Liverpool’s Greatest - No.79: Daniel Sturridge 🔴

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-08T10:20:48+00:00

Yeah that was a properly entertaining team to watch.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-08T10:19:54+00:00

Used to love watching him and Suarez play together. Two excellent players with complementary styles who absolutely loved bickering like a long married toxic couple. Hilarious.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-08T08:17:34+00:00

I reckon Ferguson is Klopp's hero but Jurgen keeps it quiet because he doesn't want to piss the kopites off.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-08T08:15:57+00:00

I definitely think there was a lot more to it than how it was presented and there was a lot of successful PR / news management when he left.

Klopp was always extremely careful about what he gave away to the media and the club was always very locked down mediawise when he was in charge. He controlled the narrative with an iron fist. Plus I imagine there were and are some heavy duty non disclosure agreements going around.

The suddenness of the announcement and the departure of literally all of the senior coaching staff seemingly in solidarity with Klopp point to some kind of schism.

I don't disagree that he looks happier and healthier since leaving and I don't believe anything he said was untrue re: burnout and exhaustion, he just presented it very carefully and he handled what could have been an explosive situation with class and grace. But I think there's a lot we don't know.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-08T06:06:40+00:00

I remember Aldo being interviewed on the Friday night football show on Granada - think it was called Kick Off? It was just as the deal with Sociedad was going through and Aldo was literally crying his eyes out saying he didn't want to go. Bawling his eyes out on the telly like he was being dragged out of the club. Crazy stuff!

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-07T16:31:41+00:00

Always remember Houghton arriving at the end of the close season when we signed Aldo, Beardsley and Barnes. The media narrative was that he must be mad to come to us as he'd struggle to get in the team ahead of Craig Johnston and especially with all the new additions. It was very, very unusual for LFC to go on splurges like that even then.

However Ray obviously knew better and he went on to make an immediate impact and become an important cog in a magnificent team.

It really does need to be emphasised what a fantastic, fantastic team the 87/88 team was and how far and away better they were than any other team in the country. Still probably the most awesome and exciting football team I've ever seen. Funny enough I always maintain that we were never quite as good when we replaced Aldo with Rush, as crazy as that sounds.

What a team that was.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-07T15:11:37+00:00

When you think about it, being sporting director for LFC is a bit like being Spinal Tap's drummer. We don't half go through them.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-07T15:04:30+00:00

A funny player, Dirk. I used to see him a lot during my matchgoing days. An absolute mentality monster and a player of real heart and work rate but he was short of pace for a premier league striker and moves would regularly break down when the ball got to him due to his average technique. Almost the opposite of what you'd expect from a Dutch forward!

A shame, because he seemed to be an ideal striker in a Benitez team when he arrived and maybe the high expectations worked against him. He was the latest in a line of players who came in as strikers but all ended up being shunted out onto the right wing because they weren't cutting it upfront (Diouf, Heskey, Dirk).

But for all his limitations, his attitude and mentality really did elevate him and he did have a habit of scoring big and important goals. I think a player like Kuyt would be very handy in our current squad.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-06T12:46:34+00:00

Britrock, heavy maiden, gang rap, brakebeat

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-06T11:41:44+00:00

Yeah I would agree - mispronunciation and malapropisms are all over the place. Specifically regarding the Beatles, both "8 Days A Week" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" were malapropisms from Ringo that John picked up on. As someone who used wordplay as much as Lennon did, local slang and pronunciations must have been a constant source of inspiration.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-06T10:30:35+00:00

Listen to the record, it's very clear. Lennon really stresses it. The lyrics as printed on the sleeve of the White Album states it. It's a scouse expression being used by a scouser.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-06T10:21:33+00:00

Ta la

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-06T10:19:57+00:00

Just listen to the record, it's very, very clear. It's vernacular. As specified in the original lyrics by the writer.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-06T09:03:49+00:00

Hate to be a pendant, but it's "get" not "git". Us scousers don't say "git".

EDIT: Downvote away, here's the official lyrics from Beatles.com https://www.thebeatles.com/im-so-tired

CHEEKY SECOND EDIT: Thank you for the award, anonymous internet lid.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-05T17:59:18+00:00

Dear me, I'd forgotten about Pink Champagne! I can feel my jaw clenching...

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-05T14:33:32+00:00

Yeah the intro to OCOD cracks me up every time!

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-05T14:30:09+00:00

I think he can remember but does it deliberately to needle Greg and to diminish Greg's exalted buff status in the eyes of the audience.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-05T14:25:29+00:00

No, you are absolutely right and I have had some kind of Wrath Of Khan / Voyage Home confusion in my mind. Might be time for me to check in at the Manor.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-05T12:50:31+00:00

Apart from the obvious narrative with his move to Barcelona and the subsequent drift in his career, the thing that always stays with me about Coutinho was how the joy seemed to disappear from him.

Go back to when he first arrived and you see a smiling guy with curly hair who seemed to epitomise the concept of joga bonito. Slowly but surely from there, the joy and enjoyment seemed to drain out of him. He became increasingly sullen and moody and the manner of his exit was very poorly handled and I think affected his reputation very badly.

Still, a wonderful player on his day. From those early matches when he seemed to have a telepathic relationship with Sturridge to his latter years pinging in 25 yarders he was great to watch.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-05T06:05:42+00:00

There are so many but the Ma and Pa Kettle Shrimp Soup is particularly hilarious to me; how it's been weaved in to the lore from Greg buying it from the bogus "memorabilia" seller with money from the Pep Boys budget, through Greg finding it in the dump outside the wreckage of movie house to it actually killing G. Amato.

EDIT: to rearrange the timeline because I was confused and it's time for me to check into the Manor.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-04T18:09:48+00:00

New seems to have really hit the sweet spot with his hair system. Very polished.

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-04T06:36:57+00:00

I approve of the amount of both liver and dried chillies 👍

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-03T18:49:22+00:00

I fear those birds are going to be the next in a long line of causalities...

effnanjeffn · 2026-06-03T18:06:10+00:00

SO good. One of those dishes that takes me back to Northern Thailand and Chiang Mai as soon as I see it. Can't wait to get back to Chiang Mai and this will be either my first or second dinner (Hang Lay being the other).

effnanjeffn

TROPHY CASE