IN my column last week I asked whether we’re maybe a little bit too critical of our own players. My point was actually about the fact that we don’t give opposition players or teams enough credit for what they do to thwart us, but even so there’s an irony in the fact that I’ve spent this week ruminating over what exactly Nathaniel Clyne offers to the team. There are arguably four or five positions on the pitch that are in more serious need of the manager’s attention than right-back, but does that in itself mean that Clyne is good enough long-term?
My personal opinion on that front is ‘yes’, but I can easily see why some might disagree. I’ve felt over the past few months that Clyne offers us little in the final third, so I can’t say that I was knocked-off-my-feet surprised when I saw a Twitter exchange reveal that his expected assists have dropped by around 50 per cent since the turn of the year. That sounds like a lot, of course, but the expected assists of the entire team has fallen away by 50 per cent.
I’m sure John Gibbons’ head might fall off at the idea of talking about expected assists, but it’s a decent enough stat to consider the potential influence of a player in the area of the pitch that matters most when it comes to winning games. The bigger question is, though, should a defender really be such a big influence in how many goals a football team scores?
The answer almost certainly lies within the system that any given football club’s manager chooses to play. With that in mind, it definitely is important that the full-backs add goals and assists to their game if they weren’t a part of it already. The conversations about Liverpool’s ability to break down deep-lying defences have been going on since we lost to Burnley in the second game of the season. One thing that can’t be argued, however, is that the Reds have the majority of possession in the majority of games that we play against the so called ‘smaller sides’.
With that in mind, the job of the full-backs is not so much to defend, but rather to move forward on the overlap and cause the opposition’s defence to shift out of position and open up spaces. Back in September and October Clyne seemed to be doing just that with great effect, helping out Sadio Mané and causing trouble all over the place. Even back then, though, his crossing always seemed to lack a certain something. We’ve seen him get into some great positions in recent games but fail to do anything good with the ball, so is that something that Jürgen Klopp should be looking at? Can Clyne work on it and improve?
He’s a solid, if not spectacular, defender. He makes some good tackles, forces the opposition to work hard to get any change out of him and assists his centre-backs when he needs to. Despite only being in my 30s, I like that somewhat old-fashioned type of defender. The lad who is a 7/10 with his defensive duties virtually every single week, even if he’s a two or a three when it comes to his work further up the pitch. There are times when I wonder whether we should be looking for a right-back who can offer more moving forward, but then I remember who our specialist left-back is and I change my mind.
Watching Alberto Moreno run up the pitch like a Labrador on heat who’s just seen the entire female cast of Crufts, I’m reminded why it is that I like those dependable players. The Spaniard is definitely more of an attacking threat than Clyne (though still nowhere near as effective at that role as some people have decided he is in his absence from the first-team), but defensively he is…suspect. If I see him running back to make up for his own mistake before throwing in a tackle reminiscent of a scene from The Karate Kid one more time I might lose the will to live.
Of course, the choice isn’t binary. It isn’t either you have a defensively solid full-back who struggles in the attacking third like Clyne or you can have a player who causes the opposition defenders problems but has no brain like Moreno. There is a halfway-house between the two and that’s probably the player that Klopp would want to see in his defence in the long-term. There’s an argument that Trent Alexander-Arnold ticks that particular box, yet he’s too young to start regularly. Especially when Clyne is probably in the top five right-backs in the Premier League.
Should we make it into the Champions League for next season then we’ll need decent strength in-depth on the squad front, so Clyne will definitely be a useful player to have around. That is especially true for the ‘bigger’ games, where we’ll need to defend far more than we usually do in about 70 per cent of our Premier League matches at present. He’s a perfectly fine player and, as I said earlier, there are definitely parts of our squad that need strengthening with far more urgency than the right-back slot.
That said, if Liverpool hope to become the force we all want them to then ‘perfectly fine’ isn’t good enough.
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I would disagree on his defensive capabilities of late. Have a look back at goals conceded including Arsenal away in the very first game and we have conceded quite a number of goals through Clynes inability to position himself. He has been caught a number of times ball watching whilst the opposition steal in behind him
As I see it, Clyne is an excellent full-back playing out of position as a wingback. I’ve felt this all season and I think the issue is coming to a head now that he is an excellent but out-of-form fullback (probably exhausted to be fair). He was nowheresville for the Burnley goal for starters.
I also agree we have more pressing priorities and TAA looks a great prospect. So I would keep Clyne and invest in a first choice left back which makes Milner another option for right.
Top RBs in the Premier League…Azpilicueta, Sagna, Bellerin, Simpson, Walker–Of those I think the only one better than Clyne is Azpilicueta but he could benefit from having so many other class players around him. Maybe Bellerin, but I wouldn’t think of trading for any of those other guys. I like Clyne. He shuts down his side of the field for the most part. I like TAA also. Way more important areas to be concerned about.
Take a look at all the heat maps for our games. Clyne is basically tasked to look after that full side of the pitch on his own! I am more worried about milner in the left back position. If teams are sat back in the low block i would prefer mane to take the wide position and clyne to took inside slghtly and offer help/cover to defensive duties.
For me, Clyne is a good full-back. His lack of skill, intelligence, etc, is exposed each time he is playing as a wing-back and has to make surging runs to cross into nowhere-land. It makes him look like a poor choice for wing-back
If Clyne was just allowed to do his job as a full-back I think he could step up and run amongst the top the RBs. He needs to play in his position and have cover by a RB or two if he needs replacing due to injury or fitness issues.
Alberto Moreno, I don’t know, he has received harsh criticism because he can’t defend. How about playing him as a winger? I think if he was relieved of his defensive role and work on just the basics, he could become menacing and very troubling for the opposition due to his speed.
Milner should play in midfield, not LB/WB positions. He is too slow and when the going gets tough he gets tired and cannot handle the level needed to break teams down that park the bus nevermind having to deal with elite teams outside the EPL should we ever make top 3/4 this season.
Excited point about Moreno and Clyne, sash.
When Clyne came in for Glenn Johnson and did really well for that first season, we were all pretty much made up that he is going to be there till 40. When the whole team was flying until year end, Clyne and Mane combination were almost unstoppable. Both compliment each other in attack and defense. January onwards, the whole team started to play badly for all the reasons (everyone knows), Clyne performance also fell by a level or two.
I have no doubt he will and he should be the first choice while TAA continues to take over maybe 25% of games next season? (And TAA may still end up in the midfield…We don’t know yet).
So let’s don’t write off Clyne just yet. I used to think he is much better than Walker..And he may do that again once we have settled Hendo, Lallana, Mane and Matip around his at the right side of the pitch.
*excellent point