James Milner
Much has been made of Milner playing at left back this season. Naturally a midfielder, the Englishman has been placed out of his comfort zone and has kept Alberto Moreno out of the first team on a regular basis. During an interview with Liverpoolfc.com Milner highlighted that his change in position has been a learning curve.
“I’ve been learning a new role and a more defensive one because I’ve always been a forward-thinking player, and probably still am,”
“But at times you have to curb that and adapt to the match situation and maybe sometimes hold back a bit if the time of the game suits that.
“I think sensing danger early is the biggest thing to learn. When you play in midfield you’re obviously always switched on to defending.
“That’s something that I’ve always thought is important and I’ve always tried to put in as much to the defensive side of the game as the attacking game, but ultimately when you are in midfield, you’ve got four or five defenders behind you.
“If you go and press the ball and you miss the press or the ball gets a ricochet, it’s not as vital as you’ve got somebody behind you in the backline.”
He added”At full-back, you’ve always got to be covering the centre-half. If you’re one-on-one with the winger and he gets past you then ultimately he’s in on goal or in a dangerous position so it’s a different sort of mentality when you are defending.”
“Would I say I’m a left-back now? I’d probably say utility man. I’ll play wherever’s needed. Wherever there’s a leak, I’ll plug the gap,” he added.
“It has been a big change.
“But I’ve always tried to learn throughout my career and I’ve played in a lot of positions anyway so it’s just trying to learn as best you can and trying to change the mindset from what you’re used to and to do the job as well as possible.
“It’s about whatever’s best for the team and ultimately I just want to be out there playing games, contributing and helping this football club.”
Milner’s attitude is commendable to say the least. If most players were asked to play out of position you can bet they would have something to say about it, quite possibly sulk in some cases.
Liverpool 125th Anniversary kit
Liverpool have released a limited edition away kit to celebrate its 125th anniversary.
Inspired by Liverpool FC’s first ever strip worn 125 years ago in 1892, this special edition away kit incorporates the original light blue and white from the Club’s earliest shirt, updated with a quartered pin stripe repeat.
The special edition jersey is in line with the design theme for LFC’s 2017/18 home and away shirts with the use of key iconic kit details from LFC’s rich history.
In recognition of this date a limited run of only 1892 shirts will be made available worldwide, each embossed with the special 125th anniversary crest, a feature on all kits in the 2017/18 New Balance LFC kit collection.
Dom Solanke
Liverpool’s yet to be confirmed signing Dom Solanke led England’s U20 side out today in which the prolific striker scored the only goal of the World Cup Quarter final to send The Young Lion’s into a tie with Italy in the next round.
VVD
Lots of rumours of Liverpool willing to match Man City and Chelsea financially to secure the signing of Virgil Van Dijk The reds have been linked with the Dutch international for some time now and have previously lost out to clubs with more spending power. If Liverpool can seal this deal it is surely a statement of intent to fans and the rest of the Premier League.
Mo Salah
Not content with smashing their transfer record on Van Dijk, Liverpool are also rumoured to be closing in on Mo Salah from Roma. The Egyptian recored his best season in last years Serie A bagging 21 goals. He will surely add fire power and pace to Liverpool’s already deadly attack.
To watch the video on all the above and to get the thoughts of Paul Machin use the following link
