A Positive Problem – How will Liverpool line up this season?

Liverpool’s £50 million summer spending spree, which looks set to usurp their January transfer activity, is generally positive news for Liverpool fans. It is clear that the strategy being employed by Mr Dalglish, Commoli and Fenway Sports Group is to bring in young British talent, to build a team for the future. A cunning and necessary technique, as the rules of home-grown players look like being instated over the coming years. On top of this, Barcelona epitomise the benefits of fielding home-grown players, not only to them, but to the current world champions Spain.

Jordan Henderson is a clear example of this. Yes the price may be a little on the side of ‘hopeful’, but Liverpool are paying for an investment. The 21-year-old has signed a five-year deal and would be expected to extend that too. So, that averages at the most as £4 million each year, which Fenway Sports Group probably carry in their back pockets. FIFA placed Henderson on their list of young players to watch in 2011, before his Liverpool transfer, and he is widely thought to be one of England’s most promising players. Stewart Downing’s inflated price-tag is more of an issue than Henderson’s. Here Liverpool are paying extra not for the calibre of the player but for what he can bring to the side – a cross to land on Andy Carroll’s hefty forehead, along with determination and a desire to play. Charlie Adam is the bargain of the dealings so far, perhaps Blackpool were as convinced as the rest of us that Adam was in his early 30’s, but in fact he’s only 25! He still has, potentially, six years at the top of his game and is widely seen as the only player to be able to (nearly) fill the boots of Xabi Alonso, which have been neglected at the bottom of the Liverpool kit bag for two seasons now.

But these new signings create a somewhat unexpected problem for Liverpool in the coming season. A team often criticised for the lack of depth now has a selection dilemma, particularly in midfield. Admittedly, this is a nice problem to have, and is a bit like Milan Jovanovic wondering whether to get a Ferrari or a Jaguar with his eye-watering weekly wage of £120,000 for doing, well, not much. A problem though needs a solution, and I’m going to explore the most likely possibilities, whilst Milan ponders on which car to have and inevitably buys both, just because he can.

Let’s first assume that Pepe Reina will be the man between the sticks. On top of this, to ease the selection process, let’s temporarily discard Spearing, Shelvey, Poulsen and Jovanovic, who have all been widely thought to be leaving this year, be it loans or permanent deals, although Spearing has recently rejected a proposed loan move to Wolves. That leaves Liverpool’s midfield with Gerrard, Henderson, Adam, Lucas, Aquilani and Meireles with wingers of Maxi, Downing and possibly Kuyt. This is where the ‘problem’ lies.

Option 1 – An unlikely but attractive solution

 

This line up is a mouth-watering attacking prospect but perhaps doesn’t achieve the defensive balance that would be required. A three man back-line would be shaky and teams with pace down the wings, which is most in today’s game, would chew up the grass in front of them – dragging with them the ‘full-back’ and thus creating space in the middle. Although, Lucas would offer good defensive cover and Adam himself has said that centre-back is his best position. Going forward though, this attacking unit would rival any in the Premier League. The deep creativity offered by Adam, Gerrard’s bursting runs forward and cutting throughballs for Suarez along with width provided by Downing and Kuyt for Carroll to have some service. Hendeson, Meireles, Aquilani and Maxi all miss out, but offer good solutions from the bench. If it wasn’t for the worrying defence here, this would be by far the best solution and one that should perhaps be employed against weaker attacking units. However, on a weekly basis, another solution is required.

 

Option 2 – room for another centre-midfielder?

 

Towards the end of last season Dalglish was playing a 5-3-2 with roaming full-backs providing good service down the flanks and into the box. This is effectively what is being shown here, with Lucas playing just in front of the central defensive pair. The right-back position will be dominated by Johnson with Kelly acting as a very promising alternative. Left-back looks like the one position that Dalglish et al are certain to invest some more cash into – Lyon’s Aly Cissokho, Newcastle’s Jose Enrique and Porto’s Alvaro Pereira are the front runners to be signed. Enrique looks like the favourite after his Twitter rant and Dalglish saying he will wait till the right moment to approach him. Another advantage of course is that he is used to picking out the flowing locks on Carroll’s head.

The midfield is packed with a very talented central four, Lucas provides the defensive role with Gerrard having a free role to attack, as well as help to track back when the opposition have the ball. Henderson and Adam would provide a good mix of tough tackling and passes forward, and could even go slightly wider than illustrated above. The striking pair of Suarez and Carroll is a perfect match, a physically imposing target man with a skilful, creative goal-scorer. Whilst I like this option, the signing of Downing would seem to suggest that the width this year will not be provided by defenders. Kuyt and Meireles are good alternatives from the bench and if Downing were to get injured this would be a very strong Liverpool line up. It is important not to base the whole strategy around Carroll, as this will reduce the impact players like Suarez have, who enjoy running at defenders. So if we assume Downing will start regularly, what is the best system?

 

Option 3 – The modern 4-3-3

For me, this is the most likely way that Liverpool will line up this summer. This particular formation has become very popular over recent years. Chelsea and Man City employ it with good effect. The key point rests in the three in midfield. It is crucial that these three are correctly balanced. Chelsea’s would be Mikel, Essien and Lampard whilst City have Barry, De Jong and Toure. The key is to have one player who is solely focussed on defence and ball winning (Lucas), one player who offers the attacking role (Gerrard) and the final player taking a role somewhere in between the two, acting as a creative play-maker who can also help win the ball back (Adam/Henderson).

Caroll spearheads the attack and stays the farthest forward whilst Downing offers genuine width on the right, a position that yielded his best games at Villa, to service Carroll. Suarez enjoys cutting inside and wouldn’t be as wide as Downing but would cut inside, like he did for Kuyt’s first goal in the 3-1 win against Manchester United. A back four with full-backs that offer another route forward is useful – much like Cole for Chelsea, Johnson and a new left back would add another dimension to the Liverpool game. Kuyt would be utilised as a substitute often and I would expect Adam to be favoured ahead of Henderson for his wider range of passing and greater experience. This for me is the strongest Liverpool line-up since the departure of Xabi Alonso, which affected Liverpool far more than the exit of Fernando Torres.

 

All in all, it looks promising for Liverpool in the coming year. Some may be surprised that Lucas features in all the teams, but the young Brazilian is much improved and last year was awarded Liverpool’s ‘Player of the Year’. His tackling and passing have developed and he will only get better, as he continues to adapt to his defensive role. If any new signings occur, there may be a better understanding of how the Reds will line up this year, although I think the remaining signings will be defenders or young prospects. The new season will be intriguing and exciting for all fans, regardless of their allegiance but Liverpool fans will be expecting a top four finish at the least, and this squad can certainly achieve that.

 

I’d love to hear your comments on this issue.

 

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