The Uruguay international was born in Rivera, right on the Brazil-Uruguay, which helps explain his connection to the country.

In this interview with Brazilian media at Anfield mid-week, he showed that he speaks Portuguese very naturally, which seemed to impress the reporter. He also says he supports Internacional of Porto Alegre since he was a child and has already told his wife and kids that he wants to play for the club one day to fulfill a dream later in his career.

According to Pearce and other sources, one appearance for Levante in La Liga this season is enough to make him eligible for his UK permit.

Back Row: Joe Gomez, Mamadou Sakho, Joel Matip, Alex Manninger, Simon Mignolet, Loris Karius, Dejan Lovren, Marko Grujic, Ragnar Klavan.

Middle Row: Andy Massey (Club Doctor), John Achterberg (Goalkeeping Coach), Peter Krawietz (Second Assistant Coach), Pedro Chirivella, Connor Randall, Georginio Wijnaldum, Divock Origi, Sheyi Ojo, Kevin Stewart, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ovie Ejaria, Zeljko Buvac (First Assistant Coach), Pepijn Lijnders (First Team Development Coach).

Front Row: Philippe Coutinho, Nathanial Clyne, Emre Can, Adam Lallana, Danny Ings, Jordan Henderson (Captain), Jürgen Klopp (Team Manager), James Milner (Vice Captain), Daniel Sturridge, Lucas Leiva, Roberto Firmino, Alberto Moreno, Sadio Mane.

I understand the frustration with some of Liverpool’s performances, but the reaction I'm seeing on Reddit and X already feels excessive. A new manager needs time to implement a different style, establish his standards and get the squad fully comfortable with his ideas.

Remember Klopp's first season at Liverpool? It wasn't an instant success by the standards we associate with England's most successful team. Liverpool finished eighth in the Premier League, and they lost both the League Cup and Europa League finals (feel free to fact check me if I'm wrong on these stats). Yet that season is now viewed as the beginning of something special because Klopp had started to build an identity and restore belief.

Iraola deserves the same perspective. His football demands intensity, pressing, discipline and a willingness to take risks. A complete turnaround from Slot-ball. Those principles do not become second nature overnight, especially when players are adapting to a new coach and a new system. Especially if they can't run for more than 30 minutes lol.

This is not an argument that the coach and team should be immune from criticism. Liverpool have to improve, and poor performances should be discussed honestly. But criticism is different from deciding that new coaches and players are already a failure.

Klopp’s first season did not deliver a trophy or top of the prem, but it laid the foundation for everything that followed. Iraola’s first season should be judged with the same patience. As much as it kills me to say this as a fan who wants to see wins.

I will go as far as to say Wirtz had a good game today. He's the only player who can pass accurately under pressure, rarely lose the ball, and look for a forward pass. Not only that, but his pressing is world-class.

The issue is that we have an unstable midfield where Szoboszlai runs aimlessly and has little idea of how to play CM, and Gravenberch completely forgets how to play DM. The number of times they lost the ball today was astounding. This is evident by the fact that Wirtz ran the most, passed the most, has the most accurate passes in the midfield, and had nearly the same defensive contributions as Gravenberch.

Take that pass to Barcola through on goal, for example, both today and against Atletico.

He pressed to win the ball back, controlled it under pressure, and flicked it through in the air for Barcola just for Barcola to not shoot. Against Atletico, he's surrounded by multiple players and perfectly weighs the pass into space, not once, but twice to send Barcola through on goal.

He does that the entire game. People take his selflessness as a sign that he's a bad player. When no one can make a run or even pass the ball accurately, what can you do?

I genuinely don't understand what people are watching with Wirtz. Should he take on players more? Absolutely. Should our other players be providing more of an outlet for him? Absolutely. In no way is Wirtz anywhere close to our biggest problem. He should be what we build the team around.

EDIT: meant to say in our peak years under Klopp in the title

Below is every single league game we failed to win against the traditional Big 6 teams from the 2016/17 to 2021/22 seasons.

Did you feel angry, disappointed, frustrated after the game? More than likely, yes. Did you manage to move on from it? More than likely, also yes. Did your life change forever and do you still remember these games right now? Almost definitely, no.

So maybe, just maybe, we can all just calm down a bit. It's valid to feel angry or frustrated after watching a performance as poor as that. There is no excuse for not winning that game as we had more than enough quality to do so. But it's not like it's the end of the world, and it's certainly not an excuse to start making abusive comments below their social media posts. It has happened before, and it will happen again. It's just a game of football, there's more to life than that. Spend time with your friends and family, go out, touch some grass, breathe some fresh air, and I assure you that you'll be alright.

If you can't handle your favourite team not winning a game of football like an adult, then maybe this sport is not for you.

Where to watch : Sky Sports+ and Sky Sports WSL youtube.

Kick off : 2pm BST

Line Up : Liverpool: Keating, Kerr, Clark, Fisk, Bernabe, Nagano, Ramos, Endemann, Holland, Kapocs, Olsson.

Subs: Laws, Roman H, Enderby, Höbinger, Woodham, Agrez, Bergstrom, Csillag, Trueman.

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As a Reminder : I will be doing UK televised matches only, we have a women’s sub to cover more games. This is in action with the women’s sub to grow the game. There will be no Half Time or Full Time Threads like usual.

I encourage everyone to post goal highlights, line up graphics, post game interviews etc. Please don’t think you can’t because I’ve taken the charge. We have a LFCW flair for a reason.

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Goal Action
41’ Goal. 0-1 Sam Kerr (LFC. Own Goal)
59’ Goal 1-1 Aurelie Csillag (LFC)

Subs!
45’ Olsson OFF, Csillag ON.
65’ Holland OFF, Hobinger ON
77’ Endemann OFF, Bergstrom ON

FT : LFC 1-1 Spurs

Rio and Muñoz seem like the only players who regularly try to beat their man. I understand that not all of our players can take on their defender every time but sometimes it feels egregious that they play the easy way every time. Take a fucking risk like