The Liverpool first team lacks a strong spine making them ill-equipped for the battle and bluster of the Premier League. They have to improve the central areas to succeed.
When Jürgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool in October 2015 we were all excited about the ‘heavy metal’ football that he was famous for creating. The reality has been more Bluegrass. Sure, it gets fast sometimes but we’re still playing with banjos.
When you list the Liverpool players that have done consistently well this season a theme will emerge; Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Philippe Coutinho, Alberto Moreno, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez. All players who have played most, often all, of their football out wide. Andrew Robertson would also be on this list if we knew where he was.
All the players in central areas have disappointed more than they have impressed. The three center backs – Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan – have been worryingly inconsistent at best and a car crash at their worst.
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The midfield trio of Jordan Henderson, Emre Can and Gini Wijnaldum have no balance or natural defensive instincts between them. Our sub-standard center halves have no help from these three. James Milner can do it against Maribor but was a passenger against Spurs at Wembley.
Roberto Firmino deserves more praise than the rest. When he plays well, the whole team plays well. But teams are working out that if you can shut Firmino down then the whole flow of the attack is muted. Teams only have to worry about the pace of Salah and/or Mane. Firmino is not going to break open a tiered Premier League defense on his own like some of his contemporaries can.
Creating a juggernaut
Manchester United did little business in the summer, They only added two first teamers; Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic. These two additions have helped make them stronger and smarter in the central areas and suddenly a sixth place joke are now a virtual lock for a Champions League place.
We just experienced a Pochettino masterclass of how to dominate central areas with excellent center backs and a stacked midfield. They have a pretty good striker too. Man City are the benchmark right now; full of pace, skill and deadly attacking threat. But they have Fernandinho tie it together and moved de Bruyne centrally to bully defenders. They also two pretty good strikers.
We aim to be Man City but we are much nearer to Arsenal; lacking in physical power, ruthless efficiency with a soft mentality. Think about what we need to compete; a goalkeeper, a center half (or two), a defensive midfielder and a true striker. I’m also not including Naby Keita, he will help the midfield for sure but he will be our box-to-box player not our defensive anchor.
Next: Missing Mascherano? All of Benitez' signings ranked
Some of this transfer work can be done in January but we urgently need to add strength, composure and consistently to all our central areas. Then we can trade in some of these banjos for some real guitars.