Fabinho: O Shithouse! My Shithouse!
It’s been a long, long time. Too long in fact.
Javier Mascherano was the last of the Liverpool midfielders that really liked to put the boot in, that engaged in the dark arts of utter sh*thousery, doing the dirty work to make his more electrifying counterparts sparkle.
Now, that mantle has been well and truly taken. Finally, a steely, hardened midfielder sits at the base of Liverpool’s midfield, his arms spread wide, commanding “Ye shall not pass.”
In actuality, it’s …
A Plan of Adaptation: Fabinho Edition
Having spent £40m on Fabinho this summer, some fans would’ve expected him to come straight into the starting eleven and offer a blanket to the back-four we’ve not seen since the days of Javier Mascherano.
Crunching into tackles and feeding the ball to his teammates higher up the pitch, his inclusion would bring Liverpool to new heights amid hopes of a title challenge.
However, the Brazilian hasn’t featured in the opening three games and didn’t even make the bench against …
Rating Liverpool's Transfer Window
The new Premier League season is finally upon us, and after last season's changes, the transfer window slamming shut comes with it.
Liverpool were the biggest spenders in England this summer, and fans and pundits alike are touting Klopp's men for a big season. But just how good was their transfer window?
In:
Following the Champions League final on the 26th May Reds fans weren't in the highest spirits. Salah's injury coupled with Karius' blunders (no matter what caused them), …
Liverpool FC Squad Analysis: The Depth Chart
There are two weeks to go until the summer transfer window slams shut, locks and closes its shutters. Jurgen Klopp has apparently announced there will be no more signings with his comments last week - "We have everything we need for the next season because I don’t think we will do anything more, I’m pretty sure of that."
Having written this piece for AI for the past two summers, this year I'm excited to bring you the Depth chart for …
The Strange Case of Liverpool Fans Enjoying the Summer
Jurgen Klopp has done it - he made us (most of us, including me) believers. For the first time in ages, I was able to enjoy my summer without worrying about Liverpool football club. And I have to admit it was strange. I didn't feel the need to read rumours, I didn't F5, didn't track flights or vans - I finally trust the people making the decisions. And that is the overwhelming feeling among the supporters, which has never been …
The Return of Roy - Crystal Palace v Liverpool
Come the summer of 2010 I’d had enough of Liverpool Football Club.
Before you reach for your fiery torch and summon a lynch mob to my house I must offer up a defence. We’ve all had feelings like this from time to time. There is no one alive who thinks that the custodians of L4 are 100% right at all time and they, like anyone, are capable of instigating an over-powering sense of frustration, but in 2010 it was more …
Losing Phil Coutinho is Inevitable
“Liverpool will never progress if they keep selling their best players”.We’ve all heard this argument before. And on many levels, it has merit. How could you possibly hope to improve if you are forever losing your best player? How can you be strong when you are continually weakening your team? And what a weakening it would be, because to lose Phil Coutinho is to lose arguably the most gifted player in the Premier League. Sure, there will …
Liverpool's New-Found Squad Depth Paying Dividends
Since Liverpool stopped ruling English football in 1990, there are many reasons why a return to the summit of the game has continued to evade them.
There have been dreadful signings, bemusing managerial appointments, unprofessional squads and rivals spending vast chunks of money, among many others factors.
One of the Reds' greatest Achilles heels has been a lack of squad depth - something that has held back many of their best teams over the last quarter of a century.
The …
Klopp the Tactician: From Dortmund to Liverpool
Following on from my three-part series "The Klopp Project" which took a longer-term view on things (select the links for part 1, part 2 and part 3), I thought I would assess where Jurgen Klopp is in the present moment. Klopp the innovative tactician in Germany has been well documented. But what about Klopp the tactician at Liverpool? In assessing his time at LFC, we have to throw the conventional rules out the window.
Klopp's system does not rely on …
Is Naby Keita the Phil Coutinho Replacement?
Will this transfer window end?
First Liverpool were getting van Dijk, then they were apologising for getting van Dijk, then they were getting Keita, then they weren’t getting Keita at any price. Salah seemed to take a millennium, Liverpool effectively traded a bang-average Kevin Stewart for a potential-laden Andy Robertson, and the future of Phillipe Coutinho seemed comfortable, given the lack of real disruption.
And then, it didn’t seem all that comfortable. So, should Liverpool give into Phillipe Coutinho’s demands …