Do Liverpool need a Christmas Caulker?
To a casual observer, Steven Caulker's six-month loan move to Liverpool in January 2016 represented the most bizarre of transfers.
It's very rare that top-six Premier League teams actually bring players in on loan, rather than sending them away, especially from a team - Queens Park Rangers in this case - floundering in the Championship.
However, the deal made some sort of sense when the context was added.
Caulker, a phoenix from the ashes
With Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren …
One Hit Wonders: Sebastian Coates
One Hit Wonders. There have many throughout the years so I’d start by listing my favourites
80's - Nu Shooz with I Can’t Wait. It wasn’t a rapper who came up with that tune!
90's - Haddaway, What is Love? We’re still trying to work it out.
00's - Take your pick. Lots of shit songs!
Sorry, back to the football!
Liverpool’s had plenty of one-hit wonders and one terrible blunders to match. The soft rules for myself on this …
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 …
Are The Full-Backs at Liverpool Good Enough?
The full-back position has been a problem area for Liverpool since the days of Alvaro Arbeloa/Steven Finnan and Fabio Aurelio. Some may call it bad luck, others may say it's a cursed position, whatever the case Liverpool full-backs seem to have faults.
Fans have witnessed the likes of Glen Johnson, Javi Manquillo, Jose Enrique, John Flanagan and recently Alberto Moreno and Nathaniel Clyne all fill the two jinxed positions with varying success. Glen Johnson's decline as a footballer happened quicker …
Klopp's Kids
Every time Liverpool step on to the pitch I always try and learn something. For instance some of the things I learned under Brendan Rodgers were, I learned that he didn't have a clue about managing a team who didn't have a twenty goal a season striker playing for him or what a defence was. I learned that you need more than character to win matches and that he had no clue when it came to buying, selling and loaning …
How To Get The Best Out Of: Dejan Lovren
Anger, bitterness, sadness. Just three emotions that greeted the majority of fans when it was announced that our beloved Mamadou Sakho would be out for around eight weeks, ruling the Frenchman out until the new year. However, these were only mild emotions, when compared to those when the fanbase realised who will most likely be stepping in for Sakho during his absence - Dejan Lovren.
"No, no... there's got to be someone else?" That seems like a realistic reaction for …
Don't Worry, Be Happy - Enrique, Mourinho & Lucas Bring The Comedy
"If you want to be happy, be." Leo Tolstoy "You're in pretty good shape, for the shape that you are in." Dr. SeussAn unusual thing can happen when one is confronted with the disquietingly fragile nature of one's own mortality. Instead of becoming maudlin and resentful of the unseen forces threatening to extinguish life, sometimes the reaction of the person enduring the slings and arrows is quite the opposite. In the face of horrendously bleak reality, sometimes …
Top Four Things That Didn't Happen in Liverpool's Transfer Window
Another crazy summer draws to a close. Gone are the rumours. Gone are the ITK's putting one and one into two. Gone are the mornings where one would scramble for his or her smartphone to catch up on what happened in the transfer window.
As soon as it's transfer season, fans go nuts about the idea of new acquisitions in hopes of bolstering the squad for the upcoming season. The summer window is where most of the major transfers take …
The Mario Balotelli debacle is bad for business
One week before the Premier League season kicks off and James Pearce's Blood Red article made its appearance on the Liverpool echo website. It was supposed to be about Rickie Lambert leaving but that wouldn't have caused controversy so for an added bonus he decided to have a pop at Mario Balotelli. He quickly swept under the rug the fact the Italian had scored more goals in less outings than the diehard Liverpool fan with the Liverbird tattoo.
"A …
Exit This Way: Spending Over, Awaiting Departures
Christian Benteke's arrival brings total newcomers to seven and expenditure to £69.8 million. It makes for a crowded dressing room, but with August almost upon us and spending completed, Liverpool desperately need a clean-out.
They're often messy. Just as contracts give clubs great platforms when selling, players can equally sit back and run down lucrative contracts on the bench.
Some deluded, (cough Fabio Borini), others intelligently greedy (cough Glen Johnson) or some just serially absent (no cough needed), whatever the …