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This article (Match Report: Fulham vs Liverpool - Lineup Changes Pay Off in Reds' Win) was originally published on LFC Globe. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Liverpool FC news.
]]> https://lfcglobe.co.uk/match-report-fulham-vs-liverpool-lineup-changes-pay-off-in-reds-win/feed/ 0 Confirmed Lineups: Fulham vs Liverpool https://lfcglobe.co.uk/confirmed-lineups-fulham-vs-liverpool/ https://lfcglobe.co.uk/confirmed-lineups-fulham-vs-liverpool/#disqus_thread Sun, 21 Apr 2024 15:07:52 +0000 https://lfcglobe.co.uk/?p=105342 Liverpool face a must-win today at Craven Cottage and surprisingly, Mohamed Salah is not in the Starting XI. Diogo Jota returns to the lineup though. For Fulham, American International Antonne Robinson gets the start up front and is more than capable of putting the ball in the back of the net for the net. Fulham […]This article (Confirmed Lineups: Fulham vs Liverpool) was originally published on LFC Globe. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Liverpool FC news.
]]> https://lfcglobe.co.uk/confirmed-lineups-fulham-vs-liverpool/feed/ 0 Match Preview: Reds face a must-win match vs. Cottagers https://lfcglobe.co.uk/match-preview-reds-face-a-must-win-match-vs-cottagers/ https://lfcglobe.co.uk/match-preview-reds-face-a-must-win-match-vs-cottagers/#disqus_thread Sun, 21 Apr 2024 09:20:23 +0000 https://lfcglobe.co.uk/?p=105338 Liverpool face a must-win game as they travel to Craven Cottage to face Fulham on Sunday, April 21st. The Reds have slipped to third place on the table, but pending other results, could move up with a win. Focus On Fulham Even though the Cottagers are 12th on the table, Fulham is a hot team […]This article (Match Preview: Reds face a must-win match vs. Cottagers) was originally published on LFC Globe. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Liverpool FC news.
]]> https://lfcglobe.co.uk/match-preview-reds-face-a-must-win-match-vs-cottagers/feed/ 0 Eagles Damage Reds Title Hopes With 1-0 Win https://lfcglobe.co.uk/eagles-damage-reds-title-hopes-with-1-0-win/ https://lfcglobe.co.uk/eagles-damage-reds-title-hopes-with-1-0-win/#disqus_thread Mon, 15 Apr 2024 14:10:35 +0000 https://lfcglobe.co.uk/?p=105334 After not losing a game at Anfield in 14 months, Liverpool have dropped two matches in a row on their hallowed ground. The latest example came thanks to a shocking 1-0 setback to Crystal Palace on April 14th. First Half The teams spent the first five minutes of the match until Darwin Núñez forced a […]This article (Eagles Damage Reds Title Hopes With 1-0 Win) was originally published on LFC Globe. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Liverpool FC news.
]]> https://lfcglobe.co.uk/eagles-damage-reds-title-hopes-with-1-0-win/feed/ 0 Match Preview: Reds Seek To Soar Past Eagles At Anfield https://lfcglobe.co.uk/match-preview-reds-seek-to-soar-past-eagles-at-anfield/ https://lfcglobe.co.uk/match-preview-reds-seek-to-soar-past-eagles-at-anfield/#disqus_thread Sat, 13 Apr 2024 15:42:15 +0000 https://lfcglobe.co.uk/?p=105322 After a shock loss to Atalanta in the first leg of a Europa League tie at Anfield, Liverpool must rebound quickly as they host Crystal Palace on Sunday, April 14th at Anfield. Getting Back On Track Liverpool's loss to Atalanta was the first time the Reds have suffered a defeat at Anfield since February of […]This article (Match Preview: Reds Seek To Soar Past Eagles At Anfield) was originally published on LFC Globe. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Liverpool FC news.
]]> https://lfcglobe.co.uk/match-preview-reds-seek-to-soar-past-eagles-at-anfield/feed/ 0 Match Report: Liverpool 0:3 Atalanta - Liverpool Suffer Shock Loss Against Italian Opponents https://lfcglobe.co.uk/match-report-liverpool-03-atalanta-liverpool-suffer-shock-loss-against-italian-opponents/ https://lfcglobe.co.uk/match-report-liverpool-03-atalanta-liverpool-suffer-shock-loss-against-italian-opponents/#disqus_thread Thu, 11 Apr 2024 21:38:24 +0000 https://lfcglobe.co.uk/?p=105309 Liverpool suffered a shocking 3-0 defeat at Anfield against Atalanta as they're on the verge of exiting the Europa League. First Half It was almost a disastrous start for Liverpool who almost conceded within minutes after Atalanta midfielder Mario Pašalić was gifted a free chance inside the box but was denied by the face of […]This article (Match Report: Liverpool 0:3 Atalanta - Liverpool Suffer Shock Loss Against Italian Opponents) was originally published on LFC Globe. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Liverpool FC news.
]]> https://lfcglobe.co.uk/match-report-liverpool-03-atalanta-liverpool-suffer-shock-loss-against-italian-opponents/feed/ 0 Liverpool vs. Atalanta: The Reds Resume Their Europa League Journey At Anfield https://lfcglobe.co.uk/liverpool-vs-atalanta-the-reds-resume-their-europa-league-journey-at-anfield/ https://lfcglobe.co.uk/liverpool-vs-atalanta-the-reds-resume-their-europa-league-journey-at-anfield/#disqus_thread Thu, 11 Apr 2024 14:48:10 +0000 https://lfcglobe.co.uk/?p=105305 Liverpool will return to Europa League duty on Thursday (April 11) when they host Serie A side Atalanta in the first leg of their quarter-final tie. Thursday's clash will allow the Reds to rectify the disappointing 2-2 draw against Manchester United that saw them lose top spot in the Premier League this past week. Despite […]This article (Liverpool vs. Atalanta: The Reds Resume Their Europa League Journey At Anfield) was originally published on LFC Globe. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Liverpool FC news.
]]> https://lfcglobe.co.uk/liverpool-vs-atalanta-the-reds-resume-their-europa-league-journey-at-anfield/feed/ 0 Liverpool vs. Sheffield United: The Reds Host A Struggling Blades Side At Anfield https://lfcglobe.co.uk/liverpool-vs-sheffield-united-the-reds-host-a-struggling-blades-side-at-anfield/ https://lfcglobe.co.uk/liverpool-vs-sheffield-united-the-reds-host-a-struggling-blades-side-at-anfield/#disqus_thread Tue, 02 Apr 2024 19:26:55 +0000 https://lfcglobe.co.uk/?p=105293 Liverpool will hope to continue their reign at the top of the Premier League when they host Sheffield United at Anfield on Thursday (April 4). Upon the return to the Premier League this past weekend, Liverpool's hard-fought 2-1 victory over Brighton on Saturday (March 31) saw them leapfrog Arsenal to the summit of the Premier […]This article (Liverpool vs. Sheffield United: The Reds Host A Struggling Blades Side At Anfield) was originally published on LFC Globe. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Liverpool FC news.
]]> https://lfcglobe.co.uk/liverpool-vs-sheffield-united-the-reds-host-a-struggling-blades-side-at-anfield/feed/ 0 Who Will Finish As Liverpool’s Top Scorer This Season? https://lfcglobe.co.uk/who-will-finish-as-liverpools-top-scorer-this-season/ https://lfcglobe.co.uk/who-will-finish-as-liverpools-top-scorer-this-season/#disqus_thread Tue, 02 Apr 2024 18:43:15 +0000 https://lfcglobe.co.uk/?p=105288 Realistically, there are perhaps two players for Liverpool that could fight it out for the title of the club's top scorers this season. They are, obviously, Mohamed Salah and Darwin Núñez. While Liverpool house a dazzling forward line with the likes of Cody Gakpo, Luis Díaz, and Diogo Jota, the trio are either not as […]This article (Who Will Finish As Liverpool’s Top Scorer This Season?) was originally published on LFC Globe. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Liverpool FC news.
]]> https://lfcglobe.co.uk/who-will-finish-as-liverpools-top-scorer-this-season/feed/ 0 Is This Mohamed Salah’s Last Season At Liverpool? https://lfcglobe.co.uk/is-this-mohamed-salahs-last-season-at-liverpool/ https://lfcglobe.co.uk/is-this-mohamed-salahs-last-season-at-liverpool/#disqus_thread Tue, 02 Apr 2024 13:15:21 +0000 https://lfcglobe.co.uk/?p=105283 It's a question Liverpool fans will certainly not witness, but unfortunately, we must encounter it. Mohamed Salah is undoubtedly one of Liverpool's greatest-ever players and is certainly the best player they have had in the Premier League era (from 1992 onwards). The numbers he's put up and the trophies he's led the team to have […]This article (Is This Mohamed Salah’s Last Season At Liverpool?) was originally published on LFC Globe. Follow us on Twitter for all the latest Liverpool FC news.
]]> https://lfcglobe.co.uk/is-this-mohamed-salahs-last-season-at-liverpool/feed/ 0Ranked! Jurgen Klopp’s top 10 Liverpool FC European victories
The manager’s reign in Europe did not end in the fashion we had all hoped for, but it takes little away from what he and his side have achieved on the continent.
From heroic comebacks to a show of utter dominance, we have been privileged to bear witness to some of the greatest nights that will forever be etched into the club’s history books.
If you could bottle up the emotions this list evokes, the world would be a much better place to be.
10. Porto 1-5 Liverpool, 2021/22
We’ve had few problems scoring against Porto in Europe, this being the third of three convincing victories over the Portuguese side in a short space of time.
Before it came the 5-0 drubbing in 2018 and the 4-1 win in 2019, and this one was just as enjoyable as the formidable trio of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane were all on the scoresheet.
The trio were slick from the off, but so was Curtis Jones – who was involved in four of the five goals. A thoroughly enjoyable clash and unlike so many on this list, free from any heart palpitations!
Fourteen goals at the home of a European side in the space of four seasons shows how dominant Klopp’s Reds were during this period.
9. Atletico Madrid 2-3 Liverpool, 2021/22
It was frantic and unnecessarily dramatic – but when do Liverpool do it the easy way? – as the Reds had a two-goal lead inside 13 minutes before Atletico pegged them back in the next 21.
Salah was reliable in Europe once more, scoring the opener and then the winner from the penalty spot, with a Naby Keita beauty in between.
It was a group game victory that tasted so very sweet and, incredibly, the win extended the Reds’ unbeaten run at the time to 21 games – these are the days you’d wish to relive!
8. Man City 1-2 Liverpool, 2017/18
You can still feel the emotions of this match even now, the overwhelming nerves as Man City opened the scoring and piled on the pressure, could the Reds withstand it?
Well, yes. Yes, they could. Pep Guardiola exploded on the sideline – what’s new – and got sent off, giving him a different view as Liverpool scored twice through Salah and Firmino.
The let-off when Salah scored – off an incredible team move it must be said – was indescribable, and Bobby’s was just the icing on the cake. What a game, what a night.
7. Liverpool 3-0 Villarreal, 2015/16
You can still see it now, Firmino’s exquisite piece of footwork near the penalty area that bamboozled Roberto Soldado – it summed up the Brazilian’s brilliant night.
The No. 9 was involved in all three goals as the Reds overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit to qualify for the Europa League final, with Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana on the scoresheet after a first-half own goal.
A fine individual performance from Bobby, but this was a night to remember for the Reds under Klopp, securing their place in the first of four European finals.
6. Bayern 1-3 Liverpool, 2018/19
Virgil van Dijk‘s raking ball to Mane, who oozed composure and class to finish the chance is the moment that is immediately conjured when looking back to this classic.
After a stalemate at Anfield in the first leg, the 3-1 win was a show of intent against the German champions – not everyone can attest to doing the same at the Allianz Arena.
A fine European night in a magical Champions League campaign.
5. Liverpool 5-2 Roma, 2017/18
A Salah masterclass against his former club, and it can be easy to forget they had Alisson in goal – we can thank this night for exposing him to the magic of Anfield!
Five goals in 68 minutes had us in dreamland. Salah and Firmino had two goals each, plus two assists, as the Reds ran riot against a naive Roma – there could and should have been a greater margin.
They pulled two back to give us something to think about, but this was Liverpool at their ridiculous best.
4. Liverpool 3-0 Man City, 2017/18
A 19-minute masterclass was all that was needed to blow Guardiola’s side out of the water in the quarter-final at Anfield, they didn’t know what hit them.
Salah, Mane and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain were all on the scoresheet on a night that saw ‘Allez Allez Allez’ really take flight, with Anfield at its feral best.
The second half required more of a defensive mindset and, in the end, the Reds ended the match with just 34 percent possession – how fun was 2017/18?!
3. Liverpool 4-3 Borussia Dortmund, 2015/16
The disbelief in the stands after the final whistle said it all, there were tears and shouts of ‘what just happened’ – perhaps with a bit more colourful language!
It was an introduction to what we could expect from a Klopp side on the European stage, down 2-0 inside 10 minutes and Liverpool turned it around with four brilliant second-half goals.
One of the greatest Anfield nights.
2. 2019 Champions League Final
If this was a list based on performances alone, we all know it would not be high on the list, but in a cup final all you need to do is win. And Liverpool did just that.
Salah’s penalty and Divock Origi‘s strike brought No. 6 back to Liverpool, Tottenham never really posed a threat, and it was not a bad way to kick off Klopp’s trophy haul!
‘Let’s talk about six, baby!’
1. Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona, 2018/19
The undisputed greatest night.
Even all these years later, you still find yourself shaking your head over just how Liverpool managed to do it, especially considering they were without Salah and Firmino.
Gini Wijnaldum was a man on a mission and the ‘corner taken quickly’ will be talked about for decades to come, it was a perfect night beyond all our hopes and expectations.
The “f**king mentality giants” came to the fore, and the ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ in front of the Kop is an image and moment that is burned into our memories – a night that perfectly encapsulated the magic of Klopp and Liverpool.
How Fabio Carvalho was rejuvenated at Hull – and does he have a Liverpool future?
On the day Liverpool imploded at home to Atalanta, losing 3-0 at Anfield to begin their exit from the Europa League, Fabio Carvalho was helping to make news of a different kind 100 or so miles away.
The 21-year-old was among hundreds of drivers caught in gridlocked traffic in Hull and, with a BBC TV reporter unaware of who he was asking for comment, a smiling Carvalho wound down his window and offered his take on the bumper-to-bumper chaos.
“It’s a mess, that’s all I have to say,” he said (48 seconds into the clip below).
A loan with Hull City, though, is proving anything but. Carvalho — dubbed “the lad from Look North” by Hull’s social media channels on the back of his unexpected TV appearance — has found himself a happy temporary home with the Championship club and is flourishing away from the Liverpool spotlight.
There’s more drama than a soap opera with bridges in Hull, Grimsby and on the M62 at the moment…and Drypool Bridge in Hull is now closed until further notice.
It’s causing traffic chaos in the city.
Here’s tonight’s @looknorthBBC piece #BridgeMenders pic.twitter.com/G7yRooVK5E
— Phillip Norton (@phillipnorton) April 11, 2024
Carvalho has seven goals in his last 11 games and the only frustration — for club and player — is that this season is running out of road. Saturday’s 0-0 draw at Watford left them six points adrift of the Championship play-offs before facing Coventry City in their game in hand tomorrow.
Carvalho, nevertheless, has salvaged his own season in East Yorkshire. Its first half had been close to a write-off when he was largely overlooked during an unhappy spell at RB Leipzig in Germany, but the termination of one loan has allowed another, far more productive one to flower.
Fabio Carvalho struggled at RB Leipzig (Luciano Lima/Getty Images)The form shown with Hull in the past two months has been close to the level that earned him a £5million ($6.2m) move from Fulham to Liverpool as a teenager two years ago.
There were few, if any, more talented players than Carvalho in the Championship back then, the precocious star of a Fulham team that cantered to the title. “You know how I love the boy,” said his Fulham manager and fellow Portuguese Marco Silva. “He has a brilliant career in front of him.”
That has not always looked a certainty at Anfield, but time spent with Hull has brought reminders of his talent before a summer when he will celebrate his 22nd birthday. The big question is: what comes next?
Should Carvalho require a character reference to place in front of his next manager, either when returning to Liverpool or moving elsewhere, Liam Rosenior will gladly head up the queue. Hull City’s head coach pushed hard for the January move and has not been disappointed.
Rosenior found Carvalho cleaning his own boots in a sink at the club’s training ground one afternoon last month, saving the club’s kit man a job.
“He’s just so humble and he’s going to have a great career because he’s got the right mentality,” Rosenior said. “He wants to work. I have to drag him off the training pitch every day.”
Carvalho has also been popular with team-mates. He is said to have been engaged, likeable and polite around a dressing room still holding promotion hopes. Motivations have never been questioned. He has never come across as a loanee going through the motions at a level most would consider beneath his ability.
There was a sense that Carvalho did not do himself justice in his first few weeks at Hull when his match fitness levels were lacking after only three starts in five months with Leipzig, but the improvements have been noticeable.
Carvalho was excellent in a 2-1 win away to Southampton in mid-February and followed that up with more goals against promotion rivals West Bromwich Albion, Leicester City and Leeds United.
There were two more goals in a 3-1 win away to Cardiff City and another in a comfortable home victory over Queens Park Rangers 10 days ago. There have been clever, cute finishes and rasping drives, adding the gloss to increasingly influential performances. Only five players (Josh Sargent, Ellis Simms, Che Adams, Sammie Szmodics and Jamie Vardy) have scored more Championship goals since Carvalho made his Hull debut against Norwich on January 12.
Most Championship goals since Jan 12 if(["rgb(17, 17, 17)", "rgb(0, 0, 0)", "rgb(18, 18, 18)", "rgb(26, 26, 26)"].indexOf(getComputedStyle(document.body).backgroundColor) != -1) {var x = document.querySelectorAll("#ath_table_589002 .ia-hlt");for (var i = 0; i < x.length; i++) {x[i].classList.add("dark-mode");}}var all_table_images = document.querySelectorAll("#ath_table_589002 img"); for (var i = 0; i < all_table_images.length; i++) {all_table_images[i].removeAttribute("onclick")};var link = document.createElement("link");link.rel = "stylesheet";link.type = "text/css";link.href = "https://use.typekit.net/cuz4pky.css";document.getElementsByTagName("HEAD")[0].appendChild(link);var link = document.createElement("link");link.rel = "stylesheet";link.type = "text/css";link.href = "https://use.typekit.net/dtk6elt.css";document.getElementsByTagName("HEAD")[0].appendChild(link);var link = document.createElement("link");link.rel = "stylesheet";link.type = "text/css";link.href = "https://theathletic.com/app/themes/athletic/assets/css/tables.css";document.getElementsByTagName("HEAD")[0].appendChild(link);Saturday’s goalless draw away at Watford showcased Carvalho’s quick feet again, but the early penalty he won could not be converted by Turkey international Ozan Tufan.
Carvalho has been given a licence to express himself by Rosenior, typically playing as a central No 10 with the freedom to roam. Hull have tended to play without a recognised centre-forward in the absence of Manchester City loanee Liam Delap, another player borrowed from the Premier League, with Carvalho and Tufan filling the void in fluid roles.
It was part of a vision sold to Carvalho by Hull in early January. Owner Acun Ilicali and vice chairman Tan Kesler both held Zoom calls in a bid to convince the player to join, as did Rosenior, who mapped out where Carvalho would operate and how he could develop. The pair have both said they “clicked” since their first meeting.
Calls also came from Jean Michael Seri, a former team-mate of Carvalho at Fulham, and Tyler Morton, another youngster loaned from Liverpool. “He’s fantastic, I love Fab,” Morton told The Athletic in January. “Not only as a player but as a person.”
Carvalho looks like a player reborn at Hull (George Wood/Getty Images)Ilicali suggested Carvalho eventually opted for Hull ahead of offers from Premier League clubs and rivals at the top of the Championship. A social media post from Hull, depicting Carvalho as a contestant on Blind Date, suggested both Leeds United and Southampton were among the clubs eager to secure his services.
Carvalho did not come cheap and the deal, including a loan fee and wages, will exceed £500,000. Hull have already suggested they would be interested in turning the loan into a permanent transfer this summer, but committing to a Championship project is unlikely to appeal to the player. Hull’s only chance of keeping Carvalho, you suspect, would be an improbable promotion.
GO DEEPER
Fabio Carvalho, the latest example of young talent who moved to a big club too early
There will be no rush to decide on the next step for a youngster with time on his side. The summer exit from Liverpool of Jurgen Klopp brings the promise of fresh starts across the Anfield squad and the likelihood is that Carvalho will be given opportunities during pre-season under a new head coach. Clean slates all round, a stage to press claims to build on the 21 appearances he made last season.
There are three more years remaining on a contract signed in 2022, but the competition for places back at Anfield remains fierce. Another loan, perhaps to the continent or a Premier League club, might be considered the most logical next step.
Carvalho’s stock, though, is back on the rise.
(Top photo: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
How Fabio Carvalho was rejuvenated at Hull – and does he have a Liverpool future?
How players deal with the pressure of a title race: ‘It’s an obsession – it changes your life’
Players try to adopt cool, calm exteriors during a title race. If you ask them probing questions in pre- or post-match interviews, they will say they are simply “focused on the next game”.
But when things are going to wire, as it is with Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City at the top of this season’s Premier League, what is going on in their minds?
The Athletic has spoken to those who have been there, done it and fretted along the way. This is the story of how it is done — and how to cope with the pressure.
Although sports psychologist Dan Abrahams tells The Athletic that the important thing for players is to focus on what they can control, that is much easier said than done. “Literally every time I got in the car after training, I imagined lifting the trophy,” Robert Huth says. “It was just my crazy little brain thinking about the ifs, buts and maybes.”
The German was part of the Premier League’s greatest upset, when Leicester City won the 2015-16 title against all odds. “Your mind starts predicting the future,” he says. “You can’t help but think about the end game.”
Leicester retained top spot from mid-January onwards and realised that dream — but others around Huth and his team-mates played a key role.
“I always felt like the staff — including Claudio Ranieri, who was brilliant — knew what was going on in our heads,” he says. “They let us dream but they also brought us back down to earth and set the tone when it was time to work. We weren’t arrogant to think we could do it, but you can’t help thinking about the best outcome. It’s human nature.”
Huth with the Premier League trophy (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Alan Shearer — who won the title with Blackburn Rovers in 1995 — said in his recent column for The Athletic on the mental pressures of the title race that players are economical with the truth.
“They’ll tell us they have absolutely no interest in what the other teams are doing. Let me tell you something: it’s bulls***.”
Huth agrees. Especially when it comes to the order in which teams play. “It makes a massive difference,” he says. “When you’re in a tight race, it’s all-consuming. All you think about is your opposition. What are they doing? When are they kicking off?”
In the end, Leicester, who only lost three league games all season, were handed the title when Tottenham Hotspur blew a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Chelsea. The team watched together that night and along the way.
“I made a real point of watching the other games, be it Spurs or Arsenal (who finished as runners-up). I wanted them to lose, make no mistake about it. I remember watching the full 90 minutes of Liverpool against Spurs with Kasper Schmeichel and Danny Simpson and all we wanted was for Spurs to lose. They ended up getting a point. I was sitting there going, ‘Jesus, we could have done with them losing to give a bit more breathing space’.”
The reaction was more important, though. “We always managed to find something positive when something went against you,” he says.
“That’s key for these guys now. There will be a twist along the way, it’s not just going to be straight up for any team, so they have to find a positive.”
When Arsenal thought they had blown it in back in the 1988-89 season after losing to Derby County and drawing with Wimbledon, some players tried to avoid updates on Liverpool’s 5-1 hammering of West Ham United. Paul Merson went out for a curry but couldn’t resist calling team-mate Perry Groves. Lee Dixon’s dinner in Hertfordshire came with service from a gloating Liverpudlian. “The waiter came and told me at the end, ‘You’ve got to beat us 2-0 now… it’s not going to happen, is it?’,” he says in 89, Amy Lawrence’s book about that season. “And I went, ‘No’.”
Michael Thomas famously had other ideas when it was ‘up for grabs’ in the final minute at Anfield.
Defining head-to-head games on the final day of the season are rare, but clashes between title contenders earlier in the season provide a huge opportunity to deal a mental blow. “Leicester at White Hart Lane,” says Tottenham defender Ben Davies, recalling the 1-0 defeat at White Hart Lane in January 2016. “That’s the one I look back on. If we’d won that game things might’ve been a bit different because the gap after that (seven points) meant they were always that one step away.
“At the time people were like, ‘Oh (Leicester aren’t) going to be able to keep this up’. When they beat us we were like, ‘Oh… they’re in the mix now. This is a serious contender’.”
Davies trying to block Huth’s winning header at White Hart Lane in January 2016 (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Leicester’s results were strong, but the pressure showed inside the dressing room in different ways.
“It got a bit more quiet,” says Huth. “Normally changing rooms are buzzy with the music pumping, everyone’s relaxed and having a bit of a joke. Towards the last few games, people were a little more within themselves.”
The high stakes were having an effect. “I went through my routine even more: what to do, who to mark and where to be on set pieces and other situations. I knuckled down. It intensified,” Huth says. “You don’t want to be the guy who lets down your team-mates because you were a little bit lazy or you forgot to be in a certain position.”
Shearer has written about “walking around with a constant, irritating companion” when he competed for titles with Blackburn and Newcastle United. “Wherever you go, whatever you do, it’s right there with you, chirping away,” he says. “There’s no hiding place from that piercing, nagging voice forever reminding you exactly what’s at stake.
“At Blackburn, every setback would fuel that little voice: ‘Oh my god, we’ve f***ed it, we’ve messed up, game over’.
The former England captain admitted that when it came down to the final games of the season, that little voice “was more like a blaring scream”. It meant he couldn’t sleep. “After games, my brain wouldn’t stop whirring, replaying everything I’d done or could have done. You go to bed and it infiltrates your brain. You toss and turn because sleep doesn’t come.
“I would catch myself doing rudimentary maths, working out all the possible outcomes and permutations. Burning up all that emotional energy was exhausting.”
Shearer’s strike partner at Ewood Park, Chris Sutton, was on the same wavelength on and off the field. “I never played with a footballer who doesn’t care,” he said in a recent BBC interview. “In title run-ins, some players mask it and portray an attitude like they don’t care, but everybody does — deeply. It’s all you think about. You don’t sleep well.
“If things weren’t going well (in a rival’s match), you get up and go to the toilet and think that by the time you come back something would have changed. Just change something — make a cup of tea, go outside, just change the routine. It obviously has no impact at all.”
There’s science behind it. “The closer you get to ‘D-Day’ in a title race, as Shearer says, the volume of that critical voice inside your head with unhelpful, negative emotions will turn up,” says Abrahams, a leading sports psychologist who has worked with elite players. “There’s a great deal of things that are out of your control. Control is a prime source of stress response.”
Shearer won the Premier League with Blackburn (Getty Images)
It doesn’t just have an impact off the field. “It delivers a lot of performance anxiety,” Abrahams says. “Not only do you have an inner voice that can distract, slow your anticipation and damage your awareness — it also impacts your physical functioning.
“Basic things like your first touch, your ability to close, see and find space or get on the end of crosses go. It plays on perception and physical coordination, so it’s an enormous challenge for players.”
So how do you guard against that anxiety? “Take players’ minds away from outcomes,” says Abrahams. “Be less pressurised on themselves around performance, but much more in tune with the controllable process they’ve got to execute.
“A striker might think, ‘I’ve got to score, it’s the run-in’. Take their mind away from that and focus on things that help them score like runs and movement, things they can control. Specific, controllable, positive plays or cues.”
But mental fortitude needs work. “(Teams need to) put these in place before any kind of pressurised situation at the back end of the season,” he says. “My argument when I sit in front of a manager: this starts in pre-season.
“Players themselves become the most powerful psychologists and this is what needs to be trained all season to reinforce the messages across the team.”
Abrahams also works with golfers, as a former pro himself, but it’s different to football. Only when taking set pieces — inherently individual moments — is there time to stop, focus on your routine, a point on the ball and your breathing. “Football works in seconds, but the brain works in milliseconds, so the brain trumps football for speed every time.
“When people say, ‘Football is so quick, how can it be a psychological sport?’, I would argue that football is as psychological (as golf), if not more so, because if you go missing as a player, that’s going to make an enormous difference to your team’s ability to execute a tactical plan.”
While Abrahams extols the virtue of creating “great leaders”, the ultimate aim for that team, according to Abrahams, is “a shared mental model” combining game plan and mindset. “What do we do under pressure? We’re dominant. We’re relentless. We’re focused. We’re confident. We’re calm. Action-based words that we want to embody as a team with physical cues, self-talk and body language.”
Controlling the voices in your head is one thing, team performances are another — but what happens when rival managers try to influence you with mind games? You certainly want your manager to take the sting out of the situation.
In the build-up to his famous “Love it” rant, Kevin Keegan advised his players to keep calm and carry on. He stopped interviews and their regular Monday lunch meet for pasta and beers to avoid bumping into journalists.
Then he blew his top after a key win at Leeds and took Sir Alex Ferguson’s bait. Ferguson had accused opponents of trying harder against Manchester United in the title race.
“We were just, like, ‘What has he done?!’,” recalls former Newcastle centre-back Steve Howey. “He is telling us not to give anything away and he has lost the plot. We were all wondering what they’d make of that at Old Trafford. We were naive and Kevin was naive as well. That said, we probably loved him even more for how he reacted. He wore his heart on his sleeve and we wanted to win it more for him.”
Howey (left of Keegan) said the Newcastle players couldn’t believe Keegan’s rant (Stu Forster/Allsport/Getty Images)
Newcastle faltered after that as Manchester United claimed the title by four points. Ferguson tried similar the season before when Blackburn held a six-point advantage, suggested they would need to do a ‘Devon Loch’ — a racehorse that led the 1956 Grand National but fell on the final straight — to be caught.
Dalglish’s response? “Isn’t that an expanse of water in Scotland?”
Shearer was grateful for Dalglish’s approach: “In those circumstances, it helped to have Kenny as our manager. He had seen it and done it at Liverpool and had dealt with Fergie’s mind-games. His deadpan demeanour helped drain pressure away from us.”
Ferguson’s words still cut through. “We were all listening and chatting about it in the dressing room and he knew that; knew how it would have pressed our buttons and wound us up, getting under your skin,” says Shearer. “He was a master of the art.”
United’s 1-1 draw at West Ham ultimately allowed Blackburn to claim the title despite losing 2-1 at Liverpool.
Blackburn, like Leicester, went against a school of thought established by the late leading psychologist Albert Bandura.”He spent his life researching this and he would say past experiences are your number one source of self-belief,” explains Abrahams. “If you’ve done it in the past, it demonstrates you can do it again. It’s a very simplistic way of looking at it because clearly teams win and lose, but it does help them.”
City will lean on that as they go for four in a row this season. It wasn’t like that in 2011-12 when they relished taking on the establishment.
“I was watching everything, absolutely everything,” Micah Richards, who played 29 of City’s league games that season, said in an interview with The Athletic in 2022. “I read everything, too. We used to love it. ‘He’s (Ferguson) at it again’. ‘Noisy neighbours’. We loved all that. We didn’t come out and do many interviews. It was all respectful. But in the changing room, we would say to ourselves, ‘We’re better than these’.
“We just had the edge of… not caring, not worrying. (Manager) Roberto Mancini knew exactly what he was doing, too. Against Fergie, he was just fearless.”
Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest cared little for reputation when they won the top division as a promoted side in 1977-78 and followed it up with back-to-back European Cup victories.
“He was a psychologist,” says Martin O’Neill, part of that all-conquering team. “He believed that time away from the football club was as important as time at the football club. You were expending an awful lot of energy during a game — physically and psychologically.
“Clough said bring your passports in on a Monday and you’ll be away until Thursday. We loved it.”
This season, Arsenal’s winter break to Dubai led to 10 wins from league 11 games after just one win in five. This was a page from Clough’s book. “We formed relationships and a camaraderie,” says O’Neill. “Show me a winning side and they’ll have a decent camaraderie. Show me a losing side and the chances are they’re fighting with each other.”
But sometimes the fight to stay in the starting line-up, mixed with a title race, inhibits rational thought. “It’s tunnel vision,” says Robert Snodgrass, who won three promotions during his career, including with Leeds United in 2010. He says longer-term ankle issues followed as a result.
“The right thing to do would have been to step aside. Was my ankle more important than promotion? I lost the ability to decide and had 10 to 12 years of ankle issues trying to chase the objective or promotion.
“I had this mindset that I needed to do something long term, try to stay in the team, how you’re portrayed in the team, be a good team-mate… it’s tunnel vision.
“When you’re chasing a title, you’re completely obsessed. It can change your life, your family’s life, everybody else around you, your team-mates, the staff, people at the club… it’s a hell of an obsession.
“You want to be successful, but nobody speaks about the pitfalls if you lose or it doesn’t happen.”
(Top photos: Getty Images)
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