DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER TO LIVERPOOL

Spoken as a true Liverpool fan:

Mamadou Sakho….. WOW! Regarded for some years to be one of the best central defenders in the world… And because of coincidences involving new rich owners in Paris SG (and perhaps a temporary lack of form), he’s actually within reach for Liverpool? I must say, I’m thrilled with these news.

Brendan Rodgers has stated that he will try to sign a new central defender and a winger. We need both. But there’s one position where we need an addition even more:

DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER.

Even with 5 central defenders in the squad, we need one more – hopefully a world class player who can be the long term replacement for Carra. And with Toure and Coates out injured and with Skrtel and Agger with a history of injuries, we most definately need a new central defender right now.

And a winger….? Only if he’s good enough! Suarez and Sturridge had some great games in the end of last season where Suarez were striker, Sturridge started as a winger, but where they rotated with each other and swapped positions all the time. With Suarez and Sturridge swapping positions, we only need one winger – a left winger. Raheem Sterling is in my opinion one of the biggest talents in the world on this position. And Philippe Coutinho has played this position in the two league games of the season, where Brendan Rodgers has had a slightly more defensive approach.

So one might argue, we don’t need a winger at all. Signing a great winger would of course boost the morale of the fans and yes, it would be really exciting to see the likes of Andriy Yarmolenko or Adem Ljajic teaming up with Suarez, Sturridge and Coutinho.

But I’d actually prefer to see us spending the money on a world class defensive midfielder….

Here is why:

Brendan Rodgers plays a 4-3-3 formation where the midfield consists of one defensive midfielder and two central midfielders just in front. A 4-1-2-3 formation you might say, instead of the 4-2-3-1 formations which is more common these days. Brendan’s formation 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-3 is used to perfection in Barcelona with Busquet as a holding midfielder and with Xavi and Iniesta (or Fabregas) as the central mdifielders. We can’t of course attract players like Xavi or Iniesta who can play their way out of trouble, we have to use players who also are defensively solid.

We have Lucas Leiva as a defensive midfielder just in front of the defence and Captain Fantastic as a central midfielder together with either Jordan Henderson (when we have a defensive approach) or Phillipe Coutinho (when we have a attacking approach). Hendo and Coutinho can even rotate during the game between left wing and central midfield, which enables Coutinho to play his favorite position as a central attacking midfielder.

In the Notts County game we turned the “triangle around”, but without Lucas. So we played with no defensive midfielder, but with an attaking midfielder in front of two central midfielders instead. However, that game showed us how important a strong defensive midfielder is and how fragile our team can be without Lucas.

I’m a huge fan of Lucas. He’s world class and often not recognized enough for how vital he is for the team. And it was obvious how much we missed his abilities when he was out injured. If LFC wants to be a serious candidate for top 4, then playing the same defensive midfielder in all the games in a season is putting extreme pressure on one player. It’s simply gambling with his physical condition!

What are the alternatives? Jordan Henderson could perhaps play this position, but he probably preferes to play the slightly advanced central midfielder position. And I don’t want to see Captain Fantastic spending his last couple of years of his magnificent career, being the player who has the main responsibility to “clean up the midfield” as the defensive midfielder, with the physical tasks that entails. And Joe Allen, “the Welsh Xavi”, doesn’t seem to have the physical strength to occupy the position as defensive midfielder, but as the real Xavi, he preferes the central midfielder position.

 

One of the real reasons why Liverpool hasn’t been in the top 4 in the last couple of seasons, is that we don’t have the likes of Mascherano and Xabi Alonso anymore. When we had them, we did much better in the league. And when Lucas got injured last time, we were extremely vulnerable.

We need a cover for Lucas Leiva and we need it in this transfer window! And let’s bring in a player of top quality who can either be a cover for Lucas, or form a defensive powerhouse on the midfield alongside Steven Gerrard and Lucas Leiva (let’s not forget that Lucas orginally also played central midfield with great attacking skills – he could do that again).

 

A couple of suggestions:

We probably should have signed Gary Medel who just joined Cardiff and who were man of the match in their victory against Man City, but no need to regret that. There are other great targets on this position:

MAXIME GONALONS, Lyon, FERNANDO, Porto, NEMANJA MATIC, Benfica, MARKEL SUSAETA, Athletic Bilbao, JERMAINE JONES, Schalke 04, ÉVER BANEGA, Valencia, or even ALEX SONG, Barcelona

Let’s win the midfield battles in Premier League by adding another defensive midfielder! This would make a substantial difference. And that would help us reach the top 4.

Modern football is fought on the midfield, so let’s win the midfield.

 

 

Liverpool’s transfer targets

It seems like the general assumption that we need another centre back, a left back and a winger in this transfer window. And if we were able to land central defenders like Mamadou Sakho or Micah Richards, then that would of course be a major coup for LFC. And yes, we most definately need a back up for José Enrique at the left back position. And no matter how the Suarez saga ends, we don’t need to strengthen our attack with adding another striker. In my opinion we have a world class forward in Daniel Sturridge and Phillipe Coutinho has been an excellent playmaker, so yes, I agree, we could consider buying a world class winger (if we are able to get one while we’re not playing CL at the moment).

 

But the position, where the need of a back up is most urgently needed is: defensive midfielder!! Brendan Rodgers plays a formation with Lucas Leiva as a defensive midfielder, just in front of the defence and Captain Fantastic as a central midfielder, slightly in front of Lucas.

I’m a huge fan of Lucas. He’s world class and often not recognized enough for how vital he is for the team. And it was obvious how much we missed his abilities when he was out injured. If LFC wants to be a serious candidate for top 4, then playing the same defensive midfielder in all the games in a season is putting extreme pressure on one player. It’s simply gambling with his physical condition!

 

 

What are the alternatives? Jordan Henderson could perhaps play this position, but he probably preferes to play the slightly advanced central midfielder position, and this position belongs to Steven Gerrard. And I don’t want to see Captain Fantastic spending his last couple of years being the player who has the main responsibility to “clean up the midfield” as the defensive midfielder, with the physical tasks that entails. And Joe Allen doesn’t seem to have the physical strength to occupy this position.

 

We need a cover for Lucas Leiva and we need it in this transfer window. And let’s bring in a player of top quality who can rotate with Gerrard and Lucas on the midfield. THIS is a strategy to get us back in top 4! Let’s not obsess about Suarez or other attackers, let’s win the midfield battles in Premier League! This would make a substantial difference. And that would help us reach the top 4.

 

 

 

LASSANA DIARRA

I suggest we take a look at the club Anzhi Makhachkala. According to rumours the Brazilian winger Willian from the club is an interesting Liverpool target already. And the club has transfer listed all of it’s players, not only Willian, but also Lassana Diarra. He’s a world class defensive midfielder, versatile, 28 years old, and already a former regular for Real Madrid and Chelsea. He would be a great signing, who could also cover the CM position and even the right back.

 

 

THE DREAM OF XABI ALONSO

With Ancelotti bringing in Asier Illarramendi on this position for Real Madrid, some stars has to go the bench or to another club. We could always hope that doesn’t mean Sami Khedira moving to Chelsea, but that Xabi Alonso would end his career in his beloved Liverpool (signing on a fee of course, which Real Madrid wouldn’t get next year when his contract expires).

 

SEBASTIAN RODE

The new Dietmar Hamann? The 20 year old midfielder from Eintracht Frankfurt is a less obvious choice, and to be honest, he’ll probably prefere Dortmund or FC Bayern.

 

one of these guys would also be a major coup:

MAXIME GONALONS, Lyon

FERNANDO, Porto

and specially:

NEMANJA MATIC, Benfica

 

 

To sum it up:

If we land world class central defender, that’s great. But when we have Kolo Toure, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Andre Wisdom and Sebastian Coates in our team, we don’t need another back up on this position – we need a world class, long term replacement for Carra.

And let’s of course have a real back up for the left back position.

And even though Sterling is playing fantastic at the moment, it would be appropriate to buy another excellent winger. Perhaps one of the brilliant Brazilian wingers Willian or Bernard, or perhaps Adem Ljajic from Fiorentina or James Rodriguez from Porto, or of course Iker Muniain from Atletic Bilbao (even though the latter probably is a little bit unrealistic).

 

Suarez and Sturridge had some great games in the end of last season where they rotated with each other and swapped positions during the game. That is of course the dream scenario, a Liverpool team where the front four: Suarez, Sturridge, Coutinho and Sterling can rotate in some kind of a Barca inspired total football system. Sturridge has proven to be very effective starting as a winger with freedom to rotate with Suarez. And this is why, a winger isn’t as essential if we keep Suarez, but still a good idea if the target winger is a top player.

 

But….. Let’s not forget the importance of the midfield.