Pick of the month: January

January's pick of the month is an interesting tactical analysis of Liverpool from EPLIndex . There's no joint award this month and even if there have been brilliant articles since the turn of the year, this one is a fantastic insight into the direction Rodgers is taking Liverpool.

Why Daniel Sturridge Solves Liverpool's Tactical Problems is more than just an analysis of what Daniel Sturridge brings to Liverpool on the pitch, it is a comprehensive overview of the changes in formation, the solutions brought by such changes and the attacking as well as defensive approaches Liverpool adopt in such a tactical arrangement. Since this article has been published, Liverpool have played in a similar way with slight modifications to Jordan Henderson's and Luis Suarez's positioning on the field. It's great reading after the away draws against Arsenal and Man City last week.

Kudos to Jed Davies otherwise known as TPiMBW.
You can find out more about Jed Davies through his site at jeddavies.com

Liverpool's February Agenda

A few quick observations on Liverpool's February schedule with two league games and a two-legged European tie to round off February after a fantastic, dominant performance against Man City at the Etihad Stadium. Another silly mistake saw a potential victory end in a heartening/deflating (delete as desired) draw. Noel C at The Liverpool Offside intelligently looked at whether it was just mistakes that have resulted in dropped points this season. If anyone actually wants to get a closer look at how good Liverpool actually were, Nate at ohyoubeauty constructed a fantastic visualisation full of stats, images and analysis as per usual.

Pick of the month: December

Following last month's pick of the month from The Hard Tackle on Borussia Dortmund, there was the realisation that one day, one month there may have to be a joint award from different websites. The Anfield Wrap ensured that 13 December 2012 would be an excellent day for football fans who visited the site with two fantastic articles.

Falling Out Of Love? [MODERN FOOTBALL IS SHITE] is a timely appraisal of modern football in England and where it's heading. Football is littered with denizens from the working classes but with the behemoth known English Premier League growing larger with each TV deal and billionaire owner, is falling out of love inevitable? Kudos to Ben McCausland.

Lucas the Lazarus is a brilliant overview of Lucas Leiva's journey at Liverpool from unwanted man in the middle to essential cog in the Liverpool machine. Not every underwhelming young player will make supporters feel like finding their words and grinding them into oblivion but perhaps it would be wise to temper our criticism of young players. Kudos to Andy Gargett.

There can only be one

January is a funny time in modern football. It's an opportunity for football managers, directors of flying footballs and the chiefiest of executives to scour the globe for bargains. Some will wait until the last day of the window to sign a couple of players much in the same way Daniel Levy has successfully done. Others will overlook the sense used by Levy and others to sanction the signing of the next Andy Carroll. It was truly "a hell of a deal" indeed. January is also a time where losing key players is to be avoided. At all costs? Last January, one Demba arrived to support another and this January one Demba leaves another.