Andy Robertson: Liverpool’s Flying Scotsman

By Walid Boukabous

The 2019-2020 season had finally brought around Liverpool’s first title in 30 years. This was largely down to their stellar defence. This season, the story could not be more different.

Without their defensive giants Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, Liverpool have looked more fragile than last season and, in turn, less intimidating.

Alongside this, both Trent Alexander-Arnold and Alisson Becker have further compounded Liverpool’s defensive woes by picking up little niggles across the season. However, through all their troubles, Andy Robertson’s form and fitness has never wavered. Arguably Liverpool’s best player this season, we take a look at who Andy Robertson is and how is he so important to how Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool play.

The rise of “Robbo”

Born and raised in Glasgow, Robertson’s route to the top was unconventional to say the least. Originally a Celtic youth player, he was released aged 15, considered too small. Robbed of representing his boyhood club, Robertson joined Queens Park’s development team whilst undertaking an undergraduate degree. Sure enough, his quality and academy upbringing shone through, with Robertson handed his Queens Park debut in the 2012-2013 season.

He went on to make only 33 more appearances, scoring twice, before Scottish Premier League club Dundee United pounced. Clearly a cut above during his time at Queens Park, his impact at Dundee was as big. The marauding runs and fierce defending that we have become accustomed to became incredibly evident during his first and only season with The Terrors. This burgeoning reputation was only further enhanced when he was called up, for the first time, to represent Scotland whilst being named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year 2013-2014 and scooping PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year. Another move beckoned.

This time Steve Bruce’s Hull City parted with around £3 million for the full-back. He quickly made the left back role his and played 24 times in a season where Hull dropped out of the Premier League. The following season, Hull retrieved their Premier League berth via a Mohamed Diame goal in a tightly contested play-off final against Sheffield Wednesday. Again, Robertson impressed in a defence that contained future United captain Harry Maguire and former Villa defender Curtis Davies. Nevertheless, Hull found out how cut-throat the Premier League was and, despite impressive performances against Liverpool and Manchester United, were unable to consolidate their Premier League status.

In July 2017, the following summer, Liverpool and Klopp decided they had seen enough of Alberto Moreno at left-back and that, despite his impressive performances, James Milner was not a long-term solution. This led to the Merseyside outfit paying Hull City a paltry £8 million for the services of Andy Robertson. Initially phased in slowly, Robertson made his debut in a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace but had to bide his time as increased competition saw the form of Moreno dramatically improve.

However, in December 2017, Moreno picked up a knock which allowed for Robertson to deputise at left back. He has since gone on to cement himself as Liverpool’s first choice left back and one of the best Premier League and Liverpool full backs to date. Alongside a Champions League and Premier League medal, he has accumulated several individual awards, from back-to-back Premier League Team of the Year selections (18-19,19-20) to a UEFA Team of the Year spot (2019). He and Trent Alexander-Arnold have both recorded double digit assists in successive seasons whilst following in the playing mould of former iconic full backs such as Dani Alves, Ashley Cole & Roberto Carlos, albeit more productively.

Why he is so important to Liverpool

Andy Robertson has proved to be an astute pick-up for Liverpool. He is a fantastic two way player, who is as good at delivering a pin-point final ball to the prolific front three as he is at defending one-on-one situations. His well-rounded ability has led to him becoming a mainstay in this team and a piece that is vital to the well-oiled machine that is Klopp’s Liverpool.

He is often afforded the freedom to play virtually as a left-sided midfielder due to the support and foundational work of Jordan Henderson from his 8 role and the cover that Van Dijk provides down the left thanks to Fabinho slotting between him and Gomez to become an auxiliary centre back, allowing Van Dijk to push wider.

This allows for Robertson to push forward and create two-against-one situations against opposing full backs alongside Sadio Mané. The partnership that Robertson and Mané have developed down the left for Liverpool has become telepathic on an offensive and defensive level. Mané often provides the support necessary defensively so that Robertson never finds himself in situations that him and Mané put other full backs in.

The most common situation is Robertson overlapping Mané to receive the ball from Mané himself, Van Dijk or Alexander-Arnold, to then cut the cross back to Mané who has drifted centrally but closer to the edge of the box. This allows Mané to free himself from defenders who are anticipating the cross and therefore position himself closer to the goal. An example of this goal would be Newcastle at Anfield last season. Liverpool came out victorious thanks to a Mané brace but his first was the epitome of a Mané-Robertson goal. Mané receives the ball from a cutback from the Scotland captain and finds himself in enough space to curl a delicious finish into the top corner in front of the Kop.

Another key aspect of Liverpool’s play that involves Robertson is their switches of play. Liverpool often have the majority of possession and tend to find teams are more compact centrally against them, in order to attempt to negate the threat of Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian forward often drops deeper than a normal striker to collect the ball between the lines and feed Salah, Mané and the overlapping full-backs, Robertson and Alexander-Arnold.

As a counter to this, Liverpool have begun to switch play more spontaneously through their full-backs. Often a move associated with a dee- lying playmaker, Robertson and Alexander-Arnold both bide their time before switching play when noticing the opposing teams shape has dragged towards their side. This means that if play is switched successfully, the receiving full-back tends to find himself in oceans of space with runners into the box.

A perfect example of this type of goal would be Mohamed Salah’s 13^th minute header in the 3-1 victory over Manchester City last season at Anfield. City had set up compactly and were affording Liverpool little space with the opener coming through a Fabinho wonderstrike. That was until Alexander-Arnold innately switched play to Robertson, who drove into the space City had afforded him by committing centrally. He then whipped a sensational ball to the far post which Mohamed Salah duly nodded in.

Of course, both of these situations and parts of Liverpool’s play don’t happen or function as well if Robertson’s delivery isn’t up to scratch. Luckily for Liverpool, there isn’t a full back in the world, bar his partner in crime Alexander-Arnold, who delivers a ball consistently as well as Andy Robertson. At the time of writing, only Kevin De Bruyne has provided more assists (30) than Robertson (28) since August 2018, whilst only Alexander-Arnold has provided more assists (13) in one season for a defender than Robertson (12). The numbers speak for themselves and to further reinforce Robertson’s delivery prowess, he is now Liverpool’s designated corner taker over Henderson, Alexander-Arnold and Wijnaldum, signifying his standing as one of the most dangerous final ball providers in the world.

Defensively, he also excels. This is an area where he dwarfs Alexander-Arnold as the Scottish full back thrives in battles against opposing wingers. Incredibly quick, stronger than he looks and full of energy, he is never lacking in the physical aspect of the game. However, neither was Alberto Moreno, who was arguably quicker and as energetic as Robertson. Yet, the defensive IQ and tackling ability is what sets the two apart.

Rarely caught out, Robertson handles tricky wingers as easily as he handles pacey wingers or inverted ones. His concentration levels are impressive and his defensive skillset is as complete as his offensive one. However, if there was one weakness, it would still be the one that cost him his place at Celtic: his lack of height means that aerially adept forwards tend to drift towards the back stick where he is stationed.

Often not a problem due to the presence of the imperious Virgil Van Dijk, this weakness was exposed almost instantly after Van Dijk’s injury. In the same game against Everton, 2-1 up, Lucas Digne floated a cross far post to which Dominic Calvert-Lewin pinned Robertson and headed past Adrian to equalise. Although he could have and should have done better with bothering Calvert-Lewin, there is little shame in being beaten by a 6 foot 2 forward who is arguably one of the best headers of the ball in Europe. Yet the weakness remains.

All in all, Andy Robertson will go down as a Premier League great and a Liverpool icon. Representative of the ‘Give It Your All’ attitude that Liverpool now embody and remarkably talented for a player that plays in a position Jamie Carragher once said was for “failed wingers”, Robertson has maintained his levels this season, if not, furthered them. If Liverpool are going to recover from their recent stumble and retain their title, they are going to need all their players to channel their inner Andy Robertson, mentality and form wise.

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