The search for perfection is never-ending. With the game being so global and accessible these days, it allows for more discussion and debate than ever before.
25 different camera angles of one game mean that we don’t miss a beat and we’re able to be congratulatory or critical depending on the match.
That being said, I’ve seen a lot of chatter online about Liverpool’s defensive capabilities, so I thought I’d weigh in on the debate and get a few things off my chest.
A Transfer Window to Remember
We’re currently in the middle of maybe the most exciting transfer window I’ve ever been alive to witness at Liverpool Football Club. When we’ve wanted a player, we’ve gone all in, and unlike in the previous season, our targets' heads weren’t turned by other suitors.
German wonderkids, French menaces, Hungarian powerhouses, and a flying (down the wing) Dutchman. They’ve all said ‘Liverpool only’.
We’ve reshuffled the pack this year. Slot took his first year to understand his team and see what he could make work with what he had. Turns out he could make a lot work and handed us our 20th league title.
What we are seeing now is Slot is getting the players with the attributes he needs, and so far, it’s going pretty well.
With the carnage that has been our transfer window, it’s easy to forget we have strengthened our squad in 3 of the 5 defensive positions.
We picked up Giorgi Mamardashvili as an under study to one of the best shot-stoppers in the world, Alisson.
We replaced Trent Alexander-Arnold with someone who actually wants to be at the club in Jeremie Frimpong, and gave Andy Robertson something to think about by signing direct competition in Milos Kerkez.
A practical overhaul of our back line. Klopp replaced our entire midfield in one window a couple of years back, and we’ve flipped and tinkered with almost our entire back line in Slot’s vision.
A Defensive Evolution
Kerkez is similar to Robbo. Giorgi is a shot stopper like Ali. The only one that isn’t as like-for-like is Frimpong filling Trent’s boots, but that might not be a bad thing.
Preseason is a great way to get gas back in the tank of the lads and get them used to steady football minutes after a long break.
I tend to read too much into it as it’s almost entirely for fitness work. However, Sunday was the first time we had to see our new superstars, and it was quite an interesting watch.
Focusing on the defensive side of things, there were positives. Let's start at the very back. I trust Ali as much as ever. I have total, unwavering support for that handsome Brazilian, and that will never change. Clean, cut, moving on.
A lot of eyes were on the fullbacks and rightly so, s it was their first big test. It’s Wembley, it’s for a trophy, and Palace have pace in wide areas from Munoz and Eze.
Let's not pretend that Liverpool were this bulletproof, watertight defensive unit before these new changes. We conceded first in almost every game and never looked like we couldn’t be penetrated.
I don’t think that will change this season, but we don’t buy defenders just to defend. We have bought Kerkez to get up and down the wing, likewise for Frimpong.
It’s the reason we have that one midfielder who sits a little deeper than most to mop up the right side, whilst Virg creeps a little over to cover the left.
Midfield Assistance
We saw it on Sunday, Curtis Jones at times was practically a centre half in transition. Now I fully expect that role to go back to Gravenberch but the point is, we’re never a flat back four.
We sign fullbacks on their attacking merit as much as their defensive contributions, so their success has to be judged on that too.
Frimpong - 20:20. A special moment for football, let alone amongst Liverpool fans. A goal created through Frimpong's main attribute, pace.
Last year, Trent wouldn’t need to get to the byline every attack due to his sensational vision and his ability to drop the ball on a sixpence from the next postcode over. He never needed to run that extra 30-40 yards and then back again.
Frimpong doesn’t have that passing range, so we’ll be expecting him to go byline to byline for 90 minutes. If, in a fast-paced game, he can do that for 70 minutes, I’ll mark him down as a success because that is a mammoth undertaking.
But, the topic on everyone's lips is centre half, even before Sunday’s result. We don’t have consistent cover there, and in reality, we haven’t even got a consistent pairing.
Konate misses 15 matches a season through injury, and Joe Gomez has an injury list longer than some of my lists to Santa as a kid. We need cover, which sounds unbelievably ungrateful, given the window we’re currently having.
I’ve seen youngster Lucas Stephenson start there during pre-season and Endo step in when we have no other options but cast your mind back a few years when we had the season that almost derailed our top 4 hopes, that was down to injuries at the back.
If, heaven forbid, Virg ends up out long-term and Ibou doesn’t have the legs for a full season, we could see this exciting campaign end before it’s even begun.
Regardless, a good friend once said to me, ‘enjoy the football that’s in front of you’, and right now it is rather enjoyable indeed.