Dec
9
Stephen Darby v Fiorentina
Filed Under Liverpool FC, Reserves | 2 Comments
Stephen Darby made his full team debut against Fiorentina in the champions league dead-rubber. I’m sure he was delighted just to get some competitive football after missing out on opportunities last year (Middlesbrough away) due to injury and seeing Kelly leapfrog him in the pecking order pre-season.
However, these were difficult circumstances to make your debut:, playing alongside the unfamiliar partnership of Skrtel and Agger, and with Benayoun playing on the right hand side so offering less defensive cover than Dirk Kuyt.
Darby did ok for the first 91 minutes, without exciting in the way that Martin Kelly did against Lyon. He was good in the air, disciplined defensively but provided overlapping runs when he could. He got caught out by quicker players a couple of times. The first really good chance that Fiorentina had came down Darby’s side and he was turned inside out by a pass in the channel and couldn’t get back to stop the cross.
Generally though the right flank looked more solid than the left hand side, which was the focus of the Fiorentina attack, particularly in the first half. Martin Skrtel provided good cover for Darby which helped, because there was a lack of support from midfield.
Darby was unfortunate for the first goal. He probably got his positioning right but he couldn’t get to the ball played across goal in time to block the shot. But you wouldn’t have criticised Carragher for a similar pattern of play.
Sadly for Stephen his performance will be marked by the second goal where he was caught in posession and was then unable to get back as he was brushed aside by the highly-talented Juan Vargas. It’s unfair to dwell on it – and in the 93rd minute whilst he should have been concentrating particularly hard, in truth he was probably knackered for having played his first full 90 minutes – and his first game in about a month.
But it’s also true that he came under increasing pressure in the last 20 minutes as Liverpool pushed forward and Fiorentina played on the break. There were a couple of nervy clearances and he put the ball out of play on a couple of occasions when, with more experience, he might have shepherded it out.
I’d really like to see Darby succeed. He’s been at Liverpool a really long time, shows tremendous commitment and is a ‘proper defender’ in the way that others aren’t. However, his first team chances are going to be limited at Liverpool and he can’t be expected to learn an awful lot playing a third or even fourth season in the reserve team. He’s a player that really needs to go out on loan to a lower division side. But as we saw with Jack Hobbs, it’s hard to find a good side which will gamble on inexperienced defenders.
But for now whilst he did little wrong, Darby reiterated his consistent performances for the reserves without making a clear case that he’s ready to play at a higher level. How he responds in training over the next few days will be a key indication of his future prospects.
No related posts.
darby was solid for me – it was unfortunate that his one mistake led to us losing the game. he got forward, played the ball safe and defensively was solid.
but…kelly showed more in his debut. then there is johnson. then there are others coming up from the lower echelons
the reserves mr reliable is seriously up against it to find his career here. its sad, but its true. and its a shame considering that actually darby didn’t do a great deal wrong.
Good read mate. It wasn’t an easy game for the lad with the form we’re in but I though he was competent enough bar the bad mistake at the end, which still could have been defended better in the box. The left side, most notably Insua, was the bigger problem all game.
He probably won’t make it here with Kelly now ahead of him but the glee with which some idiots are laying into him is embarrassing.