Isn’t that the last thing we need?
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I saw a segment on ESPN with Nicol speaking about it and I think he was joking. I don’t think he was being serious.
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It was definitely said in jest.
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Tah is too short?? Are you talking about Jonathan Tah? Cos the Wiki says the lad is a strapping 6’5". I would hardly call that too short!!
Would have no problem with bringing in Tah. Big strong and relatively fast. Still some potential in him.
Don’t really understand why he is not a clear starter for Leverkusen but they play a pretty attacking style (speaking of high line) and that might mean his coach doesn’t think he suits that style.
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What if Real crashes out of the CL and we put in a cheeky bid for Varane who will have 18 months left on his contract in january.
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Trust me, at this point I was thinking you were referring to length of the names 
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Varane,that useless cunt at Real,fuck that.
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We usually go for centre backs who can play the ball from the back. Having them being able to play multiple positions is a bonus. I am not against the idea that having a physically imposing centre back could benefit us, in fact Kabak and Upemacano would be defenders who can do the job Virgil can do if not as excellently.
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Injury is something we cannot predict and our purchases especially recently has been players who can play multiple positions. We need players who can play several styles to deal with any situation thrown at us. Fabinho is an example of one such player who can do so many things.
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Boubacar Kamara and Ben White can both be aerially dominant, or at least can learn how to be more dominant. that being said, I don’t see why these defenders can’t do both jobs. They are talented enough and defenders no longer play that typical hard man role alone. If your answer for this position Tarkowski or some player like that, I don’t know if that would suit our style of play.
Both quite rubbish in the league last year and would have to improve at an unlikely rate to create anything but a major weakness for us. Any CB we purchase is highly likely to end up making a CB partnership with Gomez whilst VvD is out. If they’re young enough then the hope would also surely be that long term they’d be Gomez future partner once VvD gets old enough to become a squad Player or has moved on. In the league last year White had an aerial duel success rate of just 51.41% and Kamara 55% with Gomez 58.82%. You compare that to VvD at 76.1% Matip at 90.38% and even Lovren at 64.47% was better. The idea of Gomez being our best CB in the air, something most would consider his biggest weakness, worries me. I can’t see us being able to accommodate more than one CB in the side who isn’t dominant in the air with the way we play and how it opens us up to certain types of attack.
Yes yes, but what is his jump height? 
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Are we talking a static air jump or a running jump? The detail is the only important stat.
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Wait, let me ring up Dortmund Fan, he’s the expert on these important things.
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Would prefer Upamecano. Toss Leipzig a couple millions pounds above his release clause to convince them to sell him in January. Then we’ve got an excellent VVD/Upamecano/Gomez/Matip CB rotation, with Williams and Koumetio as future rotation players who can start it some of the domestic cups.
If you are focused on aerial dominance , then in the premier league the player with the highest number of aerial battles won is James Tarkowski, followed by VVD.
If its europe
Highest percentages of aerial duels won in Europe’s top 5 Leagues by Transfermarkt:
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Bruno Alves (Parma) 78,4% [€1m]
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Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool) 74,9 [€100m]
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Grant Hanley (Norwich) 70,1% [€2.5m]
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Francesco Acerbi (Lazio) 70,1% [€15m]
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James Tarkowski (Burnley) 69,6% [€25m]
But i think your not looking enough at Interceptions especially when it comes to Ben White, in Leeds last season Ben White was no 1 in the championship for interceptions. His read of the game is quite highly rated by some of the best footballing minds in the world.
As for Kamara, played most of the season as a 20 year old in a Marseile team that qualified for the UCL. And his pass interception stats are incredible. Not to mention for a young 20 year old, he managed to do quite well in the tackling department. This is a kid who had almost equal amount of tackles as Virgil has from last season when Virg almost played every game for us. He dwarfed David alaba who played centre back last season for Bayern Munich in almost every statistic in the defensive category. So while i get your point about aerial supremacy, i think having a all rounder who can be good in all departments, should not be overlooked, thats all im saying.
It’s not just about aerial ability but it’s a huge factor for us.
Last season we were the third best team in the league for successful aerial duels. You removed VvDs and we were the second worst.
The style of play we have almost openly invites three attacking approaches. 1 Set pieces, force a set piece and try your luck. 2 overload the wings, bomb down one of the wings outnumbering that sides full back so can look to get an early cross in. 3 long balls over the top for either quick forwards to run onto beating the semi high line or target men to bring it down/nod it down to a team mate. Aerial ability/vulnerability makes or breaks us in standing up to that.
Our CBs have large areas to patrol and need to be strong and quick. They’ll get in plenty of ground duels and yeah sure tackles and interceptions will matter (success rates not numbers though as some teams will get large numbers because of the teams fortunes not the players ability), I’m not saying focus on aerial duels and ignore everything else. We also need to focus on competence on the ball as we need CBs who are at least competent and confident on the ball even if not at Gomez or VvD level so passing accuracy (short and long) matters too.
But whatever CB we look to bring in will almost certainly end up in a regular partnership with Gomez whilst VvD is out injured. Plus if we recruit reasonably young then they’ll end up in a long term partnership with Gomez once VvD drops down the pecking order or moves on as he ages. So whoever we bring in needs to compliment Gomez. Gomez is a fantastic CB who, when in form, is at nearly world class level on nearly everything a CB in our system has to do but his main weakness is being only average in the air. So his partner needs to be good to compensate.
I hate using stats but to give a starting point I use the squawka comparison matrix to look at performance last season in the league for a players aerial duel success, ground duel success, passing accuracy and long pass accuracy. It’s funny just how many of people’s suggestions don’t meet the standards on many of those factors before you look any further. On top of that very basic stat check need to check their pace (due to the large areas our CBs end up covering) and physicality (English league has a reputation for a reason). A good injury record is a huge boon too.
That’s the foundation I think Klopp needs. Klopp and the coaching team are the x factor. Through training, education, tactics etc. they can take a CB who isn’t great at reading the game and being in the right place and improve those areas of their game. Same with our fitness guys getting a guy mobile and athletic. We seem real good at getting players to bulk up without losing that athleticism so getting a naturally fast but bulky player and getting them agile is almost certainly within their ability. Also taking into account the way our team do recruitment then the tactics of the owning team and that team and the players form won’t matter. They’ll be concentrating on the attributes and skills of the player not how they’re being used and how well they are doing someone else’s roles.
That’s basically a long winded summary of how I’m thinking and why when it comes to CB options. So someone like Tarkowski might seem a possibility on duels for instance but not great on passing. Someone like Tah who comes across out of form and lumbering has a reasonable bedrock to work with and could be a dark horse that wouldn’t be that surprising to me. Dan-Axel Zagadou seems the perfect young option but has had a rotten couple of years with injuries. Upamecano seems all shiny and classy and high on loads of wish lists but will really not compliment Gomez that great and would make a partnership that would be really vulnerable in the air.
All this is just my opinions based on very very basic interpretation of the situation and I could easily be reading things wrong or jumping to incorrect conclusions. Nobody has to take me seriously. But it’s why I don’t like or believe in certain choices or links. We’ll see I guess.
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Would be a shame to lose Nat Phillips on a free in the summer but it’s likely to happen unless he would settle for a long term 5th choice spot.
After the performances of Rhys and Nat I think bringing in another CB in January will depend on injuries of Gomez, Matip and Fabinho between now and the mid January.
I am not naive and sure that sooner or later being without VvD will cost us. Maybe tomorrow or maybe in the CL KO when it matters most.
So I hope that if bringing in a CB in summer was a long term priority we will do that in january already if the right player is available.
I am not sure, that his contract is up at 2021. Before joining Stuttgart on loan last season he singed new contract and it was reported as “long-term” (link). So I expect it to be at least 3 years, so I think it is 2022, not 2021.
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If we get an offer in January, I think we’re selling Phillips (and Larouci, hopefully). If there’s no new big injuries, of course. But we also might react by bringing someone in.