Christian Ström

Something I’ve noticed about myself this season: I’m constantly on my phone while Liverpool are playing. Not the occasional glance either, proper second screen behaviour. Match on the tv, phone in hand, scrolling while the game carries on in the background. And every week I end up asking myself the same question: what’s going on here? Have I suddenly developed ADHD? Has years of short form content and endless scrolling completely destroyed my attention span, or more worryingly, am I starting to fall out of love with football? Because it definitely didn’t used to be like this. I could sit through a dull 0–0 years ago and still be completely locked in. Every phase of play felt like it mattered, every attack carried a bit of tension, and even when nothing was happening it still felt like something might happen. Now I sit down with every intention of properly watching the match. Phone down next to me. Five minutes later I’m somehow halfway through a video about someone restoring a lawnmower from the 1980s. I look back up and realise I’ve missed several minutes of football, yet the game seems to be exactly where it was before. Centre back to full back. Back inside. Across the back line. Back to the goalkeeper. Switch sides. Reset. By the time we finally reach the edge of the box my attention has already drifted somewhere else. And that’s when the other thought creeps in. Maybe it’s not my brain. Maybe it’s not TikTok or shrinking attention spans. Maybe I still love football exactly the same as I always have. Maybe Liverpool are just a bit boring to watch this season. Everything feels very controlled, very safe, very calculated. Lots of possession, lots of recycling the ball, lots of patient build up but not always much urgency or unpredictability. It can feel like we’re carefully managing a game rather than actually grabbing hold of it.

Guehi on Salah, and Lacroix on Cunha. The fouls are in basically identical areas of the pitch. The nearest covering defender is in basically the same position for both. Yet one is “denial of a clear goalscoring opportunity” and a red card, but the other isn’t???