I think we can all agree these last few weeks have not been the best in Liverpool???s history, after somewhat of a promising start The Reds seem to be stumbling after the international break and haven’t won a game in the last four. So what is the reason for this and why have we suddenly gone off the boil?
A lot has been talked about regarding our defence this season and I’ll get to that later but for now I want to focus on our attack which I don’t think has been running as smoothly as it can do. One of the big problems we have had over the last few weeks is not finishing off teams when we are dominating games. If you look at everyone of our last four matches we have had periods, and long periods at that where we have been absolutely in control of the match but we have not had the killer instinct is to put the game to bed, even against Manchester City, those first 20 minutes we should have arguably been at least two goals up and then it becomes a completely different game. It was the same last week against Sevila where even though we got our noses in front we still were unable to kill the game off and ended up getting hit by a sucker punch. I can’t put my finger on the reason for this as I think in the past we have been very clinical with our chances but this hasn’t been the case lately. I feel like we are almost doing everything right apart from that final ball whether that is the killer pass, the right cross or taking on a shot at the right time. These basic skills have eluded us of late and this has played a big part in our recent loss of form.
Now let’s get to this leaky defence. Before we go any further I just would like to say I don’t think any of our defenders are bad at what they do, well everyone apart from Moreno. There has been a lot of stick dished out at Lovren and Klavan lately and some of this I think has been unwarranted. The pair of them are decent defenders, they may not be world-class but they are alright what they do. I think Liverpool ???s biggest issue in this department isn’t the lack of quality we have back but more to do with the coaching. There are rumours circulating that we are going to put in a bid for Van Dijk in January, and whilst I hope that this is true I don’t think that this will fix our defence issues, yes it will make a difference but it won’t eradicate the problems we have had. I think Liverpool and Klopp need to look at getting in a new defensive coach, personally I would like to see Jamie Carragher in this role, I think with his knowledge and experience he can benefit Liverpool in so many ways when it comes to the defensive side of the game. I also believe that Klopp need to take a little bit of criticism for this as well as, I think sometimes his tactics are more geared to going forward rather than defending. In other leagues around Europe that might be alright but in the Premier League when the quality is so high you have to focus on the defensive side of the game a lot more. I have noticed that even when we are winning our full-backs are still instructed to bomb forward at every opportunity, whilst this is great from a attracting point of view, when you’re only leading by one goal you need to know sometimes when to shut up shop and just hold on to what you have. We don’t need our full-backs bombing forward in the last 10 minutes of a game when we don’t need to get a goal, and I do think Klopp sometimes wants to win by two or three goals rather than focusing on just getting the three points. I’m not having a go at Klopp, I think he knows a lot more about football than I do this is just my opinion.
Now I want to get to what I think has been the biggest issue for Liverpool in the last couple of weeks, and I think this has contributed massively to our loss of form. Some people are not going to like what I’m about to say but to be honest it needs saying and I’m at the point where I don’t really care. Liverpool???s biggest problem has been us; the fans, we have not been getting behind the team at all of late and the minute something goes wrong on the pitch you can hear the moans and groans echoing around Anfield. This is not what Anfield should be about and this is not what our club was built on. I’ve got a particular friend who texts me throughout some games and to be honest I don’t even bother reading his messages any more. The minute we concede a goal he’s on it like a flash, straight away on the players backs and even when we do score he is waiting for our next mistake. Now I know you’re probably thinking this guy is just a one off supporter but there are plenty of others out there just like him, some of them are even prepared to launch insults at our own players whilst they are sitting on the Kop, and whilst I understand their frustration for me this is unacceptable. I might be old-fashioned and maybe football is changing but when I first started supporting Liverpool I was always taught whatever debates and discussions fans might have we left them outside the gates of Anfield because once we as fans steps over that white line we are there for one purpose and one purpose only, to support Liverpool Football Club and whatever players are playing for us at that time. It is not acceptable for fans to start calling one of our own names or hurling abuse at them, that’s what we’re meant to be doing to the opposition, not our own. This may seem like I’m going on another rant but this is an issue that is killing the foundations of the club. We are celebrating 125 years Liverpool Football Club this season and I can’t help but wonder what fans from the early days would have thought of a group of the supporters now, I reckon they would’ve been disgusted with some of them.
My point is if we are going to get over this bad run of form we all need to start pulling together and working as a team, I include everyone in this, coaching staff, players and fans, we are all one. I don’t think this is the end of the world I just think it’s a bad run of form that every team goes through every season we are no different and as long as we all learn to stick together it won’t be long before results start turning in our direction. On a final note I would like to urge all the fans that are travelling down to Leicester for Saturday’s game to get behind the team. The King Power can be a noisy place but let’s make more noise than them, let’s remind the Leicester fans who we are and let’s sing our hearts out for our boys and try and give our players as much encouragement as we can to go out there and get results on Saturday and hopefully come back with three points.
Imraan Adam @imadam786
