31 Dec 2017 16:21:52
Probably been mentioned but did anybody notice just how little effort Lovren puts in to get across after Matips pass yesterday? Equally as criminal and I think if he'd bothered to move he would have cut it out before Vardy got there.

{Ed025's Note - lets get it straight JT, the only villain there was matip, he could have even got back to stop vardy if he was not such a lazy sod mate..

1.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 16:41:08
Matip played a hospital pass. End of story, Can was asleep and caught napping, but the pass shouldn’t have been made in the first place.

{Ed025's Note - exactly..

2.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 16:46:11
Totally agree Ed25, he is bloody useless mate.

3.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 16:49:10
Definitely not equally as criminal! However, Ed025, i wouldn't absolve the whole defence of blame.

Matip is clearly the main culprit. Gomez and Lovren were both being pressed and Can was behind a Leicester player. Matip should've responded to the situation and just lamped the ball as far forward as he could. Instead, he played a poor pass out, then failed to track the run of Vardy when the ball came back at us. Even when he did finally react, his attempted challenge was half hearted. That is 4 mistakes; poor decision, then poor execution, then a lack of concentration, capped off by a weak challenge.

However, I'm not prepared to let everyone else off the hook as easily as you are Ed. Lovren, Gomez or Karius should've screamed at him to just clear the ball, or at the very least bawled him out afterwards. Nothing though. Where was captain Milner to challenge Matip afterwards about what he was doing?

Secondly, Can and Milner both made absolutely no effort to make themselves available for a pass. They were both hiding from the ball. Can also made a weak, half hearted challenge to try and reclaim possession and by going to ground, he took himself out of the game and let Leicester get straight at our defence.

Thirdly, Robertson didn't track the run of Mahrez. In fact he looked shocked when he finally realised Mahrez was in behind him. Ball watching.

I'm not really sure Lovren could've got across that quickly but he should've at least done something. Ben Mee made an exceptional goal goal clearance the other day because as soon as he realised he couldn't get to the ball he dropped to the goal line to try and make a block. Lovren looked like a rabbit in headlights. Not his fault, but top class defenders react better than that. He had no influence and might as well have not been there.

I think that goal summed us up defensively. One individual error is all it takes for us to fall to pieces. Nobody is composed enough to make the right decisions in key moments and there is no leadership.

Nobody is as equally to blame as Matip. It's his mistake and he has to wear it. However, the ball then went past 4 different players after he gave it away. Matip put his team mates under pressure, but they buckled under it all by themselves. Karius and Gomez are least at blame i suppose, because they couldn't really do anything aside from tell Matip to hit row Z before the initial error. I hope Matip is dropped for Van Dijk ASAP, but let's not pretend the rest of our defence are perfect. A defence is a unit and there is rarely ever a goal where one player is 100% to blame.

The best piece of defending i saw in the entire game was from Firmino in the dying seconds when he completely wiped out a Leicester player to prevent them hitting us on the counter. It may have seemed small, but it turned their final attack into a pointless long ball forward which killed the game off as the ref blew the whistle before it landed. It is the same every week. Firmino is always our best defender and that is frankly embarrassing considering he's the striker. Nobody else makes the right defensive decisions consistently.

{Ed025's Note - i let the others off MK because matip sold them all down the river, they were all moving forward as they did not expect a professional footballer to play such an idiotic ball into such a dangerous area, you cant legislate for that mate..

4.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 16:49:23
Matip was hardly busting a gut to amend for his error. Never thought i would say this but let's hope klavan is brought back in for the game tomorrow.

5.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 16:53:07
For me Can was not half asleep.
His first move as the 2x CBS was to drop back and fill in -he then went to try and win an aimless ball played into no-mans land.
The pass was simply not on and Matip mugged Can off. And then stood and watched instead of making a recovery run. Something I picked up in the latter part of his spell at Schalke but was told it was just ‘cos he didn’t want to be there.

{Ed025's Note - i agree agger..

6.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 17:23:45
Matip had a brain fart. Stop trying to deflect away from the real culprit because he is your favorite. Matip is the worst out of our CBs when it comes to defending. At least Lovren and Klavan try, Matip does not break a sweat.

7.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 17:28:09
Eds - am I correct in thinking that Matip was highly rated in Germany and that getting him on a 'free' was seen as a bit of a coup at the time? If that's correct does it feel a bit like he's gone backwards - in playing terms - since joining LFC?

I never saw him play previously so don't know if this laziness was always there.

{Ed001's Note - nope not correct at all. It was not seen as a coup.}

8.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 17:50:16
Am I the only one who thinks Matip is the CB that should be booted out once we sign another CB to partner VVD? Klavan is a good 4th choice who gets on with his job without complaints and LOvren at least tries. Matip is just lazy and weak without any defensive nous.
He looked good initially in his first few games but has gone backwards since.

9.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 18:13:30
Lovren at his best would be a good partner for vvd. Both offer different things. Just a shame we know we can't rely on him to be at his best.

10.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 18:29:52
Matip is inexcusably slothful on a football pitch, both mentally and physically, and I've had enough of him. If a player has a physical limitation or a technical limitation that's one thing. But I cannot stand two things from players: Laziness and lack of game intelligence.

Matip shows both and if he didn't, he'd probably be the best defender at the club.

I honestly think our best natural defender (I'm excluding van Dijk from this analysis, btw) is Klavan. His problems stem largely from lack of pace and to be fair to him, he's managed to play around that for the past couple of months.

11.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 19:08:09
Klavan has been our best CB recently without a doubt.

12.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 19:37:10
How do I post some pics up Ed? I've highlighted in some photos what I mean. I'm not saying that Lovren was to blame, but he literally stood balling watching the entire time.
Before the ball reaches Mahrez on the right, Lovren is about a yard, Maybe a yard and a half away from Vardy.

By the time the ball is at Vardys feet, Lovren is about 5 yards away, Vardys moved right into the 6 yard box at this stage, and Lovren is jogging over the 18 yard line.

For one moment don't think I'm deflecting, but maybe have a look again.

{Ed033's Note - Upload images on the Sightings page.

13.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 19:42:24
Like I say, Vardy was a yard, maybe 2 yards away from Lovren when he started, and maybe 6 or 7 yards away when he finished. Vardy didn't make that ground up because he's quick.
I'm far more willing to forgive a misplaced pass than I am giving up when the ball is still there to be won.

14.) 31 Dec 2017
31 Dec 2017 19:55:56
3 photos uploaded to sightings. Hopefully this will prove I'm not just Lovren bashing for the sake of it.
Btw Indian Buzzer, when have I ever claimed Matip was the favourite? Barring his first 10 or so games for us, who in their right mind would say that? Gomez, Klavan, and I can't choose for 4th between the other two.

15.) 01 Jan 2018
01 Jan 2018 00:09:52
Has anyone else noticed how the criticism of liverpool CBs just goes around in waves.

16.) 01 Jan 2018
01 Jan 2018 00:09:52
Has anyone else noticed how the criticism of liverpool CBs just goes around in waves.

17.) 01 Jan 2018
01 Jan 2018 11:18:40
I’ve noticed
It’s because they are both slow and take it in turns to have brain-farts.

18.) 01 Jan 2018
01 Jan 2018 11:39:11
Matip thinks he is the defender version of Modric. Vardy brushed him when he tried to get back!