Defending

Liverpool, the High Line and Perception

Like it or not, perception is often more important than reality, at least in the world of football. For example, scoring a goal can see a player’s match rating jump from a 6/10 to an 8/10 and a misplaced pass that results in a big chance basically undoes all the prior good work. Liverpool...

Player Ratings as Liverpool draw in London

Liverpool’s lead at the top is now just two points after another frustrating draw against West Ham. GOALKEEPER: Alisson 6 Carried no fault from the goal and did well dealing with everything else thrown at him. DEFENCE: James Milner 6 Struggles against Anderson as many expected him to do, lacking the pace of Trent Alexander Arnold but he did get...

Liverpool’s Problems Defending Crosses

Since Virgil van Dijk joined the club in January, there's no doubting that our defence has drastically improved. Whether this is totally down to the towering Dutchman or a combination of factors including the re-introduction of Loris Karius in goal and the ever improving performances of Andy Robertson at left-back is up for debate....

Liverpool Always One Step Behind Until they Fix Their Shaky Foundations

Ask any Liverpool fan, or any football fan for that matter, about where they want their team to be challenging and they’ll give you the same answer. Naturally, they want to be vying for the title, mounting an assault on the domestic cup and pushing for that all-important Champions League trophy. In order to do...

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...

Liverpool’s Achilles Heel – Set Piece Woes

Jurgen Klopp was right when he said Liverpool don't have a defensive issue. In the 12 months he's been with the club he's worked on making Liverpool, as a unit, much more resilient. For starters there are less holes centrally, you rarely see the backline exposed like you did under Brendan Rodgers. The team...

Villarreal Vs. Liverpool | In-Depth Tactical Preview

Based in the tiny City of Vila-Real in the Comunitat Valenciana on the East Coast of Spain, Villarreal have arguably been the 21st century’s biggest football over-achievers. With a stadium that could fit half the city’s population, the club captivated the football world back in 2006 when they reached the Champions League semi-final with...

Daniel Sturridge – The Phantom Menace

Liverpool 3-3 Arsenal: a pulsating match; end to end, with chances galore; a "great advert for the Premier League". All these English football cliches, and more, could've been, and were, used to reflect on Liverpool's latest home match, under the floodlights at Anfield on Wednesday evening. A crackling pre-game atmosphere was pitched up several notches...

Does Rodgers Know Liverpool’s Best Eleven?

Three games in six days represents a tough week for any team, even Liverpool. A midweek date with Ancelotti's "Galacticos Mark II" was never going to be plain sailing, and the distraction (albeit a welcome one) of playing the planet's biggest club, made team selection for Saturday's league match (against Hull) all the more...

Liverpool FC: A Case For The Defence?

If ever there was a good time (and there are many) to cut off contact with Twitter it was on the final whistle after Liverpool’s defeat to West Ham. The post-defeat staple diet of hysterical over reaction, scape-goating and abuse aimed at players was served up in super-size helpings. A comment that ‘Brendan Rodgers...