Liverpool’s world-class offensive unit, consisting of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain and Sadio Mane has earned a lot of praise this season and for obvious reasons.
However, their defence has been equally awful with the Reds conceding 31 goals already, which is more than any other team in the Premier League top five so far this season.
Head coach Jurgen Klopp has struggled to find the ideal defensive pairing this season and could potentially face more problems in the future if he fails to find the right balance in the defensive pairings. In this article, we will discuss as to what should be Liverpool’s ideal centre-back partnership for the long term.
Let’s start by assessing each of the possibilities, then we can come to a conclusion.
Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren
Liverpool’s preferred centre-back partnership before the signing of Virgil Van Dijk, the Matip and Lovren partnership is what forced Liverpool to go big on ‘VVD’ in the first place.
Former Schalke captain Joel Matip is generally solid when it comes to defending but his lack of pace or mobility is not ideal for the Premier League’s fast-paced game. The Cameroonian International does appear quite tentative at times while Dejan Lovren, on the other hand, is also someone who lacks consistency in his game.
Matip is generally deemed as the better ball-playing centre-back but his lack of clarity doesn’t help Liverpool.
Dejan Lovren and Virgil Van Dijk
The defensive duo of Virgil Van Dijk and Dejan Lovren is quite interesting, at least when it comes to their contrasting style of play.
Van Dijk thrives in the air, thanks to his superior aerial prowess and the Dutchman is also a fantastic ball-playing defender. Lovren, on the other hand, is a more dogged defender, who’s willing to fight for his team, till the very end.
The duo of two former Southampton defenders is definitely an interesting choice and perhaps the one which lends Liverpool an extra dimension in their defensive build-up.
Joel Matip and Virgil Van Dijk
As mentioned earlier, Joel Matip appears quite tentative at times and is not agile enough for the Premier League. The former Schalke defender is excellent is distributing possession and has recently broken the record of having made more passes than any other player in a single Premier League game when he attempted a stunning total of 161 passes.
Virgil Van Dijk, however, is somewhat similar when it comes to passing but the Dutchman is much more mobile in his defensive gameplay whilst being much more dominant in the air. Therefore, Van Dijk’s defensive partnership with Joel Matip doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Conclusion
All things considered, the defensive partnership of Dejan Lovren and Virgil Van Dijk is by far the most logical choice for Jurgen Klopp. Van Dijk’s superior ball-playing qualities will help Liverpool in their build-up phases while Dejan Lovren’s dogged defensive skills and commitment will be very well complemented by the aerial monster ‘VVD’.
In fact, the two defenders played quite well during their match against Tottenham, before Van Dijk made a silly error in the last minute to hand the opposition a penalty.
Stats Courtesy: Whoscored
