Is There a Place For Trent At The Leadership Table?
For the entirety of Jürgen Klopp’s reign as Liverpool manager, Jordan Henderson and James Milner have acted as the captain and vice-captain of this glorious football club. With our former Leeds midfielder about to leave the club (for Brighton), it will leave an opening for that vice captain’s position. In seasons gone by, there has often been four prominent leaders within the squad, selected by our German head coach. Before his own departure, Georginio Wijnaldum was seen as one of …
Stefan Bajčetić & The Eventual Gini Replacement
Since Georginio Wijnaldum departed Anfield in 2021, I have tended to write at least three articles a year, that allude to the red’s failure to replace the Swiss Army knife of midfielders. I’ve often spoken about the necessity of system players within our team, that can facilitate the special talents of others to rise to the top of their potential levels. Within a bespoke system of play, we have always needed such players to be on point, for our attacking …
João Gomes & Liverpool’s Continual Monitoring
It seems like yet another potential Liverpool target has drifted away from our sight, as the reds continue their search for that unlikely transfer target. Reports on Friday morning had João Gomes as a player almost certain to make a move to Wolves, despite Julian Ward casting an admiring eye in his direction. Our constant links to viable midfield reinforcements appear to be nothing more than that, which is causing significant angst within the fan-base.
With a consistent …
Tony Evans: The Narrative Surrounding Naby Keita is Ludicrous
The best quality a footballer can have is availability. It doesn’t matter how good you are if you can’t play. Daniel Sturridge might have been the best English striker of the previous decade but he didn’t get onto the pitch enough. Harry Kane would not have been close to becoming England’s leading goalscorer if Sturridge would have been robust.
And so to Naby Keita. There were so many high hopes for the 27-year-old and so many disappointments. Rail all you …
How Does Matheus Nunes Compare to Moisés Caicedo
I have recently carried out individual profiles Nunes and Caicedo, to look at whether they represent separate targeting ideals or whether they are both equally required assets. In terms of their suitability, both these young midfielders would enhance our current squad and would enhance the system we seemed to have lost.
This is the second consecutive transfer window where each player’s name has reared its head, though our method of monitoring players still sees them (frustratingly) playing at rival Premier …
Tony Evans: Klopp's Team Capitulated, He Needs to Sort it Out, Quickly!
The performance in the 3-1 defeat by Brentford was unacceptable. There were so many things wrong that it’s hard to know where to start. It was not the way to open the new year.
Everyone is looking for scapegoats and has their own theory: the midfield is an ongoing problem; the tactics have stopped working; Pep Lijnders is a corrosive influence; age has caught up with the team; and there are internal divisions among the backroom staff.
Not restocking the …
Can Naby Secure His Liverpool Future and Stop the Reds Bleeding Money
Can Naby Secure His Reds Future and Stop the Reds Bleeding Money
On the 10th February next year Naby Keïta will turn 28-years of age, which should signify the peak moment of his footballing career. His arrival from RB Leipzig was supposed to see Steven Gerrard’s famous number 8 rightfully deployed, with the little Guineans' signing seen as a major coup for the Reds. The following four and a half years have been sporadic however, with the injuries and absentees …
Why Naby Keita's time at Liverpool should be up this summer
Has a Liverpool player divided opinion quite like Naby Keita in the past 20 years?
To some, he's as good as Steven Gerrard, and to others, he's worse than Bruno Cheyrou (slight exaggeration, but you get my drift).
The Guinean arrived at Liverpool amid huge fanfare back in 2018, one year after initially signing, and was seen as the new midfield sensation at Anfield.
Alisson and Virgil van Dijk had come in as genuine game-changers in their respective positions and …
Could Frenkie de Jong be Liverpool's midfield saviour?
There have been endless reasons for Liverpool's struggles this season, but their midfield has stood out as a major problem from the moment the campaign got underway.
For a long time, the middle of the park was the Reds' most solid and underrated area of the pitch, with the headlines invariably made by everyone else in the team.
In Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum, Jurgen Klopp built a midfield that did its job to perfection, providing dynamism, discipline and …
World Cup Squads 11/11: Van Dijk, Nunez In, Thiago, Fabio out
On November 11th, we saw a clash of the Borussia sides in the Bundesliga, and eight World Cup squads released! Netherlands, Senegal, Uruguay, Argentina, Qatar, Portugal, Serbia and Spain all revealed their teams today. Unsurprisingly, Netherland's captain Virgil Van Dijk was selected, and $85M frontman Darwin Nunez was picked for Uruguay. Thiago and Fabio Carvalho were both sadly omitted from their respective sides, while Jota missed out due to injury. Ex-Red Sadio Mane was predictably picked for Senegal, as were …