Much has been made of Jurgen Klopp’s post-Napoli promise that Liverpool will reinvent themselves in response to a crushing defeat at the hands of Luciano Spalletti’s men at Napoli.
Will this mean a number of personnel changes in the starting XI for our Ajax hosts (assuming the tie continues after Queen Elizabeth II’s death)? Perhaps a high line adjustment as suggested by Jamie Carragher on CBS? Or, my personal favourite, a change of formation to make the most of the club’s currently available options.
Adding more forwards to the starting XI on the pitch against the Dutch champions, as part of a switch to a 4-2-3-1, may seem crazy to some. How on earth, after all, can you remove a midfielder to make our midfield less easy to play?
Putting aside the reality that we have a higher ratio of available attackers compared to midfielders for a moment, one need only recall our surprising goalless draw with Everton earlier in the month.
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A struggling Liverpool, once again struggling to carve out a foothold in midfield, seemed rejuvenated by Jurgen Klopp’s decision to take out an injured Fabio Carvalho for Bobby Firmino.
Placing the Brazilian in the hole between Mo Salah and Luis Diaz, dropping Harvey Elliott into a double pivot with Fabinho and pushing Darwin Nunez forward as a lone striker not only seemed to bring out the best in the latter, but also helped the Klopp’s men to show some proper connectivity throughout the park.
Given the complete lack of that of late, our four defenders are increasingly exposed to overhead balls and our Brazilian anchor often has too much to do in the absence of counter-press initiator Thiago Alcantara.
The reality remains that we cannot simply stick to a rigid application of the high line without a midfield that is capable of providing adequate protection to the baseline and maintaining a reliable presence in the middle of the field; it’s exacerbating both our defense and offense. concerns.
Dropping the attacking line (except Nunez) a bit deeper would bring out the best of Firmino’s interconnected play while also allowing us to further assert ourselves in midfield until our Spanish playmaker gets his speed back.
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