FA Cup final kickoff confirmed & Firmino blow – Liverpool FC Roundup

April 22, 2022
This Is Anfield

Liverpool head into the weekend in a fantastic vein of form, with the Merseyside derby fast approaching and almost all the squad available to play. Plus, there’s Salah talk…

Salah downplays financial demands…but fans aren’t convinced

Another day, another Mohamed Salah interview in which he’s asked about his contract with the Reds. With still another year to run there seems no prospect he’s leaving in the summer, but he also didn’t clear up precisely why the extension isn’t signed yet.

He did, however, say it wasn’t all about the money.

Talking to FourFourTwo, Salah suggested: “I think the fans know what I want, but in the contract it’s not everything about the money at all. So I don’t know, I can’t tell you exactly. I have one year left and the fans know what I want.”

Except we don’t, because nobody is being clear about what the defining issues are if it’s not financial.

Fans have predictably had their say in response to the interview, with some suggesting it’s the length on offer he’s not happy with and others feeling he’s simply clouding the issue and it is, one way or another, down to finances.

The bitter, bitter blues

Roberto Firmino is only in the “maybe” category when it comes to who will be fit to face Everton on Sunday – he’s training, but not fully, and didn’t seem to be pictured in the pre-match photos from Kirkby. Everyone else, though, is ready to batter our nearest neighbours

Jurgen Klopp is in favour of the derby day physicality being part of the game, but cautioned players not to go “over the top”, while he also discussed Everton’s flirtation with relegation among the key pre-game issues

Frank Lampard isn’t hiding behind false bravado of a derby day win, saying he’d take a draw now if offered, while they’re without several key players through injury including Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Latest Liverpool FC news

LFC Women captain Niamh Fahey is keeping us guessing whether she’ll incorporate the “Hendo shuffle” when it comes to the trophy lift for the team winning the Championship this season

The kickoff time for the 2022 FA Cup final at Wembley has this afternoon been confirmed and we’ll start against Chelsea at 4:45pm BST on 14 May, with the game shown on both BBC and ITV in the UK

And finally, Klopp has rightly laughed off those who were quick to criticise the signing of Thiago Alcantara and suggest he wouldn’t fit in the team or would slow down how the Reds play

Latest Premier League chat

Marcus Rashford has impressed with his bench-sitting so much this season that Barcelona are being linked with a rather pointless big-money move for him this summer

Christopher Nkunku is wanted by half of Europe but Leipzig gonna Leipzig, so they’ve said there’s no way he’s leaving and will be with them next summer. Wise move, in fairness

Romelu Lukaku was all big and brash about loving Inter Milan and wanting to return at some point just a few short months ago, so predictably he’s now being linked with…AC Milan