John Aldridge has told Jurgen Klopp that he must start Fabinho against Manchester City at the weekend, especially if the German persists with four strikers up.
The Premier League champions, currently 13 points ahead of Liverpool in the table, visited Anfield on Sunday and tasted defeat for the last time during their Community Shield clash with the former Dortmund manager’s side at the start of the season. season.
The German strategist has tweaked his team’s tactics in recent weeks and moved away from his very reliable 4-3-3 formation in a bid to get the Reds’ season back on track after a lackluster start.
The Anfield team travels to Ibrox to face Rangers in the Champions League tomorrow but Aldridge already has his sights set on this weekend’s match with Pep Guardiola’s side.
“The four players up front, and you can include Bobby in that, they are fantastic players. They can work, but for it to work, you need to have a real holding midfielder in midfield, two who can cross and make tackles,” Aldridge wrote in his column for the Liverpool Echo.
“Fabinho is the one but he hasn’t been playing well this year. Can Hendo do that? He is a creative midfielder for me, like Thiago. They are creative. You need someone who can really defend and protect your defenders.
“It is not ideal to have Hendo and Thiago together because it is not in their DNA. They can do a good job, don’t get me wrong. But his work is different from what we need when you are going to play with four forwards up front.
“You need to play at least one suitable defensive midfielder. Maybe two on some occasions. Fabinho has to play against City. You have to have defensive players on the field who can do a job.
READ MORE: Former Everton man tells Rangers team-mates not to show Liverpool respect ahead of big Ibrox clash
“Klopp could have to come back, with Diaz’s injury, and go back to 4-3-3, but we will have to see. With Díaz out, the three forwards are going to be Jota, Núñez or Bobby and then Mo. They don’t have another right-back, the only other one is Jota who can play there, who is really going to score goals for you. That’s where we are right now.
“You look at our setup, a lot of people will say we should play full-back. We have one of the best coaches in the world and we must support him and trust what he says and thinks. It’s all a matter of opinion.”
We’ve picked up just 10 points out of a possible 24 this term and need to start performing urgently: before the campaign started we were hopeful of getting back into contention for the league title, but right now it looks like we can’t even finish in the top four.
It is still early days, however, but with injuries to our star men continuing to come in, it is a worrying period for the club.
It is understandable that Klopp has started to operate with four attacking players on the pitch, but now we look extremely fragile defensively.
Fabinho, who Alisson Becker previously branded as a ‘monster’ (as reported by the Daily Mail), has had to settle for a place on the bench in our recent clashes with Rangers and Arsenal, but with the quality of midfield who owns Manchester City, you’re looking forward to seeing our No. 3 back in the starting XI.
We have to get over our trip to Glasgow first before worrying about our clash with the Citizens, but it will certainly be interesting to see which line-up Klopp will select on Sunday.
Exclusive: Liverpool eye four Galatasaray talents as European scouts flock to Istanbul
