I only listened to the Forest game on Radio and watched highlights so it's difficult for me to comment on his performance yesterday but I'll make a few general comments on his performance this season. There have been quite a few people criticising him or suggesting he's being played out of position.
I really like what I've seen so far from him. Because he came from Brighton and is a world cup winner he was the midfielder who arrived with more pressure on him to perform immediately. We were all probably going to give Szoboszlai and Gravenberch more time to adapt.
I think we all assume that he's being played out of position but it's also possible that Klopp wants him to play a deeper role and had discussed it with Alexis before signing him. Klopp has often moved players into deeper roles in the team, Trent, Curtis Jones, Gakpo and Elliot are some other examples. I think he could be a good long term option as a 6. We still need an Endo or Andre in the squad; in an ideal world we have 7 or 8 quality midfielders with different attributes so that Klopp can play different combinations depending on the opposition.
I think Alexis has the potential to replace Thiago in the starting 11, sitting deeper, linking play and controlling the tempo as well as taking on a more defensive midfielder role than Thiago. He already a better tackler than Thiago.
He's also the cheapest of the summer midfield arrivals, a bargain at 35m.
« Last Edit: Oct 30, 2023 10:49:06 am by gazred »
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