Liverpool beat Chelsea in the Carabao Cup but the victory was despite Florian Wirtz and co. Trey Nyoni was good, mind.

It’s a slim Mailbox – blame the d***head who did three Mailboxes on Wednesday – but a good one. Mail us at theeditor@football365.com

 
Liverpool forwards are stinky
Funny game of football last night. After turning on the TV from 50 mins, I thought Chelsea looked marginally the better team. But honestly I can’t keep track of who their players are anymore. It’s very hard to know where they start and RC Strasbourg ends.

Anyway I digress, by God did the Liverpool attackers stink the place up. They either can’t shoot, can’t pass, aren’t fast enough, aren’t strong enough, or have zero situational awareness (and in Wirtz’s case it’s a full house). To think Liverpool used to have Salah, Mane, and Firmino… hell even Divock Origi would look like a world beater in this squad. We didn’t know we had it so good.

At least Liverpool seem to have found some stability at the back. Araujo surely tops the list of the best loan signing the club have ever made – move over Javier Mascherano. While Jacquet seems to ooze composure and talent beyond his years. It would be great to see Joe Gomez have an extended run of fitness – even just for his own mental health. It can’t be easy being injured that much.

It’s frustrating to have drawn Bournemouth in the next round, but at least it’s at Anfield. Hopefully Fleetwood can do over Everton if they win tonight, and we can get two legs against them next year.
Oliver, London

The Bird is good, mind
Trey Nyoni was born in Reading but to parents from Zimbabwe. In his IsiNdebele mother tongue ‘nyoni’ means bird. Indeed, he emerged from beneath the warmth of the academy incubator lights like a hungry young fledgling, angular and awkward but full of promise. That was pre-season.

Last night against Chelsea he unfurled his wings, rose to his full height, broke up play, pressed aggressively, passed progressively, carried like a young Yaya, and revealed himself to be fully-fledged, quite magnificent Liver Nyoni. I have a feeling this is just a glimpse of how good he’s going to be.

As an aside Nyoni is pronounced NYOH-nee, two syllables with the stress on the first. ‘Ny’ is a single sound, like the ‘ny’ in canyon or the Spanish ñ in señor. Say his name: Treymaurice Nyoni.
Rob, LFC, NYC

Liverpool are bubbling nicely
You don’t see many football matches these days where both teams just say f*ck it, let’s go balls out on the attack and to hell with the consequences.

That League Cup tie was one. Thoroughly entertaining, and incredibly tight as well. You could have made a fair case for either side. The stats backed up how tight it was too.

In the end it’s another really good night for Iraola, it keeps the momentum going.

One defeat all season, and one that’ll probably end up being expunged from the record soon in any case. Quietly impressive stuff. Liverpool are simmering nicely under his management.

Sunday will tell us whether they might just have something to say about the title race.
Andy H, Swansea

Keep politics out of F365
Look, we understand that the editorial staff at F365 are all lefties, but please try and keep your political opinions to yourselves as I find it irritating, juvenile, detracts from an otherwise entertaining site.

In the latest piece, Will Ford calls Jim Radcliffe the Glazers’ “right-wing straw man”. This is a totally unnecessary political comment, especially as I would aver that Radcliffe’s political views are probably more in tune with the average football fan than F365’s.

Let’s keep politics out, please.
Phil

(No – Ed)

More on kicking children
As a Spurs fan, I feel it necessary to state that this doesn’t come from a place of tribal hatred/nonsense etc, but is Dale May actually 100% for real? He is a professional footballer choosing to play in a men’s team for the Premier League champions. If a player for any of our clubs didn’t compete with him and Dowman went on to score or affect our team/game, we would rightfully tear them up.

I genuinely thought it was a parody email and I assume that I’ve mugged myself off by replying to it. But f*** me, Dale, wow.
Jon (Spurs), Lincoln

…Dale May, I couldn’t agree more. It’s not fair that a young child is subjected to the same roughhousing as the adults. In fact I’d go further, I’d make it a rule that he gets a metre head start on every sprint as he’s only a little boy, maybe have an additional goal around the current one that’s a foot bigger that if he scores in it counts as he’s but a little scamp and I’d reduce the opposition team down to ten men from the off as he’s barely out of nappies.

Maybe some milk and biscuits at the end of the game when he gets in his Arsenal pyjamas whilst you tell him how well he did today too?
Anthony (I’m the magical man from happy land, in a gumdrop house on lollipop laaaannnee), Kilburn

And on Declan Rice…
I see Gooner rent-a-gob Tom from Leyton is back, and with what might well be the most obviously ridiculous opinion of all time:

“…For me, he’s the best English midfielder of my lifetime, just shading Gerrard and Lampard…”

F*** me mate! Have you bumped your head?

I mean Jesus H Christ Thomas, he’s not even the best Arsenal midfielder of your lifetime.
RHT/TS x

(What’s that saying about keeping it zipped lest you confirm what people already thought of you?)

Who is Joe Wilcox?
After another unsurprising downfall of Man United a fresh name has entered the fray into why Man United are a shower of sh*te, he is Joe Wilcox.

Anyone under the age of 35 will probably have a hard time knowing this mans football background, his playing career in a snap shot, he played for Blackburn Rovers in his youth and during this time he was lucky enough to see them spunk an unbelievable amount of money (at the time) on a lot of good players and they won the league, this turned out to be folly when they realised they didn’t have enough money to pay people back so they got relegated and he had to move to Leeds, surprisingly the same thing happened again without a league title this time.

His career as a director of football is sadly less than his playing career, his high was being the academy director at Man Citys U18s team and his low was jumping ship from Southampton to Man United before they got relegated.

This man became Sporting Director because Dan Ashworth suggested Southgate as a viable manager and lost his brand new job, so slick Joe took the position. Joe got another promotion to Director of Football by waiting a month and waving bye to Dave Brailsford who quickly exited, a man who knew a lot about cycling and somehow got the job of Sporting Director at one of the biggest FOOTBALL clubs in the world and no one knew why.

So who is Joe Wilcox? He is a lucky man who has been in the right place at the right time to further his career, in his past life he probably saved the world to get as far as he has with the limited amount of talent he has. Is he the reason Man United are a shower of shite? No, the people above him have been doing this for a long time now, employing woefully under qualified people to positions that actually matter and when a Manager or player needs someone who knows what they are doing in that position they are let down massively.

Joe Wilcox is the copier boy who caught the owner fingering the secretary and was given a company car, a promotion and a expense account.

Joe Wilcox is the symbol of how toxic Man Uniteds backroom policy is, they are not building to a vision but to a shareprice, a Director of Football who knows what he is doing doesn’t move the needle but can bring in the ‘new era’ which Man United fans are desperately wanting.

Joe was on a hiding to nowhere when he took the job in 2024, the team Man U have/had at that moment is close to Roy Hodgsons Liverpool squad, if not for 2 or 3 players they will get relegated.

Bruno is 32 and those shoulders must be heavy after carrying this bag of shite around by himself for 5 years, without some major overhaul across the backroom staff, the band aid of Conte or Emery with a new manager bounce and the new signings of Mbappee and Yamal will not bring this team to the top, Man United will always be rubbish until that toxic ownership goes away and that will only happen if you get relegated, pray you get relegated because you will never win the league again until that happens.
Rich Jennings, Hull (Wish I caught the Owner and the secretary)

(Nope, no idea who Joe Wilcox is either – Ed)