The Joys of Clueless Pundits Writing Off Liverpool

They never learn, do they?

Every summer, on account of not ‘winning the transfer window’, Liverpool are written off. It’s become almost hysterical.

In the comments on the TTT Main Hub, Robert D shared the following on what the media are saying:

"Listened to a clip from TalkSport discussing Liverpool's midfield 'demolition'. They seem to think we have no chance of doing well next season because of the amount of players we have lost. Also, they think Klopp should not have allowed Henderson to leave even though by now they should know that Klopp does not keep any players who don't want to stay.

"They explain how Liverpool's Champions League victory was due to the midfield as it allowed everything else to flourish. Apart from the fact that the media seems to have realised this a tad too late (remember the arguments about us needing more creativity from midfield?) I agree with that, though I would argue our struggles last season were also due to the midfield. We needed more energy, and Henderson and Fabinho were unlikely to give us that."

I obviously don't listen to TalkSport, or any football radio show; nor read social media or under-the-line comments (I limit myself to a few podcasts, a handful of newspaper and online writers, and the informed comments from TTT community on the Main Hub).

So I don't encounter such 'logic' on a daily basis, but obviously people are always sharing baffling 'takes'.

Liverpool have lost a lot of midfielders. Maybe more midfielders than any team has ever lost in one summer.

Yet how many were in the first XI?

Fabinho perhaps, about to turn 30, by default? – when his replacement was already being sought anyway?

Also, the Reds were so successful between 2018 and 2020 because of hard-working, fresh-legged and tireless 20-something midfielders.

Read that again. Think about it.

... Okay, have you worked it out yet?

The TalkSport argument is a bit like saying Liverpool should get Ian Rush back, because he scored 346 goals for the club. He guarantees you goals.

The whole point of last season was that those midfielders, to get all poetically intertextual, are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven, but that which they are, they are.

To finish quoting Tennyson: heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate (and the lure of filthy lucre).

Or, old men, who once gave great service, but whose legs had gone.

Over the years, one by one, there fell away the zest and verve of Jordan Henderson (who seems to have chosen greed over legacy, but who was no longer the heartbeat of the team), Fabinho, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keïta, and Arthur Melo, whose career arc at Liverpool rose and fell within a full 13 minutes.

(Anyone still craving the once-great Gini Wijnaldum should note that he's nearly 33, and the Reds were superb without him in 2021/22. The effects of 2021/22 should not be underestimated when relating to the struggles last season, either, with injuries taking their toll, too.)

Once the lighthouse, Fabinho was truly abysmal last season; rescued only in the run-in by the tactical shift, but was still so late to so many tackles that a few occurred the day after the game. He'd become a walking yellow card. I recall just two impressive games in the whole season, and while he may have been rejuvenated, he was never the best athlete, as he turns 30.

Henderson remained a leader off the pitch, but who seems to have sold out the virtues he signalled; and anyone who wants out is no longer committed to the cause. A great leader, until he wasn't. Milner would have been handy to keep as a player-coach, but Oxlade-Chamberlain, Keïta and Melo simply never played. It's like worrying about the Beatles losing Pete Best.

Will the Reds struggle because they can't turn to Ox, Keïta, Melo, Henderson, Milner and Fabinho from the bench? Average age of 32 this coming season?

A new midfield was born in the second half of last season, and none of those departing were key to it.

And for all the “churn”, it's likely that Liverpool will field only two new players in the XI next season; three at most.

I wouldn't pick an entire new midfield from day one, but start with Alexis Mac Allister and phase in one or two others; Curtis Jones seems to be in possession of one of the shirts on merit, and not only improved last season, but over the summer too. See article linked below for more:

They never learn, do they?

The goalkeeper, back four and front three should all be the same as last season, with the backups the same, too, bar Roberto Firmino; but with Ben Doak and maybe Kaide Gordon emerging as genuine new contenders. (Not one of the attacking players, bar Mo Salah, is aged over 26; so several 30-somethings have been shifted out there, too.)

I'd also be shocked if Alexis Mac Allister needs time to settle; he looked so at home in the first friendly, as one of those players who just knows how to knit it (pass, move, press, pass, move press; find the gaps, spot runs), and who is fully accustomed to the league and the biggest of stages. Some players just ‘get it’; players know players.

(Dominik Szoboszlai may need a few months to bed in – he has the physicality in strength and pace, and speaks great English, but has to adapt to the league. It’s never easy to foresee how long that takes, but quite a lot of fresh imports can struggle in their first season, and certainly the first month or two.)

Curtis Jones, Stefan Bajcetic and Trent Alexander-Arnold were the stars of the midfield 'area' in the 2023 turnaround.

Alexander-Arnold was so good as the quasi-6, and extend that sample size to a full season and you’re talking of a transformative impact.

Right now, I would rather have the improving (and who I think will be consistently ever-improving until the age of 25/26) Harvey Elliott as a sub than the fading Henderson, and Bajcetic as an option instead of Fabinho; Jones was miles ahead of Ox or Keïta, and it's a chance for others to step up.

(Cody Gakpo and Luis Díaz are also versatile and suited to no.8 roles, if required. As is Conor Bradley. At a push, Diogo Jota, too.)

I'd take Mac Allister over any of the midfielders aged 29 or over from last season.

Remember, Liverpool are replacing a midfield that, until the introduction of Bajcetic, the return of Jones and the reinvention of Alexander-Arnold, could not run, or would not run. It was beyond dysfunctional. Pressing and intensity was replaced by jogging and chasing shadows.

Then there's goals from midfield, which weren't really needed between 2018-2020, but which are always a bonus. Liverpool have more now, with only Oxlade-Chamberlain an elite shooter from midfield, and that was years ago.

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