Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Liverpool’s title challenge has come off the tracks in the past couple of weeks with them now 6 points behind an all conquering Chelsea side. The reason the gap has opened up has been due to the frailties in Liverpool’s defence which has seen them pick up a solitary point in the past fortnight.
After a stunning defeat to Bournemouth they then only managed to pick up a draw at West Ham to Sunday and Tonight they will look to get their title tilt back on track as they travel to the North-East to face Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough side.
Middlesbrough find themselves in 16th at the start of this round of fixtures and just three points clear of the drop zone. After making the long journey to the South Coast to face Southampton on Sunday it was a trip in which they came away empty handed.
Once again it was a game that didn’t throw up much in the way of goals or entertainment for that matter as Sofiane Boufel goal was the difference between the two sides. Failure to once again score means that Middlesbrough are the lowest scorers in the league this season.
They have returned just 13 goals in their first 15 matches of the season and Aitor Karanka knows that this is an area that is going to have to be addressed in the January transfer window. Summer star signing Alvaro Negredo who is reportedly earning £100k a week has only found the net twice this season. That in anyone’s eyes is not a good enough investment.
When it comes to problem areas than for Liverpool it is the aforementioned defence. 6 goals they have conceded in their past two matches and with 20 goals against that is the highest amount conceded by all the obvious title contenders this season
Once again Loris Karius has come in for criticism with West Ham’s second goal on Sunday seemingly looking avoidable but it seems as for now Jurgen Klopp is prepared to stand by his German compatriot and once again trust him with the gloves for the trip to Middlesbrough.
Perhaps it’s coincidence but Liverpool have failed to win since Philippe Coutinho’s injury that he picked up in their 2-0 win against Sunderland. With the Brazilian out until the turn of the year that is something that they are going to have to rectify pretty sharpish.
But thankfully with Middlesbrough posing such little threat in front of goal then I can’t see Liverpool being caused too many problems Tonight. Not only that but it should mean that the pressure on Karius will subside somewhat. I’ll go for a Liverpool win and perhaps even a clean sheet. An away win for me.
