Akula

EPL suspended till 30 April

Following their win at Anfield, Atletico Madrid have addressed Liverpool on Twitter with a message which is nothing but pure class. "It was an honour to face such an exceptional side at a legendary stadium, LFC," the tweet read. "The atmosphere at Anfield was incredible. Best of luck in the Premier League." I would think that desperate the their antics, they had a game plan, stuck to it and aid by some clinical finishing and good goalkeeping (both theirs, not ours), prevailed over us. To be able to beat us both home and away is no mean feat.

Got this off the web. Sort of sums up all the various considerations and permutations ; Liverpool are still likely to be crowned Premier League champions, even if the coronavirus crisis causes the season to be abandoned amid mounting fears it would be ­ impossible to complete it this summer. As revealed by Telegraph Sport last month, there is no regulation governing what happens if the 2019-20 campaign is curtailed. But a senior club executive revealed on Friday night that there was little ­opposition to awarding Jurgen Klopp’s men their first English title for 30 years following what threatened to be the longest suspension of the professional game since the Second World War. Leaders Liverpool are 25 points clear of second-placed Manchester City and two more victories for the Anfield club will give them the title. Such is the gap that there is no appetite among their rivals to deny them the crown. The coronavirus hiatus is in danger of plunging football in England into anarchy, with governing bodies and clubs desperately trying to devise ways to avoid the unprecedented meltdown that could ensue if Government projections over the spread of the deadly disease prove correct. On a day when more sport fell by the wayside, including the London Marathon, the Masters, Wales’s Six Nations match with Scotland, England’s cricket tour of Sri Lanka, the start of the Formula One season, and the Giro d’Italia, one senior figure at a Premier League team told Telegraph Sport: “There is so much more at stake. There is a focus on whether Liverpool will be champions, but that will be an irrelevance in the scheme of things. There is an intent we will recommence, but will that be possible?” The Premier League had devised a plan in which the season would finish on schedule provided it resumed on April 3. That was the date to which it, the English Football League and Football Association agreed to suspend the men’s and women’s professional game following crisis talks on Friday. But with the virus forcing seven Premier League clubs yesterday to put players into isolation and the disease not forecast to peak until May or June, an April resumption appeared optimistic in the extreme. FA chairman Greg Clarke told Premier League clubs it was not “feasible” to expect their remaining matches to be played, while another senior figure told Telegraph Sport: “You tell me whether you think there’s the remotest possibility that anything in the science is going to tell us that it’s going to be safer to play on April 3 than now.” This summer’s European Championship is expected to be postponed at an emergency meeting of European football stakeholders on Tuesday in order to allow the club season to continue into June and July – and potentially even beyond. The same senior figure raised the prospect of the calendar being ­redrawn to dovetail with the next World Cup in Qatar, the switch of which to the winter of 2022 had ­already been accommodated by the game. “One scenario could be that you just work backwards from it and you say, ‘Why don’t we have a calendar season in 2022 and a calendar season in 2021 and we play the rest of this season in October?’” he said. But many players will be out of contract on June 30 and will also have lost match fitness, raising major questions about the integrity of competitions. Calling a halt to the season would be no less chaotic. That has resulted in discussions taking place inside some Premier League teams over proposals that could be put forward if the season could not be played to a conclusion. One would be to void the season, but there is an acceptance that would cause many of its own problems with Liverpool so close to winning the ­title. There would also be the issues of relegation and promotion from the Championship, together with Champions League qualification, which carry huge financial implications for the clubs involved. One proposal that could be made would be for the top two in the Championship, currently Leeds and West Brom, to be promoted and for 22 teams to compete in next season’s Premier League. The EFL Cup would be postponed for one year to allow extra space in the fixture list and five clubs, instead of three, would be relegated at the end of the season. One suggestion regarding Champions League qualification would be to allow the teams who qualified for this season’s tournament to keep their places next season and then ­enter any additional sides currently in qualification positions into an ­expanded qualifying phase. That would mean third-placed Leicester going into a qualifying round for the Champions League, with Liverpool, Manchester City – subject to the Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing – Chelsea and Tottenham holding on to their places in the tournament. But Manchester United, Wolves and Sheffield United, who are all above seventh-placed Spurs, would no doubt object to this. Christian Purslow, the Aston Villa chief executive, attended Friday's emergency meeting of the Premier League. Asked if he thought the current season will be completed, he ­replied: “We have no idea. Let’s hope so.” Failure to do so would in turn jeopardise billions of pounds in television money, with Premier League chief executive Richard Masters having already stressed to clubs in an email on Thursday night that “contractual commitments” needed to be taken into consideration. As revealed by Telegraph Sport, it would also risk sending EFL clubs – who depend on match-day ­revenue – out of business. That might be one reason why the non-League game did not follow the lead of its professional counterpart yesterday by calling off matches.

Might Not need. We face ManC (Away) on 5th April!

EPL suspended till 3 April! Means we won’t have the bragging rights to claim won it in March (if we do win the next 2 games). UCL & UEL also suspended!

Gutted. Up until the end, we played well. Now we only have the league to wrap up our season. Perhaps with no other competitions, we can power on and break a few records...... YNWA

We only need 2 more WINs!!!! Hardly ever so happy with a ManU win! YNWA

Watching the Manchester derby now. Realized I will be happy with whatever result.

Full Time: LIVERPOOL 2, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, AFC Bournemouth 1, Callum Wilson. 1049 days since LIVERPOOL last lost at ANFIELD. A new Premiership Record of 22 consecutive home wins. We are now a massive 25 points clear off ManC. Man C will play 3 league games before we play the next league game. We failed to keep a clean sheet but it was great to bounce back to winning ways after the Watford defeat. Shows character to come back after a goal down. 82 points out of a possible 87. 66 goals scored, with 21 conceded. 12 clean sheets. Need another 3 wins (maybe less). Man Of The Match, James Milner, what a goal saving clearance. Will need another big performance against ATM mid week. YNWA.

Seems that the news on the demise of Keita’s cousin might be false.

2 bad news: Alisson Becker out of this weekend game vs Bournemouth and CL second leg against Atletico Madrid with injury Naby Keita's brother Almamy Keita has died after Guinean club's coach crashes. Nine dead and 18 injured in accident. R.I.P. Thoughts are with Naby and all the other families. Tragic news. 🙏😢

JK field a hybrid team this morning, made up of Regulars, Reserves and Youth. Clearly(?) he dun prioritize FA. Next game vs Bournemouth, can we expect the 1st team to line up. With AM game just 3 days later? Some folks think that this morning and next Wed should field the strongest 11, with the game vs Bournemouth fielding a hybrid side. Reason given 1) After the loss to Watford, another defeat will be costly 2) It’s vs Bournemouth and it’s at Anfield and we are so ahead in the league. 3) AM next week is crucial. As I mentioned previously, last season, we played nearly our strongest 11 every 3-4 days when we were chasing ManC and progressing in CL. I believe adrenaline and momentum is crucial.

Our wretched run continues. Perhaps this will give hope to others that we are a bit on the ropes and can be beaten. Or perhaps, this would serve as an impetus to collectively kick into higher gear and push on. Next up, at home to Bournemouth. Anything less than a win, all talk of crisis and bottling it will definitely intensify

Neil Critchley will leave his role at LFC U23s and become head coach at Blackpool. Was doing fine at U23s, with the youngsters playing eye catching football. i suppose the step up is too hard to ignore. All the best.

Looking for silver lining, hopefully this defeat serves as a wake up call, for in truth, we had been poor even prior to the winter break. As for JK said, now that this defeat happened, hopefully it’s gone like the monkey on ur backs and we can get down to really playing football, dominating opponents and winning games. Next game is away to Chelsea in the FA Cup, followed by at home to Bournemouth. Will Klopp plays the reserves and youngsters in the FA Cup?