The Kopite View

Liverpool’s disappointing 2-1 defeat at home to Crystal Palace at the weekend was a major blow to their hopes of finishing the season in the Premier League’s top four.

Former Reds striker Christian Benteke scored both goals that earned the visitors the three points after Philippe Coutinho’s spectacular free-kick had opened the scoring for Jurgen Klopp’s men.

Liverpool still have four fixtures left to play but the defeat gave encouragement to top four rivals Manchester United and Arsenal, both can now overtake the Reds if they win their games in hand.

With injuries piling up and confidence taking a knock after last weekend’s defeat, it is paramount that Liverpool finish the season in the top four to mark a significant improvement under Klopp, and put Liverpool back in the Champions League where they need to be.

Champions League qualification would help Liverpool attract players to come to Anfield, and also give the club more money to invest in players.

If Liverpool miss out on the top four, then they will have to negotiate playing in the Europa League, and that competition is really a millstone round a team’s neck with Thursday and Sunday fixtures and the amount of extra games providing a serious problem for mounting a challenge in the Premier League.

Liverpool’s disappointing league position last season was partly down to their adventures in the Europa League.

Losing the Europa League final to Seville that would’ve meant qualification into this season’s Champions League was a major disappointment, and Liverpool can’t afford to let this season’s tremendous opportunity slip away again.

Liverpool’s mounting injury list a real concern, and many people expected Klopp to add a few players in the January transfer window to strengthen the squad for the final few months of the season, and now with players like Sturridge, Lallana, Mane and Henderson all injured, the squad is really stretched.

Hopefully the lack of transfer activity in January’s transfer window doesn’t prove costly and Liverpool can somehow stumble over the finish line in the race for a top four spot.

Liverpool have six games left to play this season and they are all very important if they are to achieve their goal of finishing in the top four.

It is vital for the Reds to get back into Europe’s elite competition and with six games to play, they are all basically all cup finals with little room for error with Manchester United only six points behind them, with two games in hand.

Arsenal are nine points behind with two games in hand and also remain a threat. The advantage for Liverpool is that although they have played more games than the rest, they have the points in the bag with their rivals playing catch up, they also still have to play Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United before the end of the season.

United have a tough fixture at home to Chelsea this Sunday before facing local rivals Manchester City, Tottenham and Arsenal before the end of the season.

Liverpool have arguably the easier fixtures remaining until the end of the season with no games against any of the Premier League’s top six sides left to play, but they still have to play a few teams that have caused the Reds problems in recent times.

Jurgen Klopp’s men are away to West Brom this weekend and they haven’t won at the Hawthorns since the 2011-12 season and Sunday will be a very difficult test for Liverpool against a physical team that will pressure their defence at every opportunity with high balls into the box.

Crystal Palace at home are next, and they are another team that has caused problems in recent years, and their form has improved since Sam Allardyce took over as manager and they will provide another tough test for the Reds.

Watford away follows the Palace game and fresh in the memory is Liverpool’s 3-0 defeat from last season and Klopp’s men will know they are in for a tough game at Vicarage Road.

Liverpool’s second last game of the season is away to West Ham, the Hammers did the league double over the Anfield side last season, and although they have not had as good a season as last, they will hope to continue their recent good record against the Reds.

Middlesbrough should know their fate by the time they come to Anfield on the last game of the season, and hopefully Liverpool will know they are guaranteed a top four spot before this game.

It is going to be a very nervy end to the season for Liverpool and their supporters with so many fixtures to play against teams that have caused them problems, but fingers crossed they achieve their goal and are back playing in the Champions League next season.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has a few injury concerns ahead of his team’s fixture against Burnley at Anfield tomorrow, Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge have both been ruled out, while Dejan Lovren has just recovered from a knee injury and is not guaranteed to start.

But possibly Klopp’s biggest injury concern is the news that Roberto Firmino is struggling to be fit.

With limited options in attack, it looks like Klopp will give Divock Origi an opportunity to prove his worth if Firmino is ruled out.

Origi has been inconsistent this season despite featuring in 32 games this season, the Belgian has scored 8 times and is Liverpool’s third highest goalscorer this season.

But Origi hasn’t shown enough this season and most of his appearances have been cameo roles as a substitute.

Origi showed what he is capable of in last weekend’s 3-1 win over Arsenal when he made an impact coming off the bench in the latter stages.

The Belgian international was unlucky not to score with a headed effort that came off the post before producing a tremendous pass that resulted in Wijnaldum scoring Liverpool’s third and game-winning goal.

Origi will be desperate to start after spending so much time on the bench this season, and this could be the opportunity he needs to prove to Klopp that he should be playing up front instead of Firmino who is being used as a makeshift striker.

There is much speculation regarding the future of Liverpool midfielder Emre Can, the German international has just over a year left on his contract and although the club have offered him a new deal, Can’s agent is believed to be asking for double his current salary of £35,000 per week.

Agents are making it more and more difficult for clubs, and can use the offer of new contracts to bargain with other clubs for a potential move that could happen in Can’s case.

It is difficult to justify such a pay rise that Can’s agent is hoping for considering the player has struggled to feature in Liverpool’s midfield this season, but there is no doubting he has tremendous ability and with his versatility and only being 23-years-of-age, he has time to still improve his game.

Many supporters think that it’s time to move Can on because he has not kicked on from last season or showed the form of last term.

I hope Liverpool sort out a deal for the German because I think he has a lot to offer, and it wasn’t so long ago that he was one of our most important players, but injuries at the start of this season, and losing his place to Gini Wijnaldum have not helped his progress.

Last Saturday’s win over Arsenal was a reminder of what Can gives to the team, his physicality and work rate were influential in Liverpool’s midfield, and his will to get stuck in and make a few tackles is something Liverpool need in their midfield.

Although Can has had a difficult season, I would like to see him stay at Anfield, and I hope the club can agree on a new contract even if they have to double his wages, because £70,000 per week is not astronomical considering the new contracts that Adam Lallana and Philippe Coutinho have recently signed.

Liverpool’s Lucas Leiva has had more than his fair share of critics over the years, but the more criticism he gets, the more he seems to enjoy silencing his critics.

His early years at Anfield were tough for Lucas, with many Liverpool supporters deciding that he was not good enough to wear the red shirt, but over the years he won over many of his critics before suffering a serious injury in December 2011 in the 2-0 win over Chelsea in the League Cup quarter-final.

The Brazilian suffered an injury to his anterior cruciate ligament after colliding with Juan Mata resulting in Lucas missing the rest of the season and the League Cup win over Cardiff City later that season.

It has been noticeable that Lucas has lost a yard of pace since recovering from his serious injury, but his professionalism and commitment to Liverpool is unequalled amongst the squad.

In recent seasons Lucas has struggled to feature regularly in Liverpool’s first team and on numerous occasions has looked to be on his way out of the Anfield door.

But Lucas is still at Anfield and once again he showed his importance to Liverpool by producing another impressive performance in an unorthodox defensive position alongside Joel Matip in the centre of Liverpool’s defence due to concerns over Lovren and Klavan.

Jurgen Klopp has selected Lucas to play in defence on numerous occasions despite his natural position being in midfield, but his superb reading of the game makes him an ideal option to play in defence.

Despite Lucas not being the tallest or the quickest he has played well when called upon to help out Liverpool’s defence.

Saturday’s 2-0 win over Tottenham was a tough test, not just for Lucas but for the whole team after recording a poor run of results since the turn of the year.

Liverpool badly needed a positive result quickly to end their poor run, and to end it against one of the Premier League’s best teams was impressive, and their performance deservedly earned them a much needed win.

Lucas was outstanding in the heart of Liverpool’s defence and many supporters feared the worst when he was selected to play in defence against one of the league’s best attacking teams.

Lucas was criticised in Liverpool’s 2-0 defeat at Hull City the previous week, but once again he silenced his critics in typical fashion against Spurs.

When will we ever learn, never write off Lucas.

Liverpool’s disastrous start to 2017 has left their supporters disappointed beyond belief and scratching their heads as to what has caused their team’s drastic downturn in fortunes in such a short period of time.

After beating Manchester City on the last day of 2016 Liverpool looked like serious title contenders, but since that win they are still looking for their next win in the league, and have since exited the Capital One Cup and the FA Cup and have dropped down to 5th position in the Premier League after Saturday’s 2-0 defeat away at Hull City.

I’ll try to put my take on some of the reasons I think have contributed to Liverpool’s recent poor form:

Injuries – Injuries to key players hasn’t helped Klopp’s team, injuries to Coutinho, Lallana and Matip have resulted in Klopp having to change his team more often than he wanted, and even on Saturday Lovren and Klavan were both unavailable to play in defence resulting in Lucas deputising in defence once again, a team selection that Klopp has had to make far too often this season.

Loss of form – Too many players have lost their form from the earlier part of the season, Can has been woeful, Coutinho and Lallana have struggled since returning from injury and Firmino has hardly kicked a ball since his run-in with the police on Christmas Eve.

Goalkeeper- Klopp dropped Mignolet for Karius earlier in the season but had to rei-instate the Belgian because the German stopper was so poor, but Mignolet is not the answer as we saw on Saturday when he gifted Hull their opening goal, and Klopp must sign a top class keeper.

Busy January- Liverpool had a lot of games to play in January and Klopp tried to keep his players as fresh as he could by playing a number of youngsters but it didn’t help their results and the players still looked tired and jaded and struggled to play the high-tempo football from earlier in the season.

Teams Learning How To Play Against Liverpool- We’ve seen many teams play a similar way against Liverpool recently, they sit deep defensively and make it difficult for us to break them down and hit us on the break when we lose possession, and many teams recently have enjoyed success by deploying these tactics against us since the turn of the year.

African Nations- Mane was a big miss throughout January because he is the one player in Liverpool’s squad with pace and Matip was also affected with the African competition despite his decision to retire from international football.

Lack Of Transfer Activity- Many supporters was surprised with the lack of transfer business in January, but Klopp doesn’t seem to like buying players in January and I fully believe he is trying to give the current squad of players a full season and a chance to prove themselves before making changes in the summer.

Despite all these reasons and excuses for Liverpool’s poor form I expect Klopp to turn things around sooner rather later, and he is still the right man for the job.

Liverpool only have league games to play for the rest of this season and that should help them pick up their form with Klopp having more time to work with his players on the training ground.

There is no doubt that results and form have been really disappointing recently but Liverpool still have a great chance to finish in the top four and a win against Tottenham on Saturday would be the perfect tonic to end this poor run of form.

Former Manchester United defender turned football pundit Rio Ferdinand has claimed that Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has made a big mistake in allowing their “best defender” to join Crystal Palace.

Sakho has been an outcast at Anfield this season after failing a drug’s test last season before having a much publicised fall-out with Klopp during Liverpool’s pre-season tour of America.

The French international defender finally got a loan move away from Anfield on transfer deadline day by moving to Crystal Palace.

Speaking on BT Sport, Ferdinand thought that Klopp has made a mistake by allowing Sakho to leave by claiming:

“I think he’s Liverpool’s best defender when he’s fit and available.

“Last season he was very good and I think they’ve missed him this season. Like Stevie (ex-Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard) said, he was their leader at the back, athletic.

“He’ll be a great addition to Crystal Palace because he will add a bit of pace and aggressiveness to the back four.”

Has Ferdinand forgot about his old boss Sir Alex Ferguson and one of his decisions?

Back in 2001 the United manager let his imposing centre-half Jaap Stam leave Old Trafford after the release the defender’s controversial autobiography.

Stam made some unflattering comments about some of his United team-mates and claimed that Ferguson made an illegal approach for him at PSV.

Stam was arguably United’s best defender at the time of his departure, but he upset Ferguson and he had to go.

Klopp’s decision to move Sakho on is similar to Ferguson’s with Stam because it doesn’t matter how good a player is, if he breaks the manager’s rules then he must accept the punishment, even if it means they have to move to another club.

Nobody really knows what goes on behind the scenes between players and manager’s relationships, but supporters have to trust and back their manager on these kind of decisions because there can’t be rules for one player and rules for others.

Obviously Ferdinand forgot about how his old boss treated some of his best players when they broke the rules.

It’s not been a good start to 2017 for Liverpool, with only one win so far this month. Wednesday brought more misery for the legions of Reds supporters as Southampton knocked Liverpool out of the two-legged Capital One Cup semi-final.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have also dropped down to fourth position in the Premier League after failing to win any of their last three games, and after such a good start to the season it looks like the wheels could be coming off.

Failure to reach Wembley last Wednesday night was a big disappointment for the supporters, especially after losing to Swansea City last Saturday.

Liverpool now have a tricky FA Cup-tie against Wolves tomorrow before facing league leaders Chelsea on Tuesday night, with both games being at Anfield, Jurgen Klopp will be hoping his team can record a couple of much needed wins to end this difficult month.

Many people believe that opposing teams have worked out how to play against Liverpool, by sitting deep and counter-attacking, but Liverpool were scoring against teams deploying those tactics earlier in the season, but injuries to Lallana, Coutinho, Henderson, Matip and the absence of Sadio Mane have affected the team’s form badly.

Even Mr. Reliable a.k.a. Nathaniel Clyne is struggling with injury and some players don’t look 100% fit at the moment.

Klopp’s high intensity style of play needs players to be fully fit and the energy and high-tempo hasn’t been there in recent weeks resulting in Liverpool struggling for form.

Liverpool do need a confidence boosting win quickly because it is obvious that the team’s morale has taken a knock.

But all teams go through difficult times during a season and Liverpool are going through one just now.

Amazingly some supporters were calling for Klopp’s head after Wednesday night’s defeat, supporters have to be patient because Liverpool are very lucky to have one of the best coaches in the world working at the club.

Klopp is a coach that likes to build for the future, he is not a Mourinho or Guardiola that will spend millions to bring instant success, he wants to build a successful side through developing young players and gelling a team that will grow successfully together, and although we all want instant success at Liverpool, we need to trust his philosophy and methods, and give him time to work his magic.

Liverpool have been struggling for form since the start of the year, but the news that Philippe Coutinho has signed a new long-term contract is encouraging news ahead of tonight’s Capital One Cup semi-final second-leg against Southampton at Anfield.

Coutinho has developed into arguably Liverpool’s most important player and it is good to see the club move swiftly to reward one of their top performers with a new improved contract.

Liverpool supporters have not had much to cheer about this year with only a 1-0 win over Plymouth in the FA Cup to celebrate, but although their form has dipped recently, they still have much to play for and Coutinho’s news could be the perfect boost to help them overturn Southampton’s 1-0 first-leg advantage in tonight’s semi-final.

Jurgen Klopp is building something at Liverpool, and although Liverpool supporters are impatient for success, it is vital that they keep their key players happy and the news about Coutinho signing a new contract is a big statement by the club.

Coutinho’s new contract is believed to be a 5-yeat contract and worth around £150,000 a week, making him the highest paid player at Anfield.

The Brazilian playmaker has been attracting interest from abroad, with the likes of Barcelona mentioned, but Liverpool believe that Coutinho’s new deal has been signed by a player that will be at the club for the long haul.

I was lucky enough to catch Liverpool under-23’s match against Ipswich on Sunday on LFCTV, it helped me recover from Saturday’s disappointment against Swansea City.

The youngsters put on quite a show resulting in a convincing 3-0 win, it was good to see so many players that have featured in Jurgen Klopp’s first team.

Ben Woodburn, Harry Wilson, Sheyi Ojo, Kevin Stewart, Joe Gomez lined up alongside first team regular Joel Matip for Michael Garrity’s side.

But the star of the show was young Rhian Brewster who was making his debut for the under-23’s.

The teenager only turned 17 earlier this month but his performance against Ipswich caught the eye.

Brewster started in attack, scored a goal and put in a very impressive performance on his debut.

He has bags of ability with a maturity beyond his years and he is very quick.

Brewster’s ability to bring others into play was particularly eye-catching, because many strikers can be wasteful with only a selfish eye for goal, but the 17-year-old wasn’t afraid to shoot either as he showed by producing a couple of long-range, powerful first-time shots.

It is very easy to get carried away when you see a youngster have such a good game because it is so difficult to break into the first team at Liverpool, and even more difficult to become a regular, but first impressions of Rhian Brewster are very encouraging, so remember the name.