The Souness Years - In Their Own Words: Part 1 - The Change of Guard
The rise and fall of Liverpool football club is one of the most unique in the footballing world. Built ‘up and up and up’, in both Bill Shankly’s words, actions and design, Liverpool dominated British and European football for the best part of two decades.
In the eighteen years marking 1973 to 1991, Liverpool finished in the top two of the English top flight no fewer than seventeen times and were crowned champions of England eleven times. They also collected …
Liverpool and the Changing Importance of the Full-Back
The Reds 0-3 win at Hertha Berlin was a fine performance and provided a fillip in this most frustrating of LFC summers. Though pre-season score-lines are generally regarded as useless and worthy only for their aerobic benefits, it was interesting to see how the new signings coped. Dom Solanke scored a beautiful goal and we already knew what Salah can do so it was more interesting to see Andy Robertson play the second half.
The young Scot settled quickly and …
Why LFC need Naby Keïta more than Van Dijk
Liverpool FC, since the departure of Rafael Benitez, has struggled defensively. Indeed, the last time the team conceded less than 40 goals in a league season was in the 2009/10 season, in which Liverpool conceded 35 goals. Since then, Liverpool have conceded 44 (2010/11), 40 (2011/12), 43 (2012/13), 50 (2013/14), 48 (2014/15), 50 (2015/16) and 42 (2016/17).
In that period, Liverpool has had Carragher, Agger, Skrtel, Kelly, Coates, Toure, Lovren, Matip, Klavan and others who have all played at centre-back. …
The Cult of Lucas Leiva
Liverpool fans are an emotional and nostalgic bunch. We feel the need to eulogise our players to the point where there always needs to be someone at the club who can be considered a legend. With Lucas Leiva the longest standing player at the club and the only member of the first team who was around the last time we won a trophy except for our captain (and God knows our fan-base will refuse to acknowledge Hendo as a good …
Diouf and Gerrard: The Spat That Kept Spitting
"'Stevie G' was a very good player, people like him in Liverpool but he never did anything for his country. I am Mr. El Hadji Diouf, Mr. Senegal, but he is Mr. Liverpool and Senegal is bigger than Liverpool and he has to know that."Well, somebody let Diouf near a microphone again and he just can’t resist gabbing on about his favourite topic. He’s brought up his, ahem, ‘spat’ with Steven Gerrard. The above quote amuses me. …
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 has progressed, regressed, or simply remained stationary for this period. Under FSG, Liverpool FC have had four managers: Roy Hodgson (sacked January 2011), Kenny …
Liverpool FC sweep Sydney FC in Australia friendly
Pre-Match Preamble
"We have three pundits in the team...but we are here to play football." - Jurgen KloppCheery as ever, that was the message from Liverpool's manager before the game. After navigating through the exciting turbulence of a top 4 chase, Liverpool Football Club faced the turbulence of the two-legged journey from Heathrow to Sydney. With a celebratory stopover in South East Asia, you would have to wonder which of the two Klopp and his men really prefer after …
Liverpool vs The Pundits: Klopp, Karius, Carragher & the Nevilles!
During the 2012 European Championships, ITV ran a panel which included Jamie Carragher, Roy Keane and, I think, Gareth Southgate. Hosted by Adrian Chiles, the topic under discussion was just how difficult it is to play as a single defensive midfielder in a diamond formation as opposed to a more standard one of a pair in a 4-2-3-1. Carragher warmed to his topic and said something like:
‘You’ve got to deal with your centre-backs as they’ll push without you at …
Another Crocked Liverbird: Liverpool's Knee-Hilistic Past
Some weeks make you wish God had come up with something other than knees - weeks when you can't wear shorts for fear of seeing your own knees in a mirror and losing all sense of what it means to 'be'. It has been a year since the beginning of one such week, when as a result of two Liverpool employees falling over in unconnected incidents, the phrase ‘anterior cruciate ligament’ achieved unprecedented frequency of use.
At the time, Danny Ings …
James Milner - Right At Left-Back
At the end of the transfer window, Jurgen Klopp looked at his left back options, nodded and moved on. With Alberto Moreno throwing himself about with reckless abandon, the German gave the shirt to the 30 year old James Milner, knowing that the Yorkshireman would simply get on with it. Left back was done as far as he was concerned, though some questioned the wisdom of having a veteran player in such a demanding role.
Eyebrows were also raised at …