Champions League

Can Klopp Find The Right Folks To Win Trophies?

Bitter experience brings us all, inevitably, to the same conclusion - for the most part, people are awful. Now, optimistic philanthropist that you are, lovely reader, you may be bristling at such apparent negativity, but that is only because you are one of the good ones. You simply cannot conceive of the ugliness that...

Mignolet And Milner Staying Positive

I've been thinking about building a shelter. You know, a proper, dug out of the ground, own generator, multi-roomed, stocked-to-the-hilt-with-provisions-for-the-zombie-apocalypse type of shelter. Like that one in The Road that Viggo Mortensen and his kid have a few days of brief respite in, before reengaging with cannibalistic crazies and a decaying post-apocalyptic world. The...

Wary Klopp Remains Defiant

When writhing through the thick fug of a migraine, it can be hard to tell with absolute certainty what is real and what one might be imagining. On Friday, complications arising from some scheduled prodding and poking under the bonnet of your columnist's noggin, resulted in 3 days of pain-induced confusion and reality-bending altered...

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...

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...

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,...

No Communication Breakdown At Anfield

Late to the party, as ever, it was only last night that this columnist had the joy of seeing Denis Villeneuve's Arrival. Obviously, the beauty of the cinematography and profundity of the film's themes were the things that continued to resonate on this morning's drive to work, but yesterday, as I watched Amy Adams' linguist try...

More Birthday Blues For The Reds?

Birthdays can be a real source of emotional volatility as one gets older. On the face of it, it's a great blessing to have lasted another year in a world moving at such a distressing pace, in a direction which no longer seems certain, but on the other hand, one is afflicted with terrible...

Fried Dutch Eggs – English Media Created Klopp’s Nemesis

We’ve been through a difficult patch. Liverpool squandered the momentum of late December with a string of lacklustre performances against substantially lesser sides, and we found ourselves teetering on the edge of the Champion’s League spots and crashing out of both the FA and League Cups. A byproduct of this disappointing run is the...