John Aldridge reflects on Liverpool's 0-0 draw with Fulham and their issues at full-back in the first half of his weekly column
Andoni Iraola (right) changed up his full-back options against Fulham on Saturday but Kostas Tsmikas (left) did not impress for Liverpool
Andoni Iraola (right) changed up his full-back options against Fulham on Saturday but Kostas Tsmikas (left) did not impress for Liverpool
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It wasn’t pretty to watch against Fulham on Saturday. Liverpool didn’t play well, we struggled to create chances and it was boring to watch. But that’s the Premier League right now.
Football has become boring. It’s not enjoyable to watch. Teams sit back and defend and stop you playing. It’s not like in Europe, in the Champions League. Atletico Madrid came to Anfield to play.
But the majority of teams will come to Liverpool, go to Arsenal and go to Man City and play like that.
We’re in transition. I’ve said it before. Andoni Iraola is going to need a number of transfer windows to truly get his stamp on things. He has a certain way he wants his team to play and there are going to be ups and downs along the way.
I think back to when Jurgen Klopp first came in and it’s like that, when we had the draw with West Brom when Divock Origi scored in the last minute to equalise and they saluted the Kop.
The atmosphere has been rubbish at Anfield for over a year now. Fans aren’t enjoying themselves and they’re leaving early. That’s not helping, but we’ve only won four Premier League games at home all year. It’s not good enough.
The players need the Kop, now more than ever. It can help you win games. But they also need something to feed off too and they didn’t get that against Fulham.
Some teams are happy to just win 1-0, but I’m a dinosaur. It’s not the football I like to see. I miss the old days when teams came to play. They attacked, tried to score and tried to win.
Now you’re relying too much on set-pieces.
Supporters are going to have to be patient with Iraola and with this Liverpool side. It’s going to take time.
Liverpool haven’t replaced Trent and Robbo
The midfield on Saturday was the problem. That was the problem. We defended reasonably well. We got away with a couple of things.
Offensively, you need chances, you need creativity and there wasn't much of it about on Saturday. Even the crosses into the box were poor, they were really poor and hit the first man.
The full-backs are also a problem. I talk about the midfield, but the full-back positions are problematic.
We just hope that Conor Bradley comes back and he can get back to what he was but it’s a bad injury.
You look at when we were flying, Trent and Robbo, bloody hell. For a centre-forward like Isak, that's what you want.
The balls in the box, the cross-field balls to open these robots up, like they used to do, especially Trent. It was amazing.
But we haven't filled those positions with the right people and it’s a serious problem.
Jacquet is better than Konate
Jeremy Jacquet is a better player than Ibrahima Konate. He's far better than Konate, at the same age at least.
From what we've seen, he looks the real deal. I think Giovanni Leoni, if he can get over his injury, he'll be a really good addition too.
We don't know what's going to happen with Virgil van Dijk obviously, after this year, with his contract expiring. So that is a plus, the two of them, centre-half wise.
The future in that position looks bright. We just need more of that elsewhere in the team.