90 minutes later, shock and despair ensued. Liverpool had been outdone in a scarcely believable match, not by skill, brilliance or sheer grit — though these played a part — but by their own man.

Goalkeeper Loris Karius, whose career at Anfield had failed to quite assure fans of his worth as number one up to that point, had been at fault for two of Madrid’s three goals (not to discredit the other, a world class bicycle kick from Gareth Bale). The first, a bizarre throw which deflected off Karim Benzema into the net, the second a mishandling of a long range shot from Bale.

For a man who had carved out a sort of shaky foundation as Klopp’s number one in the second half of last season, for some fans it was a turn of events almost impossible to comprehend. For many others who had doubted Karius’ ability as first choice keeper from the beginning, this was simply the cataclysmic result of leaving a crucially important hole unfilled for so long.

Less than three months later, with an imposing and confident-looking new number one in Alisson Becker between the sticks, and Karius’ two-year loan move to Besiktas all but confirmed, what exactly went wrong for the German, and how can he rebuild his career?

Young with experience

Coming to a club like Liverpool is a tough task for any player, especially when you are filling a crucially important position that has been a problem for Liverpool for a good half a decade. In a way, the job Loris Karius was tasked with was an impossible one. Simon Mignolet had failed in his time to establish himself as being up to the job, and fans were expectant. More than usual, as the lack of stability in Liverpool’s goal continued through the years, there was pressure.

Only 22 at the time he joined LFC, Karius had three full seasons as Mainz number one, with over 100 appearances. While his stats mightn’t yet have been an indication of greatness, he certainly had experience for a young keeper, with room for improvement. The German’s stats in those seasons are modest if nothing to write home about:

2015/16: 9 clean sheets in 34 domestic matches (26.04%, 7th in % of clean sheets kepts in the league)
2014/15: 10 in 33 (30.3%, 5th in league)
1013/14: 9 in 23 (39.1%, 4th)

Comparing these stats to last season’s Premier League season would have put Karius on par with the likes of West Brom’s Ben Foster, Brighton’s Mathew Ryan and Everton’s Jordan Pickford, a distance from the likes of David De Gea, Ederson and Thibaut Courtois. Mainz finished 7th, 11th and 6th in those three seasons, and incidentally have languished somewhat in 15th and 14th in the two seasons since Karius left the club.

What about Karius’ stats in England? Numbers-wise, there is little to set off alarm bells; last season he kept 16 clean sheets in 33 competitive appearances, including 10 in 19 in the League. This put him in 7th place in terms of the number of clean sheets kept in 2017/18, the same as his last season in the Bundesliga. However, having shut teams out in 52% of the games he played, he has a better clean sheet percentage than any keeper who featured in more than half the matches (the only players with better percentages played five games or less). This is added to his 3 clean sheets in 10 league games the previous season, which most fans would admit was a tough christening for the ‘keeper.

Important errors?

Every goalkeeper makes errors. Even the top keepers have made mistakes, some even recently. Some of Karius’ gaffs had few consequences; others have been disastrous.

At times, he has been lucky; his failure to clear a cross against Man City in the Champions League quarter-final led to a goal wrongly called offside, and his parry out to Edin Dzeko to give Roma the lead in the semi-final second leg ultimately didn’t matter in the end. Others, such as when he spilled a shot into Nathan Ake to hand Bournemouth a 4–3 victory in one of his earlier matches, and his horror-show final performance, will serve long in the memory for all the wrong reasons.

So what now?

Karius’ statistics show a competent keeper with a lot of experience for his age. His performances have, however, shown evidence of a lack of composure and ability to command, often causing panic in Liverpool’s defence and at times making decisions which put his team in danger. Some keepers make errors little enough to get away with them; unfortunately for Karius, and despite his good record, his mistakes have been frequent and ill-timed enough to have cost his team on important occasions. Manager Jurgen Klopp simply couldn’t have given Karius any more time. With 49 appearances and extended periods to show his worth across two seasons, even with the pressure placed on his shoulders, Karius has proven that he simply isn’t up to the standard required for a team hoping to be title contenders this season.

At this point in his career, it is most important for Karius to, as best he can, shrug off the glaring negativity associated with his time in England and start afresh. Enduring death threats and the torrent of abuse he has had to contend with in the wake of the final is unacceptable, and he will hopefully not have to deal with those extremes again in his career (though Turkey is a tough league). As he embarks on pastures new at just 25, there is no reason why he cannot rebuild his career. Whether he can prove he has what it takes to be number one for a top Champions League-chasing team, or make a push for the German number one shirt in the future, is hugely dependent on his performances in Turkey, or wherever his next destination is. With his Liverpool chapter set to close, Karius will have to do very quickly what Liverpool fans will find tough to do quite so fast — forget the Champions League Final.

All views are my own and not those of my employer. Stats are taken from squawka.com and transfermarkt.com.

Whereas a few years ago — maybe even as little as five — the world would have been positively apoplectic at the latest accusations towards the President of the United States, we are no longer in those times. No longer the same society as we were during Watergate, or Monica Lewinsky. As of March 2018 we are deep into another realm, an alternate hemisphere where our moral switches are far less easily flipped, our outrage far less easily provoked. This is, as much as anything, down to the umpteen scandals, from small to large, in which the President has become entangled since he came on the political scene.

Between the Access Hollywood tape, the perceived mocking of a disabled journalist, the lack of transparency over his tax payments or support for conspiracy theories, there are many notable scandals that hit the President during his election campaign. It’s hard to say whether there have been even more since he became President or not. We have become accustomed to seeing all manner of controversies being thrown at Trump, all of which he has, for now, artfully deflected.

But there’s something about a salacious misdemeanor that really piques the public interest. Adult film star and director Stormy Daniels is alleging that she had an affair with Donald Trump in 2006. She claims that she was given $130,000 from Mr Trump’s lawyer in Michael Cohen during the 2016 election campaign to keep quiet about her relationship with Trump, and she told CBS’ ‘Sixty Minutes’ show that she was threatened in a car park back in 2011 by a man who allegedly told Daniel’s young daughter it would be ‘a shame if something happened to her mom.’

For a man who professes such a dislike for the mainstream media, Trump has created, through his own astounding ability to deflect scandal after scandal, a set of circumstances where their reporting on him barely provokes shock anymore, and where it will take something horrifically bad to take him down. While the American media are covering the story extensively, coverage over here has been a little more muted, something reflected in the public reaction.

Not that it is being treated as a small story. But the revelation of a possible affair between the President of the United States would have ended an Obama presidency. Or a Bush one. In Clinton’s case, it very nearly did. And our undismayed response towards the Daniels scandal is yet another symptom that we are living in unprecedented times, a sort of numbness administered by an atypical politician who, against all odds, continues to Ride the Storm.

Disclaimer: All views are my own and not those of my employer.

6LACK has included a Dublin date on his European tour next year.

The Atlanta, Georgia rapper will play the Olympia Theatre on 16th January 2018. The ‘FREE 6LACK’ tour will begin in the UK before stopping in Dublin, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and several cities in Scandinavia.

6LACK (pronounced ‘Black’) supported The Weeknd on his Starboy: Legend of the Fall Tour this year and will now embark on his first headline set of dates in Europe. Tickets are €26.90 and are available via Ticketmaster.ie.

But while such fleeting moments of joviality have given us reason to smile in an otherwise solemn and fractious Irish political landscape, they also serve as sad and isolated distractions from what has been a difficult parliamentary period to say the least. While Dail Eireann has not exactly hobbled over the summer finish line, nor has it powered convincingly over the threshold, chest heaving and brimming with confidence. The lower house has endured a testing few weeks in the wake of more controversies surrounding An Garda Síochána, the fallout from the Jobstown trial and the interminable water charges fiasco which continues to be a thorn in the government’s side. All this and more has meant a rather whirlwind bedding-in period for new Taoiseach Varadkar, still barely a month into his new role. But what issues will be most pressing for Dáil Eireann when it returns in September, when TDs and ministers have recharged their batteries and stacked away their deckchairs for another year?

Budget 2018

Of course, arguably the most pressing issue when the Dáil comes back will be preparing the budget for next year. While there were many who questioned whether this minority government would even make it to its first budget when it came into being in March last year, it looks to have defied the pessimists as it approaches its second, although the unpredictability of the confidence and supply agreement means that an election is never too far from people’s minds.

From what has been mooted so far, there will not be universal social welfare increases for everyone, as has been the government’s tradition, with the allocation said to be more hierarchically-based, while generous funding will be expected to be given to health and housing. While Social Protection Minister Regina Doherty has warned against expecting a ‘lorry load of money [to spend]’ this time around, it is expected that more details of the budget will become clear towards the bottom half of the year, and will certainly provoke debate both between the two major parties and those less represented in the Dáil.

Repeal the Eighth

One of the most contentious issues is the referendum on the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution. Mr Varadkar has already confirmed that a vote on the matter will be held next year, but whether that will involve replacing the amendment with revised wording or simply deleting it in favour of abortion legislation remains to be seen. Minority parties like Solidarity have been driving the Repeal agenda in recent months with rallies and public events, substituting the larger parties’ comparative reticence on the issue. But if the Taoiseach is to honour his promise of a referendum, then the government’s position will have to become clear in order for a question to be formed.

What little major party figures have said suggests that abortion is as deeply divisive an issue among politicians as it is in wider society, something reflected in Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil’s decision not to subject members to any party whip on the topic. There is consensus among most that Ireland’s abortion laws, some of the strictest in Europe, must change, but in terms of circumstances and restrictions the common agreement ends there. The challenge for our Dáil will be to phrase the referendum question in a way that will be agreeable to as many as possible and, if they choose, to adequately legislate on abortion. The range of opinions may make it difficult to effectuate substantial change, and we must await the Joint Oireachtas Committee discussion on the Citizens’ Assembly’s recommendations for a better idea of what approach politicians will be taking on the issue.

Water charges

Thirdly, with the water charges issue still looming large, Mr Varadkar and co will also have to lay out the implications of returning €178 million to customers who paid their bills to Irish Water. In addition to the method by which payments will be returned to customers, they will also have to outline exactly where this money will come from. TDs such as Pearse Doherty have criticised the Oireachtas committee on water charges’ decision that refunds must be taken from unspent capital funds, of which Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe says there is roughly €300 million, rather than from taxation or government expenditure. While there is some feeling that taking the money out of unspent housing funds to cover the cost of repaying the water charges is irrational given the state of Ireland’s housing crisis, the reality of the situation is that the government have promised customers repayment, and now must find the money from somewhere.

The water charges issue has been nothing short of a disaster, and has arguably served to heighten mistrust of the ruling parties by those hit hardest by the charges. The refund process will likely not be smooth, and will do nothing to take the pressure off the government come the autumn.

While the budget, ‘Repeal’ and water charges are three important issues facing the Dáil on its return, that isn’t to say that they are the most important, or the only ones. Legislation on medicinal cannabis will likely not go away following the throwing out of a recent bill tabled last year by Independent TD Gino Kenny, while Transport Minister and fellow Independent TD Shane Ross’ proposed Judicial Appointments Commission Bill will also have to be dealt with. The government will likely face more questions over the future of Garda Commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan, and the controversies surrounding senior Garda management will be expected to be decisively addressed at some point. From a purely institutional point of view, parliament will have to attempt to overcome the challenges posed by its minority government composition which, while allowing considerably more opinions and voices to be heard, has led to a slow-moving house which leaves Bills piled up. As the lower house in Ireland’s legislature, the Dáil will have to find ways to accommodate this increased participation while more efficiently fulfilling its primary role — to make laws. This is not a straightforward task, and will be made no easier by the conveyor belt of issues which Dáil Eireann will be faced with when the temperature drops and the autumn leaves begin stacking up on the streets encircling Leinster House.