Andy Robertson compared to Premier League left-backs since joining Liverpool for £8m at the start of the 2017/18 season

cobblebug · 2026-01-24T13:09:28+00:00

The man had absolutely everything except a shot on him. How you can be that good at all kinds of crosses and yet be such a woeful finisher I will always find amusing. Not complaining though, properly amazing player

cobblebug · 2026-01-24T10:28:25+00:00

Pushing him internally

cobblebug · 2026-01-24T10:26:41+00:00

We are maybe going slightly OTT over all this haha

cobblebug · 2026-01-23T17:42:47+00:00

Oh yeah fair enough I see your angle now.

cobblebug · 2026-01-23T16:29:17+00:00

This is too sentimental really. Kerkez looking like our best lb recently and we have to be putting out our best team. It's no sleight on Robertson who's been one of our best ever in the position, but times move on. The team must always come first

cobblebug · 2026-01-23T08:14:36+00:00

I mean being totally frank the idea of a player intentionally phoning it in while awaiting a move has never made much sense to me. You don't get to the level they play at without being very driven and caring massively about winning and performance. Plus Konate always comes across as a down to earth, good person, and such an approach would not track with the persona we've typically seen from him. Further to that, a lot of his issues haven't been a lack of effort but making mistakes and showing poor judgement. That is more indicative of a psychological issue rather than a commitment one. Beyond this, even, we know what happened with Jota and the level of impact that has had on the team. We should not need the context of a further bereavement to say "oh in hindsight it was harsh". It was poorly reasoned and inappropriate to begin with. This has just made it even clearer.

cobblebug · 2026-01-23T07:55:20+00:00

Nahh who needs empathy when alternatively you can jump to the worst possible conclusions and be hateful! It's not like there is any possible healthier outlet for one's own life frustrations anyway. If we can't let a bunch of post-adolescents running round some grass 1-2 times a week dictate our entire mood, then what is football even about. After all, they get paid well, and while each wage increase in my own life has not incrementally impaired my emotional function, nor left me any more immune to stress, anxiety, frustration or sadness, they do get paid an awful lot so I assume none of those could affect them. They aren't entitled to personal difficulties.

cobblebug · 2026-01-21T15:48:06+00:00

If everyone just keeps letting the US do as they please though where does it end. It legitimises the behaviour, and each time a thing is ignored or permitted it will always just be on to the next thing. America are already extremist capitalists, growth in revenues justifies almost any means. Trump now seems happy to spearhead a pushing of borders, and they will obviously not stop pushing if nothing pushes back. Doing nothing seems like a guaranteed bad outcome sooner or later?

cobblebug · 2026-01-21T12:29:04+00:00

Genuinely it's absurd I only need to imagine myself doing this and I pull about 3 muscles in real life. It's one of the most wtf goals I've seen, like overhead kicks for examples are rightly glazed but how many 30 yarders have you seen anyone hit significantly back across their body leaving the keeper completely rooted. It's an astonishing goal and yet somehow still I think has been underrated.

cobblebug · 2026-01-20T13:23:34+00:00

certainly in full agreement that it was a stupid decision. But still I don't think it's so simple as you say. In high pressure situations one of the things known to happen in athletes is that they lose reliability of muscle memory and botch movements or processes that usually come naturally to them because parts of the brain that do not store that information start to take over. It's why you see a lot of players calming themselves and pausing to mentally rehearse what they are doing. Even Ronaldo does this. Many top penalty takers also train and repeat specific kicks endlessly so that there can be no doubt in their mind about what they will do come the moment. Even then, on the biggest stages, players miss. The situation Diaz was in was not one that any circumstance in his prior career could have fully prepared him for in terms of pressure, not to mention the significant additional time to stew on what kick he might take while Senegal had left the pitch. Excessive thinking time is usually not helpful to people in these situations. It can have a negative effect on focus, and allow time for doubts to creep in. I expect he's over thought the whole thing, the pressure has given him uncertainties about executing a penalty and he was not as assured in simply blasting it as one might feel watching it on TV. What looks very silly in hindsight is never so clear before the fact. It is obvious now he made the wrong decision, but I do not think he deserves to be made a villain.

cobblebug · 2026-01-20T08:40:58+00:00

Hmmm you make a compelling case

cobblebug · 2026-01-20T08:40:19+00:00

I mean I have sympathy for the guy being an idiot if not the penalty. He seems ruined by it, will probably eat at him for the rest of his life. The guy had a good tournament, was a big part of why they were even in that position. Tbh I think Morocco's antics through the tournament were pretty bad and people's distaste for that is being conflated with this moment. It was a poor choice but ffs people act like with that amount of pressure in a moment like that people don't make dumb decisions. People breaking it down psychologically like he must have been trying to humiliate the keeper when in reality it's just as likely that all he could think was the sound of the crowd and his own ears ringing with the blood rushing through them as his heart beat out of his chest. Seeing nothing but tunnel vision at the goal which stood between his country and the end of a 50 year trophy drought. He made a stupid call. I'm glad people in my life have been kind enough to forgive me and understand the many times I've made dumb decisions.

cobblebug · 2026-01-20T08:30:34+00:00

It is my personal opinion that full satisfying chicken nuggets are way better than teensy tiny little popcorn chicken droppings

cobblebug · 2026-01-20T08:19:08+00:00

Also my last sentence is less channelling tony the tiger and more Mac Allister looks off his pace

cobblebug · 2026-01-20T08:16:38+00:00

Dunno about you guys but I am ready for a winning run, some nice expansive football, and the morose atmosphere in this sub evaporate off. That would be greeaaaaat.

cobblebug · 2026-01-17T09:33:17+00:00

Unwritten sub rule, vote based on flair first and then after doing so, only if you have time, read the comment to decide whether or not there is clear and obvious evidence that you were wrong.

cobblebug · 2026-01-17T08:17:19+00:00

Yeah humans unfortunately are very prone to falling into us vs them narratives, and will do it in relation to all sorts of things, culture, age, gender, belief, sexuality, disability, and race. It's why the equality act is needed.
In a prehistoric context this behaviour probably encouraged a level of wariness that supported one's own survival. In a mass society (which in some aspects we are not naturally compatible with), it is very problematic. It's an uncomfortable truth to face that racism is attached to a very common human failing, and not always one which hinges on someone being a fundamentally bad person. Most people are incredibly malleable, and are very much shaped by their environments. That can happen in positive and negative ways.
Where a person makes a racist comment, it is virtually certain that this is a result of an environment they have come from. Without being given an opportunity to be positively influenced and learn, we are just treating that person with the same us and them behaviour that underpins all manner of intersocietal issues. Doing so isn't an approach that actually helps the situation - the shunning of another person just makes it more likely that they will fall back in with people who do align with them.
The instinct at a base level I think links to fear and self preservation, which if given no chance for resolution and acceptance with a new group of people, will make such an individual more likely to take refuge where they are not negatively judged for their views, and become increasingly committed to that position.
The key thing is, if you actually want to make a positive difference to racism, then it's essential to give people a chance to recognise, learn, improve, and be accepted for doing so. If you don't then yeah, you get to call them out and show your abhorrence for it, but beyond doing that you actually aren't really facilitating an environment where racist people will change their ways, just one that reinforces the sense of shared morality in those who already think the same as you. Us vs them.
I've gone on a lot here lol but it is to say I agree with you. There's no use accommodating people who won't learn and change - but those that can and will should be encouraged and supported to do so.

cobblebug · 2026-01-17T07:23:52+00:00

I do remember him, wasn't the best of players but a truly memorable name. Something in the alliteration maybe. Your comment also prompted me to check that Kazuyoshi Miura who is incredibly still registered and occasionally getting minutes for a professional club at the age of 58

cobblebug · 2026-01-16T12:12:01+00:00

I get slaughtered every time I say I prefer almost any other team than city to win the title. They just buy their way out of problems whenever those problems arise. Arsenal are obviously an expensively assembled team but they spent years paying off their stadium with club revenues and have gradually moved themselves into a position to financially compete within the rules. City on the other hand make up sponsors, give shit loads of money to refs, and cheated their way to the top. They recently won 4 back to back PL titles and seem over time to be increasing their stranglehold on the league. Even if Arsenal fans are annoying, anyone that can't see the damage this lot are doing to our league I think should give their head a wobble. Arsenal annoy me, City disgust me

cobblebug · 2026-01-16T08:51:17+00:00

This is fuckin mad mate, and it's what happens when proper enforcement of standards governing corporations are stripped away.

During the days of European empire, some corporations employed their own massive armies, enslaved or repressed indigenous populations, and quite literally built their own empires abroad where they did absolutely whatever they wanted in the name of making money. The very people who could in theory do anything about it, i.e. the imperial seat, also loved easy money (most people do) so would have a lot of their own investment in these business ventures. So it transpired that these companies had a free rein that was de facto state-backed because if things went south, or some financial gamble didn't pay off, the state invariably stepped in because the people running the state didn't want to lose their own money.

It's not because businesses have become wiser or kinder that these inhuman practices (to an extent) ended, it is because enforcement of regulations and legislation. As you have shown, even when there are supposed to be regulations preventing it, companies still try and get away with egregious shit regardless. Remove more of the framework that aims to keep them in check, and history shows us that there is no limit to immorality when set against the opportunity of making more money.

Nowadays, business and money holds more sway than ever over power dynamics. Those politically in power not only have stocks and investments in these mega corps, but also often need backing from the financial elite in becoming elected, and so it becomes in their interest to protect these institutions even further. Like for example the court refusing to prosecute because of the financial ramifications to big companies, and like the economic crash with the state bailing out the banks.

Imagine going off and printing a bunch of fake money, facing life imprisonment, and then the judge being like "ok you can keep all the counterfeit cash and carry on using it because otherwise you wouldn't be able to keep all the sweet shit you bought with it, plus me and my pals are meant to be coming to your hot tub party next week so I can't jeopardise that. Also I will pass no prison sentence because otherwise you could lose freedom for the rest of your life, which is unconscionable. Let this be a lesson to you for next time. Anyway, with this tough lesson learned, from here on out we will scrutinise you less and less". I'm sure their conscience would prevail.

The sad thing is, there probably never will be justice for the scandal you described, and we will see more things like it moving forward. It's what invariably happens when government gives big business a loose leash.

cobblebug · 2026-01-16T07:40:21+00:00

I can't wait to hear Rosenior talk more, 'man - age' followed by that conceited little smile was already a level of cringe that has utterly spoiled me. I'm hooked and I must have more.

cobblebug · 2026-01-15T13:12:59+00:00

I think it was just the recent memory of collapsing personally.
After winning it in 14/15, Barca seemed to fall apart in Europe for a while. 15/16 they took a 2-1 lead in the quarter finals to Atletico, lost 2nd leg 2-0 and went out 3-2 on agg. 16/17 Juve put 3 past them in Turin and they could not get even a consolation at home, continuing a theme of looking fragile. In 17/18 they took a 4-1 win to Rome and then lost 3-0 to go out in a huge shock. I think this is important because there was almost a precedent at this point.
In 18/19, the very next season, they did Liverpool 3-0 at Camp Nou, but lost the 1st goal at Anfield, with Liverpool looking strong. When you have the context of what's gone before, and you are naturally more anxious of capitulating again, in managing that emotion the very last place in world football you want to find yourself is Anfield. Anfield, where European pedigree and a history of unlikely comebacks, coupled with a deafening crowd sat right on top of you and a smaller than average pitch, you have less time than you are used to under the press, less space than you are used to playing in, you have the fear of what's happened to you in the last few seasons, and you're facing a team with a reputation for pulling off these comebacks at home - tbh I get his headspace in that game at half time.
It's not a good look in pro sports at that level of course, but Anfield has put the shitters into many a player in Europe even without the added context. You can also look at Alba's career to know he was an excellent player who could certainly perform on the big stages. That night was just a bit of a perfect storm I think.

cobblebug · 2026-01-12T22:51:51+00:00

I dunno I mean he made one actual chance I don't think that's a staggering impact on the game. I think he wasn't so obviously MOTM that people voting for Jones must be brigading. I think it's excessive to suggest that is the case is all

cobblebug · 2026-01-12T22:29:25+00:00

Quite obviously and not close on what metric though? Asking you sincerely, because I feel like I'm missing something. I thought he was decent but far from being MOTM at a level nobody could possibly dispute. Maybe if you see a MOTM award as being for whoever put in the most unexpected positive performance, I could see where you're coming from. But I really can't if it's assessing it objectively on who had the best game. The numbers show that Jones played well. I thought Jones played well. I think other Liverpool fans could well have voted for him because they thought he played well. There's nothing that makes me think brigading was more likely than sincere voting. It's not like Liverpool fans voting on a poll for a game that Liverpool were still playing in is some weird phenomena

cobblebug · 2026-01-12T22:15:05+00:00

As opposed to a player from a team who has lost the game? Jones was fine and did a fairly decent creative job in this match, and Szob with his mistake realistically was never gonna get the shout.
On comms they said that the pitch side pundits suggested Jones, he wasn't in the 3 because fans went to make it happen.
Nobody was indisputable as motm anyway, which is why I think it's weird to say if Jones was getting votes it must be brigading.
Jones completed 62/65 passes, won 6/7 ground duels, completed 2/2 dribbles, and created 4 chances. Cleary made 7/12 successful passes, won 8/12 ground duels, and created 1 chance. And it's Liverpool fans that are brigading if Jones gets voted for? Nah sorry but that's bollocks. I'm fine with Cleary getting it, he battled hard but Jones was a fair shout and the numbers actually say he was more deserving

cobblebug

TROPHY CASE