There has been a hole in Liverpool’s midfield ever since Fabinho departed for Saudi Arabia last year.
Arguably the gap was apparent even before he left. The Brazilian was steadily declining from his status as one of Europe’s best defensive midfielders began ever since the bid to claim an unprecedented quadruple failed in 2022.
As the Merseyside giants slipped from being one of the most feared teams in the world to an elite side that is more than a match for any opponent on their day, the importance of having a top quality enforcer who could shut down attacks became clearer with every passing game.
And while the first genuine specialist replacement Wataru Endo has occasionally shown flashes that he might be of the standard required to establish Liverpool as the Premier League’s best sides, there is no body of consistent evidence suggesting he can yet take the mantle.
The arrival of Arne Slot has only made the problem more pronounced because his style relies more on build-up play started by a defensive midfielder.
On the upside, the issue was recognised by the Liverpool hierarchy who pursued one of the best options on the continent, Martin Zubamendi, in the summer transfer window. The downside was that he decided not to join.
It’s difficult to quantify the consequences of missing out on him, but against Nottingham Forest at Anfield on Saturday there was a clear demonstration of what the team still lacks.
As Lewis Steele writing for the Daily Mail pointed out, defeat by the East Midlanders not only checked the Reds’ early season momentum, it provided a methodology for other sides to follow.
“Just as many warned not to get too excited after just three wins, this defeat must also not prompt reasons to panic or overreact,” the journalist wrote.
“But the worry is that Nuno has found the blueprint to beat Slot’s side – and many other teams may copy how he did it.
“Wasteful finishing, lacklustre defending for Callum Hudson-Odoi’s goal and post-international break tiredness can be cited as excuses that are short-term issues rather than terminal worries. But while Liverpool were poor, Forest were perfect and richly deserved their three points.
“So, how did they do it? Nuno congested the middle of the park with five – yes, five – central midfielders: James Ward-Prowse, Nicolas Dominguez, Ryan Yates, Elliott Anderson and Morgan Gibbs-White. Even striker Chris Wood dropped deep in a solid defensive shift.”
Stacking up the middle of the field against Liverpool is hardly a new tactic, but it is one which becomes more effective when the build-up play is not fluid.
It is precisely this reason that Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta favor technical players in the deep lying midfield role against sides with low blocks.
But the problem when you don’t have one of the those type of options available is that the ball is shuffled out wide in a manner that suits the defending team.
As Steele pointed out “This system meant that Liverpool had no space to work in and often were forced into long shots or wayward crosses that were mopped up with ease. The atmosphere at Anfield was incredibly flat, one could sense the angst and frustration growing by the minute.”
SkySports pundit Paul Merson was more blunt:”I thought Liverpool were a bit boring,” he said.
“I thought it was slow. When you watched Klopp’s teams play, they break and it is 100mph. It just seemed to go through the phases.”
A tactically astute coach, Arne Slot’s analysis was on a similar theme, but focused on the lack of precision in Liverpool’s play.
“It was a stop-start game,” he told the media.
“You couldn’t get a good rhythm and as a result of that we hardly created any chances. We had to be better with the ball than we were.”
“We lost the ball so many times in simple situations. We only managed to create three or four big chances, by far not enough.”
It’s important to give credit to Forest and its setup in this analysis. Part of the reason a side gives away simple balls and struggles to find a rhythm is when the options for players on the ball are limited and space shut down.
But it is also precisely in these types of games that a metronomic player who can circulate the ball in a manner that wears down the opponent and baits them into challenges that will disrupt their defensive shape becomes even more valuable.
It takes an master of ‘pausa’ the Spanish term for the rhythm of a soccer game to work in the manner Slot is asking his teams to unlock defences.
Klopp, of course, applied a different method, counter-pressing, designed to disrupt the the opposition into mistakes that created chances. But when more steady build-up was required he also had Fabinho to call upon.
In the latter part of his reign when he didn’t have such a firm hand to help the team see out games Liverpool had a tendency to surrender points from winning positions.
Zubamendi really had the potential to fill that void and be the missing piece. The blow of failing to land him this summer will no doubt come back to bite the Reds on more occasions this season.
