ways, but I think we know it's straight back to it in a way when we get back, so that's different.

On not playing in the World Cup: “For us that have had chance to get a break, we've had to use it well. To enjoy the family time, switch off a little bit, but it's nice to be back to it and we all love doing what we do.

“You can't take your foot off the gas physically, obviously doing what we do we all have individual history or prehab that we need to do and continue with so it's carrying on with that but in a different setting and enjoying that. Taking the time with the family but knowing we're back into it.”

The final article on the Main Hub was this historical transfer analysis by Paul looking at the success of our signings from the various transfer windows. Here’s a table illustrating our January signings, followed some of the conclusions underneath:

The aim, regardless, is to get a feel for what impact the signings made, and the clear and inescapable truth is that, objectively and subjectively, the January signings did better on average, albeit at a cost that was 17.4% higher.

The value for the nine hits, at an average of £44.7m each, is phenomenal (and the sales of Suarez and Coutinho almost recouped this entire investment; albeit Javier Mascherano cost a pretty big fee after his initial loan).

• Luis Suarez – £96,906,248

• van Dijk V – £92,415,531

• Mascherano J – £0 (loan, initially)

• Sturridge – £58,590,412

• Coutinho – £41,501,542

• Diaz – £54,890,000

• Arbeloa A – £20,630,743

• Maxi Rodriguez – £0

• Skrtel M – £37,171,126

A signing or two like Luis Díaz would be ideal – albeit his 9/10 start for Liverpool could be hit by missing five months of this season, as he cannot make an impact when in a leg cast. You don’t want to see another Sturridge – elite, turning to ‘can do a job’.

Just to note, I wrote most of this article before the World Cup, and I’m just tidying and publishing now (as I continue to have a 102F temperature for a fourth day in a row due to some nasty virus that’s kicking my arse, as Sudafed, Netflix and vitamins do their best in reply), but I’m going back through the things I wrote a while back and finishing those that are easy enough to sort.

I have another 90%-written January transfer window article that I’ll heat up and serve sometime in the next week or so, as it needs to go before Christmas to make sense.

Transfer Hub and Deep Dives

This week’s scouting report by Mizgan was a deep dive on one of the form players of the current World Cup, Sofyan Amrabat, and which role at Liverpool would best suit him.

For Morocco during this World Cup, the 26-year-old has been used in the same position as well. The similarity between both teams is that they prefer to play with a 4-3-3 formation, hence the midfielder is easily accustomed to playing the deeper-lying midfield role for club and country.

Amrabat is a physically strong player who doesn’t shirk away from challenges in the middle of the park. He is an excellent passer of the ball and doesn’t mind dropping between the centre-backs to start off attacks for the team. Watching him during the World Cup, he was very good at finding the pressure-release pass to get Morocco up the field in counter-attacks.

Dynasty

Chris followed on last week’s series with another reflection on some of the legends of the Reds’ past - and one player who I’d never even heard of, which makes me ashamed to say because I love the historical articles - and these add to that:

After last time’s Elisha Scott article, another biblical name joins the ranks of past Anfield greats. This time it’s a right-back who captained club and country. Both Eph – as he was known - Longworth and Elisha Scott in goal were instrumental in securing the club’s back-to-back title wins of 1921/2 and 1922/3. The two helped form one of the best defences in Liverpool's history. Longworth also played in Liverpool’s first-ever FA Cup Final in 1914, a 1-0 defeat to Burnley at Crystal Palace, and was one of only a handful of Liverpool players to ever captain his country, as he approached his 34th birthday.

Born in Bolton in 1887, Longworth signed for Liverpool FC in 1910 from Leyton in London, where he’d spent two seasons in the Southern League. He made his Liverpool debut on 19th September of that year at Bramall Lane, Sheffield. During his remarkable 18-year career at Anfield he became one of the most consistent defenders Liverpool have ever had, and was known for his composed style of play.

Past Masters Nos. 3 and 4

The Small Print

This is a weekly newsletter mailout, and commenting is switched off.

Again: separate paid subscriptions are required for the specialist spokes. (Albeit there will be free content on these from time to time, and as with Substack, there is the option to receive free previews via email where applicable.)

The ZenDen is all about me finding positives, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t negatives. I provide a more rounded analysis on The Main Hub, but the ZenDen is for those who feel like they’re drowning in doom-and-gloom reactions and hysterical hot-takes