28 Feb 2017 18:03:21
Well gentlemen it's been thoroughly horrible lately. The way I see it is that it's not bad tactics or bad players in terms of ability. It's complacency and a lack of balls.

Clyne's the worst offender. He doesn't take men on, he doesn't put the ball into the box and he rarely attempts a 1-2 or tries to inject any pace or urgency into his play. Just a nice safe infield pass every time. I've completed my pass lads, it's on someone else if the move breaks down now.

He had much more about him when he arrived than that. Maybe spending a few games on the bench looking at Alexander-Arnold play would encourage him to try a bit harder. Wijnaldum isn't far behind, either.

For him to show how good he can be against Spurs and then turn in that non-performance against Leicester is absolutely shocking. And that sort of attitude is permeating across the squad. There's maybe 5 senior players who can be depended on to give 100% every time no matter who we're playing and where.

And to compound matters, our senior players in terms of the captaincy, Henderson, Milner and Lucas, don't seem to provide the right leadership for a team full of fair-weather players. They're honest blokes who give everything themselves, but they're too nice.

If you're the captain, or vice-captain, and you're playing with a few guys who are liable to phone it in when they're not playing Chelsea or Arsenal, then you need to get angry once in a while when they slack off. But no one on our team does, ever. When we concede a joke of a goal, there is no reaction.

Could you imagine how angry Carragher would've gotten if we'd conceded a goal like our first against Hull with him the team? He'd have probably killed someone. Likewise Reina, he used to lose his mind when we conceded. But Migs and co? Nah. Shrug their shoulders and look at the ground. Hide.

Likewise if Henderson has to play 5 square balls in a row because there's no movement in front of him, there is no reaction. He should start telling players in front of him to move around more. Telling should become fierce gesturing if the point isn't made.

Our key recruitment in the summer is not going to be players with specific skill sets like "another commanding center back and a left winger who can do x, y and z", it's players with the right mentality.

Players who absolutely cannot stand losing. Players who will get annoyed when someone beside them isn't giving a toss because it's 'only Hull'. If we don't get a couple of more players like that - and a couple will be enough because they'll keep the others on their toes - it won't matter who else we sign.

1.) 28 Feb 2017
28 Feb 2017 18:47:10
Post of the day that.

2.) 28 Feb 2017
28 Feb 2017 19:23:10
Couldn't agree more about Clyne. He has zero accountability and takes no risks at all. He played one decent ball in last night and I can only remember one more all season (to Lallana, who scored. Can't remember who against, sorry?! )
There was a great ball played to him by Matip, down the right wing and while he was running onto it, you could see his first instinct was going to be cut back inside and go square.
This is the fundamental problem with him; play safe and as you said, let someone else take the mantle on.
This cannot work in a Klopp team, where the full backs are hugely important.
Don't like slagging our players, but there has been no development from him since he arrived and it needs to be said.
Trent definitely deserves his chance now.

3.) 28 Feb 2017
28 Feb 2017 19:53:03
Excellent post and 100% on the money.

4.) 28 Feb 2017
28 Feb 2017 21:16:10
Great post. The problem Henderson has is that the player ahead of him most guilty of not moving is Lallana (his best mate) .

Henderson gives anybody else a rollicking if they aren't shifting, but he seems to give Lallana a free pass to not putting it in against the lesser teams or when we are in a scrappy battle.

It is probably the main reason why Lallana is the most guilty of going missing.

Firmino and Mane even when they are having a bad day still try to make things happen. Coutinho is a bit of a fair weather player as well though.

I know people might scoff at this, but I actually think we should've recalled Flanagan and put him slap bang in the middle of the park against lesser teams. He played holding midfield in the academy. You think he would let anybody slack off? No chance.

We shipped him out because he doesn't epitomise the modern wing back, but he is exactly the sort of character our team is lacking. All the ability in the world counts for nothing if you can't be bothered. Rodgers and Klopp both seem to like nice guys who get on with the game and won't look their team mates or even the manager in the face and say "step up".

We do actually have another player who will give stick out on our books. But he just put in MOTM performance for Crystal Palace at the heart of their defence!

Hendo will dish it out, but his room mate Lallana is getting a free ride and as the main man to link midfield to attack, that really is not helping and is a massive reason why we look so laboured against lesser opposition.

Cannot believe I am saying this after all the stick Rodgers got, but Klopp needs to sign players with character!

5.) 28 Feb 2017
28 Feb 2017 21:17:16
I agree with your bit about passion and will to fight and win and we DO need players with grit and determination. Regardless of how good your players are, if you are mentally soft and don't have the belly for a fight EVERY game you play, you will struggle. We seem to have that midtable mentality since Jan of only turning up for the big games and not bothering vs the lesser teams.

This is what will kill our top 4 hopes. LC came out flying an you could see that we would struggle cos we simply couldn't match their intensity. We were second to every ball, every challenge and as soon as they got the goal, it was lights out. That is what needs to change the most, regardless of what ever other changes are needed.

6.) 28 Feb 2017
28 Feb 2017 22:35:34
MK, I haven't seen Henderson dish it out against any player. It's not just Lallana who gets a free pass from him. The only person who ever seems to be on the receiving end of a few harsh words from Hendo is the referee, which is not exactly what I think he should be doing.

The only person who does any dishing out to players is Klopp on the touchline. And this is my big worry. Maybe he's calmer in the dressing room when he has a bit of thinking time and isn't just reacting to what's happening on the pitch, but if Klopp and the coaching staff are doing all the shouting to express their dis-satisfaction, there's a risk that it just becomes noise and stops having any impact on the players.

Regarding Coutinho, Firmino and Mane, I find it a little harder to assess them because they're obviously not going to see a whole lot of the ball if the midfield and fullbacks are phoning it in. Certainly Coutinho hasn't looked himself since coming back from injury though. Whether that's co-incidental because the team's not been playing well, or he's struggling to get completely match sharp post-injury.

Btw, watch us field substantially the same team against Arsenal on Saturday and beat them because everyone actually bothers to turn up.

7.) 28 Feb 2017
28 Feb 2017 23:18:48
I vividly remember Clynes assist to Llana it shocked me so much, he miss-controlled it, the ball got away from him and he had to run onto it and hit it first/ second time.
If you don't buy a ticket you'll never win the jackpot, Clyne won't back himself to beat anyone, TAA will at least role the dice, but we've got to accept we'll lose a few times.

8.) 01 Mar 2017
01 Mar 2017 18:30:27
There the same players who set the place alight earlier on this season.

It's down to confidence and and minimising the mistakes that reduce the confidence.

It's been debated here ad nauseum who the main culprits are.

One or 2 changes come summer and we'll be a tighter unit but Klopp also has to learn to adapt the team during a game to win ugly against lower league teams. even by playing a centre half up front and launching the ball bypassing the 2 banks of 4
Then after getting a goal to close down a game
Remember Mourinio did it against us by bringing on Fillans and lofting high balls
That's the difference The one way or another will nick the Ugly win while we get caught on the counter and lose.