... he should play in the same position as he did in the Boro game, maybe not always, but most of the time. The #8 role, the Iniesta role rather than Neymar role, if you know what I mean. When he's in form, he looks like our only player since Gerrard and Suarez whose every move, pass and touch is filled with purpose; it's like he first decides what needs to happen and then finds a way to make it happen regardless of the opponent's actions. If he wants to create a space to shoot, he's going to create a space to shoot. If he decided to get the ball to Milner on the left, he'll bloody find a way to get the ball through to Milner, no matter how many players are in between. That's what is called class.
So if we're not selling him, the only other option is to build around him. Stick him in his ideal position – not quite a winger, not quite a CM – and then move other players around. To be fair, Klopp did pretty much exactly this in the first part of the season, when everyone was fit and firing, but once we lost Mane and then Coutinho lost form after his injury (and Milner lost some attacking thrust due to fatigue, which also was a factor in making Coutinho less effective as the season progressed), this momentum was blunted until pretty much the last couple games. The fact that at the end of the season, under some pressure, Klopp changed the formation and found the way for the team to "click" in attack and score 3-4 goals per game again even without Mane fills me with optimism for next season.
So if we're not selling him, the only other option is to build around him. Stick him in his ideal position – not quite a winger, not quite a CM – and then move other players around. To be fair, Klopp did pretty much exactly this in the first part of the season, when everyone was fit and firing, but once we lost Mane and then Coutinho lost form after his injury (and Milner lost some attacking thrust due to fatigue, which also was a factor in making Coutinho less effective as the season progressed), this momentum was blunted until pretty much the last couple games. The fact that at the end of the season, under some pressure, Klopp changed the formation and found the way for the team to "click" in attack and score 3-4 goals per game again even without Mane fills me with optimism for next season.
Last edited: