Okay, so is Andy Robertson a left winger because he bombs on when we have the ball?
Just because Trent plays more inside than outside now does not negate the fact he’s still a right back and not a midfielder. The three other midfielders and a lack of someone else at right back is a pretty big clue.
His position is right back. His role is different to that of a typical right back. But he is not starting games instead of another midfielder and we’re pretty short of other right back options to consider him as a serious option to start as part of that midfield three.
Our formation often looks like a 325 or a 3223. 4 men in a box in the middle, width provided by the wide players, or sometimes the two most advanced midfielders drifting wide. Jones did that pretty well last year, Henderson/Elliot attempted it too.
Obviously it’s not set in stone, football is a game with a lot of moving parts, but that’s the general pattern we’ve seen over the last 12 games or so.
I only ask because when we’re assessing the squad 7 into 3 and 8 into 4 are certainly different. The biggest concern to me would be Thiago’s fitness and how much we can rely on Bajčetić at his age. (Not to say we can’t, but I think it’s a question mark.)
We are in possession about 60% of any given game (and that was with Henderson and Fabinho in midfield - it’ll go up with Mac Allister and Szoboszlai). Trent will spend far more time in midfield than anywhere else because we are starting attacks more often than we are defending.
I think its better to get away from this idea of static positions. This is where you would typically see each of them on the field in different situations:
Irrespective of where he’s playing, we’ll have 7 players for 3 midfield positions. If Trent’s out, we’re playing a different system. Trent isn’t stepping into any of the other midfield positions.
That’s why I’m not including him. It’s irrelevant to the discussion.
But Gakpo is hardly going to play in the deeper midfield positions, is he?
I think there is at least some ??? about the group of Trent, Lavia, Thiago, and Bajčetić for those two positions.
I lean towards the idea that having all of Jones, Lavia, Elliott, and Bajčetić is exciting, but it’s an exceedingly young group. But my expectations for the season are only that Top 4 is the minimum requirement and anything else is gravy, which we should accomplish pretty easily even with a young team.
No, but Mac Allister can (as he did at Brighton). Gakpo could drop into midfield, Mac Allister move back. Might not be our first port of call but it’s an option if injuries start to mount up.
If we have Lavia, we have Thiago/Lavia/Mac for number 6. Mac/ Jones/ Szoboszlai/ Elliott/ Gakpo for double 10. Only concern its no one can replace Trent. But its hard to find trent backup IMO.
If TAA was going be a CM then we wouldn’t be signing another CM. Anyhow glad nothing new, bar some bollocks from two bullshitters and a bloke who hides behind an NHS logo.
The point is, irrespective of whether Trent plays tucked in or in a more traditional overlapping role, we still play with three out and out midfielders. He is not playing as one of those three. Therefore when it comes to discussions of “do we have the number of midfielders we need?” it’s nonsensical to count Trent as a “midfielder” because he isn’t fulling one of those three midfield roles.
Also when we are defending he’s playing more of a typical right full back role. He’s not sat centrally in midfield with someone else covering that flank. And there’s still three actual midfielders playing in midfield still.
So no, he’s not someone I would class as an option when we’re discussing our midfield needs. If we go out and buy another player who can play a right back role then maybe the intention is to have him be more of an option there but right now our options behind him are Gomez and Bradley so I’d imagine he’ll be playing that role that involves being at right back a fair amount of the time.
Liverpool started official talks with Southampton on Monday for Romeo Lavia. Southampton are open to selling Lavia. Romeo Lavia has chosen Liverpool & Klopp, he’s convinced. -
