{"id":1903,"date":"2021-01-05T13:12:24","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T13:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/?p=1903"},"modified":"2021-01-05T13:12:24","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T13:12:24","slug":"how-do-liverpool-get-their-season-back-on-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/how-do-liverpool-get-their-season-back-on-track\/","title":{"rendered":"How Do Liverpool Get Their Season Back On Track?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last night felt like an alien experience to me. It\u2019s been so long since I\u2019ve been actively angry about a Liverpool performance, so I really wasn\u2019t sure what to do with myself. In the wake of the full-time whistle I became somewhat self-destructive, eating <em>all<\/em> of the Christmas chocolates, being short-tempered with my wife and spending \u00a320 on National Lottery instant win games. Obviously I should have more self-control, but it\u2019s been such a while since things went so poorly for J\u00fcrgen Klopp\u2019s side that it took me by surprise. Perhaps that\u2019s something that we\u2019re all forgetting: that normally teams don\u2019t rack up ninety-seven and ninety-nine points in consecutive seasons. During the last campaign, I spent time saying that I wasn\u2019t surprised that Manchester City had dropped off a little bit, given how difficult it is to stay at that level for two seasons, let alone three.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Reds look very lacking confidence in final third, out of nowhere after the start to the West Brom game. But penalties are penalties. Klopp needs to tell players to run into the box, trip themselves, scream and roll around.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Paul Tomkins (@paul_tomkins) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/paul_tomkins\/status\/1346207830244798469?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 4, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Manchester United won three titles back-to-back twice during Alex Ferguson\u2019s tenure, but they never had to go at the rate that City and the Reds have been. What we\u2019re currently experiencing is more like a normal title race, with random losses and disappointing draws thrown into the mix. One thing that Ferguson\u2019s United never had to put up with was atrocious refereeing, but Liverpool have certainly suffered from it this time out. Whilst the Reds were poor last night, it\u2019s still ok to point out that Andre Marriner\u2019s performance was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/sport\/football\/55540225\">utterly scandalous<\/a>. The big issue that most supporters have with the Video Assistant Referee system is that it\u2019s not consistent and you can bet Manchester United would have had two penalties last night. It doesn\u2019t excuse our performance to say as much. We can\u2019t change that, though, so what can we do?<\/p>\n<h2>Buy A Defender<\/h2>\n<p>There has been a lot of criticism on Liverpool front three over the past few matches and I can absolutely understand why. Southampton were having to play their second-choice goalkeeper who hadn\u2019t played a Premier League match since May 2019, yet it took us until the seventy-fourth minute to have a shot on target against him. Yet I do think that too many people are being quick in their dismissal of the problems at the back in explaining why the lads at the front are struggling. Last night we had to play our two of our best midfielders in defence, whilst the player we all thought would help unlock opposition back lines was playing as the defensive midfielder. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Gini Wijnaldum are both brilliant players in their own way, even if the former is still looking rusty, but they don\u2019t support the forward line in the same way as Jordan Henderson would.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">For the first time this season I don&#8217;t think we&#8217;re retaining this league. Our Christmas fixtures offered a golden opportunity to take a big step towards that and, frankly, we&#8217;ve looked a long, long way from Champions. It&#8217;s become a dog fight, and not one i&#8217;d back us in right now.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Grobbelrevell* (@markbrucerevell) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/markbrucerevell\/status\/1346214723998674946?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 4, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>By not going all-out for a defender in this transfer window, we\u2019re causing issues all over the pitch. Yes, we all hope that both Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez will come back looking as good as ever but there\u2019s no guarantee of that. Joel Matip is known to have massive fitness issues and neither Rhys Williams nor Nat Phillips are of the required standard for this team, though we\u2019re hoping Williams will become so over time. There is, in my view, no excuse not to pay whatever is needed to buy a centre-back over the coming weeks, given that there is a league and European Cup double to be won. Taking midfielders out of defence and allowing them to play where they\u2019re supposed to would be a step in the right direction to fixing the problems that we\u2019ve witnessed for several games in a row. Strengthening our defence was important in the summer but it\u2019s a <em>must do<\/em> now.<\/p>\n<h2>The Manager Needs To Reflect On His Own Decision Making<\/h2>\n<p>J\u00fcrgen Klopp is one of if not the best managers in the world. He is a genius and, in winning the European Cup and Premier League in consecutive seasons, has earned his place in the pantheon of great Liverpool managers. All of that goes without saying and, just as you\u2019re allowed to point out that referees have been poor in the wake of a Liverpool loss without it changing the fact the team was poor, it\u2019s ok to criticise the manager every now and then. For my money, he got the starting line-up wrong yesterday and arguably didn\u2019t show Southampton enough respect. Asking both Thiago Alcantara and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to get their fitness up in the match was the wrong thing to do, but he had no choice once he made the decision to play Jordan Henderson at centre-back. If Rhys Williams is good enough to play Champions League games he\u2019s good enough for Southampton away, so play him.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-partner=\"tweetdeck\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">When you hit bad run of form, you need the rub of the green to go your way. <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LFC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LFC<\/a> out of sorts at moment. Team disjointed. Round pegs in square holes. Players lacking form &amp; fitness. Klopp will fix it &#8211; and others around us will dip too. Huge game against United. Response needed.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Si Steers (@sisteers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sisteers\/status\/1346218445529096193?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 4, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The manager\u2019s changes also didn\u2019t work. It was clear that we were crying out for the captain\u2019s running and leadership in the middle of the park, but none of the changes got him there. Equally, it\u2019s bizarre that Takumi Minamino had the best game of his Liverpool career against Crystal Palace and yet hasn\u2019t been able to get a look-in since. The manager has to use the break we\u2019ve got coming up to reflect on his own decision making and ask if he\u2019s making the right choices at the moment. Is putting thirty-five-year-old James Milner on at right-back absolutely the best choice in the circumstances of last night? Why on earth did the team take another short corner in the dying moments of the match, given how stupid a decision it was at the same point against West Bromwich Albion? Everyone\u2019s tired, seemingly including J\u00fcrgen Klopp. It\u2019s time for him to get back to making winning decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last night felt like an alien experience to me. It\u2019s been so long since I\u2019ve been actively angry about a Liverpool performance, so I really wasn\u2019t sure what to do with myself. In the wake of the full-time whistle I became somewhat self-destructive, eating all of the Christmas chocolates, being short-tempered with my wife and spending \u00a320 on National Lottery instant win games. Obviously I should have more self-control, but it\u2019s been such a while since things went so poorly for J\u00fcrgen Klopp\u2019s side that it took me by surprise. Perhaps that\u2019s something that we\u2019re all forgetting: that normally teams [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1869,"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\/1903"}],"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=1903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1904,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1903\/revisions\/1904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.andcouldheplay.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}