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Liverpool’s current tactical setup under Jurgen Klopp is well known.
In front of goalkeeper Alisson are Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, two center-backs who have the speed to play a very high defensive line, with Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold pushing forward on the flanks.
At the base of the midfield is Fabinho, with two numbers eight on each side, and then there are the famous three forwards.
But that was not the initial idea when Klopp arrived in Merseyside: his first plan was to replicate the formation he used at Borussia Dortmund.
In Germany, it was Mario Gotze, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Shinji Kagawa, and sometimes Marco Reus, but there was always a traditional number 10.
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Fekir is perhaps the most blatant number 10 in world football, with his effectiveness significantly altered in any other role, so it would be fair to assume that this was the position Klopp had in mind for the former Lyon star.
And then there was Julian Brandt, who wanted to stay in Germany and wasn’t ready to move to a different country at the age of just 21 when Klopp was excited.
The 2018 World Cup was also a factor in which he was not convinced that a change to the Premier League was the best: he felt that it was better to stay in Germany to have the best opportunity to join the team, where he knew it would be guaranteed. game time.
Brandt would have been a good signing for Liverpool in all likelihood, but he’s less of a broad player and more of an insider, perhaps a perfect wide player for a 4-2-3-1 system.
As David Hughes described in the Analyzing Anfield podcast: “He can play both ways, but he tends to favor going to the right with the ability to run towards the defenders.”
“The season before that summer [when he rebuffed Liverpool’s approach], he was averaging 7.5 dribbles with a success rate of over 50 percent, which is quite impressive. “
Liverpool signed Mohamed Salah with that window, so everything was fine, while Brandt later moved from Bayer Leverkusen to Borussia Dortmund, where he now plays more frequently as number eight.
Klopp had always played at No. 10 in Dortmund, and the first signs were that it would continue to be at Anfield.
When Coutinho left Anfield in January 2018, in addition to the inflated fee Liverpool had reached for his asset, Klopp was not as unhappy to lose his man as he might have been had another of his stars been taken.
Despite all his talent, Coutinho did not fit into the 4-3-3 system that Klopp had implemented before beginning.
Coutinho’s skill dictated that he needed to be put aside, but that may have been at the expense of the team as a whole with events and trophies that have continued since his departure giving weight to that school of thought.
Now, with the Barcelona change so far failed, Coutinho is struggling to find suits in front of the summer window.
His move at the Camp Nou has not only stagnated because Barcelona does not play with an adequate number 10, but most of the best clubs elsewhere do not have, or have other options, such as Thomas Muller in the case of Bayern Munich , what do you prefer.
Coutinho could have been even better in Liverpool if Klopp had chosen to play at number 10 as he did at Borussia Dortmund, but like in Barcelona, the Brazilian didn’t fit well.
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