Liverpool seal £75m Virgil Van Dijk deal
Virgil Van Dijk will become a Liverpool player when the January transfer window opens, the Reds confirmed today.
A deal has been agreed with Southampton to sign the player for a fee that the Saints claim to be a world record for a defender, Liverpool paying in the region of 75 million pounds to put an end to a very long winded transfer saga.
Another transfer from the South Coast to Merseyside, Van Dijk following the likes of Sadio Mane, …
Five Defenders to Fix Liverpool - #3 Issa Diop
If there are any football fans out there who haven’t yet become aware of Liverpool’s need for an improvement in the heart of the defence, then they are likely living in a willful ignorance of the kind that Liverpool fans can only dream of. Instead, for those clad in Red, a recurring “head in hands” moment becomes more and more grating with repetition – a knack to concede silly goals pervades a side that’s finally clicking into gear and attacking …
Red Rant: We Don't Need No VVD
I’m all for the unsubstantiated transfer rumour. Football itself and certainly Twitter wouldn’t be the same without them.
The incremental steps, when Liverpool is rumoured to be monitoring a player, continuing to monitor, then comes the inquiring, then considering a bid, then surprise competition comes in from a rival club, and on and on… it’s all part of the romance, right?
But for clubs at the level of Liverpool the rule has to be that the romance period can only …
Salah Showing Why We Can't Settle for Second Best
Another game another Salah masterclass, the Egyptian has been the signing of the season by far and his two goals against the Saints puts him at the top of the Premier League goal scoring charts ahead of the likes of Aguero, Morata and Kane. There was a wave of apprehension surrounding the £35 million deal; his form in Italy was eye catching but he had failed to set the Premier League alight the first time around. Klopp was clearly a …
Liverpool's Transfer Committees, Sporting Directors and the need to Step Up
Since FSG have come into the club, transfers have been a mixed bag. There have been some resounding successes in the likes of Sturridge, Coutinho, Mane and Salah. There have also been some real flops like Lovren, Lambert, Balotelli and others. Michael Edwards has had to play a big role in all of this.
Edwards arrived as Head of Performance and Analysis and, more recently, worked with Brendan Rodgers as part of the now infamous Transfer Committee. This was one …
Dejan Lovren: The Buck Doesn't Stop There
Sometime after 4.15pm yesterday, a collection of mumbles, conversations and downright vitriol ran around the away section at Wembley.
‘He’s got to take him off.’
‘We’re going to get battered here. Fuck’s sake, Jurgen.’
‘Get that useless twat off now!’
Later on some people speculated that Dejan Lovren’s was the worst performance ever given by a Liverpool player. That got me thinking. My mind flew to a John Arne Riise display at Craven Cottage years ago when I seriously wondered …
5 Defenders to Fix Liverpool's Defence - #5 Milan Skriniar
Everyone knows the rhetoric. Jürgen Klopp may be resolute in his public support for his four centre-halves, but the summer pursuit of Virgil van Dijk speaks volumes about the need for a commanding, composed centre-half to fix Liverpool’s shaky defensive problems. Come January, those problems will likely be addressed with the pursuit of a centre-half – given how often Liverpool’s manager is having to face scrutiny in the press regarding his side’s frail rear guard. Or perhaps he'll wait until …
Klopp's Liverpool FC - Poetry in NO-tion
As the final whistle sounded away at Watford on the opening day of the season, Liverpool had come away with a point, having conceded three away goals.
“Oh well, we still have a couple of weeks left to sign a defender” we said.
“Van Dijk will be signed soon enough” we said.
How wrong we were.
Liverpool failed to place a singled bid for the Dutchman or any other defender. Instead, we signed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who has made one start …
The Klopp Project (Part 2): Talking Tactics
In part 1, I discussed the challenges facing any Liverpool manager in winning the league title. Given the challenges involved, I think all that can be realistically expected at this stage is consistently finishing in the top 4 and a concerted push to the later stages of the champions league. A league or champions league win has to be considered a bonus although they should remain the manager's aspiration. The difficulty of either trophy is such that to expect victory …
An Imperfect Marriage Between The System & The Players At Liverpool FC
Klopp’s Liverpool are currently experiencing a turbulent time in terms of results, and fans are understandably becoming frustrated with the same defensive issues reoccurring regularly to deny Liverpool deserved wins. However, even though these issues appear to occur so repetitively, it still seems difficult for many to pinpoint the precise problem and identify exactly who’s to blame in each situation, and this is largely due to the elaborate nature of the system that Klopp currently has in place.
Liverpool currently …