Skrtel

Tactically Outclassing Louis Van Gaal

It feels like we've been saying this for weeks now, but Sunday is a must win. Not only will it propel us into the top 4, it also dents the challenge of a rival. Not just any rival though; the rival. United. For the first time in a while a top 4 finish would...

How Do Liverpool FC Finish 4th?

With one of the most exciting & open races for a top 4 finish how do Liverpool ensure they get this coveted position? Fitness & Intensity Liverpool FC's most successful brand of football in the past 18 months has involved high intensity pressing starting with the striker.  This was highlighted in the recent Man City victory.  This...

The Future of the 3-4-2-1: An Analysis

Having conquered Spain, Europe, and the eventually the World, Pep Guardiola was quick to shake things up with his Barcelona side. Once things become static, success slips away. Pass into the space, not the player's feet. Move the ball, move your team mate, move the opposition. The evolution of Barca's formation from 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 (with...

Simon Mignolet: Thou Shall Not Pass

On a popular football management game - the one inventively titled Football Manager - the attribute for a goalkeeper’s distribution with feet is called “kicking”, not “passing”. This crude definition of one of the footballing aspects of a goalkeepers' game, indicates that there’s still some way to go before they’re considered the eleventh outfield...

The Liverpool Triumvirate | Overview of Sakho, Can, Skrtel et al

With the exception of relegation battlers, you would be hard-pressed to find a defence in the league that has come under the same level of scrutiny as Liverpool. Whether it’s Neville or Carragher on a Monday night, or the ingenious Alan Shearer perceptively offering some of his innovative, ever-insightful though perpetually crap “analysis” on...

Improving Liverpool’s First Team With Minimum Expense: Part One

Liverpool, and the rest of the English footballing community, have just endured one of the most boring transfer windows ever. Nothing really happened, nobody was even slightly interested in the usual tabloid talk involving player rumours and silly price tags and Liverpool signed nobody - discounting the recalling of Jordon Ibe from his loan...

Bolton v Liverpool | FA Cup Fourth Round Replay

After a good win and a fantastic Sturridge rebirth at Anfield, we travel to Macron Stadium to take on Bolton.  At stake: advancing to the fifth round and a tie at Selhurst Park.  The primary question is: does anyone in the side really care?  For the sake of Gerrard’s final year at Liverpool, I’d...

Looking Between The Lines | Liverpool FC Tactical Analysis

In modern day football, the space between the lines is one of the most key areas, if not the key area in attack. One of the most simple reasons for this is that a player who positions himself in this space is theoretically unmarked. If they are to be marked it generally requires one or...

Liverpool’s Small Club Mentality

"Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome" - Isaac Asimov There is a myopic idealism amongst many Liverpool fans that once Daniel Sturridge makes his long awaited return everything will fall into place and the Reds will once again get Champions League football. The void left by the former Chelsea man has...

“I’ve got 99 Problems but White Teeth Ain’t 1” | Brendan Rodgers

Okay, maybe 99 is a bit of an over-exaggeration but Brendan is in a bit of a pickle, one which, if we’re honest, is of his own making. He has just embarked on a spending spree that the likes of Jose Mourinho or Manuel Pellegrini would be proud of. You can say that we recouped...