LFC Toppled By Burnley
The important thing about a game like this one is getting your reaction right. It's very important not to overreact and claim something stupid like Liverpool have gone backwards under Klopp (clearly untrue) but at the same time, it's important not to under-react, and to treat this game as an isolated incident, as simply one of those days. The truth, of course, is somewhere in the middle.
The problems at LFC are as clear as the strengths in the squad. I mentioned most of them last week, but you know, they're prevalent again. The biggest problem stemmed from the early Burnley goal. Klavan played a bad pass across the back four which put Clyne under pressure. Clyne underhit his pass to Lallana, who wasn't close enough to him to begin with. Gray nipped in, and found Vokes, who was clear of Lovren, and fired past Mignolet. It was a great hit, but Mignolet should have saved it, he was perfectly positioned at his near post. And if the first goal was bad, the second was somehow worse, as Henderson, Klavan and Lovren all tried and failed miserably to tackle Gray, who fired past a completely hapless Mignolet.
I want to start with in my opinion the most glaring issue. Liverpool had conceded five shots on target this season when Mignolet let the second goal in. Five. We literally might as well have not bothered having a goalkeeper, with that goal to shot ratio. Now the naive response would be: "maybe they were all unsaveable". They weren't. They really weren't. The simple, painful truth is this. Goalkeepers exist for the sole purpose of saving goals. A goalkeeper is supposed to bail his team out of trouble. Defenders make mistakes, and they need a competent goalkeeper behind them to prevent these mistakes from turning into catastrophes. Twice, Liverpool's defence made critical errors yesterday afternoon, and twice the hapless wonder that is Simon Mignolet did absolutely nothing to help his side. The signing of Loris Karius was supposed to stop this happening, but his injury is being keenly felt.
The other men whose injury is being keenly felt is Mamadou Sakho. It's not just about what he brings to the table individually, although he is a top defender, but he also brings a solidity to our back four that always looks decidedly missing when he's not there. Lovren has proven time and again that he's only capable of defending with Sakho next to him, and although once again I didn't think Klavan did a terrible job today, he's clearly a stop gap defender. Liverpool will be desperate for Sakho's return. As for Joel Matip, Klopp hinted we might see him yesterday, so hopefully he'll get game time in midweek and be back in the starting lineup for the Spurs game.
But the biggest flaw isn't in the defence itself. It's what I've been saying for weeks, the lack of a defensive midfielder. It's baffling that I'm here again, pointing out obvious facts like the fact that a central midfield containing two number tens and an attacking box to box midfielder cannot properly protect a back four. If Henderson looked horribly out of his depth, and he did, it's because the anonymous Wijnaldum and attacking Lallana offered him no protection at all, and he was forced to try and stop Burnley from exposing the defence single-handedly, a job that frankly he's terrible at. He should be playing where Lallana and Wijnaldum are, because at least there he'd offer more cover than they offered him today.
Klopp has brought in an excellent attacking option in Mane, and he has also bought a goalkeeper and two central defenders to bolster our defence, and all three look like good signings, certainly the fact that Mignolet is still terrible, our defence still looks fragile without Sakho and Matip and Klavan has probably been our best defender so far (not that that's saying much if anything at all) reinforces that. But Klopp still needs a left back, as James Milner played well but clearly isn't a natural left back, and, most importantly of all, he needs a defensive midfielder. Without Emre Can fully fit, Liverpool look an absolute wreck.
I said a month ago that Wijnaldum wasn't the answer. Yesterday he flitted between playing beside Henderson and ahead of him, but offered nothing of substance in either role. This was a game crying out for some control in the defensive midfield area, but Liverpool still only have arguably one player in the squad capable of bringing that in Emre Can.
The truth is that a Liverpool back five with Karius, Matip and Sakho in it, protected by Can, will defend significantly better than this. But it's also the truth that defensive organisation is all over the place, and this problem is more deep rooted than one or two players consistently performing badly. Liverpool need a left back, need a defensive midfielder, but above all else, they need Klopp to focus long and hard on balancing his team. Because at the moment, we look horribly unbalanced.
And in terms of attacking threat? Against Burnley we were lacking an incision. Wijnaldum and Firmino were anonymous, Lallana tried and failed, Coutinho was easily the brightest spark, but without Mane in the team, Liverpool are still horribly dependent on the little magician, who was resorting to long shots, always a bad sign unless one of them ends up in the top corner. They need one or two more of their class players to step up. I don't want to linger too long on this point because this game was lost in defence, not in attack. It's incredibly hard to break down a team sitting deep with nine men behind the ball, especially when you gift them a 2-0 lead, but there was a palpable sense of panic and a lack of leadership. The current midfield three isn't working, Klopp needs to drop Wijnaldum, free up Henderson and if Can isn't fit to start yet, then get someone in who is, even if that means Kevin Stewart.
I was extremely disappointed with the Burnley game make no mistake, but above all, I'm just frustrated that after a summer of trying to shore up our defence, we're still shipping goals because of both obvious problems and a deep seated rot in our defensive core. And right now, it's hard to see how we move forward, unless Klopp is willing to splash a lot of cash on a DM. Preferably before the Spurs game.
Chelsea, City, Spurs and United all won this weekend. If we don't pull ourselves together then we're going to lose ground. And fast. Spurs next up, let's hope we're ready for them.
Olympic Watch
- Mo Farah is the greatest British athlete all time. He didn't need to win his fourth Olympic gold in the 5000m last night and complete the double double to prove that. But he did anyway. Another perfect, sumptuous run from Mo.
- Medals in the relay too, the women's 4x400m and 4x100m, both bronze.
- And there was a second gold too for Nicola Adams, with an outstanding fight to defend her title.
- And the other gold of the day went to Liam Heath in the canoe sprint, whilst Vicky Holland took bronze in the triathlon and Bianca Walkden got bronze in taekwondo.
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