WEDNESDAY’S draw at home to Bournemouth felt like a crushing defeat. A scruffy, late equaliser when three crucial home points were required was just an unnecessary kick in the teeth.
For the final 25 minutes, Jürgen Klopp opted to invite pressure; adopting a back five by bringing on Joel Matip to accompany Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan. I’m as much at a loss to explain the decision now as I was the other night. Ceding momentum and territory to mediocre opposition when they had just fallen behind was one thing, but adding confusion to an already confused defensive picture was another.
On the face of things an extra body at the back – when Phil Coutinho succumbed to illness – was designed to shore things up and see the game out but the reality was that the extra man induced only further panic leaving supporters the ones feeling queasy.
On balance this has been a really good Liverpool season. Performances have often been exhilarating and despite the absence of a recognised, stock-in-trade striker the Reds continue to top the goalscoring charts. Results against the top sides – and a league position which promises a Champions League finish – are testament to the Liverpool’s upward trajectory under Klopp.
However, the intrinsic defensive woes that have dogged the Reds in recent years remain. Brendan Rodgers was commonly criticised for being unable to “organise a defence” and while Klopp’s Liverpool look systematically a more solid defensive unit, the numbers in the goals against column remain largely unchanged. In isolation, six goals conceded to Bournemouth over two games isn’t good enough.
The loss of the title under Rodgers in 2013-14 was attributed to conceding 50 goals. The following season, we stopped scoring and shipped a further 48. Klopp’s debut year saw another 50 fly into the back of our net and during this campaign, with seven matches still to play, 39 goals against is a tally which has ruled us out of title contention.
We’re edging out Chelsea and Spurs for goals scored but what we wouldn’t give for their parsimony at the back. Their 24 and 22 goals conceded represent the traditionally mean foundations on which challenges for league championships rely.
Critics will argue until the cows come home that the common denominator in Liverpool’s defensive uncertainty over the past few years is Simon Mignolet. The Belgian might always lack the personality to be a supreme commander of a defence but many of the barbed insults that still come his way are based on the evidence of previous seasons. The old adage that a goalkeeper only reaches full maturity later in his career doesn’t seem to apply to the beleaguered stopper.
Liverpool’s successful record against the top sides in the division is well documented but Mignolet’s detractors blithely overlook a string of key saves in all of those matches. Mignolet may or may not survive another summer cull but we need only to remind ourselves of the chaos that reigned when Loris Karius superseded him before Christmas to see that our regular defensive blips still prevail regardless of who is in goal.
Furthermore, it could be argued that Karius’s insertion and the five points dropped in successive matches against Bournemouth and West Ham was the juncture at which Liverpool’s title challenge was initially derailed.
Klopp has struggled to field a settled back four all season, despite the durability of his full-backs. Nathaniel Clyne is a safe bet to remain where he is next season. He has been a dependable presence throughout; positionally sound despite the requirement in Klopp’s system to occupy territory more akin to a midfielder.
Clyne is consistently robust, not just in his no-nonsense defending but also in staying largely injury free. When Liverpool have been at their fluent best he has integrated well into the passing rhythms further up the pitch. He has only struggled when charged with finding precision crosses as the final outlet for Liverpool’s frustrations against a packed rearguard.
James Milner similarly, has coped manfully as the enduring first choice in an entirely unfamiliar and testing role throughout the whole campaign. If Milner was five years younger his conversion to full-back would see Liverpool searching only for back-up on the left side. Klopp will no doubt be hoping the pre-season break allows Milner’s legs to recuperate. However, an understandable mid-season dip in his form and energy levels suggests another season lending attacking support into midfield and still being able to sprint back and foil the counter attack requires more natural pace and freshness.
Liverpool’s main defensive issues though are focused in the middle. While opinions understandably change with the wind – or with every disappointing result – nagging doubts still surround each one of our centre-halves. If Klopp spent the summer recruiting two new players for the position to finally fix Liverpool’s Achilles heel it might not be the most radical idea.
Lovren and Matip at times have looked a steady partnership – whenever they manage to take the field together. Lovren seems becalmed alongside Matip and his recent aggressive but controlled performance in shackling Romelu Lukaku during the Anfield derby was a reminder of his intermittent ability to dominate. Although the days of him seemingly disappearing on a stretcher every week with an oxygen mask clutched to his face are behind him, the Croat still misses too many games through injury and his consistency suffers for it.
Whenever there is talk of this Liverpool team lacking character, one wonders if a defender of Lovren’s physical stature should offer more not just in attacking and repelling crosses but greater presence and personality as a de facto leader of the backline. There remains a sense of the quiet man about Lovren that doesn’t fully convince.
Matip’s injuries and minor niggles have also been a major frustration. Before he started missing games, he looked like the acquisition of the season on a free transfer from Schalke. He has lost none of his cool, measured approach to defending – his distribution is also underrated – but like Lovren he has been completely absent for nearly a third of a league campaign.
If Klopp has a current clear first-choice pairing in the middle in Matip and Lovren, he has seldom been able to employ them in tandem. With a longer, more taxing season ahead it is to be expected that at least one quality recruit over the summer will dispute their right to an automatic first team place. Furthermore, if the Reds manage to secure Champions League football, Klopp will be mindful of the challenge posed by the pace and trickery of Europe’s best forwards.
With the benefit of hindsight, we left ourselves short of quality cover this season. Ragnar Klavan has had some good games but has proved simply too error prone to be deemed a reliable third choice. If Matip was brought in for Martin Skrtel, Klavan occupies the hole in reserve left by Kolo Toure but has still played 18 times in the league. Mamadou Sakho, for obvious reasons, also technically departed – at least from Klopp’s plans – last summer, so the Reds have always seemed one player light at centre-back.
Lucas Leiva has sometimes been forced to fill in, despite still being at his best as a holding midfielder and the assumption that Joe Gomez would progress to offer further back-up (or progress to first choice) is symptomatic of the flawed thinking at the club that spouts regular PR bulletins on the belief of Klopp in his young players but seldom sees them picked other than for bench duty.
If the Reds are to cast off an embedded narrative of hapless defending undermining the work Klopp had done in creating a vibrant attacking unit, and if the mooted summer backing from the owners isn’t to prove a mirage, to improve a squad aiming to compete on two fronts next season might require a focus on improving defensive ranks in terms of numbers and quality.
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I believe the club bring a lot of problems on themselves. Our Psyche, the fans and probably the players, is brittle and constantly wrecked by our management decisions.
Take Mane as an example. We all saw his injury and knew it looked pretty bad yet, the club doesnt announce that he’s out for 3-4 weeks/season, ‘we are waiting on a scan’. I realise that you dont want to be negative but surely release a statement saying he’s going to be out a while, get over it, lets regroup. However, many went to the game the other night holding out some hope that he may play. It was the same with Henderson. This puts fans 0n a downer from the off, a bit of hope has already been extinguished, doubts start appearing.
Its gone on for ages, worse seemingly under Jurgen. Matip was not played due to a ban but when thats over he doesnt play, niggle. You go the game not realising we have any injuries and suddenly the likes of Lallana, Henderson, Lovren, Sturridge, Origi etc have picked up a slight knock bummer, but worse, then they arent seen for weeks/months.
The club needs to be more open so the fans can prepare themselves and not just arrive to find important players missing, this isnt the 60’s 70’s etc where everything is kept in-house, this is unfortunately the sky generation.
The only complaint I have regarding the sub the other night is that if Mane is going to be out then surely Sturridge needs mins, daft.
yeah, I can see how that will solve our defensive woes….
You misunderstand the point I was making. If the fans know beforehand that Matip, Lovren etc are out they come with a different mindset, they know its going to be tough and (hopefully) rally round. Turning up excitedly only to be told a player who you didnt even know had a knock is out is dispiriting.
I personally knew Mane was out for the season as soon as he went down that second time, having walked off the pitch. I knew because the worst outcome is always the one we get. If ever there is doubt i.e. James Pearce tweeting that Mane had said he was fine, therefore giving the fans some hope, always assume the worst outcome will be the reality, because it always is.
Compare that to Spurs, who are getting Kane back three weeks ahead of schedule, and you see what I mean. When Kane got injured I wasn’t by any means pleased but I thought it was about time something, anything went against that club. I should have known he would somehow return early.
Really can’t stand Spurs. Not even sure why.
Hi Dan, I think it doesn’t matter regarding Kane, Spurs still managed to do well despite his absence and are poised for 2nd place if Chelsea don’t drop points unexpectedly. Our lot can’t do the same without Mane or Coutinho now from the news report.
Dire stuff all of a sudden and it’s a must win against Stoke tomorrow.
I’m glad someone else has noticed the unbelieveable amount of good luck Spurs get compared to us. They play Watford this weekend who ahead of this fixture have been struck with an injury crisis & their best players will be unavailable for the game at WHL.
This has been happening all season. Nearly every other week I’ll hear of a team suffering an injury to one of their best players, or one of them will be sent off and suspended, and then i’ll find out the team missing said player(s) is playing Spurs next. When I started looking out for it I noticed it happening so often it was unbelieveable.
Another one with Spurs is they would play a team in a poor run of form, beat them, then that team would sack their manager. Spurs would then have just avoided the ‘new manager bounce’ (whereas we’ve been hit with this 3 times so far in Hull, Swans & LCFC and it could happen again as Bilic could be sacked if WHU lose again before we play them away).
Spurs have had lots of that sort of luck, but CFC have also had loads of luck with injuries. They’ve basically had none to any of their most important players.
Between our awful luck with encountering new manager bounce, and suffering the most amount of injuries in one season that I can remember, we really have had fate, the Gods, whatever you want to call it against us this season.
Yeah, Liverpool didn’t concede “momentum” or “initiative” because of the formation change. Liverpool lost the ball under no real pressure 2 or 3 times in the final 15-20 minutes. That’s what gave Bournemouth the oppurtunity to create pressure. That’s not due to formation but lack of concentration. Firmino gave it away once, possibly twice because he was dead on his feet. Again, that’s not because of formation. We just don’t have the options on the bench when you need to replace tired players and maintain game management.
In 2008 – Klopps first summer at Dortmund – he signed 7 players including 2 CBS, a RB, a DM and a keeper, whilst adding the odd attacking option.
In 2009 – his second summer – he repeated the trick with 4 more defensive players.
he now had Subotic, Hummels, Bender, Grosskreutz in his back line (for a next to nothing spend its worth adding…maybe), but it took 2 full windows to get what he wanted.
Only once he got that right, did he add Lewandowski, Kagawa, promoted Goetze and Sahin and looked to really hammer home the attacking options. They won the league that season.
KM, as much as I would love to agree with you, this is the EPL with 5 other teams breathing down our necks at every opportunity — this and next season — with CL being one of the main catalysts to how the summer shapes. If we miss out on CL for example, it is also a big negative for the player’s mindset as they did not win the two finals they had worked so hard to reach.
This is not me having a go at you mate, I just think Jurgen needs to write a new (and his own) history at Liverpool, otherwise we will be judging him on his past for failures and possible success and it could work against our mindsets, the players and maybe even his, you know what I mean?
You solve them quite easily by recruiting or bringing through, I don’t care which, a goalkeeper who can catch the ball. Who punches the ball if he can’t catch it. Or balls at his centre halves if he can’t do either. Centre backs who can head it instead of ducking out of challenges like Matip would also help.
I thought this was about the next game against Stoke.
So no I don’t know how to solve this other than what the article mentions, what other fans and ther articles have mentioned to some degree.
Just seems like we’re all grasping at straws now or the keyboards.
I’m not bothered about the summer, as I want to see how Jurgen solves this mess tomorrow, since he is in charge of the team, playing one game at a time.
Stoke will choke on the Red’s big defensive yoke!
Up the Reds!!!