Jay Spearing, Jordan Henderson and Jonjo Shelvey are the obvious candidates to cover Lucas Leiva whilst he recovers from his cruciate ligament injury, but Liverpool legend John Aldridge believes that Kenny Dalglish should look to his defenders for a viable solution. Is he right?
In his column for the Liverpool Echo, Aldo argued:
"Kenny also has other options which people may not have considered.
"Jamie Carragher started his career in central midfield and is still more than capable of playing there.
"Martin Kelly, too, is another who has experience of that role earlier in his career – but another player I’m convinced could do a job there in the short-term is Daniel Agger.
"He’s comfortable with the ball at his feet, can use it well, obviously knows how to tackle and when he gets forward has a decent dig on him with his left foot.
"If Kenny was tempted to push Daniel into midfield for a match or two, it would also have the double benefit of getting Carra back into the heart of defence".
Of the three, who would be the most effective in the defensive-midfielder role?
I personally don't like the idea of having 5 defenders in the team, even if one is playing in midfield, but if I had to, I would go for Agger, as he seems to have all the skills required for the role.
Jaimie Kanwar
In his column for the Liverpool Echo, Aldo argued:
"Kenny also has other options which people may not have considered.
"Jamie Carragher started his career in central midfield and is still more than capable of playing there.
"Martin Kelly, too, is another who has experience of that role earlier in his career – but another player I’m convinced could do a job there in the short-term is Daniel Agger.
"He’s comfortable with the ball at his feet, can use it well, obviously knows how to tackle and when he gets forward has a decent dig on him with his left foot.
"If Kenny was tempted to push Daniel into midfield for a match or two, it would also have the double benefit of getting Carra back into the heart of defence".
Of the three, who would be the most effective in the defensive-midfielder role?
I personally don't like the idea of having 5 defenders in the team, even if one is playing in midfield, but if I had to, I would go for Agger, as he seems to have all the skills required for the role.
Jaimie Kanwar
Next he'll be telling us carragher should play as a striker....reason why carra shouldn't play in midfield is that when he hooofs the ball up field it will end up 20rows back in the stand...
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Carra's distribution leaves a lot to be desired.
ReplyDeleteAgger would be an ideal solution for the midfield, I think.
ReplyDeleteProblem is, Kenny is very concervative with experimenting. He should see that Johnno is great on the right wing and more attack-minded while his defence has a lot more to wish for. Put Kelly in the defence and re-build the formation... but no, he keeps to his dinosauric 4-4-2 over and over again, and we keep wasting vital points.
The squad has plenty of potential. It's just a matter of using the players to their strengths. I don't feel that it is being done very well currently.
Right now we are coping with the problems that we keep creating for ourselves.
If this option were to be tried I would rather Agger move to the midfield enforcer role while either Kelly or Coates move into the central role vacated by Agger since these three are better on the ball than either Carra or Skyrtel.
ReplyDeleteThat said, Skytel seems marginally better than Carra with his distribution but can be undone by his tendency to lunge and concede free kicks in dangerous areas.
Carra I feel should now fulfil the cup runs and the odd premier league game so the club can move on like the rest of the league is doing if you look at how Lampard for example is faring at Chelsea.
Carra's long service is appreciated but our stronger defensive showing has been in his absence and that alone confirms to me at least that his best years maybe already behind him.
I personally think Fabio Aurelio is our best choice! He is not currently injured and still one of our players and has played there successfully for us a couple of times, and many times for Valencia! Of the three suggested, it would have to be Kelly. Kelly is probably the most mobile of the lot. We need Agger's experience and qualities more at the back and it would be a sacrifice to move him up.
ReplyDeleteDaniel Agger I believe is more than capable for the role. Ronny Johnsen is far less mobile yet he played for ManU in that position in a few important games including the 1999 Champions League final. Agger is far greater with the ball so I see no reason other than lack of experience, for him not to take that role. A couple of training matches should sort that out.
ReplyDeleteIt was Roy who liked his dinosauric 4-4-2. Apart from how the TV displays the lineup, Kenny's sides never stay 4-4-2. Kenny's favoured formation is a 4-3-3 with 1 orthodox winger. Ray Houghton played closer to the middle of the park like how Hendo isn't a true winger and how Rafa played Stevie from 04-06.
ReplyDeleteI personally find it hard to see how Kenny is conservative with experimenting though. Many of us will agree Suarez + Carroll is an outrageous experiment that doesn't seem to be paying off. Carroll with Downing and Henderson on either side and Gerrard or Shelvey behind him OR Bellars + Maxi + Kuyt + Suarez would probably be our best attacking lineups. One relies on the movement and understanding of our forwards and the other more on the intelligence and vision of our midfielders. However, until Gerrard is fit, the Carroll based attack is a little too risky to attempt yet.
That ongoing Carroll experiment is the one that I don't like. as I don't like the experiment of playing Hendo on the right while he is more efficient in the middle. And that's what I meant. Keeps making the same mistake instead of doing some thinking outside the box. I 'don't mind playing Carroll... but with is ability to lose the ball without much pressure, it is double risky to play him now that we have no Lucas to do the clean-up.
ReplyDeleteShelvey is not a good holding midfielder. He is more attack-minded, and he himself admitted that he hates to do the defending... also he's quite reckless too, so if we play him now to cover for Lucas and now Spearing, another red card is on the way, 99% guaranteed.
It is a bit sad to think we have so many midfielders at the club and they are not good enough that we have to consider a defender....kk have you done to us?? and what have we done to deserve this....
ReplyDeleteI have had enough in JUST BELIEVE...why...kk has been at the club for over 3.5years in various capacity...and he supposingly knew the club inside out....well if this is the best you can do kk....just go cos you are only making things worse for us and yourself.
I'm not sure there is an obvious fix at the moment.
ReplyDeleteNone of our remaining midfielder's really suit the role.
Our display against Fulham wasn't at all convincing.
Even with Spearing in our midfield we looked alarmingly porous at times.
The amount of space they had in front of our back four was alarming, and resulted in Reina's goal coming under regular attack.
Not a fan of moving Agger to DM as the workload there is much higher and the tackling more robust.
Agger is to fragile to be a midfield enforcer and I'd worry about him breaking down.
My initial reaction would be to bring in Conner Coady from the reserves and place him in a three man midfield.
Is he ready though? Wont know unless we try I guess.
Failing that, I think Aurelio is worth a shot, but again only in a three man midfield.
I remember Rafa playing him there on occasion, and he seemed to do quite well.
The only concern is he hasn't been playing regularly and might be off the pace.
Not an easy problem to solve this one.
Agree on Aurelio... I even totally forgot about him as he wasn't played this season at all. Another experienced and quality player who is being overlooked in favour of our 'prolific' summer signings.
ReplyDeleteBut he's a bit fragile too, and maybe even not less than Agger.
Anyway, the discussion on the various Liverpool blogs with regard to the selection etc. matters very little.
My optimism took a serious blow because every time we play well, we then f*** up in the next game, and I am preparing myself for the worst scenario this season: Suarez banned for a few weeks, and we fight for 7th against Everton, QPR and Stoke.
Ball playing center backs are essentially central midfielders who weren't good enough to play in midfield no? I remember Southgate, Carra and Rio Ferdinand all doing a shocking job of protecting the England back four. Aldo really has no clue. Anyone who thinks that "getting Carra back into the heart of the defence" is a benefit to the team is a Carra/Scouser/nostalgic supporter who's views if listened to will send the club backwards.
ReplyDeleteThis guy is now officially crossed off my football knowledge respect list.
I'd play Kuyt there - anyone else agree? He's versatile and has a good engine and gets a lot of tackles in...
ReplyDeleteAurelio yeah maybe - not sure if he'll get stuck in in fairness. But a clever player so could fill the void.
ReplyDeleteYou would play Kuyt there? Are you serious?
ReplyDeleteHe loses the ball more than any other player on the pitch. He is also one of our slowest players and to be really honest, he cannot pass to save his life.
Your right. kuyt along with Adam are not good enough. both are slow and constantly give the ball away and slow the play up, have a pathetic shot on them especially Adam and are always passing backward instead of forward
ReplyDeleteKuyt yes a bit of a leftfield choice in fairness - i guess he works like a trojan is the point I was trying to make. We're gonna miss Lucas big time - hopefully Kenny will find a solution
ReplyDeleteAdam not good enough? Yes he is slow and fitness not the greatest -but to say he's not good enough isn't very fair. We're hardly over run with quality in central midfield atm. He's great value and considering what he can do with set-pieces. Agree Kuyt can't shoot very well at all :s
ReplyDeleteAgree with you about Adam, he has settled in very well and he has scored and created goals. He is no Alonso but he is fit to wear the shirt and he will be a very important player this season.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I like about Adam is that he doesn't go down screaming, pissing and maoning like a nancy when is fouled. He gets up and gets on with things.