IT was supposed to be the season when the balance of power shifted towards Merseyside at long last.
The year when Liverpool, back in the Champions League and heading in the right direction again, proved they are serious contenders for the biggest prizes in the game. A campaign when Everton, flush with cash and new signings, lived up to the expectations from all those who rated them as genuine top-four dark horses. Instead, less than two months in, both managers face accusations of a dereliction of duty as a season of dreams fast turns into a nightmare.
In the red corner is Jurgen Klopp, whose Liverpool side have long been dynamic at one end and disastrous at the other. What’s changed in that respect? Absolutely nothing. In the blue corner stands Ronald Koeman, the manager who — despite a £145million spend — failed to bring in the proven striker he knew all summer he’d need, with Romelu Lukaku heading out. More of Koeman and his team in a second, but first let’s take a look at Klopp — and it isn’t pretty viewing.
I know Liverpool can be as entertaining as it gets when they are flooding forward, with their breakneck attacks and wonderful finishes from Philippe Coutinho, Sadio Mane and the rest. But defensively they continue to make such laughable mistakes, it’s as though no one ever thinks, ‘Hang on a minute, what happens if this breaks down and they come at us?’ Klopp says he could write a book on defending in two hours, and maybe he could. But doing it in theory is a world away from doing it in practice — and Liverpool certainly aren’t. I’m no defensive coach but even I can see the mistakes. At Newcastle on Sunday the centre-halves were so far apart, with only one man to mark, and Jonjo Shelvey had acres of space. That’s what they have to be working on in training. Things like one centre-back taking the man and the other dropping to the side or in behind. It’s simple, defensive logic. Liverpool have also had huge problems at left-back but in Andy Robertson they have a man who can do the job, yet he has hardly played.
What is that supposed to tell us? Was he not Klopp’s buy? It’s bizarre that he’s not getting a look in when they are dropping clangers at the back in every game they play.
It is happening so often that, of course, people are losing patience and Klopp is showing another side to his character as well.
There’s a passive-aggressive side to him — something my media mates are increasingly seeing too — whenever anyone questions Liverpool’s performances.
Almost a case of ‘How dare you suggest that, you’ve never played the game, what do you know’?. Well, you don’t need to go to India to know a good curry — and you don’t need to be an FA coach to know Liverpool’s defence has been embarrassing at times. Just like Koeman’s failure to replace his main striker Lukaku has left him red-faced too.
For me, that just shows a lack of vigilance on his part.
Youngsters like Dominic Calvert-Lewin, 20, Tom Davies, 19, and Ademola Lookman, 19, are good kids, but you can’t take 25 goals out of a side and expect to compete.
At the moment Everton seem to lack energy, there is no verve and they look a bit of a shambles. And neither Klopp nor especially Koeman can sit back and think they are totally safe either.
What happened to Frank de Boer at Crystal Palace has changed the landscape.
De Boer went after four Premier League games and, when you’ve spent the money the two Merseyside managers have, it only ramps up the pressure even more. Of course there is still plenty of time for it to change — we’re only in the first week of October for heaven’s sake, so it’s not as though the season is beyond redemption.
But unless they start turning it round pretty sharpish after the international break, there’s only so far that patience will stretch.
From The Sun
No comments:
Post a Comment