John Aldridge reacts to Liverpool’s defensive display against Leeds United and Ibrahima Konate’s ongoing poor form in the second half of his weekly column
Liverpool are defending like no other team I’ve seen in a red shirt. It’s defending at its very worst. It’s simply not good enough.
When we started the season off, I was doing this column for the ECHO saying from the Bournemouth game and Newcastle game, we’ve got to score three goals to win games. It’s now gone up to four goals needed to win games. And it was five goals we needed the other week against PSV.
It’s just the worst defending I have ever seen from a Liverpool team. The corner at the end is ludicrous. You work your socks off to score three goals. You scored three goals away from home, and you draw the game?!
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What on earth? We’re such a shadow of the team from last year, it’s crazy.
How can you defend corners with no-one on the back post? And it’s not the first time. Every player is all around our goalkeeper. You only need three players in the six yard box, front, middle, far post.
And if you’re outside of that, then when the goalie punches it or we get it, we’ve got five versus one or two on the counter-attack. I just don’t get it.
We can’t defend corners. From Van Dijk handling it the other week, you don’t see that in the Sunday league. Pure panic. They just panic.
They won the game, you see it out. There’s no-one on the far post. Not one single player on the far post. It’s ludicrous.
Everyone’s on the near post or in the middle of the goal. It’s unbelievable. We’re getting caught out all the time.
Everyone’s got their own opinion, what the reason is. Our two centre halves are struggling big time.
We need not one centre half, because what happened to Leoni, we need two centre halves in January at this rate. We need two.
Leoni’s not going to come back this season. Joe Gomez might get injured. We need two.
And we actually need holding midfield player as well. Ryan Gravenberch does well there, but let him push on and do what he’s good at going forward. That’s only my opinion.
And they’re not gonna buy three players because they spent all that money in the summer.
So I don’t know how they’ll address it. But defensively, it is absolutely unbelievable.
I don’t know what Alan Hansen and Gary Gillespie and the rest of our great defenders are thinking when watching it all.
I’m a forward and I’m thinking this is ludicrous. Absolutely ridiculous defending.
What was Konate thinking?!
I watch my grandkid’s team on a Sunday and they don’t do what Ibrahima Konate did, diving in, to concede the penalty. He’s going nowhere.
What’s he got on his mind? Again panic. He just panics. Alan Hansen, Gary Gillespie, Mark Lawrenson, the players I played with, they’d never do that. You just see it out.
I just don’t understand. I just can’t believe what’s going on. That is ludicrous to dive in.
To be fair, he’s tried to stay away from the player and the player has gone down for the penalty. It’s a slight touch. But you don’t give him the opportunity in the first place. It’s as simple as that.
You don’t give him the opportunity to go down. There’s no reason to dive in like that. Honestly, words fail me. Words fail me.
I am the biggest Liverpool fan you could ever meet. You live for your family and for Liverpool. That’s the way the world is. And for me to say it from a fan point of view, an ex-player point of view, I just can’t believe what I’m seeing.
You can’t become bad players overnight. Konate last season was really good. What’s happened?
Is it the transfer or contract thing? But that shouldn’t have a bearing. Because I tell you what, who would want him now?
Real Madrid were linked but they wouldn’t touch him. He’s on a free, maybe, you might take a gamble when he’s on a free. But I’m thinking, what’s happened to him?
You just can’t go like that overnight! Maybe his agent is in his head. I just don’t know. I just don’t know, honestly. Words fail me.
Ekitike the one bright spark
Hugo Ekitike has been the only bright spark this season so at least he got his two goals. He’s only young so he’s got a bright future ahead.
It’s nice to have him and we need him in form. Isak’s taking his time for obvious reasons, but he’s not become a bad player overnight.
The manager’s got to find a way to play Wirtz and Isak and maybe Ekitike. He’s got to find a way.
We’ll always score goals. Ekitike, fair play to him, he’s doing what we paid for. Unfortunately Isak isn’t yet, but that’s up to the manager to find a way of making it happen for him.
And with Mohamed Salah not in the squad for Inter Milan and then off to AFCON next week, he needs to find a way to make it happen as soon as possible.
