With our injuries I think we should keep Nat and Kabak at CB for now.Fab should stay at no6 which is his spot.
I get that Nat is a bit limited but that could improve and it is good to have a genuine solid Centre half out there.
No harm in having a hard defender and as such I hope we keep him.Matip and Gomez spend a lot or time injured,so he could be pretty handy to have around.
Him and Virg,could cause some serious headaches…in more ways than one.
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Not entirely true he has been beaten a few times due to his not so great speed. But for the rest I agree, he is all we have right now, doing a good job, not perfect, he deserves the chance to play every single match as long as he stays fit.
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I would be seriously worried if Nat was my son given that heading is such a major part of his game. Dave Watson was interviewed with his wife on BBC this morning and he was struggling to speak coherently.
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Can see players being given the choice soon of wearing a Petr Cech type head protection
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Not sure how much jarring of the brain that would actually stop though.
Short of banning heading the ball all together I don’t know where we go with this. As more and more cases are attributed to the constant heading of footballs, the sport will inevitably have to consider major changes or they will be imposed.
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Utter conundrum and so true. Most of the concussions in football, it seems, are derived from attempting to head the ball. What would the game look like without heading? It’d still be fun to watch, I think. Really would be “football” then.
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Problem is we don’t know whether it’s the older balls or still an issue now, I would assume the latter, they’ve done well with banning it from a younger age and I know Shearer said training had changed still it’s the way they head the ball, if it’s cushioned it’s fine but that was just brutal at times from Phillips.
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I’d actually say the bigger issue is the clashes of heads. Heading the ball over and over will obviously eventually have an effect. But when they connect with each other they’re risking injury every time. Same with stuff like the stray elbow of Ramos on Karius. I’m not actually sure banning heading of the ball would have the “fix all” effect some predict.
It works very well when Fabs is at DM and VVD is LCB. Wasn’t too sloppy, all cosidering mind, with Fabs and Kabak. Ok Kabak struggled at times but he looked reasonably useful used like that. 5Oh and Nat made some Lovrenesque errors but worked very hard to recover).
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He is by definitiion a limited defender i.e he gets his defensive duties done with no fuss but offers little else other than moving the ball on (or off the pitch which ever is easiest). It’s not what you want if you wish to play out from the back which Gomez, Matip and VVD offer. I would add that that was probably the idea behind using Fabs and Hendo back there to have real ball players and passers there.
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It wouldn’t.
Headgear in boxing doesn’t stop brain injuries, just cuts and swelling. If anything it makes it worse as they take more blows to the head. It’s not just the brutal knockouts that cause brain damage but the repeated small blows to the head they receive, which is comparable to heading a football I guess.
I would say that the newer balls help as they don’t retain water like the ones from Dave Watson’s day, making them lighter when it’s raining. That’s definitely a step in the right direction. Whether it’s enough I’m not sure anyone knows.
I’d say at some point in the medium-term future we’ll see a trial of thin levels of headgear to lessen the damage of head to head clashes. It’ll probably take another Jiminez or Ryan Mason like injury but with even more severe consequences for that to be put on the agenda.
I don’t foresee heading being outlawed at any point soon though. It definitely should be for kids, but in the adult game I can’t see it, the game would be changed drastically.
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The balls now are a lot lighter than the old leather balls when they were wet.
Heading the ball had you shaking your head sometimes.
Unless a type of headgear can be developed the issue can only be addressed by banning,which I doubt is a great plan ,but the players must be protected.
I do doubt whether the problem would be as acute with the balls now.
Elbows to the head likely do more damage,stop that first.
Not an easy ask either!
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If they ban heading the ball what use will Nat be. 
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Its a bit like Jay Spearing.
Injuries gave him an opportunity. He was never good enough to be a Liverpool player, but showed lots of effort and filled in during an injury crisis.
Praise for Phillips is in the context of his limited ability, and low expectations. He has done a brilliant job. More than we as a club could ask of him. I have no problem if he moves on to seek first-team football next year or is happy to be 5th or 6th choice CB.
Given circumstances done a great job.
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We will definitely need 5 possibly 6 genuine first team CBs next season. I expect VVD will come back OK but there has to be some doubt about Gomez. He has had so many serious injuries now and it takes him a long time to recover from them. I think it will be a long time into next season before we see him. Matip will still be on the books because no one’s going to buy him with his injury record and you can guarantee we will only get a handful of games out of him. And hopefully JK has realised now that Fabinho should only ever be used as a CB in an emergency rather than being one of the core CBs in the squad.
So even if Kabak or A.N.Other is brought in that still leaves us short in that position. Plenty of opportunities for Nat if he continues to impress and wants to stay.
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Another game, another good performance.
Defended really well against Wolves. Only messes up when he tries something he is not capable of, such as the times when he tries to dink it 50 yards. Better off just keeping it simple.
We’re defending deeper to suit the situation, which helps. No point playing the suicidal high line in our circumstances. Leave that for when the regulars are back.
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Excellent yet again. Generally concentrated, made the simple things very well, saved our necks with two crucial interceptions (one in each half) and helped the lads to start their move for the goal with a sensational header. More importantly, he’s about to develop a fine understanding with Kabak, who covered him up very well at times tonight, while he kinda did the stopper’s work.
The lad is growing. He’ll never be the fastest, or the most technical center-back in the world, but the experience he’s allowed to mop up these days allows him to grow very fast. Let’s see how far it goes, he’s only 23, which is still a young age for a PL center back.
Just keep it simple Nat, do the things you’re strong at, and you’ll be fine. Carragher’s career with us is a fine example for that.
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Yeah he needs to stop with the fancy passing which caused some pressure, do the simple stuff effectively and it will be fine
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