Gerrard is still suspended, only available after next match.

btw where's is this poulsen and jovanovic it been long time they dint show up.

Suarez, please come..

since bebal going out, i think suarez konfirm come

How about Lukaku, heard City almost close the deal, I hope Liverpool can get this talented youngster signature before other clubs close the deal.

---

Added on January 20, 2011, 12:11 amSeem like Liverpool linking with another talented youngster from Portugal Coentrao, and the most important is he is interested to come to Anfield, but have to wait for the right price Liverpool willing to pay.

This post has been edited by feelfree: Jan 20 2011, 12:11 AM

Liverpool FC : Is Defense The Greater Crisis That Liverpool Needs To Deal With?


Liverpool have been on a downward slide for two years now after the near-league victory two years back.

The fingers were pointed at the lack of creativity in the midfield following the departure of Alonso. In all fairness, Liverpool did have an exceptional season in 2008-09 when they scored 77 goals.

Last season Liverpool scored 61 goals which was blamed for Liverpool's dismal showing in the league. Lets look at the figures from the previous years and the number of goals scored by Liverpool and compare it with the league standing in that year:

2007-08 : 67 Goals (3rd)

2006-07 : 57 Goals (3rd)

2005-06 : 57 Goals (3rd)



So, 61 Goals in a season does not seem to be too bad comparing it with the three seasons prior to 2008-09 when each year the team managed to finish 3rd in the league. This year Liverpool have scored 27 in 22, owing mainly to the loss in form of Torres and the defensive tactics used by Roy for a major part of the season.

So, where did it all go wrong. Lets compare the corresponding figures for goals conceded and clean sheets. (GC = Goals Conceded , CS = Clean Sheets)

2009-10 : 35 GC - 17 CS

2008-09 : 27 GC - 20 CS

2007-08 : 28 GC - 18 CS

2006-07 : 27 GC - 20 CS

2005-06 : 25 GC - 22 CS



One can clearly see the difference in the goals conceded in the last season, which was somewhat greater than the previous seasons. This year, the defense seems to be in absolute turmoil with the team already conceding 31 goals in 22 games, which is more than the season totals in the previous five season barring the last one. Pepe also has managed only 6 clean sheets to date in 22 games and seems to be headed nowhere near the 15+ clean sheets he has always been able to manage since moving to Anfield.

Agreed, that goal-scoring has been a problem this year, but the bigger concern, going by the statistics seems to be the defense.

So, what changed in the last two years in the defense? Sami Hyypia was released from his contract, and Liverpool lost a great deal of experience as a result. Agreed that younger players were required in defense, but Liverpool could have done more to have that bit of extra experience in the dressing room, especially in the unforeseeable absence of Carragher due to injury this season.

Furthermore, Glen Johnson was bought from Portsmouth for a mammoth 17 million. He may be a England international, but he always has been better going forward than as a defender. His shortcomings in the defensive department has been exposed more than once in the last two years.

Daniel Agger, who is still highly rated as a center-back, has spent more time dealing with injuries than the opposition forwards and hence has not been able to make the impact that the team expected him to make.

Jamie Carragher, in spite of his age has been a leader in the defensive unit and was crucial in marshaling the defense. His injury this season has left the Martin Skrtel as the leader of the defense at center-back. Skrtel seems to be too ill-equipped as a defender against top forwards and the number of glaring mistakes he has made this season are unpardonable.

Kyrgiakos, to be fair to him was only a backup center-back and was called upon this season only due to the injuries to Agger and Carragher. He is good in the air but lacks the technique against top quality attacking units.

Liverpool had somehow managed with Aurelio and Insua at LB over the last two years following the departure of Riise but this year with Konchesky coming in and Aurelio still battling his injuries, the problem has been exploited by most teams.

Martin Kelly seems to be the only bright spot in an otherwise dismal picture for the Liverpool defensive unit. The form he has shown in the matches that he has played, has endeared this young lad to the Liverpool faithfuls already.

The glaring difference this year seems to be the departure of Javier Mascherano. He was the wall that often stood between the opposition midfield and the Liverpool defense. He was never shy of making those hard tackles and taking cautions from the referee for the team. Lucas, has tried to fill those boots for the team this season and has managed to put up some decent performances, but has been far too inconsistent to provide the kind of impact that Mascherano was able to make.


Liverpool have bought a young CB in Wilson from the Rangers but seems to be some years away from being a starter at Anfield.

So, Liverpool seems so in need of urgent enforcements in the defense if they want to get back on track . They need at-least two players, namely a LB and a CB to reinforce the squad. There have also been talks to bring in Van Bommel to fill up the void in the Defensive Midfielder department.

All the transfer talk or gossip has been focussed far too much on the attacking reinforcements. Hope that the owners and Kenny don't neglect the crisis in the defensive department as well, which seems to be a bigger problem and in more urgent need of new signings.

The position that the new owners and King Kenny find themselves in is not an enviable one. But all the Liverpool fans hope that they are well-equipped to help the great club to weather the storm and make the right decisions for the club.

SOURCE

This post has been edited by digilife: Jan 20 2011, 02:46 AM

i dunno where i read it from but once u got urself a reliable defence, then only ur attacking players will be able to attack without worrying much on helping the team to defence.

take a look at the way steve bruce's sunderland + mark hughes's blackburn back then. both will priortise on strengthening their defense, and then move on to the midfield and strikers.

for u guys, get rid of the dead wood, slowly build a team post carra and gerard. both of 'em ain't young anymore.

just my 0.02

arbeloa and aurelio, risse..was once a good liverpool team but now everything changed because epl becomes more and more competitive.

we need cruel players ie vidic , evra...ivanovic, those players tackle ppl without showing up they are innocent fouling. those who tackle dam hard and the other team sked of him.

skrytel has been ***** for me, agger too handsome...i think we need cruel players...seriously cruel.

Like de jong?

++1

seems like suarez is getting closer to sign for Liverpool.

the question is whether he can adapt to EPL style.

just watch youtube how he made a goal under Ajax but obviously it's a different class of football.

EPL is more physical compare to Bundesliga defenses.

Hopefully anything will be good for us if we can get him to Liverpool squad.

Cant wait to see Torres and Suarez partnership.

YNWA

roy keane?

Liverpool need a commanding defender and a true defensive midfielder.

what we need is to defend as a unit. to harass the opponent and to get the ball back ASAP once we lose possesion. i love the way we defend as a unit under rafa. we rarely concede (not his last season anyway)

i thought skrtel is supposed to be our Teenage Mutant Ninja Skrtel? he just need to get his confidence and form back. furthermore, i remember he once dribbled to the edge of opponent's penalty box. i think he can play the ball. with proper instructions and guidance, together with agger, we can have 2 CBs who are comfortable with the ball

This post has been edited by Petre: Jan 20 2011, 09:16 AM

see wat happened to Chelsea's Defence once Carvalho was sold?

we need a big size, dark skinned defensive player like Bramble

any suggestion?

liverpool is going for suarez and not Honda?

good luck then.just hoping his ego didn't went overboard and makes everyone(especially Torres) to have bad blood on him.

Affelay is still the best performer in eredivisie compared to him.sadly he joined the dark side of football

---

Added on January 20, 2011, 9:39 amoh and he joined them on the cheap too.

This post has been edited by ayanami_tard: Jan 20 2011, 09:39 AM

Bramble? Really?

Well, there are reports that Konchesky is leaving on loan back to Fulham and also many tweets and reports on Susrez's deal being nearly done.

I do not like the player but this will indeed show all the right signs of intent that Liverpool is back and means business. As for Konchesky leaving... our defence is short handed enough as it is, imho he is decent as a backup.

Joe Cole was given 45 minutes in a reserve game yesterday! Maybe the rest of the underperforming players should also suffer the same indignity!

Edit: typo - stupid auto corrected phone

This post has been edited by madmoz: Jan 20 2011, 10:01 AM

Aye and the ressies beat your team as well, Man City

---

Added on January 20, 2011, 10:20 amReading several threads here, I see one commonality. Posters are always talking about which positions to bolster. Seriously, new players come secondary to me. To what you say? To developing a system of play. The latter is long term of course but every new manager should work hard on getting whatever players he has at his disposal to play his way. The reason Liverpool were so successful in the past over 4 managers i.e. Shankly, Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish, is because we played good football and regardless of which players came or left, our style never changed. It is also the reason Man Utd are doing so well despite fielding average players in various positions over the years. What I would like to focus on is what Dalglish is trying to do to address this issue. Its been said to death that we used to pass and move, and with Dalglish focusing on 5-a-sides, I'm hoping it will only be a matter of time when we see the team attacking in pockets of 3-5 players. We've already seen signs of this. When we have an established style, you don't need too many expensive big signings because each player makes the other stronger and better.

This post has been edited by Duke Red: Jan 20 2011, 10:20 AM

our team was used to be a FEARED team under those Managers

hope those Aura will be back if KD is still the manager by next season

Feared team means we are already one Nil up b4 the match even begin