The Liverpool Offside

Liverpool’s 3-1 win over Tottenham on Tuesday as they kicked off their 2026-27 League Cup campaign wasn’t just a welcome bounce back after a disappointing nil-nil draw against Fulham in the league on the weekend, it was also an outing that showed what some of the club’s youngster were capable of.

Lewis Koumas earned man of the match honours for his non-stop running up front, but he wasn’t the only young star putting on a show with Trey Nyoni and James McConnell taking on midfield duties alongside veteran Alexis Mac Allister—and McConnell is hoping it was a performance that means more chances for some of the club’s academy graduates.

“It was an enjoyable 3-1 in the end and we’re in the next round so hopefully that means more opportunities,” he said following the match. “My goal coming into the season was to play and obviously when you end up in a squad like this, that’s going to be difficult, but I think this competition always offers a chance.

“I think you’re always in a bit of doubt because obviously we had really strong opposition in the first round, but it’s really good of the manager to show faith in me and some of the other lads and we did well so hopefully we can get another opportunity, but we’re all part of the squad and you can’t look at it any different.”

After getting a tough draw in Tottenham, things don’t get any easier for the Reds in the next round as they drew Chelsea, with the match set for Anfield on October 27th. The only other match even remotely on that level is a meeting between Newcastle and Everton. Still, if they play like on Tuesday, at home you’d shade the Reds as favourites.

Ah Tottenham Hotspur. The side that gave us two of the greatest days in recent memory. Tonight will not be one of those nights. Liverpool attempt to shake off the bad juju from the scoreless draw on the weekend against a bad Tottenham Hotspur side. Of course Fulham being bad did nothing to change Liverpool’s result on the weekend. Anyway, it’s the third round of the League Cup, the least important competitive match of the season. Let’s hope for goals.

Television & Streaming: TNT Sports 1 (UK); Paramount+ (USA); Stan Sport (Australia); DAZN (Canada); SONY TEN 5 (India); beIN Sports (Malaysia); SuperSport Maximo 1 (Nigeria); beIN Sports (Singapore); SuperSport Maximo 1 (South Africa); other listings at LiveSoccerTV

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Liverpool attempt to shake off the bad juju from the scoreless draw on the weekend against a bad Tottenham Hotspur side. Of course Fulham being bad did nothing to change Liverpool’s result on the weekend. Anyway, it’s the third round of the League Cup, the least important competitive match of the season. Let’s hope for goals.

Television & Streaming: TNT Sports 1 (UK); Paramount+ (USA); Stan Sport (Australia); DAZN (Canada); SONY TEN 5 (India); beIN Sports (Malaysia); SuperSport Maximo 1 (Nigeria); beIN Sports (Singapore); SuperSport Maximo 1 (South Africa); other listings at LiveSoccerTV

If you haven’t done so already, we’d love if you signed up for an SB Nation account and join the community at TLO. We’ll bring you and your fellow Liverpool fans from around the world full coverage of every match from the 2025-26 season in the Premier League, Champiopns League, and domestic cups along getting you breaking news, insight and opinion, tactical discussion, and post-match reactions as the new season plays out. Hopefully you’ll join us for it!

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According to Voetbal International, Liverpool attacker Cody Gakpo has reached a personal agreement with Tottenham Hotspur after the side registered interest in his services.

The BBC report that Liverpool are asking for offers in excess of £60 million for Gakpo, money that many assume would be useful in pursuit of PSG’s Bradley Barcola — though it’s reported that Liverpool are unwilling to meet the Parisian club’s asking price of £128 million.

Should Gakpo depart, however, you would assume the Reds are certain of procuring attacking depth to fill his spot, as Gakpo was a major component of the Liverpool attack last season.

The idea of Cody Gakpo being a top target for Tottenham Hotspur has been floated off and on over the summer, with a smattering of reports over the weekend from Spurs-connected journos escalating things and suggesting he just might be the big transfer bomba hinted at by manager Roberto De Zerbi last week.

At the time, though, there wasn’t much to the rumour beyond the idea that Spurs might be seriously interested. Now, there’s a little bit more. From everybody’s favourite transfer chancer Fabrizio Romano to TalkSport’s Ben Jacobs (who at least has known connections to failed Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes), today the idea of Spurs wanting Gakpo is going mainstream.

A fee of around £70M, which is what Barcelona paid for Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon, has been floated as the sort of fee that just might get Liverpool to consider a sale—and given Gakpo’s numbers are slightly superior to Gordon’s even if he did have a very bad 2025-26 season along with basically every other Red, you really would hope that’s the floor.

Still, from a Liverpool point of view the idea of losing yet another first team player when the squad is already dangerously thin and laughably unbalanced with between four and five signings seemingly very much needed this summer and rumours Curtis Jones’ head is already in Milan is kinda bracing, if we’re being honest.

Liverpool currently need at least one top winger (and maybe another all-purpose forward, too), they need a right back, they need a centre half who can stay fit, and if Jones goes they need to replace Jones. Meanwhile, Hughes and the club rather seem to be twiddling their thumbs, having brought in Victor Muñoz six weeks ago and since then having done we’re honestly not sure what.

Well, actually, that’s not entirely true. They made a play for Yan Diomande and then it turned out Yan Diomande was only using Liverpool to try to get a move to Paris Saint-Germain or Real Madrid. And now they’re probably trying to get Bradley Barcola out of PSG but those rumours have been treading water for a few weeks and elsewhere it’s crickets.

In scientific terms, there’s a metric crapload of work to do and if the season kicked off today you’d say head coach Andoni Iraola is being set up for failure by a sporting director who was handed a title-calibre squad back in 2024 and has since turned it into a side looking like it needs a full rebuild under a new head coach who looks like he’s being set up for failure good job, Richard, good process.

So sure let’s sell Gakpo for £70M then fail to sign the necessary replacement along with half of the other players this squad needs (but don’t worry, when the window closes Hughes is heading for a Saudi payday so at least things are gonna work out for one person just it’s the person who’s screwed everything up for Liverpool).

We’ve known for some time now that Andy Robertson would be moving on from Liverpool after the 2025-26 season, and for almost as long as we’ve known that we’ve also known that the 32-year-old Scottish left back and Liverpool legend was likely to end up at Tottenham.

Robertson arrived on Merseyside in 2017 from Hull City for just £8M and with Liverpool’s Kevin Stewart heading in the opposite direction for a similar fee, essentially making for a swap deal.

He went on to play nine seasons in Red, ending his time at the club with 378 total appearances and with his 60 assists in the league standing him second to and just four back of former teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold for most assists by a defender in Premier League history.

He won everything he could have at Liverpool, exceeded any expectations many times over, and for most will be remembered as the greatest left back in the century-plus history of Liverpool Football Club.

Most Liverpool fans were, we suspect, hopeful when for a moment it seemed he might end up at Juventus in Serie A on a free this summer instead of Tottenham. Still, if London is what he wants, we can’t begrudge him the move and hope that he mostly enjoys himself at Spurs.

Per Fabrizio Romano, Andy Robertson has committed to a move to fellow Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur on a free transfer. The Liverpool FC vice-captain had been rumoured to be on the move to the North London side since he announced his impending departure from Merseyside, but it had been subject to Spurs retaining their Premier League status. With that confirmed on the final day of the season, the moves are in motion as planned.

There had been rumours over the past day that Juventus were attempting to hijack the deal with a late bid for Robbo. Coupled with the Alisson transfer and Mamardashvili loan move rumours, it suggests that Juventus have been watching a ton of Liverpool all year. And to that, I offer our sincerest apologies.

Thanks for everything, and all the best on your next stop, Robbo!

| Sunday, March 15th |

Premier League | Anfield

I’d say beware the Ides of March, but let’s be honest, we could all do with some world leaders getting it right about now. But we’re not here to talk about my hopes of popping that bottle of champagne I’m currently keeping chilled for that occassion, we’re here to talk about something much less fun: watching Liverpool FC play a game of football.

It is a “must win” match, insofar as there is no winning it. Spurs are the Crisis Club in the Premier League, so Liverpool can either futher Spurs’ misery, or buck expectations and go back into fullblow crisis themselves.

Television & Streaming: TNT Sports (UK); NBC (USA); Stan Sport (Australia); DAZN (Canada); Star Sports Select 1 (India); Astro Premier League (Malaysia); SuperSport Maximo 2 (Nigeria); 222 Hub Premier 2 (Singapore); SuperSport Maximo 2 (South Africa); other listings at LiveSoccerTV

If you haven’t done so already, we’d love if you signed up for an SB Nation account and join the community at TLO. We’ll bring you and your fellow Liverpool fans from around the world full coverage of every match from the 2025-26 season in the Premier League, Champiopns League, and domestic cups along getting you breaking news, insight and opinion, tactical discussion, and post-match reactions as the new season plays out. Hopefully you’ll join us for it!

Last season, assistant manager John Heitinga was by all accounts a player favourite and key to Liverpool’s Premier League title success, but seeking a head coaching opportunity led the ex-Blue to Netherlands and Ajax. That didn’t pan out, with Heitinga sacked as Ajax struggled both domestically and in Europe.

A little over a month ago, he joined a Tottenham side on the edge of imploding under manager Thomas Frank, with Heitinga meant to help steady the ship. That didn’t happen and Frank was sacked this week. Heitinga was reportedly given the option of staying on but has today chosen to move on from Spurs after just 33 days.

Tottenham have now appointed Igor Tudor as their next head coach, but only on an interim basis—despite that the former Croatia international has no former ties to the club. Tudor last managed Juventus, who signed him last March and then sacked him in October after he started the season winless in eight games.

The exact role Heitinga could have had in Tudor’s staff and whether or not it might have represented a demotion for the Dutch coach aren’t clear, but at this point if he wasn’t going to stick it out at Spurs through the end of the season it rather feels that maybe the best option would be taking a few months off to reevaluate.