Champions-elect Liverpool in a hurry to end 30 years of hurt

A 30-year wait to win a top flight title has been too long for Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp’s men are in a rush to end that drought as soon as possible with the best ever start to a season in Europe’s top five leagues.

Saturday’s 1-0 win at Spurs in a rematch of last season’s Champions League final was the Reds 20th in 21 Premier League games this season with a 1-1 draw at Manchester United in October their only stumble.

That stunning run is even more impressive when extended over the past year.

A 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on January 3 2019 — that ultimately cost them the title despite amassing 97 points — was the last time Liverpool lost in the league.

Since then they have collected 104 points with 33 wins and five draws, whilst also winning the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup.

“The problem is you don’t get anything for best starts apart from numbers,” insisted Klopp. “The only thing we are interested in is what we can get in the summer.”

At Liverpool’s current pace, spring will barely have sprung by the time the title is wrapped up.

They enjoy a 16-point lead over second-placed Leicester and have a game in hand, although City can cut the gap to 14 should they win at Aston Villa later on Sunday.

“It is not done yet because this league is so strong, because we face so many strong opponents,” added Klopp.

“The moment when we have enough points that nobody can catch us anymore, then we start talking about it.”

However, it seems a matter of when, not if, he adds the Premier League to two Bundesliga crowns won at Borussia Dortmund.

And the quality of opposition Klopp is wary of only strengthens his side’s claim to be among the best in the history of English football.

The Premier League provided all four finalists for the Champions and Europa League last season and all seven English sides in European competition have made the knockout stages once again

City rewrote the record books with their 100-point season in 2017/18, but Liverpool are on track to better even many of those landmarks.

“When Klopp came in it was end-to-end and exciting, they were an exciting team to watch, but now they are the best team to watch,” former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher told Sky Sports.

“We knew he was a top manager but I didn’t think this development of the team over several years was possible. To get to this stage, they are the best team in the world.”

After so many years when ending the three-decade wait for the title consumed Liverpool, now it may not even be the limit of their ambitions.

They have reached the Champions League final for the past two seasons and are the side to beat when the competition returns next month.

Even when Klopp fielded a youthful side with only one first-team regular for a Merseyside derby against Everton in the FA Cup last weekend, his kids came good in a 1-0 win.

The German will back his reserves to take care of Bristol City or Shrewsbury in the next round and the closer they get to Wembley, another shot at history may tempt Klopp into fielding a stronger side.

City completed English football’s first ever domestic treble last season, but only Alex Ferguson’s vintage Manchester United side of 1998/99 have claimed the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in the same season.

Match that achievement and the case for this Liverpool campaign to be the best English football has seen will be unarguable. (Vanguard)

The Truth

William, Harry slam ‘false’ story about their relationship

Princes William and Harry on Monday put on a rare united front to dismiss a “false story” speculating about their relationship, as senior royals meet for talks about the younger brother’s future.

Harry and his wife Meghan caught the institution off guard last week when they announced their intention to step back from frontline royal duties.

The 35-year-old former army officer has previously all but confirmed a rift with his older brother, prompting speculation as to the cause and that it may have influenced his decision to quit.

William and Harry, also known by their formal titles the Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex, issued a rare joint statement to condemn one report, without specifying the publication.

“Despite clear denials, a false story ran in a UK newspaper today speculating about the relationship between The Duke of Sussex and The Duke of Cambridge,” it said.

“For brothers who care so deeply about the issues surrounding mental health, the use of inflammatory language in this way is offensive and potentially harmful.”

The Times cited an unnamed “insider” as saying Harry and Meghan felt they had been “pushed away by what they saw as a bullying attitude from the Duke of Cambridge”.

But it also cautioned: “These claims have been strongly contested by sources close to the Cambridges, as well as some close to Prince Harry.” (Vanguard)

The Truth

Barcelona replaces Valverde with Quique Setien

Barcelona have replaced their coach Ernesto Valverde with Quique Setien according to a club statement.

The decision to remove Valverde was taken during a board meeting that lasted more than four hours at Camp Nou on Monday afternoon.

An official statement was issued on Monday night, with a press conference to follow on Tuesday.

Barca are top of La Liga but have won only one of their last five matches. Valverde will be the first coach the club has sacked mid-season since Louis van Gaal in 2003.

Setien’s first game in charge will be at home to Granada on Sunday. Barcelona play Napoli in the last 16 of the Champions League next month and Real Madrid in the league at the start of March.

He will also have to do without Luis Suarez, who will be missing for the next four months after having surgery on his right knee.

Setien has made no secret of his admiration for the stylistic traditions of Barca, with the 61-year-old also renowned for favouring an exciting, attacking mode of football.

A former player of Atletico Madrid and Racing Santander, he was circled as a potential coach of the Catalans during a particularly successful period in charge of Real Betis.

Setien led Betis to a sixth-place finish in 2018 and qualification for the Europa League but, despite overseeing a thrilling 4-3 victory at Camp Nou early the following season, results tailed off.

Betis finished 10th and the club and coach parted ways in the summer.

 Lingering doubts never went away

Doubts had surrounded Valverde for several months and were underpinned by two disastrous exits from the Champions League.

Barcelona’s shocking collapse against Roma in 2018 was followed by a similar capitulation against Liverpool last year.

Familiar fragility had been evident this season and a 3-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup on Thursday, in which Barcelona conceded two late goals, prompted the board to act

Valverde arrived two hours early for his last training session with the squad at Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper on Monday morning before meeting with Bartomeu.

Bartomeu then drove to Camp Nou, where he held a board meeting with several club officials including chief executive Oscar Grau, technical secretary Javier Bordas, vice president Jordi Cardoner and sporting director Eric Abidal.

Grau and Abidal had returned to Barcelona on Sunday after spending the weekend in Qatar, where they had offered the job to Xavi, only for the club’s iconic former midfielder to indicate he was not ready to come immediately.

Xavi will likely get another chance, perhaps even next year, when he could begin work under new leadership.

He has long been connected to Victor Font, who will go up against the current regime in the club’s 2021 presidential elections.

In Valverde’s two seasons, his team won two La Liga titles, as well as the Copa del Rey in 2018, and another league crown remained very much in sight this term, despite second-placed Madrid’s impressive form in recent weeks.

But Barca’s performances have been unconvincing and there were lingering concerns about Valverde’s more functional tactics, which appears to have informed the switch to Setien.

When Valverde arrived in 2017, Barcelona were wounded, hurting after the shock departure of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain and humiliated, as consecutive defeats by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup hinted at trouble for the season ahead.

Instead, he steadied the ship and galvanised the team.

They lost one league game en route to winning the title and the year after, they were champions again, finishing 11 points ahead of Atletico and 19 clear of Real.

Increasingly, though, Valverde’s achievements faded from view and his failures began to overshadow them. On Monday, Barcelona seemingly decided his time was up.

But Barca’s performances have been unconvincing and there were lingering concerns about Valverde’s more functional tactics, which appears to have informed the switch to Setien.

When Valverde arrived in 2017, Barcelona were wounded, hurting after the shock departure of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain and humiliated, as consecutive defeats by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup hinted at trouble for the season ahead.

Instead, he steadied the ship and galvanised the team.

They lost one league game en route to winning the title and the year after, they were champions again, finishing 11 points ahead of Atletico and 19 clear of Real.

Increasingly, though, Valverde’s achievements faded from view and his failures began to overshadow them. On Monday, Barcelona seemingly decided his time was up. (Vanguard)

The Truth

Oscars 2020: ‘Joker’ makes history with 11 nominations for comic book movie

The controversial but acclaimed antihero film “Joker” is leading the Oscars pack with a historic 11 nods.

Nominations for the 2020 Academy Awards were announced Monday morning, delivering honors for the season’s best films and snubbing more than a few of them, too.

But one film that certainly did not see any snubs was Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” which racked up 11 nods from the Academy, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix, 45.

The success of “Joker” is notable for a few reasons. First, Phillips scooped up double nominations for both the screenplay category and directing.

Also, the film is now the most nominated “comic book movie” in Oscars history, according to IndieWire. (“Black Panther” is now in second place with seven nods and three wins in 2019.)

“Joker,” which received a Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival, also scored four Golden Globes nominations this year, and won Phoenix a best actor statue.

Meanwhile, the divisive actor has kept a high profile in Hollywood, from helping the Globes go meatless to getting arrested at a Jane Fonda climate change protest.

If Phoenix takes home the Best Actor trophy, he would be the second actor to go gold as the Joker: Heath Ledger won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing the iconic villain in 2008’s “The Dark Knight.”

In addition to mass critical acclaim, “Joker” is now the most profitable comic book movie ever, with more than $1 billion in worldwide box office receipts.

But not everyone was celebrating the movie’s historic success. Some film fans took to Twitter to voice their outrage at the disproportionate love for the flick, which raised fears of violence and mass shootings when it premiered in October 2019. (Vanguard)

The Truth

Tesla cars will soon be able to talk

Tesla cars could soon have big mouths — just like their outspoken owners — thanks to an upcoming upgrade that will let the vehicles speak to pedestrians, according to Elon Musk.

“Teslas will soon talk to people if you want. This is real,” the eccentric Tesla CEO said on Twitter Saturday, where he shared a video of a Tesla car testing out the function.

The clip shows a red sedan rolling slowly past the camera as a voice coming from the car says, “Well, don’t just stand there staring, hop in!”

Musk suggested that the feature could be added to Tesla’s “Sentry Mode,” which activates an alarm and blares music whenever a car senses an attempted break-in.

“This will make for some epic robber confusion,” Musk tweeted. He also said the electric car owners would be able to have their cars fart in the “general direction” of passersby, an apparent reference to a famous Monty Python joke.

Musk did not give a detailed timeline for making Tesla cars conversational.

But the feature seems to make use of external speakers that Tesla reportedly began adding to Model 3 sedans last year in response to regulations requiring quiet electric cars to make noise at low speeds

Musk said in October that Tesla cars would be able to make “customized horn & movement sounds”  such as goat bleats and fart noises but they still aren’t available, according to The Verge. (Vanguard)

The Truth

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started