So something I have been thinking about and it will be interesting to get others feedback on this too.
With the current Liverpool FC setup and formation, I understand that we will be rusty to begin with, match fitness, new players etc. But it is seeming this over reliance on Gravenberch based on the last 2 games and actually we are having a midfield issue.
Last season what worked was having the 3 in the middle with Grav / Mac / Szob. This season with the addition of wirtz who is pretty much an undroppable with his quality. We are shoehorning him into the team and make a system work.
I love Wirtz, in my eyes one of the best players in the world so I want him starting, but we are losing our midfield because of this because he plays a different way to our system of last year.
Now my point is, with the new players and formation. How can we strike a balance that gets the best out of the team, setup to what we know was strongest from last season? Wirtz in my opinion could work best actually on the left side of the attacking mid (LAM). Salah on the opposite.
This means Gakpo gets dropped and thus we can continue with our solid 3 in the middle and continue with the system we know works. I also think this is best as it allows Kerkez to do what he wants to do and make overlapping runs on the byline and stretch the play. With Wirtz more central and inside. Kerkez then has that space and room to book forward and get the man advantage.
Wirtz also is actually best coming in off the left as well.
Currently, I think the issue is Gakpo because of how one dimensional he is, he literally lives on the touchline as wide as possible; and that is kind of he is with his play style. Super wide and just stays out there to cut in and shoot. But I reckon it’s a hindrance to the team.
Wirtz in the middle cannot cover that space in the middle and the gap between him and Gakpo. The midfield cannot fill it effectively throughout a game because of the space they leave behind and Kerkez cannot do an overlap around Gakpo otherwise he’s running off the pitch. So must come inside and that is not an effective use of his ability or anything.
My point being should we drop Gakpo for Wirtz to play more LAM, allow for our midfield trio and allow Kerkez to overlap and stretch the play because he is given the channel to run down.
So the formation would look like:
ST
LAM–RAM
CM-CM
CDM
LWB-CB-CB-RWB
GK
Argument being though, Gakpo does score and can so should he be dropped because of that. What’s everyone else’s feeling on this?