Do Liverpool need a new striker?

The 2016/17 season was, broadly speaking, a successful one. Attaining Champions League football was the bare minimum for a 'successful season', but under Klopp's leadership, the team did so. In the process, Liverpool scored 78 goals in the league, at an average of just over two per game. Coutinho and Mané both scored 13...

Crucial Summer Ahead for Sheyi Ojo

Liverpool youngster Sheyi Ojo is set for a defining summer after undergoing a disappointing 2016/17 campaign that saw him fail to establish himself under Jurgen Klopp. Breaking through the ranks in 2015/16, Ojo has since drifted between Liverpool’s Under-23's and the first team setup – though predominantly in terms of training rather than appearances. Despite lots...

The quest for a new defender

Liverpool have some stunning players in their team at the moment. From Phillippe Coutinho terrifying defenders and midfielders alike to Sadio Mane outstripping pretty much anyone in front of him, their front 5 could easily be part of a title challenging team. Although Klopp has achieved high finishes, a Europa League final appearance and...

Why Liverpool FC Shouldn’t Get Shirty About Salah

A very tentative welcome to Mohamed Salah then. At the time of writing the Egyptian has all-but signed a four year contract for the Reds and I know we’ve been here before, but this could actually be a proper signing. We’ve made a bid and everything. Sports betting sites such as Fortuna have been confident for...

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain Would Be A Shrewd Piece of Business

With Arsenal stalling on a new deal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Liverpool are among a number of clubs linked with a summer move. That’s caused somewhat of a stir from the fan-base, with the reaction varying from apprehension to excitement. If the Ox decides to seek pastures new, Netbet have Liverpool as the favourites to land the...

Silence at Anfield

It's all gone eerily quiet around Anfield. Not long ago the mood was euphoric; Liverpool had secured Champions League football, and were heading the race to sign Van Dijk. Rather uncharacteristically for Klopp's Liverpool, the news regarding Van Dijk was out in the open, before the player had put pen to paper, or even...

Why a Deal for Oxlade-Chamberlain Doesn’t Add Up

The link between Liverpool and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is one that has stuck around, despite Jürgen Klopp himself denying it, and it’s one that has created a lot of debate amongst Liverpool supporters. Unlike Salah, Van Dijk or Lacazette, who all were almost universally hyped up as soon as the link was made, reactions to...

Liverpool’s Transfer Window: As One Door Opens…

Much of the focus of the summer – which is still only weeks old, it should be said – for fans of any club, is the possibility and speculation of the transfer window. We’re all anxious to see who we can get through the door and onto the pitch for next season’s inevitable League...

Why Liverpool Should Renew Their Interest in Ben Chilwell

Left-back has been a position that Liverpool have struggled with over the past couple of seasons and although James Milner has done an admirable job there this season the Reds are in desperate need of a specialist left-back. There was outrage amongst much of the fan base when it became clear Milner would be...

Second-Season Masterclass From Magic Mane?

Some players take a while to adjust at a club of Liverpool’s stature, with the enormous pressure on them every minute of every day something they cannot cope with. For Sadio Mane, however, his Reds career could barely have got off to a better start. Having arrived in relatively low-key circumstances last summer, with...

A Fickle Fanbase & the van Dijk Repercussions

For too long, Liverpool have placed far too much emphasis on talking about transfers, and have subsequently lacked the dynamism in the market to back that talk up with meaningful actions. Liverpool over the years have consequently developed an extensive list of missed targets that the club widely reported our interest in. Such an...

Looking through Liverpool’s transfer window pain

The transfer window is not even officially open yet, it's only on the latch, but already I feel like closing the window, locking it, throwing away the key and drawing the curtains. Then, I can lie in a darkened room, wrap myself in a duvet and eat chocolates as I watch footage of seasons...

Liverpool Shouldn’t Give Up On Van Dijk This Summer

Liverpool have made no secret of their attempts to sign Southampton defender Virgil van Dijk this summer, with the Dutchman earmarked as Jurgen Klopp’s primary defensive target. It seemed like it was all heading for a happy ending, too, when reports emerged of him choosing Liverpool over Manchester City and Chelsea. Finally, the club were...

Alternatives to Virgil van Dijk – Part 1

Introduction: From a recruitment point-of-view, a sporting director must always have a deeply scouted list of alternative transfer targets, to not only maintain the club’s footballing philosophy, but to ensure that high quality talent is secured at an excellent value for whatever roles and weaknesses the coaching staff want to improve. With the controversy over...

Will Fixtures Become the Undoing of Liverpool’s Squad?

This season's provisional Premier League fixture list has just been announced, but what does the fixture list mean for Liverpool in the coming season - especially when considering last season, in which the team struggled with a challenging fixture list: without even accounting for the upcoming Champions League fixtures that will only add further...

Which Formation Should Liverpool Play Next Season?

With the dust finally settling on the 2016/17 season, it was a successful season for Liverpool, finishing in 4th place and therefore qualifying for the Champions League. The Reds thus achieved their preliminary pre-season objective of Champions League qualification, which could be classed as a good season for the Reds. However, a problem that threatened...

Liverpool’s Transfer Saga: A Sign of Things To Come

Liverpool’s bungled signing of Southampton centre-back Virgil Van Dijk and subsequent apology might seem to be something only the Reds could pull off. Any fan might think Liverpool alone are capable of allowing a transfer saga to crash and burn this spectacularly. While the Reds are surely culpable, this type of transfer related drama is...

The Seven Year Itch | FSG – A Review

In October of 2010, Fenway Sports Group purchased Liverpool FC for £300 million. In his first statement as owner, John Henry claimed, 'We're here to win and we'll do whatever is necessary.' Fast-forward almost seven years later, and fans are still divided as to whether FSG have been good owners for the club, and whether the club...

New Deal For Emre Can Is Just As Important As A New Signing

Amid all the chaos of the transfer window it’s easy to forget Emre Can’s current contract predicament. All the saga over potential deals for Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah have taken the headlines but the German remains at the forefront of Liverpool fans’ minds. Playing a crucial role in seeing Liverpool over the line...

Jordan Henderson Remains A Key Player – If Fit

Football supporters have incredibly short memories. That’s not a needless dig in the slightest, it’s just a fact. We’re all guilty of it. A few poor performances from a player, or a long-term absence from the team, and suddenly their previous excellence is consigned to history. In the space of three or four months, Jordan...

Will Salah Join The Improving Reds?

Watching the latest, entirely hapless, efforts of Theresa May to seem like a normal human person by attempting to participate in that most regrettable of group activities, a Mexican wave, your columnist was struck by how apt a metaphor it was for the ineptitude shown by Liverpool FC in their transfer strategy so far...

Liverpool FC Fixtures Analysis 2017/18

So, with the fixtures out for the 2017/18 season, the initial reaction from Liverpool fans would have been a quick glance to see who we play on the opening day, working out when we play Man United and Everton, and other than that, probably just a bit of a shrug. It’s a reasonably uninspiring...

5 Players That Can Transform Liverpool This Summer

Ah, the summer transfer season. It's that time of the year when football fans dream about just who could be lining up in their clubs colours next season. Liverpool secured a top-four finish with a convincing 3-0 win against Middlesbrough on the last day of the 2016/17 Premier League season. Having brought Champions League football back...

The Boston VVD Party

A few weeks ago I wrote a piece for Anfield Index, urging the club to be step up the quality of its transfer targets. No more, I claimed, should we shop at the local grocers when we can afford to stroll the aisles at Harrods. After all, we’ve entered the porches of the elite...

Who is Sergej Milinkovic-Savic? Scouting Lazio’s Powerhouse

Amidst rising tensions regarding Liverpool’s transfer business, and the multitudes of social media seething in contempt over their American overlords, people are desperate for rumours, for some sort semblance of positivity regarding Liverpool’s summer (one that hasn’t even properly begun yet.) So, here’s to a little bit of positivity. One of the chief rumours coming out...

A Case For Selling Jordan Henderson

I am a Jordan Henderson fan. I do not dislike him as a player or person in any way. My argument for selling him here is purely business, and I believe would be in the best interest of both the player and club. Jordan Henderson has been a fine player for LFC since Kenny Dalglish...

Why Liverpool can’t afford to be reactive in the summer window

Ignoring the Virgil Van Dijk fume, ignoring Jordan Henderson's ever lasting bruise and ignoring the civil war over FSG's stewardship of the club, Liverpool fans can agree one one thing. The last couple of league games were pretty damn good. A 4-0 win in London, a 3-0 win in Anfield. Everyone was happy, even more so...

Deja Vu All Over Again: Liverpool’s Summer Madness

Ah, the Summer of 2014… World Cup fans on Copa Cabana beach were lining up in front of a poster of Luis Suarez and Liverpool were lining up new signings for our return to the Champions League. The moment Giorgio Chiellini pulled down his shirt to reveal a Suarez shaped bite mark on his shoulder...

Pressure Growing on FSG?

The transfer window isn't officially open but the daggers are already out for Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group. Three weeks. That’s all it took for the mood to go from euphoric after a fourth placed finish in the Premier League meant the club were just two positive results away from a place in the...

Jurgen Klopp And The Cult Of The Manager

"I am 'The Normal One'. I am a normal guy from the Black Forest. I was a very average player. I don't compare myself with these genius managers from the past." Five years ago the cream of world football managers were sat in Spain and Germany. Guardiola and Mourinho were the two biggest names in...