Liverpool’s Defence

It's storming and I'm afraid of lightning. We'll continue this tomorrow. Get some sleep

comment by The Kaiser's Trainers (U5676)
posted 4 minutes ago
I'm not being difficult but will otemendi be in the team of the season?

I haven't watched a tonne of city matches but he never struck me as a world beater. I honestly didn't even realise he was in the running
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Otamendi and Vertonghen deserve it. Van Dijk has missed a lot of games due to injury and wasn't in form when he got back for So'ton. Otamendi and Vertonghen were bosses, though Otamendi doesn't look as great as months ago. Bailly was utterly destroyed against City and against Sevilla he was at fault. He also tends to keep too much space between him and his direct opponent, so positioningwise he must improve. I feel Tarkowski is a bit underrated, he's very consistent. Just not a ballplaying cb. Tottenham's Sanchez deserves a mention too. Decent first season and Spurs doesn't even miss Alderweireld - who is having a very average season with his injuries.

Since Southampton? Funnily enough I've been following him a while longer.

I'd assume Otamendi will be in team of season. Been fantastic. You can talk about dominating possession, he gets players to press well,but he doesn't have Midfielders who are strong Defenders. Otamendi has previously been in a team of the season in Spain. I don't think team of the season in Scotland compares. One will be at the world cup. One will have a couple medals this season. He loves to dive in so people think he's a bad defender, he's not.

VVD has always stood out for his physical abilities and calmness. Still brainfarts and doesn't read the game as well as he should. Every defender has their faults.

But this has totally gone off at a tangent from my original point, which was it's daft to single him out. He wasn't the best Liverpool defender today or last week. Praise should be to others too. And Trent and Robbo don't have a history of errors, and are only young and new to the team. Not that I think Karius shouldn't be replaced

OK

I haven't really been following other clubs much this year

Probably because city won the league last October

VVD is a massive improvement, however sometimes bores me with his casual attitude and expecting others to win their duels instead of covering or helping. Like today he was out wide and stood pointing get to him get to him, no vvd hes ur man now do ur job ffs. And after he wins or loses a duel he will land and casually walk or stand around ball watching. Also sometimes extremely casual on the ball too.

Other then that its hard to blame him even for the things the oppo fans try to blame him for imo and hes been a great addition, should only get better, seems to certainly improve those around him as he tells them whats expected of them if they don't do it.

comment by RenegadeOF (U9457)
posted 18 hours, 35 minutes ago
Since Southampton? Funnily enough I've been following him a while longer.

I'd assume Otamendi will be in team of season. Been fantastic. You can talk about dominating possession, he gets players to press well,but he doesn't have Midfielders who are strong Defenders. Otamendi has previously been in a team of the season in Spain. I don't think team of the season in Scotland compares. One will be at the world cup. One will have a couple medals this season. He loves to dive in so people think he's a bad defender, he's not.

VVD has always stood out for his physical abilities and calmness. Still brainfarts and doesn't read the game as well as he should. Every defender has their faults.

But this has totally gone off at a tangent from my original point, which was it's daft to single him out. He wasn't the best Liverpool defender today or last week. Praise should be to others too. And Trent and Robbo don't have a history of errors, and are only young and new to the team. Not that I think Karius shouldn't be replaced
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VVD was in team of europe in his first season. Did you miss that too? He was also arguably the best CB last season, a season where Vertonghen still showed how worldclass he is, not today however.

Since you also see Otamendi and van Dijk surely you would agree that vvd is the better manmarker and not as prone in making fouls? There was a stat that vvd didn't make any errors leading to goal. Otamendi already has 3 I believe. On top of that he needs a leader like Kompany to play aside him to cool him. But still he's kind of a hothead (which explains why he fouls far more often and has a bundle of yellow cards).

Otamendi deserves to be in the EPL team of the year and van dijk does not since he was injured for a lengthy time. I still feel he is the better defender. Aerially, positionally, think he's faster too, a leader and more composed. Otamendi is perhaps a better passer and more aggressive. Scores more goals and is actually a perfect fit for Peps team. The only problem is that Pep doesn't have a plan B and has problems adapting to another team.

For two games Lovren outshone van dijk as a central defender and that should be a positive development for Liverpool fans. It's not a matter of van dijk underperforming, merely that Lovren is showing that he can properly deal with what's thrown at him without making mistakes.

Sorry, meant Alderweireld instead of Vertongen in the first paragraph*

I did miss that. UEFA Thursday night cup team of the year? In any case UEFA isn’t even a league.

I don’t know about better man marker, depends who their up against. A Lukaku I’d say VVD, a small nippy player I’d say Otamendi. I don’t think VVD reads the game well enough. Positionally I don’t think he is better, a better leader, definitely faster and more composed I’d give you. Positionally I think Otamendi has a harder time in Peps setup, City defenders are left more exposed. Reads the game well to get in with challenges, sometimes rash. Obviously when it doesn’t it can lead to costly mistakes. And obviously leads to fouls too. Not that that’s a bad thing, easy was to stop a counter, break opposition play and get your team back.

I actually think Ota and Stones were better before Kompany came back. Otamendi made Mustafi look like a top player too for Valencia. They worked well this season.

This season Otamendi has been better. I think VVD has the attributes to be one of the top defenders but I’ve seen him switch off too many times or not be in the right place. Obviously still very young as centre backs go and you’d expect he’d be in his prime in a couple years.

No doubt he’s made a positive impact I just don’t think he deserves praise over other Liverpool defenders. Lovren and Robbo last night were better for me and obv Trent in the first leg.

Remember when Carra said even if we get VVD our defence will still be poor?

comment by (Kash) I'm the Mané, I'm the Mané - Justice4Gaza (U1108)
posted 2 hours, 8 minutes ago
Remember when Carra said even if we get VVD our defence will still be poor?
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Carra.. foot... mouth

Also:

Virgil van Dijk in the Champions League for Liverpool:

3 games
3 wins
2 clean sheets
1 goal conceded
75% duels won - best at LFC
12/13 aerial duels won
2/2 dribbles
87% passing
11 defensive actions per game - most at LFC