One thing that is clear that needs addressing is the midfield, it won’t be this transfer window but in the summer it’s a must.
Out of our CMs; Fab, Hendo, Milly, Gini and Keita, they’ve managed just a combined total of 7 assists between them in the league. Hendo, hasn’t contributed a single assist.
To put that into perspective - Trent, Robbo and Virgil have a total of 12 between them. One of them is a CB and one has missed a number of games through injury.
Salah, playing most of the season as the CF, has 8 assists alone. Bobby has 5, Shaqiri 4 and Mane 2.
Our biggest threat from the midfield is Fab, and he’s a defensive midfielder by trade.
My point is, the midfield is essentially being completely bypassed. Milly leads the way on assists out of the midfielders and that is just 3. That the same number as Virgil.
In terms of goals scored, our CMs have a total of 5, Milly again leading the way on 3 and not all from open play.
Our midfield has some work horses in it but the lack of creativity and goal threat from them is worrying, very worrying. We’ve gotten better as a whole unit with the departure of Coutinho, but his goals and assists are far from being replaced.
Look at the midfield vs Leicester and it was screaming out for a creative midfielder, we had Bobby dropping all the way back because the others were getting nothing at all to feed off.
I can’t remember the last time we had a midfield with such little creativity and goal threat. We’ve always had at least 1 played in there, be it Gerrard, Alonso, Coutinho or whoever, but ever since Coutinho went we haven’t had that. Ox comes the closest but he’s more of a driving player forward, pick the ball up and launch a shot at goal, he’s not a creator for others to score on a regular basis...and he’s been injured for nearly a year.
Keita was meant to be the answer to the problem but he’s been one of our worst players this season.
Klopp wanted Fekir in the summer and I don’t believe for a second that he walked away from that deal 100% satisfied that we were filling the gap. It’s our biggest weakness this season and something we really need to sort in the summer. It’s amazing how many goals we’ve still managed to score, a testament to just how good our front 3 and our fullbacks are.
« Last Edit: Jan 31, 2019 10:00:08 pm by 7-King Kenny-7 »
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