Liverpool's handling of Ibrahima Konate
Ibrahima Konate has made just two starts for Liverpool following his £36million transfer from RB Leipzig this summer.
The first arrived in the 3-0 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League and then he was included in the starting XI for the 3-0 Carabao Cup victory over Norwich City. It has now been close to a month since he last featured for the Reds and I’ve seen complaints from some fans.
With injuries stacking up elsewhere, people are starting …
How would Raphinha have fitted in at Liverpool?
There’s been a lot of Raphinha talk recently. Fabinho mentioned him in a press conference last week during the international break, saying he hoped Liverpool would move for his compatriot last summer. Then you had Deco - the Leeds United winger’s agent - claiming that lots of clubs, including the Reds, had an interest in the fleet-footed winger.
He’s back on the radar, with people now theorising how he might’ve fitted in at Anfield and how he might fit into …
Atletico Madrid v Liverpool - Player Ratings
Alisson Becker - 8.0
Where Caoimhin Kelleher did nothing wrong, Alisson is a world class asset & his authority showed tonight. He brought assurance and dominance into a big match, and that showed. Some crucial saves kept Liverpool in the game on the first half. His ability to smother on coming forwards is the best in world football.
Trent Alexander Arnold - 6.0
Defensive awareness mostly on point despite some incisive Madrid attacks, but somewhat limited going forward. Was often …
Is Mohamed Salah the best player in world football?
For the best part of 20 years, Lionel Messi has been the best player in the world. The likes of Luis Suarez, Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Robert Lewandowski and even Gareth Bale have all been in contention for the second-best player in the world title at various times, but they’ve never eclipsed the Argentine maestro, not in my opinion anyway. A few have gotten close, but I can’t recall any of them surpassing the legendary Barcelona forward over an entire 12 …
Bobby & The Altered Dynamic
For the past six seasons Roberto Firmino has been able to make the false nice position his own. His understanding of the position, its intricacies and work rate requirements have made the role very specific, and his off ball work has always been commended. His value has a goal threat has not always been as desired, but the superb goal getting of others made this a non issue.
Up until the start of last season, Bobby had been able to …
Watford v Liverpool - Player Ratings
…
Should Liverpool move for Ousmane Dembele on a free transfer?
Ousmane Dembele might soon join the likes of Arda Turan and Simao as players forever linked with Liverpool who never actually made the move to Merseyside. The French winger is yet again being linked with a move to Anfield with his Barcelona deal set to expire at the end of the season.
The 24-year-old was named as a Liverpool transfer target during Jurgen Klopp’s first summer with the club and if you believe reports, he was actually ahead of Sadio …
Gini & Emre - The Need to Replace System Players
The summer window is now gone, and the next two windows will require some short and long term thought, with many areas now requiring you attention. Where the defence was strengthened (in the form of giant Ibrahima Konate), we are now witnessing a midfield dilemma, one that should have been avoided. The process of recruitment will have surely taken a hit (given the pandemic), but in order to both maintain and build the playing squad, ways forward needed to be …
The Effects of Newcastle’s Takeover
History points to certain English teams as bonafide football royalty. Over the last three decades (of the Premier League), Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool have been the major players, later been joined on the top table by Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City in recent years. New money started to infiltrate English football shortly after the turn of the century, and it’s now a common theme for clubs across Europe to be swallowed up by deep pocketed investment groups, or persons. …
Bring Me Ivan Toney
Now and again an opposing side can cause such a stir it has the manager (on the receiving end) look deeply into said team, and more importantly their players. I wrote about the RB Salzburg tie from a few years back and how the intelligence, elegance and work rate of a certain Takumi Minamino, prompted Liverpool to make move for the gifted attacker. Whereas this deal hasn’t worked out from a first team point of view, the low fee paid …