{"id":1549,"date":"2019-06-27T16:27:49","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T16:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=1549"},"modified":"2019-06-27T16:29:53","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T16:29:53","slug":"looking-at-liverpools-squad-the-defensive-third","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/looking-at-liverpools-squad-the-defensive-third\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking At Liverpool\u2019s Squad: The Defensive Third"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Every year I have a look at the Liverpool squad from back to front, analysing it as I personally see it. Every year I receive Tweets, emails and comments from people who completely disagree on my take on things. That\u2019s ok; life would be pretty boring if we all agreed with each other all of the time. I don\u2019t think that my opinion is definitive, that it is unarguably correct and that if the club doesn\u2019t act on my advice then nothing but unadulterated disaster will follow. After all, I spent last summer and the January transfer window saying that we should be going all out to buy a central defender, only for J\u00fcrgen Klopp to completely ignore such an idea, play Fabinho there against Bayern Munich and watch as the Reds racked up ninety-seven points in the Premier League and win the Champions League. As always, I readily admit that the German knows far more about football than I ever will. That being said, I\u2019ve been watching Liverpool for a long time and I know the mistakes the club has made in the past when it\u2019s felt as though it\u2019s been in a winning position.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Fabinho looked good at centre back, but I&#8217;d rather have 4 real centre backs than move a good midfielder there, especially as it could be for months at a time with Matip and Gomez&#8217;s injury records.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 PaulMcC (@PaulMcC186) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PaulMcC186\/status\/1138735313856147456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 12, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/has-liverpools-hierarchy-learnt-from-past-mistakes\/\">I wrote about that particular phenomenon on Monday<\/a>, so I\u2019m not going to go over the same ground here. The key point is that the football club\u2019s stock hasn\u2019t been higher since the end of the 1980s, marrying a European Cup win with a top-flight points haul that would have seen them win the league any season other than the past two. Now is the time to strike whilst the iron\u2019s hot when it comes to potential transfers, but does the squad actually need that much of an overhaul? Over the next week I\u2019ll be having a look at the different parts of it and making my own personal judgement call, which you\u2019ll doubtless disagree with. If you do then either say something in the comments below or <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/andcouldheplay7\">get in touch with me on Twitter<\/a> to let me know. The main thing is that we all want the same thing, which is for Liverpool Football Club to improve where possible. Plenty point to Klopp\u2019s comments after the 2018 Champions League final that the Real Madrid squad had stuck together for years, but they failed to win a trophy of note last season, so is that definitely a good thing?<\/p>\n<h2>The Goalkeepers<\/h2>\n<p>Talking about the goalkeepers is an interesting task because we\u2019re simultaneously massively strong and also in need of refreshment. Surely not many people would argue that Alisson Becker is anything other than one of the best goalkeepers in the world right now, even if some of his play is enough to test the heart-health of the older members of the crowd. I\u2019ve argued in the past that the Brazilian is the most important signing we\u2019ve made in some time, even ahead of Virgil van Dijk, for the simple reason that the drop-off from him to his number two is far greater than in other positions. He\u2019s been a colossus for us since he signed and I think he\u2019s only going to get better in the coming seasons.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">From being powerless to prevent Liverpool thumping Roma, to keeping the Reds in the Champions League seven months later.<\/p>\n<p>Best goalkeeper in the world currently in my opinion &#8211; one of the most significant signings in 20 years. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Qlhm7whVPw\">pic.twitter.com\/Qlhm7whVPw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Henry Jackson (@HenryJackson87) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/HenryJackson87\/status\/1140941043053019136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 18, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>When it comes to Simon Mignolet, however, regular readers will know that I\u2019ve never been the Belgian\u2019s biggest fan. It\u2019s not that I think he\u2019s rubbish, as I don\u2019t. It\u2019s just that I don\u2019t think he\u2019s anywhere near good enough to be the shot-stopper for a team challenging for the title. Whilst I\u2019m aware that Klopp made major changes to the teams, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s any coincidence that the two competitions we under-performed in were the ones that Mignolet took over goalkeeping duty for. The drop-off from Alisson to him is too big and, to make matters worse, he doesn\u2019t suit our style of play under the German manager. I was dismayed to read of the club\u2019s desire to keep him this week as I think improving on him is an obvious and easy win for us.<\/p>\n<h2>The Defence<\/h2>\n<p>Speaking of a colossus, I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever stop being blown away by what a wonderful defender Virgil van Dijk is. The combination of him and Alisson has been enough to see us go from a team that conceded sixty-three times in all competitions in 2017-2018 to one that let in just thirty-eight goals last time out. He\u2019s a wonderful player that I\u2019m already scared to lose at some point in the future, given the difference he\u2019s made to us at the back. The question, then, comes down to who should be partnering him at the back and that is where we come slightly unstuck. At the start of the 2018-2019 campaign Joe Gomez looked nailed on for the berth, but his subsequent absence with yet another injury proved problematic. Yes, I\u2019m aware it wasn\u2019t the same type of injury as he\u2019s had before but sooner rather than later he\u2019ll look prone if he keeps missing a large number of games every season.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I love Joe Gomez. I don\u2019t love his injury history. I hope he has a better season coming up. Data from transfermarkt:<\/p>\n<p>15\/16 &#8211; 234 days out<br \/>\n16\/17 &#8211; 128 days out<br \/>\n17\/18 &#8211; 28 days out<br \/>\n17\/18 &#8211; 54 days out<br \/>\n18\/19 &#8211; 121 days out<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LFC Watch (@Mobyhaque1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Mobyhaque1\/status\/1138118760647266305?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 10, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Given that neither Joel Matip nor Dejan Lovren are all that more reliable, it begins to look like a problem position if you don\u2019t have anything other than absolute faith in all of their abilities to remain fit for the next year. I think Matip\u2019s improvement means that he\u2019s rightly been praised for the last couple of months, but Lovren\u2019s inability to actually get onto the pitch means that he\u2019s rapidly becoming a waste of a shirt. It\u2019s the one spot I will continually bang the drum for needing a new player in, despite everyone else\u2019s conviction that the fact we can play Fabinho there means it\u2019s fine. When it comes to our full-backs you\u2019d have to be particularly craven to say there\u2019s much we can do to improve on either Trent Alexander-Arnold or Andy Robertson, given their arguably the two best players in the positions in the world at the moment, but the replacements we have for them definitely could be better. We aren\u2019t being linked with any, however, which makes me fear another season of an older, slower James Milner and a Joe Gomez that doesn\u2019t suit playing there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Overall Score:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Given my opinion that we need to buy a new backup goalkeeper, a new centre-back and a player that can cover both full-backs, I\u2019m giving the defensive unit a 7 out 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Every year I have a look at the Liverpool squad from back to front, analysing it as I personally see it. Every year I receive Tweets, emails and comments from people who completely disagree on my take on things. That\u2019s ok; life would be pretty boring if we all agreed with each other all of the time. I don\u2019t think that my opinion is definitive, that it is unarguably correct and that if the club doesn\u2019t act on my advice then nothing but unadulterated disaster will follow. After all, I spent last summer and the January transfer window saying that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1551,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1550,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1549\/revisions\/1550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}