The Sakho Debate

Is there another player that divides opinion more than Mamadou Sakho? I know he isn’t in a red shirt at the moment, but this debate is starting to brew - therefore I thought I’d finally put it to bed. To be honest, it’s starting to get a wee bit irrelevant. Whenever our defence struggles to keep...

Klopp And Lucas Bond Over Derby Win

It's been such an emotionally confusing weekend, friends, has it not? Clearly, the dominant feeling has been the sheer exultation in victory over Everton, in what was, for this columnist, the most crucial derby in years. The nature of that win, the mental toughness the Redmen showed and the imposition of their superior quality...

Liverpool fans and the Dahoud fume

So the emotional volcano that is the Liverpool twitter-sphere erupted again this past week when it was announced that Mahmoud Dahoud will be joining Borussia Dortmund this summer. Liverpool had been long linked to the young German midfielder of prolific talent, with the infamous 'monitoring' word used. Predictably, the responses ranged from it all being...

Who is Liverpool’s Most Important Player?

One of Liverpool’s problems this season has been squad depth, which puts an added importance to the team that features week in, week out. But which of Liverpool’s players is the most integral to this team, both this season and looking forwards? This article will look at five core candidates from across the team...

Liverpool 3 Everton 1: Player Ratings

Liverpool continued their good home form against Top 6 rivals with a convincing win against the blue side of Liverpool. It's always a particularly satisfying win when beating Everton but doing the double over them means the Red side are totally dominant this season. Anyway, back to the game - here are the ratings for the...

Stats Analysis: Midfield Trios and Life Without Lallana

*The stats in the article are gathered manually from Squawka. Minutes include stoppage time. Offensive, Defensive and Net rating are the totals per 100 minutes.  Last week I tried to analyse the performance of the different defensive lineups Jurgen Klopp has used this season. You can find the article here. With unfortunate events during the...

Recent Results Show why Reds Need a Striker

Liverpool need their own Sergio Agüero. There’s no need for foreplay, or context, or even to reflect on the glory days of yester-year, when Liverpool were famed for their mercurial number nines. All one needs to see is the reaction from Manchester City following James Milner’s penalty. They came at Liverpool, they scored a goal,...

Private Jets, Insomnia And Donuts – A Normal Week At Anfield

Here is the latest in a sequence of ways in which writing a daily football column knocks your perspective into a cocked hat. Number 73: Comparing your reality to that of Roberto Firmino. Having missed a day from both my jobs for what the Twitter kids call "reasons," your columnist was left incapacitated enough that he...

Liverpool vs Everton Preview: Injury problems weaken teams ahead of derby

Liverpool and Everton both have fresh injury news troubling them ahead of this weekend's Merseyside Derby, an important one in the context of the season. The Blues haven't won at Anfield in around a million years, but there's always the next one for them to change that, and with Ronald Koeman's resurgent Toffees coming in...

Lallana Out: A mortal blow to Champions League hope?

As the Merseyside Derby draws closer, with pressure building around what seems the most important derby since the FA Cup semi-final of April 2012, and Liverpool immersed in a fascinatingly competitive rat-race for Champions League qualification, the FA could not help but get involved in some way or another. This involvement, unsurprisingly, yet still perplexingly, was...

Liverpool v Everton Preview – Merseyside Derby’s Key Battles

It is that time of the year again - the time of the Merseyside derby. It has been more than six years since Everton have beaten Liverpool in any competition, and as the run-in approaches with a top four place at stake, Liverpool will have to be on top of their game. In December, the...

Emre Can Must Start Over Jordan Henderson In The Merseyside Derby

Let me get this out of the way immediately: I think Jordan Henderson is a better player than Emre Can. He is a more consistent, intelligent, mature footballer, and in most situations, if push came to shove, I would always pick Liverpool’s captain over the talented young German. The thing is, Saturday’s Merseyside derby...

Ronnie Moran and the End of the Boot Room Era

With the passing of Ronnie Moran last week another guy rope was cut from the current Liverpool set up and the Boot Room age. The death of ‘Bugsy’ was felt keenly by those fortunate enough to witness the glory days of LFC. For many of us he simply was LFC and the sight of him...

Take That – Wijnaldum Is The Anfield Jedi Master

Today, this columnist awoke to the revelation that tax avoidance guru and all-around blandness salesman, Gary Barlow, is set to feature in the next Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi. That's Gary Barlow, out of Take That. In Star Wars. As an actor. After repeated failed attempts at gouging out my own eyes with a spoon,...

Liverpool’s Biggest Games Are Yet to Come

The match against Everton this weekend is a big match, the Merseyside derby always is. This one will be particularly poignant, following the passing of Ronnie Moran. It's almost fitting that Liverpool's next Premier League match, following the sad news that broke last week, should be against Everton. Moran, a legendary figure and integral...

Is Momentum Building Again Under Klopp?

International breaks are a bit of a curate's egg. Now, that is supposed to mean that there are both good and bad aspects to them and yet the origin of the expression yields a meaning far closer to this columnist's opinion of the all-too-frequent Premier League interruptions. Apparently, the turn of phrase comes from...

Seven Sensible Summer Signings for Liverpool

The season isn’t quite over, but following another roller coaster year of highs and lows — from competing for the title and chasing another cup final, to a loss of form and a dreadful run of results, back to chasing the top four — the club needs to press on with their summer transfer...

Liverpool in 2016/17: Has Progress Been Made?

With an international break ensuring that there’s no Premier League football this weekend, and with nine games to go in a finely poised season, this is the perfect time to assess Liverpool’s season, where it’s at and what we need to do in our final few games, as well as our general development under...

Which Strikers should Klopp be targeting this August?

Eddie Jones, England Rugby’s head coach, has tried to change the way replacements are perceived to some degree of success by renaming them ‘finishers.’ Applying that to Liverpool players though – whether they start or on the bench - might take longer to stick given their problems in front of goal. For all the pretty...

Liverpool must focus on a top three finish… just to be certain

It was only a second-half meltdown in Basel in the Europa League final against Sevilla that deprived Liverpool of a place in this season’s Champions’ League and there remains a remote possibility that the two competitions could combine to cause us more sorrow this term. All the media focus is on the race for Champions’...

Stats Analysis: Liverpool’s Defensive Inconsistency

Three quarters of another season have passed and it looks like Liverpool FC has the same old defensive problems. The team is on course to concede over 40 goals for the 7th straight season. That means that the last time LFC conceded less than a goal per match - you guessed it, Rafa Benitez...

Klopp’s Tactics: Pragmatism vs Idealism

Jürgen Klopp has a footballing style and philosophy that he sticks to very rigidly. His high-pressing, high defensive line, fluid forward line 4-3-3 has been the default for him this season. However, there have been times when the style, the formation, and most importantly the tactics, simply haven’t worked for Klopp, and his tactical...

New Deal For Can? It’s A No Brainer

Starting 46 games last season, Emre Can was tipped to have an extensive and successful career at Anfield. He was Klopp’s go-to man, running games in the number 6 role by injecting drive and energy to help push Liverpool towards a Capital One Cup and Europa League final. This campaign, however, has seen Can’s career stall alarmingly,...

Predicting The Final Top Six: Where Will Liverpool Finish?

Chelsea may be cruising towards the Premier League title in a frustratingly ruthless fashion, but there is still a huge amount to fight for at the top of the table. Granted, securing a top-four finish should never be seen as a giant achievement for a club of Liverpool’s stature, but being in next season’s Champions...

Tasty Tenerife Tales

We had all hoped, friends, that the dark days were behind us, at least until the increasingly inevitable zombie apocalypse strikes our beleaguered spinning sphere. Alas, it would appear that troubled times have visited us again on Planet Liverpool. Three years after parting company with the beloved but problematic flesh nibbler that was Luis...

Booing and Fan Hypocrisy

Football fans are hypocrites. Downright hypocrites. Yes, you! I’m talking about you. Specifically you. You more than most. Not me though. I’m pure as the driven snow. What has driven me to this tirade? It’s this. On Sunday afternoon, in the hammering rain of the Etihad, Liverpool’s left-back was booed. People actually contorted their faces and made a...

Matip, Wijnaldum & Mane Proving Klopp Should Be Trusted This Summer

Many past Liverpool managers have experienced utterly disastrous summer transfer windows. Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez and Brendan Rodgers all spectacularly failed to build on near title-winning seasons in 2001/02, 2008/09 and 2013/14, respectively, with dross such as El Hadji Diouf, Salif Diao, Philipp Degen and Alberto Aquilani bought in. Even Kenny Dalglish, for all his...

A Liverpool Schooling

No writing on Liverpool Football Club today should begin without a tribute to the club legend that was Ronnie Moran, who passed away peacefully this morning. As part of Liverpool's coaching staff in the truly glorious days of the club, Moran won 11 league titles, 4 European Cups, 4 FA Cups, 5 League Cups,...

Mr Liverpool – Ronnie Moran

It’s never easy writing a tribute when someone’s no longer around. You think of all the things you want to say or should have said such that should the person you’re writing about read it, they’d do so with a smile on their face until the very last word. Writing when the person's gone...

Liverpool’s Champions League Fate Is In Their Own Hands

Liverpool continued their unbeaten record against the top six sides on Sunday in a thrilling and frantic 1-1 draw with Manchester City at the Etihad. James Milner opened the scoring from the spot to give the perfect response to the surprisingly hostile reception he received at his former club, before Sergio Aguero equalised from a...