The job of a manager is virtually impossible these days, as Ange Postecoglou finds out.
You can't say what you really want to say and using phrases like 'unacceptable' after a derby match is about as powerful as you can probably do in public these days. The stronger words are for the locker room.
But he's used these terms before and you can't keep repeating yourself game after game, especially when you've lost 11 Premier League games in January.
Apparently the message is not getting through. As Ronnie Moran, our coach at Liverpool, used to say to us: 'This is the second time I've had to tell you, which means one thing: if you have to tell it again, you're not a Liverpool player and you won 'I won't be here long.'
It's tricky because you want to express your true feelings, but if you do, you lose part of the locker room before you inevitably lose the entire locker room.
There's only so many times you can say 'it's unacceptable' because both the fans and the board will wonder, 'Why can't you solve this problem?'
If you lose the locker room, it's a simple money decision for the board to make. Then it comes down to asset value. And when it comes to losing a multi-million pound squad or its manager, there is only one winner.
I think this is the moment where Ange needs to both try a different approach and also use different phraseology to get his message across, to see if he can get a new tune out of this bunch.
I understand his frustration. It is a mystery how his team can beat Manchester City even though they were in a difficult period, beating Liverpool and Manchester United in the cups and failing so often in the Premier League.
The problem is that the manager has a group of players where he doesn't know what he's getting from six or seven players each game. That's not a great place to be and it makes for indifferent performances.
In the successful teams, the manager knows what he is getting from the majority of his players every match. As a manager you have to have confidence in what you get when you send them out of the dressing room. Spurs have been labeled as 'milky' and that's the correct terminology if you go up and down as they are.
The challenge for Ange is to have a Plan B. It's okay if you run Celtic and have the best players in the domestic league. There his approach would have been the same every week, home and away: let's just beat them. We will push to the halfway line and teams will play through our press at times, but in the end we will score more goals than them.
But when you come to England and try to play the same front-football against teams who are better at it than you, there is usually only one outcome. You ask your players to outsmart the opponent, but one big problem is that they have bigger weapons than you!
His team has good players, but not great players. And captain Son Heung-min is proof that his best days may be behind him.
They play in a way where when they come up against the better teams they are invariably beaten, as they did at Arsenal on Wednesday. Sometimes they will have to find a more pragmatic approach against the best teams or Ange will pay the price.
Record-breaking magpies
My experience at Newcastle United was that you only fell off the roof for one game.
By beating Wolves recently, Eddie Howe's side surpassed my Newcastle side's record of eight consecutive wins set in 2005. That run ended against Aston Villa when Lee Bowyer and Kieron Dyer decided to exchange blows on the pitch and both of were sent off the field.
To be honest, they are both very good guys, but on the day the frustration with the way the game was going got to them both. We went on to reach the quarter-final of the UEFA Cup and the semi-final of the FA Cup, but that was still not enough.
It's a very difficult job that can quickly turn negative, partly because you haven't won a major trophy since 1969. Everything may be rosy in the world at the club on Friday, but on Sunday everything is wrong.
Eddie's side have now won nine on the spin, a point gained by Kevin Keegan's side, and I'd say this is the best Newcastle I've seen since Kevin's team. They are nine points above the top and if they are lucky with injuries they could be a serious challenger for Liverpool.
None of the big boys will want to play against that team, they are full of beans, and in Alexander Isak they have the striker in form in the Premier League. It's a very difficult place to go to, Newcastle, when the supporters are supporting their team.
They won't shout it publicly in that dressing room, but they have to believe they can get Liverpool close.
Eddie has been successful in that, but the main reason for being able to do that is their fantastic recruitment.
They have two energetic, quality young full-backs and a midfield that will happily chase you down. It's not just players with flair, but talented, workmanlike players who do the hard work and make sure no one enjoys playing against them.
I also have to give credit to Anthony Gordon. I gave him a pat on the back for being a diver when he was at Everton, but he has been working on improving. He was unlucky at the European Championship, because in Gareth Southgate he had an English manager who should have trusted him more. Just like Isak, he has transformed into a real game-changer.
The big task for Newcastle and Eddie going forward is to retain these players.
Havertz is too nice to be an elite striker
It is clear that Arsenal need a goalscorer with 20 goals per season. Declan Rice came out after the win over Tottenham last night and said: 'We could have scored 10'. But they didn't.
They have a disproportionate number of goals from set pieces, 12 of their total of 41, with 10 of those coming from corners alone. By comparison, Liverpool, the team Arsenal are trying to catch, have scored three times from set pieces.
Other stats tell you that Arsenal's big problem this season is finishing chances. Kai Havertz is their top scorer with seven Premier League goals. After him you have Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli with five, Leandro Trossard with four and Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Magalhaes with three.
They don't have enough goals in that team if you compare them to Liverpool. Take out their set pieces, where would they be in the competition? Fighting to be in the top six.
I wondered why they paid £65m to Chelsea for Kai Havertz. I said at the time that Arteta must think he could improve him because you wouldn't pay for his performances and goals. He scored 19 league goals in three seasons. That's not nearly enough goals for a striker or attacking midfielder.
My description of him would be that he is too nice. I'm sure he would make a great son-in-law, but he doesn't have enough devils in him. And Jesus is more of the same: 18 league goals in 70 games. If he had been a top-level player, Manchester City would not have let him go. It's very clear that these two are not the answer.
When recruiting, they have to do the hardest job of finding that guy who will regularly score for fun and take them from almost men to champions. It is of the utmost importance.
The current Liverpool team has Mo Salah as their main goalkeeper and a host of contributing players. All successful teams have players who share the goals.
At Liverpool where I played, I foolishly bet £100 with Terry McDermott every pre-season that I would score more goals than him. I had already paid out on Christmas Day. I scored a few, but Terry was in front of everyone and scored from midfield. When he won the PFA Player of the Year in 1980 he scored 16 goals in all competitions, but in the following two seasons he scored 22 and 20.
Arsenal's favorite strikers are now struggling to get close to those figures. Current Liverpool has more goalscorers in their team than Arsenal – and that is why they are the big favorites for this Premier League title.
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