Tony Evans: Missing Out On Bellingham Could Be A Blessing
The international break gives everyone a chance to take stock. Where do Liverpool go in the final third of the season?
The ideal scenario would be to knock Manchester City out of the title race and then bring them back into play by beating Arsenal – dispatching Chelsea on the way. It is a tricky run of games, though. The season could be over very quickly.
Is there any reason to be optimistic? It’s still hard to believe that a …
The Return of Thiago, A New Hope
When Liverpool signed Thiago Alcántara from Bayern Munich, any games where we struggled, pundits would start making all sorts of weird claims. Despite needing an elite controlling midfielder, he would commonly be accused of slowing down our play, or some other strange rhetoric. What his arrival actually did, was enable far more invention against the low block, as teams happily sat on their 18 yard lines for ninety long minutes. That 2020 acquisition was a huge requirement in order to …
Klopp Must Be Banned from The Recruitment Process
Much of the Reds' recent success has been garnered due to the brilliance of Jürgen Klopp. His galvanising of a footballing squad is key to his methods, whilst his coaching abilities helped to revolutionise the way we view modern football. There is no doubt that he was right manager at the right time (when appointed), with the achieved silverware to back up that claim. Despite all of this, he was far from alone in achieving the success that followed his …
Trent Alexander Arnold & Lacklustre Attitude
When Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool were at their rampaging best, they were the world's most feared football club. The system and its components were designed to undertake their bespoke tasks, with opponents commonly beaten into submission. Whenever the Reds lost the ball, they would merely take it back and resume their assault. There was a time when the opposition would be limited to just a couple of half chances, which would inevitably cause Virgil to get angry at having to defend. …
Potential Ward Replacements: Dave Fallows
In our final instalment of the series (https://anfieldindex.com/53170/potential-ward-replacements-paul-mitchell.html) which has seen us scour world football far and wide, the latest news and rumours see us looking internally for a solution to Liverpool’s Sporting Director search. With recent reports coming out of Holland suggesting that Julian Ward has all but practically agreed to replace Marc Overmars in the same role at Ajax, there has been a surprise amongst most reds that we’ve not heard more developments about our own search. The …
How Liverpool Should Prepare for Manchester City
With this seasons Champions League run now officially over, the Reds have a short break in which to recalibrate their stuttering form. Though the international break will take many of the players away from the club, it can still be a moment for the coaching team to really evaluate and establish a way of improving. With twelve games remaining (in Liverpool’s Premier League schedule), there is still much to play for, despite the recent (and hefty) two legged defeat to …
Potential Ward Replacements: Tim Steidten
It’s all gone a bit quiet on the western front in regards to this one. With recent news suggesting that Julian Ward is now the front runner for the Sporting Director role at Ajax, we revisit our series on potential candidates for his role at Anfield. The latest name which has come from nowhere is that of former Bayer Leverkusen Sports Coordinator and Chief Scout Tim Steidten. Whilst the 43 year-old won’t be a household name to many reds, he …
Could Enzo Le Fée Become the Thiago Understudy?
I’ve always loved the idea of senior and highly established players mentoring young talents. This season, we have heard that Stefan Bajčetić has been taken under the wing of his fellow Spaniard, Thiago Alcantara. Our number six is one of the world’s finest central midfielders, therefore it is heartening to hear that he is using his experience to help the next generation of Liverpool player. So often we have heard of players, such as Cristian Ronaldo, trying to create avenues …
Trent Alexander-Arnold: Nothing more than a blip
When we look back on this horrible, instantly forgettable season in years to come, every Liverpool fan will have their own choice as the Reds' worst player.
There is a depressingly long list to choose from, from the past-their-best Fabinho and Jordan Henderson to the out-of-sorts Joel Matip and Joe Gomez, with only Alisson really performing at his usual level.
As things stand, however, it could be Trent Alexander-Arnold who stands out as the poorest of the lot, having endured …
Tony Evans' Column: Klopp Needs To Start Inspiring The Players Again
What’s worse than an international break? An international break that’s overshadowed by a sense of crisis.
Bournemouth. Madrid. Neither performance was good enough, neither was acceptable. Jurgen Klopp’s demeanour in the Bernabeu afterwards was worrying. He is a bad loser but that didn’t show.
You can moan all you like about FSG – and, yes, the owners could do a better job of running the club – but there are enough good players at the manager’s disposal to be doing …