Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Old friends are once again reunited this evening as David Wagner and Jurgen Klopp will do battle for the second time this season. The former will certainly be hoping for a better outcome then first time around after he witnessed his Huddersfield side soundly beaten at Liverpool.
Not only that though they come into this game having not won any of their last six league outings, in addition to that the last three have been in the way of defeats. This is a run of results that has seen drop to 14th in the table, that in itself does not sound all that bad.
However, they are just two points clear of the relegation zone now as the battle to beat the drop ever intensifies. Should that run without a win continue then 14th could quickly become something resembling nearer 18th, it is quite apparent that the Yorkshire outfit need to get out of the rut that they currently find themselves in.
Their situation would not have been helped by the fact that in their last league outing they were victims of the new manager bounce at Stoke. Paul Lambert took charge of the Potters for the first time and led his new charges to a 2-0 win at the Bet365 Stadium.
That result has created something of a concertina effect at the bottom of the table. There are just three points now separating 10th to 17th in the table and as Huddersfield will attest, a couple of defeats gets you thrown right into the dogfight.
A place that no one wants to be but you could make a case that they are just one of 11 teams that are now battling against survival and truth be told I think it is almost impossible to choose just who will lose the battle to beat the drop come the end of the season.
Their opponents Liverpool are in a battle of their own, that being the race for fourth place and a return to the Champions League. A battle they are winning at present but they do not come into this game in the best of recent form.
Last weekend saw their most realistic hope of a trophy this season snatched away as they were dumped out of the F.A. Cup by West Brom at Anfield. It was a game that mired in VAR based controversy but that should take nothing away from the Baggies win who caused the home side problems all night.
The majority of those problems came at Simon Mignolet who looked like he was told he was not allowed to move his feet at any point throughout the game. His performance once again highlighted the goalkeeping issue that Jurgen Klopp has at present and surely he will be dipping into the transfer market in the Summer.
It is not just cup disappointment for Liverpool as of late though, their last league outing saw them make the trip to South Wales eight days ago and return to Merseyside empty handed after a combination of Alfie Mawson’s goal and poor Liverpool finishing seemed to be their undoing.
They had countless chances to equalise especially late on but they came up against a dogged Swansea side who are battling for the lives at present and were good value for their upset victory. That game saw Virgil van Dijk make his Premier League bow for the club after his £75m move from Southampton.
He was also in the side on Saturday and you would have to say on the basis of his first three games for the club it has been something of a mixed bag, bagging the winner against Everton in the F.A. Cup third round but he has been a little shaky in his next two performances.
He like his Liverpool teammates will be looking to bounce back to winning ways tonight and to be honest I think they will have too much for a Huddersfield side who are hitting bad form at the worst time, friendship will be put on the back burner for 90 minutes as the Reds take all three points.
