The Central Midfield Thread

At some point, they are going to need replacing. I just wonder if it will all be done this window. It may be that they stagger the outlays over the next several windows.

But maybe not. I don’t know.

Our game always did need a more technical player in that high RM role that Hendo occupies
I think DSz occupies that, with Hendo in a rotation as well as in the #6 role with Fab.

After we signed Nunez last season Klopp spoke about transitioning to a a tactically flexible team that keeps the opponent wondering what the approach is from game to game.

I think this MF rebuild is getting us close to that goal after the debacle of last season.

Will be very interesting to see where the next domino falls in terms of our txfer market dealings, whether it be Kephren Thuram or a left-sided center back…

I also think many of us a writing Nunez off too soon, in terms of his prominence in the team going forward…

Trying to draw this on the football tactics board online.

What I would see is if the ball is lost on the half way line by Trent , you’ll have Konate/Gomez , Trent and the right sided #8 pressing while the DM along with Virgil and Robbo come back to form a back three. We probably want the opponents to overcommit to attacking that flank as the loss of possession there means the likes of Trent / Dominik can easily look to direct the ball to the left hand side with the likes of Macallister / Diaz etc are waiting to hold and progress the ball further.

What we’ve lacked with the last season is midfielders being able to move the ball forwards on a consistent basis (with the exception of Thiago)

He may take up positions there but his starting positon was right full back which removes this notion we need a right wing back, which was the post I was responding to.

He’s certainly not “starting” in midfield, nor do we need to consider Kostas as an inverted role.

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We usually don’t drop our deepest midfielder into defence, regardless of the phase of play. That’s the problem Fabinho had at the beginning. Back at the time when a player like that probably thought, “in a dominant team, in possession in our own half, I’ll just drop like Busquets did at the time”. Quite the contrary, we are a very vertical team and midfielders play in midfield. Even off the ball, we sometimes had our #6 pressing higher than our #8’s.

But back to what I wanted to say. We will not be able to defend in a 3-2-2-3 structure all the time. We will not drop one of Fabinho/Hendo (whoever is our main pivot on the day) into defence. There will have to be a reshuffle and people dropping also from attack and in midfield. Like City do it in their own way. Stones drops back, Walker goes across, Gundo drops, Grealish and Silva defend (and I mean, properly defend) the sides, Bruyne defends a tad deeper than Haaland. It doesn’t matter if they are a bit more possession based and we are bit more pressing based. In all games, we will need to have a structure what happens if our initial press doesn’t work (which is a lot of the time in a game).

We have a few options in those situations: Szoboszlai dropping to RCM in a 4-3-3 (regardless who is up front central, it’s actually a 4-5-1, but I say 4-3-3 just go give a clearer picture), Salah defending more than usually if he’s on the right in the middle of a 4-4-2, or maybe a third option where Szoboszlai would close the right side of midfield, Gakpo left as a left sided second striker and Salah still in his favourite role.

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Fify

Let’s go lads.


Exciting.

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Hopefully this thread become a snooze fest.

7,8,9,10. Some talent there.

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Darwin hasn’t got the #9 yet, has he?

He has, I posted it in his thread a couple of weeks ago.

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Not confirmed yet, no.

I’d love if we gave Trent, Bajcetic and Kelleher normal numbers.

Trent changing his number might never happen now, Kelleher won’t be here for long, so at least give Bajcetic a more normal one.

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While he probably will take the 9, you guys do know the difference between a confirmed announcement and somebody who has both photoshop AND twitter.

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Or if your son already bought the shirt with Nunez NO9 on.

Chuffed with our new midfield signings.

I have said all along that we need midfielders that are comfortable on the ball, can beat not only beat the press from the opposition, but also beat their man and have a good engine for the defensive side of our game.

For me we now need a 6 who can also be press resistant especially if we stay as a 4 3 3. If Thiago was younger and less injury prone then he would get the nod over Fab, however. If we continue with the the box midfield young Stefan could also be a great option if he continues last seasons development.

So far great business done in this transfer window :blush:

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No, but we all know he will go either this summer or in of the next few windows.

What if (heaven forbid) Alisson picks up a long-term injury in pre-season? We sure as hell won’t be spending fortunes on a new number one when we have Kelleher waiting in the wings.

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