Klopp Says The Reds Will Get What They Deserve
With exam season almost upon us, I was reminded of an old teacher of mine who, when presented with a sea of anxious faces, used to say, "pressure is for tyres, lads." Now, plainly, he wasn't the most insightful or sensitive of gents, and no doubt he felt as though he was imparting something of great profundity, but that is the kind of trite guff that actually means nothing and makes people feel worse. Learned critics have maligned me for "verbosity" but …
Carragher, Neville And The Cult Of The Pundit
Regular visitors to these paragraphs will know that profound analytical breakdowns of systems and tactics are anathema to this columnist. It's not that I don't appreciate the folk who do that sort of thing, you understand. They provide us all with a valuable service, bless 'em. How many times have you drunkenly thrown out a stat or tactical observation that had been painstakingly compiled by one such hard-working analyst - their slaving over a hot laptop serving only to earn …
Solving LFC's Number Six Position and Four Perfect Transfer Targets
In this article:
Understanding the Dutch 'number six’ midfield position & specialist roles today
The Liverpool history of Jordan Henderson
Liverpool’s attacking & defensive failures and how to resolve them
The perfect transfer targets for 2017/18
Understanding the Dutch 'number six’ midfield position & specialist roles today
On face value, Jordan Henderson has done surprisingly well this season as a player you would describe as a ‘known known’. As a symbol of consistency amidst the years of flux in footballing …
Liverpool Must Create A Shakespearean Tragedy
You all know the predictable narrative for Monday night. Your world-weary mates and naysaying Twitter gurus have already told you what will happen. Leicester City, following their remarkably cynical decision to axe Claudio Ranieri, will benefit from the 'new boss bounce,' or at least some sort of 'caretaker convalescence,' as the delightfully monikered Craig Shakespeare takes temporary control of first team affairs.
Liverpool, needing desperately to build upon the foundations of the win against Tottenham, will come immediately unstuck against …
Chinese Investment - An opportunity too good to miss for LFC?
Back in December of 2015, Manchester City announced that CFC, a Chinese group had purchased a 13% stake in MCFC for £265m. This marked the point at which Manchester City had truly become a rival to Manchester United in financial terms. How is this relevant to Liverpool? We need only cast our minds back to the end of the 1980s, where following two decades of domestic domination and European success, Liverpool's owners and the board decided against investing heavily in …
FSG Tying Klopp Down Is A Statement Of Intent
Liverpool Football Club, once a European powerhouse, found itself out of depth when they resurfaced in the Champions League two seasons ago, facing Real Madrid in the group stage, eventually failing to secure a spot in the knockout stages.
The past six or so years, bar a magnificent 13/14 campaign, was a period to forget for us fans. We’ve only managed to qualify for European’s elite competition once in that period. We've been in a state of rebuild since, changing …
Liverpool Transfers: It's Not About The Money, Money, Money
Mohammed Salah, Alexis Sanchez, Willian, Clint Dempsey, Diego Costa, Memphis Depay, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Teixeira, Ousmane Dembele. Different nationalities, positions on the field, huge talent / big names, and plenty of contrasts to one another. But among all these names, there is one common denominator. Liverpool’s failed transfers.
Salah, Diego Costa, and Willian eventually went to Chelsea, Sanchez chose Arsenal, Depay went to Manchester United, Mkhitaryan and Dembele to Borussia Dortmund, Alex Teixeira to China for the peking duck, and …
The Blame Game - A Tactical look at the Villarreal loss
The blame game is funny. Liverpool lose and it's almost like some fans go out of their way to criticise a player they dislike even if their only at 10% fault for the goal that lost the Reds the match. Narrow minded doesn't do it justice. Like a bull locked on to a red flag, they'll carry on after it no matter what or how many obstacles you put in their path.
It's a bit of a self destructive trait. …
The lowdown on Liverpool Target Marko Grujic
Rumours surfaced early last week that Liverpool were in talks with Red Star Belgrade over the signing of their talented midfielder Marko Grujic. I'm going to go out on a limb here and saying not many people watch the Serbian League so to most this player is a bit of an unknown. There's something refreshing about being linked to a player the masses haven't already formed an opinion on. It causes a buzz on social media as people clamber for …
Jürgen Klopp's Midfield Unit
Hello again Anfield Index, it's been a while. Sorry I've taken some time since my last article, but apparently being in the final year of your degree is quite time-consuming. Moving on, in this piece I will be attempting to analyse what I consider the most important component of any Klopp system: the midfield. Most will tell you that Klopp's preferred shape is a 4-2-3-1, which I agree with, and I'll start by discussing what the manager tends to expect from …