Empire of the Kop - Insider

Liverpool fans have been forced to endure something of a bizarre start to the 2022/23 campaign with two vastly contrasting performances delivered against Fulham and Crystal Palace. Jurgen Klopp’s men find themselves four points behind incumbent champions Manchester City and fielding ludicrous questions around whether their title chances have been completely blown to smithereens. For clarity, we at...

The Empire of the Kop Podcast is… BACK! And back with a BANG and a half at that after Darwin Nunez made RB Leipzig his plaything with a stunning four-goal outing in the second-half of action. It is, of course, pre-season, as our rivals will be (and have been) keen to remind us, so it’s worth not entirely losing our heads over the Uruguayan’s tremendous showing in Germany. In the latest edition of...

It’s been an emotional month for Liverpool fans with Sadio Mane joining cult hero Divock Origi in departing the club this summer. Our former No.10 will leave supporters with many a fond memory from his time at Anfield, from his debut goal against Arsenal to his bamboozling of Manuel Neuer in the Champions League. In the latest installment of the Empire of the Kop Podcast, we shared our thoughts on...

The 2022/23 season is upon us! It seems like just yesterday that Liverpool concluded their campaign, coming achingly close to bringing the league title back to Merseyside on the final day of the term. The Reds have found out that they will face Championship winners (and Fabio Carvalho’s old club) Fulham on the first day, which was one of several topics taken up by the lads: * Should this be consid...

What was supposed to be an enjoyable occasion for all turned into a living nightmare for fans who had travelled to Paris for the Champions League final thanks to the horrific treatment by French police and the dismal organisational efforts of UEFA and French authorities. We looked back at the events around the Stade de France and beyond in the latest installment of The Empire of the Kop podcast: *...

Liverpool have the small matter of a Champions League final to attend to at the weekend to cap off what has been a phenomenal campaign from Jurgen Klopp’s men. Travelling to Paris with a handful of fellow supporters, Empire’s Peter Kenny Jones was on hand to gauge the mood ahead of the Reds’ grudge match with Real Madrid. There was a general air of positivity as the lads covered a great deal of gr...

Liverpool stand on the precipice of history - a quadruple haul of silverware remains possible . For those who haven’t had their eyes on this positively enthralling title race and trophy hunt, the Merseysiders find themselves only a point behind the league leaders and in need of another favour from Steven Gerrard. A draw will do from Aston Villa, and the Villans’ upcoming clash with Manchester City...

Liverpool escaped their visit to Villa Park with perhaps more bad news than good after an injury to Fabinho ruled the Brazilian out of the FA Cup final. We’ll be waiting with bated breath ahead of our clash with Real Madrid in the Champions League final, though there’s at least some hope of having our midfield enforcer back in the squad for the potentially season-defining fixture. Our No.3 was one...

The Empire of the Kop Podcast returns once again to review that scintillating Champions League semi-final second leg win in Spain. Our Premier League hopes may be out of our hands as things stand but it’s an accomplishment and a half to still be in with a shout of a historic quadruple after sealing our third final of the season. Plenty of that and more in #Ep49: * Who has been Liverpool’s standout...

Empire of the Kop welcomes you to the latest instalment of Your Morning Coffee with Empire! It’s been a week of good news for Liverpool, with Jurgen Klopp’s contract extension adding to the grins inspired by our 2-0 first leg Champions League semi-final win. * Liverpool-linked Ronald Araujo makes admission over interest from abroad * The only way the Reds could bring in a top new centre-half… * Ca...

Remember the time when we joked that ‘the Reds have got no money, but we’ll still win the league’? Crazy, right? And now look at us - fighting for a historic quadruple, barely no injuries in sight, Thiago Alcantara directing the Liverpool orchestra like a footballing conductor… and, oh? What’s this? JURGEN KLOPP HAS REPORTEDLY SIGNED A NEW CONTRACT??? Could it be? We couldn’t help but jump on a li...

Welcome to the inaugural Morning Coffee with Empire! Farrell Keeling and Peter Kenny Jones return to discuss some of the morning headlines that have made it to our screens: * Do we need to worry about Kostas Tsimikas being sold at the end of the season? * Could Conor Gallagher replace Jordan Henderson at Liverpool? * Unai Emery sets the tone for the second leg of action in our Champions League sem...

After securing a 9-0 aggregate win over the course of our two league meetings with Manchester United and knocking their city rivals, Manchester City, out of the FA Cup, what better way to cap off the week than with a Merseyside derby win! On the latest episode of the Empire of the Kop Podcast: * The Pete Quiz returns! But with a brand spanking NEW format! Can you collect maximum points and beat th...

The Empire of the Kop Podcast is… BACK! What a set of wins we’ve been treated to as well! The lads were on hand to analyse Liverpool’s 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United after knocking the Red Devils’ city rivals out of the FA Cup amongst a host of other exciting/infuriating topics: * The inaugural ‘Pete Player Quiz’! Can you beat Empire’s podcasters and guess the mystery man first? * UEFA’s ticke...

And just like that… domestic football returned! Liverpool did not disappoint either, following up a 2-0 win against Watford with a 3-1 away victory in the Champions League against Benfica. It seems like we’re saying this week in week out but it felt like another game of two halves in Lisbon with a perfect first 45 minutes of action blemished by a more okayish showing after the half-time break. A l...

The dreaded international break has arrived…. Or should we be thankful to have some time away from domestic football? It’s a debate we’ve had on the latest instalment of The Empire of the Kop Podcast, amongst other topics: * How impressive were ex-Liverpool youth coach Steve Cooper’s Nottingham Forest side? * Is Diogo Jota criminally underrated? * Are the FA massively letting down fans ahead of th...

The Champions League quarter-final draw is… HERE! Liverpool find out who their upcoming opponents are in the next stage of the competition and our potential opponents in the semi-finals! On the table for The Empire of the Kop podcast: * Our quadruple hopes… * Who could make it all the way through to the final in Paris? * A chat with Stan Collymore about Salah’s contract, City’s mindgames… and more...

Liverpool’s quadruple hopes remain alive and KICKING after our latest away victory at Arsenal to cut the deficit between ourselves and Manchester City in the Premier League table. With so much to unpack from our triumph in London, it felt like we were only scratching the surface still with the following topics: * A real squad performance against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium… * Will Mohamed Sala...

There’s no such thing as an easy ride in the Premier League, even with Liverpool enjoying the kind of form they are in the English top-flight, and Jurgen Klopp will certainly be making sure his men don’t underestimate the threat posed by Brighton. Helping us dissect the Seagulls and how Graham Potter’s men could look to set up against us on Saturday, freelance journalist, Charlie Haffenden, shared...

And. We. Are. Back! For another episode of The Red Nets Podcast! You can’t help but think about Liverpool’s 1-0 victory over West Ham as one of those games you end up looking back on at the end of the season as being pivotal if we end up securing our 20th league title. On the table for The Red Nets today: * Why are Trent’s defensive abilities not given the respect they deserve? * A taste of silver...

There were a few signs of a hangover from the highs of the League Cup final win at Wembley during the Reds’ FA Cup clash with Norwich City, but Liverpool got over the line in the end to keep the dream of a quadruple alive! Indeed, there’s no questioning the fact that the dramatic penalty shootout victory over league rivals Chelsea got more than the fanbase hooked on the idea of a special season fo...

With the importance of momentum constantly reiterated, one can’t help but feel that something special is brewing for Liverpool following our superb run of results after the resumption of domestic football. Indeed, with us possessing the opportunity to cut the deficit between ourselves and Manchester City to three points with a win against Leeds AND potentially secure our first piece of silverware...

It may seem a bit spoilt to think about what players from previous Liverpool sides could further improve Jurgen Klopp’s mind-blowingly world-class outfit… yet here we are! We brought in back-up in the form of ex-Liverpool striker, Stan Collymore, to help us create an all-time (excluding the Klopp era) best XI from which we could potentially swap some players into our current squad. There was a fai...

Jurgen Klopp’s ruthless Liverpool machine continued to roll on with a superb late win taken at the San Siro to hand us an advantage going into the return leg at Anfield. There were a few positive shouts for Jordan Henderson amongst our standout players of the night after the skipper earnt some criticism for his weekend outing against Burnley amongst other things: * Griding out a 2-0 win over Inter...

Jurgen Klopp seemed hesitant to revel in the fact that Liverpool have a near full squad available as we look to make our mark on the remaining second-half of the season. Nonetheless (we’re touching every piece of wood we can find here), we’d be remiss not to consider the kind of impact a full squad could bring for the rest of the campaign - particularly after Harvey Elliott shone on his return fro...