NEIL ATKINSON, Melissa Reddy and Jim Boardman go through the game against QPR with obvious focus on Gerrard and the importance of being bold. It’s The Anfield Wrap on your Bank Holiday Monday.
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NEIL ATKINSON, Melissa Reddy and Jim Boardman go through the game against QPR with obvious focus on Gerrard and the importance of being bold. It’s The Anfield Wrap on your Bank Holiday Monday.
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Another good show. Mentioned the turn around from Mignolet – absolutely incredible. Can’t think of a previous player to turn around mid season like it. That he would be in our top three players of the season is remarkable.
Like everyone I wanted Lovren to be a success and thought there were signs he could be good. I think, deep down I was concerned whether he could turn it around. Saturday was the day it dawned on me he’s a lunatic. What we’ve seen is what we’re gonna see. He’s got two sides to his game and I’d be prepared to bet they were there at Southampton.
As mentioned elsewhere though, would Mignolet get in any other Top 6 side. Very very doubtful. We still need a new keeper
Ospina is the top-ranked keeper this season on virtually all metrics. The other 4 keepers that make up the top six are Hart, Courtois, De Gea and Lloris, four of the best keepers in European football. The fact that Mignolet would struggle to usurp any of them is hardly a big deal when you consider there’s only a handful of keepers in world football would manage that, and none of them is coming to Liverpool any time soon.
What Mignolet needs next season is consistency from August through to May and to eliminate those runs of 6 or 7 games where he resembles Gomes in his first season at Spurs. Do that and we’ve got ourselves a top six keeper.
Although I agree we need a decent second keeper to keep him honest.
but isnt that level of keeper what we should have as one of the ‘top’ sides nit just a make do average one?.
I’d like to see a very good keeper brought in
Good listen. Disagree on the Can and Lovren analysis.
After the semi, there seemed to be a growing consensus that whatever else we should start doing, we should start playing people in their correct positions – no more square pegs, and all that. A couple of weeks on and that has been forgotten.
Can is a good footballer which means against inferior opposition you can probably stick him anywhere and he’ll do a minimum of okay, and likely better than that. The key phrase there is “inferior opposition”. As a defender – whether right back on or on the right of a three – he’s been found out against good and even half-decent opposition. If you’re a top six side about to play Liverpool and you see Can at right back or part of the back three, you know who you’ll be targeting. It’s great that he played well and passed well in a game where we had two-thirds of the possession against a relegation certainty, but against Arsenal or Utd he’ll be asked to spend long periods of the game just defending rather than picking out 30 yard passes with time on the ball. These are the games in which you pay most for having makeshifts in specialist areas.
I think it was Gareth or John G said on a prior pod that Rodgers needs to find a way to play Can in midfield or he may as well not be at the club. I think that’s bang on. Even if Can does a good job as a makeshift right back, it would make more sense to sell him and buy a specialist for that position. And given it seems certain we’ll be in the market for right back this summer, Can will need to play midfield next season or he’ll be sat on the bench anyway.
As for Lovren, I think he’s been one of our most consistent players over the last half-dozen games. Admittedly the competition from his team-mates hasn’t been particularly stiff, but he’s done most things expected of a defender and when he has made mistakes he’s recovered. He’s shown great mental strength given the way the season started for him and with all things considered (team not playing well from front to back for large parts of the season, keeper all over the shop for the first half of the season and constantly changing back line), he’s finishing the season well. In a settled back four or three with specialists in each role, I no longer have any particular concerns about Lovren; or at least, I have far greater concerns about other areas e.g. absence of a nailed on 20+ goal striker, anemic attacking contributions from midfield, no genuine leader post-Gerrard, etc..
I think Neil put his finger on it when he cautioned against the “Sakho-ing of Lovren”. It’s not true of all his critics, but there are a lot of people for whom there is very little Lovren could do to change their perception of him. There is a narrative established and it’s going to take 20 Baresi-like performances to destroy it.
To start I have to say im very disappointed that the additional podcasts can’t be used in conjunction with the normal podcast app that many of us listen to all other podcasts on. I’m considering stopping my subscription as a result.
Can’t agree on the Can analysis. He had a decent game at right back at the weekend but it was against poor opposition. He’s had poor games there very recently against mediocre opposition and I’d fear him playing there against good opposition. He just isn’t a right back or wing back. His best games have come on the right of the 3 but he’s also had dodgy games there too. Playing 3 at the back means playing with wingbacks and I don’t believe we have 1 real wing back at the club. Sterling, Ibe, Markovic and Moreno all have to sacrifice something to play there and I can’t see us going out and buying 3/4 dedicated wingbacks which means going 4 at the back.
Can was bought as a holding/defensive midfielder so why not start playing him there in a midfield 3?? Can holding, Hendo box to box, Coutinho attacking??
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Perhaps if Liverpool fans were less quick to slate and abuse players for every little mistake they make, the players would feel freer, more relaxed, more confident on the pitch. That ‘fear of failure’ is indeed hindering the performance of our developing players. Liverpool fans think it’s smart and cool to be hypercritical of their club. When do they realise that it comes with a huge price to the club’s success? Melissa Reddy is spot on about the psychological impact. Listen up, guys.
Couple of thoughts:
Lambert: he’s always had that in his game. I’m not sure it’s about his failing, it’s about the team and the manager failing to play to his strengths. If you’re going to play him, play to feet or chest and run off him FFS. He’s a pivot
Glad to see you finally picking up on Henderson’s passing. You’ve been asking how we score goals in recent weeks. The one consistent source of chances and goals all season has been Henderson’s cross from deep positions. Clearly something that’s been worked on in training.