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Our "shitty" defence

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rurikbird said:
Klopp's first-choice CB pair at Dortmund were the same age, so that makes me think he would go for a CB of a similar age to Matip rather than a 20-21 year-old like Tah or Sule. Another factor is Joe Gomez; Klopp recently mentioned that he followed him even before he came to Liverpool, so he will definitely give him a chance – meaning there is already one young long-term CB project at the club.
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Wasnt Hummels 19/20 years old when he moved to Dortmund?
Yeah, Joe Gomez is obviously a big factor here. Klopp seems to rate him highly and hopefully he can show that potential on the pitch.

Sule is probably ready to go straight into a first team defense though. I'd love to sign Van Dijk but he'll cost a shitload. As I've said earlier, should have signed him from Celtic. But if possible sign him up.
 
Yes, Hummels and Subotic were 20 or 21 when they came and formed a very promising first-choice partnership. However Dortmund finished outside the top 4 for the first 2 seasons of their time there and only won the league when they were both 23.

By the way, can anyone think of a title-winning defense where one or both first-choice CBs were younger than 23? I can't recall any and even if there is one it would be a major, major exception. Generally you need a bit of experience and maturity in your CBs to compete for big trophies.
 
Utd won it in Ferdinands first season I believe, he was 22 at the time. 2002/3 season.
 
Er...John Terry was fairly young when Chelsea won their first title. Maybe 22 or 23?

Kolo at Arsenal? Or was he playing full back?

Vidic or Stam?
 
manwithnoname said:
Er...John Terry was fairly young when Chelsea won their first title. Maybe 22 or 23?

Kolo at Arsenal? Or was he playing full back?

Vidic or Stam?
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Terry was 25 when they won the league in 04/05. Toure was 22/23.

Vidic was 25 when Utd signed him, Stam was 26. Dont know when they won the title mind.
 
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manwithnoname said:
Er...John Terry was fairly young when Chelsea won their first title. Maybe 22 or 23?

Kolo at Arsenal? Or was he playing full back?

Vidic or Stam?
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Terry was born in 1980, so he was 25 when Chelsea won the league in 2005. Kolo is a better shout – he was 22 at the start of Arsenal's "invincible" season, turned 23 by the end. Probably the closest thing to an exception we're going to find.

Just checked about Nesta – I thought maybe his first title at Lazio was when he was very young, but no, he was 23-24.
 
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rurikbird said:
What do you think of Virgil van Dijk, @Ryan?
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Yep, very impressive.

My Celtic-mates raved about him, but then they raved about Bobo Balde and Harald Brattback. He's actually more composed than I first thought. I remember watching him in some CL qualifiers last year, and thought he looked erratic and nervous on the ball, but his recent Southampton performances have looked mighty impressive.

I'd like to see him string a season togethor and see how he performs consistently. Something that does worry me a bit is that under Puel Southampton don't play as high a line, so he's had the opportunity to defend from the back, and see everything in front of him. At Celtic they obviously played a much higher defensive line - against shite opposition - and he always looked like he'd get caught out.

Anyway, be interesting to see him over the course of a year, but very promising.
 
manwithnoname said:
When you say caught out, do you mean 'slow'?
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No.

Always thought he looked like he dawdled a bit in possession, and was uncomfortable with a spread back 4 as he was a bit exposed, but seemed to manage to get out of it.

A bit Sakho-esque if that makes sense. But obviously much better.
 
Liverpool's DEFENCE have created 37 chances this season, more than any teams ATTACK other than Man City, Man Utd & Everton [OPTA] #LFC

15 games. 30 in the league (12) and 10 in the cup (3).
 
Frogfish said:
Liverpool's DEFENCE have created 37 chances this season, more than any teams ATTACK other than Man City, Man Utd & Everton [OPTA] #LFC

15 games. 30 in the league (12) and 10 in the cup (3).
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The second paragraph doesn't match the first, is that not the total number if goals we scored?
 
I can see Matip having a bad game - all you fuckers have now given him the evil eye !!! Stop with the praise.
 
Part of the reason for this statistical improvement is surely that we are in the period when opponents are trying to park the double-decker bus against us. Earlier in the season teams tried to take us head on and got consistently outscored, you can thank Mourinho and his much-praised "defensive masterclass" for starting a new trend. It's good that we showed that we can break through the packed defense today; if we keep doing this, pretty soon teams will start to attack us again.

I'm not saying that Karius and co. haven't improved, they clearly have. But it's kind of funny that Ming was between the sticks in that part of the season when everybody was attacking us and as a result we conceded a lot of goals; since Karius came in he had almost nothing to do except a couple of saves today and 10 minutes when we lost control against Watford.
 
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It was very funny. Didnt even see it as they were showing a replay of the Sunderland chance or something. You could hear a few groans from the stands and next thing you know - corner!

Karius is the goalkeeper in the league who statistically has had the least to do. Shots faced etc.
3 goals conceded from open play now in the last 10 games.
 
rurikbird said:
Part of the reason for this statistical improvement is surely that we are in the period when opponents are trying to park the double-decker bus against us. Earlier in the season teams tried to take us head on and got consistently outscored, you can thank Mourinho and his much-praised "defensive masterclass" for starting a new trend. It's good that we showed that we can break through the packed defense today; if we keep doing this, pretty soon teams will start to attack us again.

I'm not saying that Karius and co. haven't improved, they clearly have. But it's kind of funny that Ming was between the sticks in that part of the season when everybody was attacking us and as a result we conceded a lot of goals; since Karius came in he had almost nothing to do except a couple of saves today and 10 minutes when we lost control against Watford.
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That may be one of the contributing factors but I say the fact we started the season with a back five of Mignolet, Moreno, Klavan, Lovren and Clyne and were also unable, due to injuries,to field a settled back line until very recently, allied to Matip's integration, has been THE major factor.

Of course early season we also started off playing much better teams than over the past few matches too.
 
LFC has allowed the least shots per game in Europe this season. I think this stat is legit, because the most successful sides of this season so far are at the top; surely there is a decent correlation between results and how often your opposition is allowed to shoot on goal.

IMG_0478.jpg
 
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