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It’s been two months since Liverpool last kicked a ball, and there’s still no certainty as to exactly when Premier League football will return to action.
Discussions on ‘Project Restart’ continue, with a possible best-case resumption behind closed doors (and in neutral stages) sometime in June, depending, of course, on how the broader public health situation evolves between now and then. .
When soccer make However, eventually it will start again, there will be all sorts of intriguing stories to pay attention to as they unfold. How quickly will some players return to speed? Could some have benefited from this long rest, while others might have a hard time recovering? Will some teams perform significantly better or worse than normal in empty stadiums? How will the 2019/20 result set the scene for the upcoming season and beyond?
There are all kinds of mysteries to delve into, and in the coming days our writers will discuss various topics of particular interest from a Liverpool perspective. For the first time: Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and the puzzle around situation No.6.
The evolution of the No.6 position has been one of the most fascinating tactical subplots of Jürgen Klopp’s tenure in Liverpool to date. After establishing himself at 4-3-3 as his favorite system since the start of the 2016/17 season, Jordan Henderson was selected as the man to fill the role, made by Klopp from the box-to-box player of yesteryear a more defensive midfielder. responsible, carrying out most of his work in much deeper areas than before.
Emre Can, Lucas Leiva and Gini Wijnaldum fell there at various points, but he became Henderson’s place on the wing, performing admirably there even though it was not necessarily his favorite natural position.
All of that changed in the summer of 2018 when Fabinho arrived from AS Monaco, of course, and despite taking time to lie down in the system and familiarize himself with Klopp’s demands, the Brazilian emerged as one of Liverpool’s most outstanding artists the last season, impressing a lot. that Henderson ended up returning to his old, more advanced role again in the final weeks of the campaign.
(Image: Robbie Jay Barratt Photo – AMA / Getty Images)
The squad was well prepared for this season: Fabinho at the base, with Wijnaldum leading left and Henderson leading right. Klopp had his trio in the Champions League winning midfield, with players like James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana and Naby Keita able to fill in the gaps as needed based on form, fitness and strengths. specific. and weaknesses of any given opposition.
In fact, Fabinho continued where he left off, and arguably he was alongside Sadio Mané as Liverpool’s top player of the season for the first three months or the current campaign, until he injured his ankle against Napoli at Anfield in late November. At that point, he could be said to be the best defensive midfielder in the world; not only a classic destroyer type, but also a very effective part of Liverpool’s attack with his excellent vision and passing range.
His injury was viewed by many as a potentially disastrous blow at the time, and understandably. Klopp had many options that they could do a task in Fabinho’s absence, but no one who could exactly replicate the Brazilian’s overall brilliance …
And then, he stepped forward with Henderson version 3.0, playing the No.6 role better than ever and becoming the driving force behind Liverpool’s exceptional streak of results (and clean sheets) throughout a packed and In the New Year, both by the time Fabinho returned in January, Henderson was being discussed alongside Mané and Kevin De Bruyne in the PFA Player of the Year conversation.
(Image: Photo by John Powell / Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
It was as if Henderson had combined all the elements of what he had previously learned into a complete package, mastering the games with supreme confidence and authority, while contributing a number of important goals and assists despite playing significantly deeper average. .
Henderson’s imperious career certainly exacerbated perceptions of Fabinho’s rusty return from injury. Not only was he looking well below his own high standards, but he was also not close to the level Henderson had been performing in for the past few months.
Suddenly, Fabinho seemed slow and out of sync, the player’s opposition teams would deviate from their goal when he had the ball. Henderson, by contrast, had been in the form of his career, so when he was injured in the first leg against Atlético Madrid, it made Fabinho’s job even more difficult.
Didn’t Liverpool play so well? why Fabinho was fighting, or was Fabinho fighting as a by-product of the team that was going through a collective dive? Perhaps there are elements of truth in both theories.
Either way, it was telling that even after several weeks on the sidelines of a hamstring strain, Klopp immediately turned to Henderson for the second leg against Atlético and dropped Fabinho to the bench. Granted, Liverpool capitulated in overtime, but the thought behind the decision was revealing. In a unique scenario that must win, Klopp relied on a not-quite-ready Henderson over Fabinho, with Oxlade-Chamberlain giving the go-ahead alongside Wijnaldum.
The obvious question, therefore, is what happens next Was it just a temporary problem for Fabinho, and will we see the pre-injury version again soon? Given how good Henderson was in role # 6, should he stay there as Klopp’s first choice? Or can Henderson reach that kind of level while playing further up the field?
A lot will depend, of course, on how things play out when football starts again. For all teams, not just Liverpool, this unexpected hiatus will serve as a kind of reset button. The same players will still be there, but the concept of being in or out of shape will not exist to begin with. It would be naive to think that any player will come back and immediately start running at their maximum level right away.
It could be that Fabinho re-enters and dust off the cobwebs with no problem, or perhaps Klopp finds a way to reconfigure his form to seat Fabinho and Henderson next to each other on a double pivot. One from Oxlade-Chamberlain or Keita could also force their way to the front of the tail more regularly.
If the season unfolds, there is no way to get away from the fact that it will feel strange to everyone. It will still be 2019/20, but it will feel almost like an independent mini-season. Liverpool only need two wins at most to seal the title, so within the remaining nine games there are likely to be plenty of rotation and experimentation possibilities for Klopp, and it won’t come as a surprise if he tries some wacky solutions instead of just coming back. to the standard tactical formula that has worked so well so far.
As always, the goalkeeper, back four, and front three are firmly established, with midfield the only department full of options, but not remotely set in stone. Having two players of the caliber of Fabinho and Henderson is a luxury that most managers can only dream of; How you choose to use both of them in the future is a welcome conundrum with no quick answers.
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