Klopp

Players dictate formations, and a system that is effective needs the components to fit as required. We saw last term (to the detriment of the side) players shoehorned into positions in order to maintain many an adapted team sheet. The patterns of play that are based upon the system suffered, and the team fell...

Competition is a good thing, and a comfortable player can be a potential risk in critical situations. To have two players vying for the same position can add intensity, urgency and quality to either players' performance. The ability to rotate also allows a few vital components, aside from fears of being dropped raising a...

Curtis Jones has been a bit of an afterthought this season.  Injured in pre-season, he missed the start of the campaign and then had to settle for a watching brief as Harvey Elliott claimed a midfield position for his own.  He’s made just one start this term and that arrived in the Carabao Cup. For the...

Opportunity can be a key instance in any elite form of sport. To be able to take advantage of certain scenarios (in order to achieve personal gain), can make a career in top level football. Patience, readiness, desire and a single-minded determination to succeed can carry one through to greatness, and within this moment,...

Liverpool might soon have a problem with Caoimhin Kelleher. If he keeps on developing at the rate he currently is, he’s going to be too good to be a back-up.  He’ll want a season as a starter and who can blame him?  Kelleher needs it if he’s to make that step up and fulfil his potential.  After...

Centre-back partnerships can offer sublime foundations and turn teams into serial winners. Alessandro Costacurta and Franco Baresi jump to the front of that formidable list, as a partnership that allowed the rest of the side to dominate literally everyone. In the modern game (especially within the Premier League), the ferocity of play and sheer culmination...

Stubbornness, single mindedness, arrogance and an absolute inability to adjust one's methods, can be the downfall of even the best managers in modern football. In recent years we have seen the likes of Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho, unable to adapt to the modern needs of Premier League football, with both departing the division at...

Under the Roy Evans regime, Neil Ruddock, John Scales, Phil Babb & Mark Wright were the options in defence. They were the central defenders in the mid nineties that saw a period of great attacking football from the reds. The likes of Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman were part of an exciting line up...

Why is it the people who regularly criticise referees for poor decisions are now using the fact Craig Pawson didn’t blow for a foul as a way to back up their beliefs that Pascal Strujik should not have been sent off?  Likewise, those who regularly mock the likes of Danny Murphy, Gabriel Agbonlahor and most...

When Ole Gunnar Solskjær became the Manchester United manager, it created a potential dilemma for the fans and the ex United players, especially those that are now pundits. The choices of David Moyes, Louis Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho all failed to bring the required glory of old to United, and a familiar face...