Liverpool FC Opinion

Philippe Coutinho and the Value of Stats

I am a massive fan of stats. I am unabashedly a proponent of using stats to bolster analysis wherever possible, and I think that people who generally tend to avoid stats are missing a trick. Of course stats don’t tell you the entire picture, and there’s no substitute for simply watching the game but...

Individual Inconsistency Continues To Haunt Liverpool

Sometimes, you can’t help but wonder if Liverpool actually enjoy doing things the hard way. Sunday’s insipid 2-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace was one of the poorest showings of the season, at a time when such a flat display was inexcusable. Jurgen Klopp had a bad day at the office, making his...

Old Habits Die Hard At The Back For Liverpool

Two gritty wins away to Stoke and West Brom marked two giant leaps forward for Liverpool in their bid for Champions League football. Keeping out two teams that are renowned for being prolific from set-pieces, it seemed a major corner had been turned. However, it was old habits that died hard at Anfield on Sunday...

Is Klopp on his way to Building an Empire?

'There is a not insignificant chance I will have coached three clubs. It is always quite easy for me to fully commit to what I am doing because they are often long-term projects.' A welcome statement of commitment and intent by Jürgen Klopp, and one which vindicated the board and owner's choice of manager in...

Title Obsession Is Clouding Liverpool Supporters’ Judgement Of 2016/17

Few sets of supporters crave something as much as Liverpool fans crave a league title. It really is a drug.  For 27 years, we have waited and waited for the curse to end, but unlike most footballing records, this one seems destined to last forever.  We have had to watch Man United dominate the English game...

Alberto Moreno and the Left Foot Shank Redemption

The last five minutes of Liverpool’s encounter with West Brom may well have been the strangest of our season. I’ve never been a fan of sending goalkeepers up in the dying seconds of the game – not because I’m against fun or anything like that, but because it hardly ever works. People may remember Jimmy...

Recent performances are not enough for Simon Mignolet

Simon Mignolet found himself taking the plaudits for the second week running as Liverpool ground out a 1-0 win over West Brom, in which Mignolet made a tremendous save with ten minutes to go to keep Liverpool in front. This comes directly off the back of a match-winning performance last weekend, in which Mignolet...

Gritty, Gutsy Reds Refusing To Falter In Quest For Top Four

Stoke and West Brom were always going to be two tough games. With both sides renowned for their defensive attributes, coupled with Liverpool's inability to create space against teams who sit deep, Premier League rivals would have been licking their lips at the possibility of Klopp's side stumbling at the final hurdle. They'll have been...

Liverpool’s not-so-secret, secret weapon

After this past weekend's win over Stoke, I was a guest on the post-match Nina Kauser Show here on Anfield Index and was asked if it was Liverpool 'winning ugly'. Although it was certainly an ugly win, I did say that I felt when I think of 'winning ugly', I think of teams such...

How Has James Milner Really Done at Left-Back?

At the start of the week I penned an article discussing the Liverpool players in the running for the club’s Player of the Year award. I chose five - Sadio Mane, Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson - and gave honourable mentions to Gini Wijnaldum and James Milner. The reaction to...