22 Oct 2019 19:26:19
hi i am from romania and i love liverpool from back 2001 (i watched alaves vs liverpool uefa final cup) . I think Liverpool if want to be five star team ( now liverpool are 4,5 star team) need a world class midefield. I think this is what we don't have and city have :world class central midfielders like : david silva, de bruyne, bernando silva, gundogan. in the 3 central middfielders they have 2 middfieders every game. we don't have any one (maybe fabinho. but is defensive midd),
. allison -world class gk, defense world class, the front 3 world class. we need 2 world class midd.
22 Oct 2019 20:16:50
Gundogan isn't world class in his wildest, wettest dreams, and Bernado Silva usually plays in the front three, doesn't he? . I'll take your point on de Bruyne and David Silva, but they are truly exceptional players in the current game and trying to find someone with their quality isn't simply a matter of clicking your fingers and throwing a pile of cash at the problem.
Let's see how much they miss David Silva when he goes next season.
22 Oct 2019 20:37:25
Been over this a thousand times it feels like. But perhaps it's worth revisiting since our performances haven't been setting the league on fire lately. We play in different ways. If the midfield are given the ball to start all our attacks, where does that leave trent and robbo? And for city's 2 wc cms, they're still 6 points behind us.
22 Oct 2019 21:28:48
Exactly Robbie - we play a different way and our midfield have very specific jobs. Ox was at a stage before injury where he was performing both defensive and attacking roles to a high standard. Hopefully Ox or Keita will make one of the places their own. But you couldn't suddenly but KDB and D Silva in our midfield it would require a massive change of system.
Never forget what Hendo and Gini did at the back end of last season. They just need a refresh.
22 Oct 2019 21:51:53
We absolutely do need a world class midfielder, never mind 'we play a different way'. Our midfield is definitely the weakest point, none of them score goals and Henderson is awful at times.
22 Oct 2019 22:33:16
Spot on, Mark. Our midfield does a diff, job from what City does so comparing both midfields is like comparing apples to oranges, man.
SG84EVA, our midfield is set up to do a specific job which is press high, harry the opponent, not leave them a moment's rest on the ball and give them hell all day long. We are the best at what we do which is why they are not just smart footballers. They are exceptional athletes. Even City and Pep has fits playing against us. Now you saying they are our weakest point, could you elaborate as to why it is so?
Also When you say we need a world class midfielder, what type of midfielder do you have in mind? If it is one that can perform the functions that a Klopp midfield demands then pls, offer up some names so we can discuss. Peace.
22 Oct 2019 23:10:10
I know he won’t come, but I’d have Koke taking one of the spots, I believe he might be an upgrade.
23 Oct 2019 02:47:15
Robbie, Mark and Redwolf ye all understand exactly the role our midfield is performing in its specific purpose which is world class in how it performs. How could any team achieve what we have with a weak midfield. Impossible.
Busquets, xavi, iniesta were never scoring regular goals, they were playing to give the attack the best possible opportunities in Barcelona and Spain's success.
Madrid won 4 CL with modric, kroos, casemeiro not scoring goals.
Pjanic, khedira, matuidi don't score many in juves domination of Italian league.
Great AC Milan of mid 00s didn't get many goals from gattuso, seedorf and pirlo.
Each of those midfields are there to dominate the control and dictate the pace and direction of the game to best suit their teams chance of winning.
England showed you can't just stick 4 world class midfielders in Beckham Gerrard lampard scholes together and expect success.
23 Oct 2019 03:14:15
We’ve shown this season that we can play other systems than 4-3-3 and, that being the case, an attacking midfielder could be accommodated.
Keita could and should be that man but, otherwise, there’s players like James Maddison, Bruno Fernandes and, dare I say it, Philippe Coutinho who would be ideal candidates.
Ed002 thinks we may look to a midfielder / AM in Summer 2020, so an upgrade is on the cards.
23 Oct 2019 05:40:48
Houssem Aouar imo is the answer to our midfield issues. Extremely press resistant, brilliant passer of the ball, knows when to pick those passes and links up better in the final third. Huge upgrade on Hendo and Gini.
We need to refresh the squad in the summer anyway. That's how you keep the squad consistent and performing be at a high level for future seasons. The squad players especially need to be moved on and replaced with younger talent that can challenge and eventually displace our first team players in a few seasons when they are finished at the highest level.
23 Oct 2019 08:26:41
It’s a really interesting debate and only time will tell, probably February, whether not strengthening in the summer will come to the fore and bite us on the bum, we can see already the likes of Trent looking jaded and with a lack of cover at left back, it’s a concern because Robbo is going to need a rest too
Sunday showed exactly why, as it did last season ( against Everton too ) that when teams sit back with a back 5 and stop the space for Trent and Robbo to run into, we struggle.
Naby showed on Sunday that he can be the player to do this for us this season, he just needs to keep fit. As for the Ox, I think again, his direct running is what we need. What folk need to remember though is that he’s back from a very lengthy lay off and physiologically this can have a massive effect on a player. I don’t expect to see the best of the ox until next year if I’m honest.
23 Oct 2019 08:27:09
Not read everything above but what we could really benefit from is a Kante in the team, imagine?
23 Oct 2019 09:01:02
But even Kante is not going to score or provide assists. He can't get the ball forward any quicker than Hendo. Kante is a brilliant player and an improvement but I could see him more playing the Fabs role.
We have Keita and the OX we will need at least one to play regular for a successful season IMO.
23 Oct 2019 13:23:51
I could be wrong but sounds like re acting to the man u game. We had a stinker this past weekend but in my opinion it was down to mentality rather than ability. Read some where that the Lyon kid would be an upgrade to Gini, interesting statement. Context does matter and right now in my limited opinion we probably have the best Mid to compliment the way the boss wants to play.
23 Oct 2019 19:26:04
Exactly, OKD. It is the same old reaction each time we don't win the odd game. When were were winning all those games, no one mentioned the so called "lack of midfield creativity" BUT when we don't win (not even lose) a game where we did not play well enuff to win, the whole "we need a no. 10) stuff crops up again. It is the same thing all the time as if we all slept through all those 17 straight wins.
We all know Klopp does not use a classic no. 10 and that much is clear and we have been very successful w/ o one esp. since Cou was sold and Ox came in, who at the time suits Klopp's mid. system perfectly cos their job is to win the ball high and spring into attack directly from there. And someone mentioned Kante. He would be a HUGE upgrade in the Klopp system but he is npot a no. 10 so we are right where we started.