Author: Dean Mannion
The Optimist: Beating Arsenal Showed Liverpool’s Strengths
When a team like Arsenal comes to Anfield you invariably feel it’s a result that could go either way. In addition, the home result against Arsenal is usually a good indicator of how our season will go; the bigger the magnitude of the win, the better a season Liverpool usually have, and likewise when we […]
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Match Report: Liverpool 4-0 Arsenal
The definition of domination is the exertion of power or influence over someone or something. It is the complete control of the opponent you find yourself up against and being able to attack them at will. Teams will visit Anfield this season and be dominated in such a way that they will be sent packing […]
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The Optimist
Sometimes this column honestly does just write itself. I mean, seriously, what is there not to be optimistic about regarding that performance? It really did have everything; excellent game management, a forceful midfield display, a competent (in places) defensive outing. Even Simon Mignolet had a good game! And the attack. My word, the attack. If […]
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Match Report: Liverpool 4-2 Hoffenheim
The game in Hoffenheim last week, the return fixture to this one, marked the return of Liverpool to Europe’s top table. At first it looked like we may stumble at the first hurdle, but Andrej Kramaric’s missed penalty made the hosts uneasy and Liverpool managed to capitalise on that to claim a deserved victory in […]
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Liverpool show character and play their own way
Sterile domination was a phrase practically invented by Brendan Rodgers in the first few weeks of his time with the club. It seems very much like a Rodgers-ism but what he was basically getting at was that he wanted his team to control possession so the other team couldn’t have the ball. His idea was […]
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Match Report: Liverpool 1-0 Crystal Palace
‘Grinding out results’ is an old saying used that is usually associated with teams that do well. Teams that win the league ‘grind out results’. Teams that finish high up the table ‘grind out results’. Teams that win trophies are lauded for ‘grinding out results’. Teams that do well usually lay to rest ghosts and […]
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There’s Plenty to Look Forward To; Even Defensively
That was much better. That wasn’t defensive errors and set piece nightmares. That was Liverpool, not quite at their best, but not far off it. Hoffenheim are no slouches. They’re a decent side who did well to finish 4th in the Bundesliga last season. Julian Nagelsmann is the youngest manager in the Bundesliga and he […]
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Match Report: Hoffenheim 1-2 Liverpool
December 9th, 2014. It may seem a random date to most people but for Liverpool, it is a significant date. It is significant because it is the last time Liverpool played a Champions League game. That night, against F.C Basel of Switzerland, things didn’t go to plan. After conceding in the first half, Steven Gerrard […]
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From admiration to acrimony: The culmination of the Coutinho saga
Three hours. It doesn’t seem a very long time, does it? It’s a flight from Liverpool to Bulgaria. It’s two football matches without any breaks. It’s two full episodes of Match of the Day. 180 minutes. Not a long time at all. But that’s all it took for Philippe Coutinho to take his Liverpool career […]
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Match Report: Watford 3-3 Liverpool
Turning up to Vicarage Road without your best player is bad enough. To turn up with your best player agitating for a move away being the reason for his absence (don’t believe everything you read about a fictional “injury”) is a nightmare. Jurgen Klopp will not have wanted to have his preparations for his teams’ […]
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