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The former Liverpool defender reflects on his time at the club and how he could return one day – as Steven Gerrard’s assistant
In the company of certain people it’s impossible to avoid certain topics and Djimi Traoré probably knew what was coming before this interview even started. We were principally meeting, via Zoom, to discuss his coaching career, which has interestingly taken him from Seattle to Scandinavia, but inevitably there was a need to address the elephant in the room. Or to be precise, the own goal versus Burnley.
It is a moment that has gone down in football blunders folklore and, to a large extent, defined Traoré’s time as a player, an 18-year period that saw him represent 10 clubs in three countries, feature for Mali and win a number of trophies, notably the Champions League with Liverpool. It is a distinguished CV, yet ask people, Liverpool supporters especially, to assess Traoré and most are likely to speak of a defender as clumsy as he was limited, with much of that linked to what he did at Turf Moor in January 2005, attempting to clear a Richard Chaplow cross with a Cruyff-like turn that went so badly the ball ended up dribbling off his left instep and into an empty net.
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In the company of certain people it’s impossible to avoid certain topics and Djimi Traoré probably knew what was coming before this interview even started. We were principally meeting, via Zoom, to discuss his coaching career, which has interestingly taken him from Seattle to Scandinavia, but inevitably there was a need to address the elephant in the room. Or to be precise, the own goal versus Burnley.
It is a moment that has gone down in football blunders folklore and, to a large extent, defined Traoré’s time as a player, an 18-year period that saw him represent 10 clubs in three countries, feature for Mali and win a number of trophies, notably the Champions League with Liverpool. It is a distinguished CV, yet ask people, Liverpool supporters especially, to assess Traoré and most are likely to speak of a defender as clumsy as he was limited, with much of that linked to what he did at Turf Moor in January 2005, attempting to clear a Richard Chaplow cross with a Cruyff-like turn that went so badly the ball ended up dribbling off his left instep and into an empty net.
Continue reading...
More...