First State Kopites

First_State_Kopites

We are members of OLSC Delaware - the First State's home for supporters of the Mighty Liverpool FC. We talk Liverpool FC with well known Liverpool fans, members of other supporters clubs and we generally have fun chatting about the Reds. The opinions are our own.

  1. 3D AGO

    Have you missed us? Meanwhile, the Reds make progress in the Champions League

    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 refereeing in these 2 games: Does Andy Madley read Paul Tomkins? Played with more freedom in the UCL? Joe Gomez, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez Able to bring on Cody and Curtis xG 1.46 to 0.87 (15 shots) - 3 big chances to - and Alisson was Fotmob’s MoM Bournemouth - bad weather day Part three - Big week at Anfield: Qarabag - easy or accomplished performance Szobozlai wants to play in the champions league final in Budapest Newcastle (2.28 vs 0.36). Ball 40 minutes in play. FIrst half looks like we are under pressure And then Wirtz and Ekitike Part four - looking forward Part One - Barnsley and BurnleyPart Two - Marseille away - Beatles Tifos - and BournemouthWe will be back next week with a review of the Man City and Sunderland games. Thanks to 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 and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

    44 min
  2. JAN 7

    Not what we hoped for, but some bright spots? S7 E27

    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 late goals conceded Ability to hold onto 2 goal leads - last 10 minutes Officiating - penalties awarded Coaching: Defensive mistakes; set pieces Ability to score against the low block Awful’ said one pundit - how awful exactly? 3 defeats by 3 goals in successive games  Recruitment? Part Two - Good Points: Created more xG than anyone apart from City. Hugo Ekitike was 3rd in the scoring list. A goal every 125 minutes. Till he seemed to become our only option. Top 4 is well within our grasp, 8 games unbeaten Champions League qualification - Inter and Real Madrid victories Florian Wirtz And our Expectations…… We will be back next week with a review of the Fulham game. Thanks to Enrique 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 and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

    1h 6m
  3. 12/31/2025

    Liverpool have 'crashed' the Top 4.. Aren't we the Champions? E7 E26

    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 Spurs - 1 win in 7 (we now have 3 in 7) played like a desperate team.  Frank appears to be under pressure - not good when the previous guy hired you The controlled aggression of his Brentford team doesn’t look good here Who scores the first goal once again significant The last 10 minutes - how do we make sense of that? Part two - Wolves at home Worst team in the league (potentially in league history) Seemingly less options Good points - bad points (Good half/bad half?) Diogo tribute Florian Wirtz Weird refereeing decisions  We’ve ‘crashed’ the top 4 Part three - Leeds at home with 5 day break Leeds have looked better. Calvert-Lewin’s goals Our approach, line up Virg’s comments re set pieces We will be back next week with a review of the Leeds game. Thanks to Sean 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 and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

    1h 4m
  4. 12/18/2025

    Have you heard enough about Mo yet?

    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 almost moments. Good rhythm and energy. At least 3 chances from Salah passes that didn’t quite materialize. Ekitike - could have had 5.  Jones, Gravenberch, Szobo all influential. Inter away - really solid performance - Rafa!! The obsession with Wirtz and our penalty… West Ham, Sunderland and Leeds - many good points. Part Two - the bad and the ugly: Giving up goals at Leeds - Ibou!  Sunderland - shitball and the difficulty of the breaks in play, time wasting and the soft fouls against us. City reaped the benefit, they were knackered at the end of that match. PSV - the ultimate, everything they hit went in. Part three - overview and preview to come: Salah, ‘the lost dressing room’ Ibou and the image of the James Milner ‘20’ shirt Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak and Milos Kerkez We will be back later this week - with an overview and some previews. 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 and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

    59 min
  5. 11/13/2025

    Why is every media outlet’s narrative about the Reds so wrong? S7 E22

    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 defeat described as us being blown away, thrashed, dismantled - just a few of the over the top descriptions from our defeat to City where the xG was even without the fucking ridiculous penalty (0.72 to 0.61). Less than a year ago, City were defeated, overawed, consigned to defeat by the same outlets and the xG was 3.86 to 0.51 in our favor. Proof if proof was needed that overreactions around the Reds gets clicks - then there’s our own mad fan base. The actual game - personally can’t get past the officiating. And the easy dismissal of goal related events in such a low scoring game. The penalty and the mad 200x zooming in - cf. the non-penalty at Brentford. Or even the studs up challenge at Anfield in 2024. Grating to hear the Manc accent announcing the penalty.,  The offside….  Only the Reds get goals disallowed like this. How can the linesman call this? Can I mention Bernardo Silva and his foul count The half baked offsides being flagged The inconsistencies - Wirtz can’t expect fouls like that in the Premier League Performances - people too willing to bury everyone.  Ibou does look a step off. Confidence, distraction? Isolated in the press. Doku - ‘all fart and no poo’ - scores his first goal since January. Not sure what else Foden, Cherki and Haaland did Review has questions on the out of possession plan - are we on the same page? Being played like it’s a cup final. Is Slot being too passive? Making it too easy? Lots of pressing but not coordinated Part two - Mindset going forward: No one that we play till Arsenal has the exceptions of most of the teams we’ve played so far. Forest, West Ham, Sunderland, Leeds(?) and Brighton in the next 5. With PSV at home and Inter away. Points max - we could get 99! I think the no draws thing is interesting. Few teams have won the league with 5 losses.  So, in summary, this loss carries the weight of the previous ones, but looking at the numbers, we don’t believe Liverpool are that bad, and that there’s plenty of cause for optimism going forward. We’ll be back with a preview of Forest and PSV. Thanks to Daz and Enrique 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 and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

    33 min
  6. 11/09/2025

    How much do you think Trent enjoyed this one? S7 E21

    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 the 2022 final (2.19 v 0.92 2022 final); 2.51 to 0.45 yesterday.  Bradley: Trent has never been on the winning side in this fixture. Joke about Vini Jr being confused after coasting in training against TAA. And Freddy Chiesa - oof Ekitike - lots of running. At times shows us his youth. Florian Wirtz: Wenger basically said he believed one of the issues we’ve had this season is that Slot promised to play Wirtz as a 10 when we convinced him to join so felt unable to move him from that position even when it unbalanced the team. Clearly once things had gone off the rails it was easier for him to then go to Wirtz and explain why he has to move him. I thought that he played really well out there. As long as he is given more license a flank might free him up more. Robbo was essentially an auxiliary left half with the positions he was taking up. Left a lot of real estate for Virg to cover but it looked really good when we were in possession Big picture: Football teams who want to play football. Bayern won 16 of 16 and are now the best team in Europe. Real Madrid won 14 of 16 and apparently are a bit rubbish. Wrap up: Sets us up for City 5 days gives us a chance to go again. They have a days less rest… We’ll be back with a review of the City game. Thanks to Daz and Justin 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 and retweet from sources we think are credible. Music is courtesy of Hypenotic – they are a Welsh electro-pop band – https://hyperfollow.com/hypenotic

    36 min

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

We are members of OLSC Delaware - the First State's home for supporters of the Mighty Liverpool FC. We talk Liverpool FC with well known Liverpool fans, members of other supporters clubs and we generally have fun chatting about the Reds. The opinions are our own.