Rating Liverpool’s Summer Signings, Halfway Through 1st Season

The 2014 summer transfer window was certainly an eventful one. If Luis Suarez was not biting an Italian in Brazil, Mario Balotelli was being welcomed into Melwood by ice buckets of all sorts. Whilst the former opted to exit the club due to aggravating back problems due to continuously carrying the club in the 2013-14 season, the...

Fire the Lazar

"Fire the laser" - Doctor Evil, 1999. Not many teams are able to call on a laser to do the damage for them but Liverpool currently have a Lazar of sorts that's starting to showcase why the club forked out almost £20 million in the summer of 2014. When rumours spread of a bid for the talented...

Liverpool FC – Emerging from Transition?

Last time I put pen to paper (metaphorically speaking), it was in some degree of anger. Christmas was still a couple of weeks away and, having had our in -built cushions handed to us by Beavis's sidekick's team of ugly stick victims, led by Phil Jones, Liverpool FC had just endured one of the...

Aston Villa 0 Liverpool 2 | Five Things We Learnt

It has been a crazy, yet magical weekend of football reds fans. Apparent flops Fernando Torres, Rickie Lambert, and Fabio Borini have each netted essential goals for their respective clubs. Although the former's was a brace against Champions League holders Real Madrid, Rickie's and Fabio's were equally as important... to the reds faithful at...

Is ‘Box’ the New ‘Triangle’ for Liverpool? Part 2

In Part 1 of this article, we looked into the importance of the 3-4-2-1 formation and how successful it has been for Liverpool since its implementation. In the second part of the article, we are going to examine if there are any weaknesses in this system as Liverpool use it and how opposition teams...

Daniel Sturridge – Let’s Not Get Ahead of Ourselves

It is fair to suggest that Liverpool are on somewhat of an upward trajectory as of late. The team are, to a degree, playing their more natural and fluid game slowly but surely. This slight change in form coming from an eventual revision of tactics, new recruits such as Markovic, Can and Moreno gradually...

Liverpool’s Transfer Policy: Does it Need Changing?

Football, as we are constantly being told, is a game that hovers on the ever-wobbly thread of a single decision. It is not, as we are also constantly being told, a game that is made by a single manager, but rather the circumstances which surround a decision made by a single manager. Yet it is...

Is ‘Box’ the New ‘Triangle’ for Liverpool? – Part 1

In the recent weeks we have seen Liverpool implement the 3-4-2-1 formation across competitions and the formation has proved to be successful. So what has made Brendan Rodgers use the 3-4-2-1 in the last few weeks? What options has it provided us pre-game and in-game? Are there weaknesses or more appropriately ways for the opposition...

Selling Liverpool’s Potential

Selling the Project Project. A term that's being overly used these days by players, managers, owners, the media and even fans when discussing football.  Some clubs are able to just 'sell' the club to potential signings, but other teams who, let's just say don't have the deepest of pockets now have to sell the 'project'...

Can he do it? Of course! He’s Emre Can

When Liverpool bought Emre Can you would have been forgiven for assuming the young German’s role would be as another midfield option. Not many would have guessed that since Christmas he hasn’t missed a second of action. Some might have even seen Can at Bayer Leverkusen and thought no this kid is going to be...

Liverpool’s Small Club Mentality

"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome" - Isaac Asimov There is a myopic idealism amongst many Liverpool fans that once Daniel Sturridge makes his long awaited return everything will fall into place and the Reds will once again get Champions League football. The void left by the former Chelsea man has...

Steven Gerrard: Enjoying It While He Can

One of the big debates recently has been which side of the fence you're sitting on regarding Steven Gerrard. Was it the right time? Should the club have done more to keep him? After announcing his future move to LA Galaxy, there's now no turning back. The Liverpool captain will not complete the fairytale of...

Will Steven Gerrard’s Spark Find its Place in The Galaxy?

The recent announcement that Steven Gerrard will be joining LA Galaxy at the end of this season will be met with plenty of questions, not least the age-old quandary of where to play him. His only role so far is that of designated player (a player who doesn't count towards the team’s salary cap),...

Attack isn’t The Best Form of Defence for Liverpool FC

Attack isn’t the best form of Defence. The shambles known as the Liverpool defence has been a, if not THE, topic of conversation amongst Liverpool fans ever since Brendan Rodgers took over at the club.  With the goals against column worsening with each season Rodgers’ is at the helm, its little surprise the defensive signings...

Fed Up of Transition at Liverpool FC

Here we go again….another transitional period awaits Liverpool Football Club. In fact, for the past 20 years Liverpool Football Club and the word transition have been together hand in hand. Only seven months have passed since our title charge and we now need to replace our legendary captain in a few months time. We may...

Why is Gerrard leaving LFC?

He is my footballing hero. The kid who became a man at Anfield that allowed so many fans like myself to dream. He was the player I saw in Istanbul, drive his team forward and win the Champions League. He is Steven Gerrard. Over the next six months the world will rightly laud his footballing...

Raheem Sterling: Adapting to a Striker’s Life

We had Sturridge, but we're still counting down the days until he returns. We tried Balotelli, but we haven't seen his quality. We tried Borini, and well... he got sent off. In days gone by we could have tried Steven Gerrard further up the pitch, but that isn't a long-term solution with him now being...

Liverpool FC Recruitment Analysis: Watching the Watchmen

After an exciting summer spending money on shiny new players, Liverpool FC set fans' pulses racing with the promise of defensive leadership, pace up front, guile in midfield, and those full-backs we’ve been looking for since the days of Stig Inge Bjørnebye and Rob Jones… Over a hundred million pounds were spent replacing Suarez, but...

Liverpool FC: Who’s In & Who’s Out | January 2015

A certain Marco Reus was at the forefront of my arrivals for January in my original piece, written exactly a month ago. Glen Johnson was one of three talked about exits from the club. Since then, Liverpool have won three matches, whilst drawing three and losing two. Have things changed since? Yes, substantially. As...

Father Figure Gone

Mario Balotelli, in my mind, has an acute case of Peter Pan syndrome. Why else would he behave like an immature teenager with his somewhat funny antics when not playing football in front of millions? Much has been written about his potential to be a world class player ever since he broke into the...

PODCAST: Anfield Index Quiz Show – Liverpool FC Trivia Battle!

The Anfield Index Quiz Show: Group A - Round 1 Date: 25th December, 2014 Welcome to a brand new Podcast from the AnfieldIndex, I know what you're thinking "not another one", however this one is a bit of fun: The Anfield Index Quiz Show hosted by Ryan McTrippy. If you've been listening to all the different podcasts we...

The Mourinho Hoodoo | Burnley Vs Liverpool Preview

Breaking the Mourinho hoodoo, kind of. Brendan Rodgers has never defeated Jose Mourinho, so how will he fare against the ‘Ginger Mourinho’ Sean Dyche, when he takes his Liverpool side to what will be a rowdy Turf Moor on Boxing day. The gruffly spoken Burnley manager has done a superb job with Burnley, following on from...

The Lesser of Two Evils | Liverpool’s Goalkeeping Woes

Is Brad Jones just a transient in the Liverpool goal? Brendan Rodgers’ comments about Mignolet being ‘indefinitely dropped’ seemed to suggest if Liverpool don’t sign a keeper in January, fans may be seeing an awful lot more of the Australian’s quiff between the sticks at Anfield. It’s been a rarity for Liverpool to have a...

Here Comes Saint Vincent – Vincent Enyeama

Last season Vincent Enyeama went 1,062 minutes without conceding a goal. The record was ended by a tame shot that caught a wicked deflection to smash off the post and into the Lille goalkeeper’s goal. The purple patch ended after eleven consecutive clean sheets but the Nigerian international would go on to add nine more...

Roberto Firmino – The Bundesliga’s Brazilian Star | AI’s Xmas Wish List

Hoffenheim’s Brazilian attacker Roberto Firmino was spared the embarrassment of his country’s World Cup nightmare, as Luiz Felipe Scolari chose to ignore the then 22-year-old’s impressive form for his club. As a result he’s remained relatively under the radar, but not for much longer. Scolari’s successor, Dunga, had no hesitation in calling up the young...

Give us a Hand – Samir Handanovic | AI’s Xmas Wish List

As I was in a maze on how to begin this piece, I was duly provided a helping hand by our manager himself as he outlined the reason for dropping Simon Mignolet in favour of Brad Jones for the game against Manchester United. I felt I had to change it because we have to find...

Five Players for Liverpool to Consider as the Window Approaches

As Liverpool’s season continues to drift, manager Brendan Rodgers will be waiting anxiously for the January transfer window to open. Having spent heavily over the summer, the club’s owners may not be happy at the thought of reinvesting next month but many believe that the Reds’ chances of remaining as top four contenders will...

Where There is Blame | Brendan Rodgers & FSG

Where there is blame... You’re approached by a business that wants you to become their new manager, you’re part of a shortlist of five people and you’re probably the least experienced of the lot. You prepare for the interview, after all this is a big opportunity, one you didn’t expect. You write up a 180 page...

A Manager’s Balancing Act | Liverpool FC

Is there a perfect Liverpool Manager? There have been twenty two people fortunate enough to manage Liverpool Football Club. Some successful, a few who failed to live up to the high expectations of the great club, and one, to my recollection, that was disastrous.  There has been a trend amongst them all since the 1990’s...

Rodgers Needs a Performance at Old Trafford

A lot has been made of Liverpool having a poor start to this season, but sitting 9th in the Premier League having accrued just 19 goals and with no Champions League campaign to speak of, it’s fair to say the state Liverpool find themselves in is more than just a poor start. The Liverpool...