I WAS going to write a piece about how great it is to be joint top of the Premier League table after nine games. How positive I feel about the men we are currently watching grace the football pitch, trying to stop the opposition from taking our points.
But then the Achilles’ heel struck again. The inevitable set-piece goal was conceded and it sent many of us into a frenzy about why we just can’t seem to stop that bloody ball from causing such panic amongst our defenders – and then eventually ending up in the back of our net.
‘Keepers have been blamed for not coming for the ball. Defenders for not doing their job properly. Jürgen Klopp for not sorting it out in training. And then, on Match of the Day on Saturday, Mark Schwarzer went all ‘zonal marking’ and ‘Liverpool don’t have anyone on the post’ crazy on us. We’ve been here before, haven’t we?
As I made my way to do The Pink after the game, I listened to 606 where it was suggested that Liverpool cannot win the league because their defence is not good enough. If you concede goals like that, there is no way you can win the league.
While our goals conceded is above the average for this stage of the season, for three of the last six seasons the title winning team had conceded more after nine games. We also have the same or more points than the eventual winners in 15 seasons since the Premier League’s inception.
Not to mention the games we’ve played so far. Three tough fixtures away at Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea. Last season’s champions Leicester and Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United have both visited Anfield. Three potential banana skins in Burnley away, Swansea away and West Brom at home and one everyone expects to win in Hull at home. If you think I’m being a little generous then just go and have a look at our recent records in those games.
With the scrutiny placed on our defence, it’s remarkable that we still sit third in the table, level on points with both Manchester City and Arsenal – and only narrowly behind on goal difference. Yet Everton, with the second best defensive record in the league, are sixth without a win in four.
It seems some journalists, presenters and pundits apply this level of scrutiny and make these kind of statements just because it falls into the story they want to peddle. Time and again our defence is not good enough. There always has to be a flaw to point out or a criticism to be made – though, it’s worth remembering that no side is perfect.
Back to the set-piece conundrum. Recently on Monday Night Football, Klopp highlighted that we use a mix of both man-to-man and zonal marking. This seems like the best way to go about it. It might be difficult for some to grasp but, believe it or not, a post is a zone.
Also, compared to the majority of other teams in the Premier League, we are practically a team of short-arses. If you’ve only got a select amount of players who can compete with the opposition, in terms of size, then surely we’re at a massive disadvantage? How do we even combat this? We can’t stretch our players out as Jürgen joked about on Sky.
Our shortest players – the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Adam Lallana, Sadio Mane, Gini Wijnaldum, James Milner and Nathaniel Clyne – are all integral to the way we play. Without them, we lose the nucleus of what makes us so good. The flair that has us drooling. The heartbeat of a side that has developed an identity under Klopp.
The best teams know their strengths and play to them. We know what we are good at and what we are not, and so do other teams. They can tweak their side to win the aerial battles because they know that is their best chance. The truth is, they are having to change their side to give themselves ANY chance.
So, the next time we are defending a set-piece I will be nervous, I know it is fraught with danger. But cry-arsing about it isn’t going to help those lads in red. Do what you are bloody good at, and keep doing just that! We are joint top for goodness sake!
Up the short-arse Reds!
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And the counter argument to “Liverpool can’t defend set pieces” is – that’s about the only way teams can score against us these days…
And I’m sure the chances of scoring from a set piece are statistically quite low for the number of attempts teams tend to have from them during a game…
Since the new keeper stepped in, he has not been required to make any real saves at all. This tells a lot about how JK team set up to minimize (or shut off) the supply line for the potential scoring opportunities for the opponents.
We will be fine as long as we keep that same defensive pattern to cut out the supply line. (Maybe ManU didn’t come to even try to score last Monday. But in recent history how often have we had a match against ManU without them having any real chance or shot??)
Glad you guys are addressing this. I tuned into the phone ins on the way back from the game, and from the way things were being reported, you’d have thought we lost! The first line on the news was “West Brom scored a late goal at Anfield to deny Liverpool a chance to go top” – if I was a West Brom fan just tuning in, I would have thought they’d got an equaliser or winner!
I’m generally pretty positive about things but you can’t win the league if every team in the league thinks they might score against you every time they get a corner. You just can’t. On Saturday that manifested itself in as losing first place on goal difference. On another day, 2-0 becomes 2-1 becomes an almighty goalmouth scramble or a dodgy pen or Lampard-pinball and it is 2 points lost. Two goals down a team will always have hope against us. We won’t just get park-the-bus but park-the-bus-plus. “We are going to play 8-1-1 but we still have a chance because 3 or 4 times a game we are going to drive our bus up for a corner.” It doesn’t matter if it is the only way they have to score – if they can actually score that way.
Lack of height is obviously an issue but does that stop us from having somewhere vaguely near where the ball was in the weekend. I am also not sure that Clyne is integral to the way we play, incidentally though I know that is not a popular view here.
I am made up about our start and think this could be a great season but let’s not get all Pollyanna about the set piece situation.
Spurs are widely regarded to have the most solid defence, and having conceded only 4 league goals compared to our 11, that would make sense. What’s not being said is that all 4 of Spurs’ conceded goals have come from set pieces – same as us. Chelsea and Arsenal have conceded 9 each with 3 each from set pieces.
Makes me think we’re doing fine and this whole issue is being overplayed. Especially if you take the 5 in 2 games from the first 2 of the season as we settled into it.
Add in the fact we are lashing them in at the other end, which takes 5 or 6 lads to commit forward, the odd goal conceded is an acceptable cost I reckon.
Does it matter where goals come from? As others are pointing out if teams are only scoring through set pieces then so what?
9 games is a bit of a small data set but if you take out the first 2 games as anomolies we have let in 6 goals in 7 games. This averages out at 31 goals over 36 games. Add the 5 we let in against Arse and Burnley and you end up with 36 goals against, which is quite reasonable for title contenders.
Stats eh.
The two men on the posts would have more distance to cover for the counter, which is what a set piece is likely to result in…a counter attack.
Then again what the fuck do I know?? Other than we are joint top and our manager is the man.
Long Live the Scouse Republic.
It’s all a load of bollocks. They’re trying to pick holes in our performances. Look at the stats – two games in and we’d conceded 5. Since then (when Matip started playing…..), we’ve conceded 6 goals in 7 games. We’ve scored 20 in 9. If we concede on average a goal a game, but carry on scoring on average 2 goals a game, then I think that just about tells me we’re going to win a damn sight more than we’ll lose.
Fuck em all. We’re gonna win the league.