First State Kopites

Reds went away to LASK in the Champions League and to Brentford in the Premier League and came away with all the points. We will review the games before going onto look ahead to 4 homes games - Villareal, Brighton, Chelsea and Arsenal. I'm Paul, joined by Daz.

Part One - Lask and Brentford?

We just won 2 football matches away from home - some of the reaction has been underwhelming especially around Brentford

Is that all you get for 400m?

It’s not clicking said Daniel Storey (probably pissed because his Forest te...

Reds played the biggest cheats in the history of football (pending an appeal of course) last Sunday - a game of two ⅔ and ⅓ segments as Jonathan Wilson once said. We will review the game and offer some opinions about the event. We’ll offer some thoughts on LASK and Brentford but we’ll start with some reactions to the game against FC114 charges . I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

Part One - A defeat against  ‘Sham City’ - the Ghost game?

The event

Meaningless football match

Normal rules don’t apply

The...

Reds return to action this weekend against the biggest cheats in the history of football (pending an appeal of course). We will preview this game/this occasion, but we’ll start with some reactions about the news that City have been found guilty of some number of charges north of 114.. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

Part One - ‘Sham City’

Impact on the Reds

‘Giving us the trophies and the players the medals would be hollow’. Really?

Jesse Marsch ‘ we all knew this was happening’

How many $50M failur...

Reds away to Bournemouth who had not lost at home since January 3rd and come away with a win. We will look at that game, and review the season so far. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

Part One - away at Bournemouth - did we mention they haven’t lost at home since January and this is the first time they have gone behind:

Florian Wirtz and Milos Kerkez are passengers they say….

See Andy Robertson comments about last season - hard for new players last season

Allison Becker...

Reds home to Fulham and drop more points, having won away at Ipswich. And then beat Atletico de Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur in the cups. We will review these games, and then go onto preview our Sunday visit to Bournemouth, a team our coach may have some familiarity with. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

Part One - the good performances and the one not so good

Away at Ipswich

They look good when they have a lead

Isak, Gakpo

Home to Atletico

Press slightly of...

Reds home to Nottingham Forest and drop more points. We will review Liverpool’s first home game of the new season, and then we’ll go onto preview our Friday visit to Ipswich Town, a team that has looked better overall than the one that got relegated in 2024-25. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

Part One - the Forest game

The first half performance

Lot of gaps still in midfield and defence?

The goal - Jacquet not following VVD’s lead

Forest - lot of long balls

Reds go to Newcastle and drop points or rescue a point with a last minute goal depending on your perspective. It’s the same response to Liverpool dropping points as most of last season - the sky is in fact falling. We will review  Liverpool’s first game of the new season, and then we’ll go onto preview our first game at home against Nottingham Forest, a team that has given us problems in the last few years. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

Part One - the Newcastle game

The performance

Koum...

It’s a brand new season, our 8th. Wow. I guess we will look back at the pre-season, and then the first game and maybe beyond. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

Part One - the pre-season

Pre-season games

Yankee stadium experience

The defeats?

Squad building…Team feels short on players

Iraola’s approach - greater intensity

Midfield

Attack

Defence

Part Two - Newcastle away

What do we know, think and hope?

Team selectio...

Welcome to the latest episode, looking back at the season and the hiring of Andoni Iraola. I’m Paul, joined by Haitham and Enrique.

Arne Slot leaves, Andoni Iraola arrives

Let’s start with Slot - won a title, unbelievable adversity to deal with

The underlying numbers were referenced

James Pearce ‘What Iraola needs to learn from Slot’s failings’

Don’t lose one of your players before the season starts, don’t have your most expensive striker miss most of the season and most of all don’t be Dutch.

...

Welcome to the latest episode, looking back at 1 point from 3 games and now an important last game home to Brentford where fortuitously 1 point is needed to absolutely guarantee Champions League football next season. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Enrique.

Part One: Manchester United, Chelsea and Aston Villa

Team selection - limited options obviously. How much of a pass should the team get?

The optimism before the United game really drained away with the Isak injury

In each game, a period of passivity, a period of optimism and then a di...

Welcome to the latest episode, going to look at Sunday’s match at Old Trafford and then look at where the team is, in the light of this week’s Champions League semi-finals. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

Part One: Facing this Manchester United

Team selection

Anticipation of how the game plays out

United were overwhelmed by Leeds 2 weeks ago in the first half (conceded 2 goals). They came out and pressed really intently for 10 minutes against Brentford (had chances and scored from one of them).

Defence looks...

Welcome to the latest episode, after a quieter week. Into the one game a week pattern now. Nice (comfortable?) win over Palace in the Anfield sunshine. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Sean.

Part One: Liverpool 3, Crystal Palace 1

Palace continue to be a difficult team to play against - and they were at full strength.

Although our record against them since 2017-18 is 13W, 3D and 2 losses in the league.

Midfield - Allowed Adam Wharton too much space in segments of this game. Still leaving a lot of space in th...

Welcome to the latest episode, after a big week. Tough Champions League loss, but then there was a 100th minute winner from big Virg in the Merseyside Derby. Disappointment about the result against PSG maybe not the performance, complete joy about the win at the Hill-Dicko whatever the performance. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Enrique.

Part One: PSG at Anfield, Everton in their new stadium

PSG - for 20 minutes, it felt like we had them on the ropes

Team selection drew lots of criticism

Not clinical enough as has be...

Welcome to the latest episode, Liverpool’s losing run comes to an end at home to Fulham, with a 2-0 win. A lot more control about that performance than many of late. The defeats to City and PSG didn't feel great. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

It’s been a month since the last episode. I think it’s fair to say that some disagreements about where the team is at and conversations about blame have got in the way of pulling a pod together. This one is an attempt to move beyond that.

Par...

Welcome to the latest episode, Liverpool’s winning run comes to an end at Wolves. Conceding another 90+ minute goal - feels yuk. The 5-2 over West Ham offered quite a different feeling. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

Part One - First half - slow and predictable said the captain. Slot was very upset, we are told.

Play Frimpong and give him the ball before the final third too many times

First half - felt very safe - Wolves xG 0.0 - overall 0.44 for Wolves and 1.83 for us and 4 big chances.

Se...

Welcome to the latest episode, after Liverpool win 2 successive away games against shitball teams - the Reds got a late winner and people were doing cartwheels about the ‘bank robbery’ that took place in Nottingham on Sunday. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Justin.

Part One - First half - not our best 45 minutes:

Had a week to prepare? Balls jumped off our feet’. Curtis started too optimistically?Felt like the impact of no Florian was big

Somehow our pass completion was 85%

Forest had the new manager with the first win on T...

Welcome to the latest episode of this, the 7th season - after Liverpool finally overcame a shitball team away from home - after the low of the City match, the boys in Red rallied to produce a really solid away performance at Sunderland. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Alex. 

Part One - Sunderland away (xG 0.63 to 2.53)

Solid in the first half, aside from 1st minute foul throw

Less control in the second half

‘Carbon copy of the City game’ - some really solid defending and control from out boys here...

Welcome to the latest episode of this, the 7th season - after Liverpool had a tough weekend - after wins over Qarabag and Newcastle bumped back down to earth with a bizarre finish to the City match. I’m Paul, joined by Daz and Sean. 

2nd best in the first 30 minutes

35 minutes in the second half

Seemed to throttle back in intensity and territory after the goal 

Big miss from Hugo? 

We’ve dropped 8 points in 5 games in added time this season. Bug or feature? No Darwin threat

Refer...

Welcome to the latest episode of this, the 7th season - after Liverpool had a big week with wins over Qarabag and Newcastle. I’m Paul, joined by Daz. We are going to review the last 6 - Barnsley, Burnley, Marseille, Bournemouth, Qarabag and Newcastle.

Barnsley - went strong, could have been a walk in the park… 

xG 2.04 to 1.41 (although 0.9 had to be the goal)

Burnley - reaction in the ground seemed more intense

xG 3.18 to 0.4 - and big chances (3) don’t match the narrative of those at the game

The ref...

Happy New Year to all our listeners!! We are here with the 27th episode of this the 7th season - between games 19 and 20. We are going to review the state of the nation after those 19 league games and 6 champions league games. I’m Paul, joined by Enrique and Daz. We aren’t going to do much of a specific review of the Leeds game, although some of the themes we will talk about were very evident in the 0-0 draw.

Part one - Bad Points

Dealing with adversity:

Impact of the summer? 

4 l...

We are back with the 26th episode of the 7th season - making up for lost time. I’m Paul, joined by Sean and Daz. We are going to do a review of the Spurs and Wolves games, and a look ahead at Leeds on New Year’s day. After the Leeds game we’ll do a bit of a state of the nation after 19 league games and 6 champions league games.

Part One - Spurs away.  

Line up and approach

Injuries didn’t leave a lot of options. Lost Bradley and Isak in this one<...

Sorry for the slight delay… we’ve been on hiatus for the last 6 games. It’s the 25th episode of the 7th season. I’m Paul, joined by Justin and Daz. The Reds have won 3 of those 6, 2 draws and a weird defeat against PSV at Anfield.

Part One - The Good

Unbeaten in 5 - last 2 games particularly, although signs through the last 5 where we are very much set up to be more solid:

Lots of bright spots against Brighton - first game where we’ve lost the xG since Palace away, although so many almos...

Welcome dear listener to the 24th episode of the 7th season of First State Kopites. I’m Paul and I am joined by Justin. The Reds returned to action home to Forest and the outcome wasn’t great.

Some recurring themes and a disappointing game:

For 30 minutes, they created  a bunch of chances - 1.10 vs 0.21 in the first half

Macca at 8 minutes - headed of the line

Kerkez 16 - foul, not a penalty we get anyway

Gakpo blocked shot at 24

Szobo deflection at 30

33 - totally again...

Welcome dear listener to the 23rd episode of the 7th season of First State Kopites. I’m Paul and I am joined by Daz. The Reds return to action Saturday home to Forest and the host PSV next Wednesday.

Part One - what’s been happening?

Andy Robbo - “I’ve hid it well but today I’ve been in bits,”  “I know the age I’m at this is my last chance of a World Cup and I couldn’t get my mate Diogo Jota out of my head today. We spoke so much together about this...

Welcome dear listener to the 22nd episode of the 7th season of First State Kopites. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Enrique and Daz. The Reds follow up their win over Real Madrid with a disappointing loss at the Etihad (which for once appeared to be lively)

Part one - 

Always want to start with the comments we made at the start of the season - we should not be picking on any of these boys on the basis of what they went through this summer

I’ve seen this defea...

Welcome dear listener to the 21st episode of the 7th season of First State Kopites. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Justin and Daz. The Reds follow up their win over Aston Villa, with a really strong showing against a full strength Real Madrid, who are shit BTW

Part one - Beating Real Madrid

The game:

Built on Saturday’s performance. Determination, spacing, getting Mo involved

Midfield looked powerful, Szobozlai, Mac Allister

Stat about Courtois making 23% of his champions league saves against us since the start of t...

Welcome dear listener to the 20th episode of the 7th season of First State Kopites. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Sean and Daz. The Reds get back to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa. They end the weekend back in the top 4. And in the mean time we passed on the Carabao Cup for this season.

Part One  - A performance from the title winning season:

The midfield looked like the one we had last year - and no one is sure what our #9 does in this system. Rob...

APOLOGIES FOR THE LATE DROP ON THIS ONE. STILL WORTH A LISTEN!!

Welcome dear listener to the 19th episode of the 7th season of First State Kopites. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz. In a week where there have been so many hot takes we could probably have heated a major city through a nuclear winter. We’ve taken a couple of days to reflect with our review of Brentford 3, Liverpool 2.

Part One  - 

Conceded from a throw in, a long ball and a penalty.

Liverpool are terrib...

Welcome dear listener to First State Kopites. The podcast of the Premier League Champions. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz and Justin. Podcast has been slow in recording….

Part One:

‘I was incredibly disheartened last night by the general reaction to the result, and the poor analysis that followed in many quarters; even from some of the more rational analysts. I find the hysteria after defeats far harder to take than actually just losing a game of football, even if that part is painful too.

Part Two: Eintracht Frankfurt - WINN...

[Apologies about the sound quality in parts of the recording, it’s worth it to persevere]

Welcome dear listener to First State Kopites. The podcast of the Premier League Champions. We are going back to our roots today. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz and a special guest who first joined us early in season one - Keith Salmon, author and big Liverpool fan.

Step back to an early episode:

Keith has a new book published in May and available here in the US on Amazon - ‘There’s somethin...

Welcome dear listener to First State Kopites. The podcast of the Premier League Champions. We are going to preview Man United at home in a week’s time. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz and Sean. 

Wins against Chelsea and Sunderland - higher xG difference than us.

A team that still has gaps; will their recent results make them more adventurous?

Expectations of the way the game plays out?

Team selection - (Bradley, Szobozlai, Mac Allister, Isak, Ibou)

We’ll be back with a review of the...

Welcome dear listener to First State Kopites. The podcast of the Premier League Champions. We are going to review Chelsea last Saturday, with the benefit of few days distance. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz and Sean. 

Away at Chelsea - xG 1.0 (0.11 first half) to 1.95 (0.64). 4 big chances to their 2.

Immediate reaction vs. the chance to watch it again. How different were the narratives versus what actually happened:

Start well - Gakpo, Bradley, Kerkez, Isak, Szobo, Salah all look bright

Goal 15th - VVD covering Malo Gusto, after Mac...

Upcoming - Chelsea away. All doesn’t seem to be well…. 

Losses against United and Brighton

What do we know, think and hope

Team selection - (Bradley, Szobozlai, Mac Allister, Isak, Ibou)

Expectations of the way the game plays out?

We’ll be back with a preview of the Chelsea game. Thanks to Justin and Daz for joining me, Paul. And most of all, thank you dear listener for joining us.
If you enjoyed the pod, please share it with a friend. Follow us @FirstStateKopites on X  – we only tweet...

Welcome dear listener to First State Kopites. The podcast of the Premier League Champions and still the league leaders. We are going to review Galatasaray away earlier today and consider Palace last Saturday . I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz and Justin. 

Every reaction to both games starts with the result.

Part one - away at Galatasaray

Slot - lot to like in the first half, second half the ball wasn’t in play much

Being refereed by the French Michael Oliver didn’t help with the flow of the...

Welcome dear listener to First State Kopites. The podcast of the Premier League Champions and current league leaders. We have a run of 3 away games in 7 days- first up away at Palace on Saturday and then at Galatasaray on Tuesday. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz and Sean. 

Upcoming - Palace away. Unbeaten for 17 games

10 draws. Back 3 system played this way feels very hard to break down. Sarr and Mateta are the threats

What do we know, think and hope

Team selection - (Bradley, Szobozlai, Mac Allister, Isa...

Welcome dear listener to First State Kopites. The podcast of the Premier League Champions and current league leaders. We’re going to review Atletico at home last Wednesday and yesterday’s Merseyside derby. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz and Enrique. 

Part one - Diego Simeone’s boys - great in concept but just awful in practice:

Another last minute winner, after Atleti being the better team

xG 2.72 vs 0.61

Really annoying first goal from them - what is offside anyway?

A performance with a lot of positi...

Welcome dear listener to First State Kopites. The podcast of the Premier League Champions and current league leaders. This is a review of Burnley away last Sunday. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz. 

Focus mainly on Burnley - 3 talking points:

Were we lucky? xG of 2.65, OK not all great shots

And the Red Card…

Was the Burnley approach a surprise that we didn’t quite figure out

5-4-1 with a discipline I’ve seldom seen - xG 0.13, 90 passes

Lots of blocks - ‘smothered...

Welcome dear listener to First State Kopites. The podcast of the Premier League Champions and current league leaders. We are back from the first international break, 2 more before the end of November (woo hoo).  We now start the 2 games each week grind - first up away at Burnley on Sunday and then home to Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz and Justin. 

We’ve just learned that according to millionpodcasts.com we are ranked 17th on the list of Liverpool FC podcasts. We’ve got all five star reviews so...

Welcome dear listener to First State Kopites. The podcast of the Premier League Champions and league leaders. It's the eighth podcast of the season so far. Reds now have three wins out of three going into the international break.  We beat Arsenal by 1-0 despite the prevailing narrative pre-game. I’m Paul and today I am joined by Daz and Sean. 

Part One - God, Arsenal are a tough watch. STERILE!!

National narrative, Arsenal missed an opportunity with Liverpool playing poorly. 

Only 2 Arsenal players had a positive OBV (On Ball Value) - advanced metri...

Join us for a live post match conversation. As the Reds somehow overcome all their defensive frailties to win their third game in a row to lead the fledgling premier league table.

Thanks to Enrique and you dear listener for joining us.