Rhys Williams in impossible position with 3 things working against him

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Rhys Williams finds himself in an impossible position right now. The youngster didn’t play well against Manchester United.

Joel Matip was out thus Rhys Williams had to take a position at centre-half against Manchester United. Williams didn’t play well, however, as Liverpool looked weak at the back.

But that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Williams is fighting against several problems, with each one snowballing into a difficult situation.

Not ready

Williams is not ready to play at the top level. In general, very few players are. Perhaps he will be one day but right now, Williams isn’t good enough.

You mainly see it with his positioning. Williams often finds himself too high up the pitch or too far away from his man.

It’s one of the reasons we worried about him against a team that counter-attacks like Manchester United.

As of right now, taking his age out of the equation, Williams just isn’t good enough right now. He has positives and is capable of fine performances but as a regular, he’s not at the right level.

Learning

What makes that worse is that Williams is still just 19. He’s going to make mistakes. It happens with every 19-year-old.

In fact, Liverpool’s draw with West Brom came on the back of Curtis Jones making a silly error. It happens as it has to – these players are still learning.

That means they will, naturally, run into situations where they don’t know what to do and make the wrong decision.

Add that to Williams, though, who isn’t ready for this level as it is. Now you’ve got a player who’s trying to learn far too much and has to do it in big games.

Position

Take those first two points, then add them to the fact Williams plays centre-half. A position that does not forgive mistakes.

If a forward misses a chance, he gets another. If he doesn’t see a pass and makes a wrong choice, you sometimes don’t even notice.

But at centre-half, you make a mistake and the opposition will probably score. You just can’t afford to make them. A defender’s greatest skill is not making mistakes.

It’s why you don’t typically see top clubs play with young centre-halves. Virtually every elite defender made their breakthrough outside of the Champions League clubs.

It’s just easier to develop there, where the pressure isn’t as high. A club like Groningen, Celtic or Southampton is far more likely to excuse a young Virgil van Dijk’s mistakes than Liverpool.

So in Williams, you’ve got a player who isn’t ready, who’s young, and who plays in a positions where mistakes are amplified.

Liverpool have put him in an impossible position this season. One where he was never going to win.

Not that we blame them – what else could they do? They have three senior defenders and all are out injured.

It’s a shame for Williams, who has to deal with scrutiny when it’s not really his fault.