Liverpool certainly haven’t found a way to solve their defensive problems thus far this season.

Jurgen Klopp was desperate to bring in Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk during the summer but his club messed up their pursuit and had to pull out of any chase for the Dutchman. They may go back in for the centre-back in January but there’s nothing to say that they can get their target in during that window either.

The Anfield club didn’t have any other potential options and they went with the defensive personnel that they already had and they’ve simply not been good enough this year.

With that in mind, maybe Klopp will surely have a few other options for the upcoming winter window and he might decide to bring in another central defender, even if he does get Van Dijk.

A possible option could be Huddersfield Town defender Christopher Schindler.

The twenty-seven year old has taken to Premier League football like a duck to water. He also managed forty-four appearances in the Championship last term, so he knows the English game well.

His form this term has seen plenty of plaudits head his way and even some pundits stating he could get a chance at international football with Germany. It should be noted that Christopher has represented his country at under-21 level.

His Terriers boss David Wagner has been quick to manage expectations:

“He has played six Premier League games and six outstanding ones but if the question is about being a German international, I think everyone should calm down,”

Huddersfield currently lie in an impressive tenth place in the league table. They’ve kept five clean-sheets in their opening eleven league games. In total they’ve conceded just thirteen times in those league fixtures, that’s very good for a newly promoted side.

In terms of stats, Schindler compares well with Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip.

Takles per game has the German at around 3.2 on average, while Lovren is down to 1 per game and Matip is slightly higher at 1.7.

With interceptions the Huddersfield Town centre-back has made around 2.3 per Premier League game. Croat Lovren has an average of less than one interception and Joel’s at 1.7 per league appearance.

Christopher has also made more blocks than the Liverpool duo and has a greater clearance record too. That might be because he’s playing at club that has to defend more but he’s defending properly and that’s the key.

The Anfield partnership both have a better passing success rate but only just. Lovren has also equalled Schindler’s aerial duals record at 3.7 per fixture.

The German defender has been booked three times and he picked up a red card in his last outing against West Brom. No player in the English top flight has a worse disciplinary record

I’m not saying that Christopher Schindler is the main answer to all Liverpool’s troubles but I think he could be a better man to have in the squad than say Ragnar Klavan and he’d give Dejan and Matip a run for their money too.

The central defender has been a key in Wagner’s success story at the Kirklees Stadium and as we know Jurgen Klopp has kept an eye on his good friend David’s work in West Yorkshire.

The Liverpool boss will have noticed fellow countryman Schindler’s assured performances and might think Christopher could help shore up the Merseyside club’s backline!

Posted on November 9th, 2017 by scott
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