Liverpool have a midfield problem. The disagreement is over how to fix it.
Some want Florian Wirtz dropped. Some want Ryan Gravenberch out. Others want Dominik Szoboszlai moved to number 10.
Between them, those three reportedly earn around £730,000 a week. Liverpool should be getting a better midfield out of that.
For me, one decision should now be straightforward.
Trey Nyoni has to play.
After his performance against Tottenham, I think he has earned a starting place. Not another cup appearance or ten minutes from the bench. A proper chance in Liverpool’s first-choice midfield.
For me, Nyoni produced a better individual performance against Tottenham than either Wirtz or Szoboszlai has produced this season.
He did the things Liverpool have been missing. He worked hard to recover his position. He won his duels. And when he got the ball, he wanted to play through the lines quickly.
Forward.
That matters because it is almost the complete opposite of what I’ve been watching too often from Szoboszlai and Gravenberch.
The ball goes into midfield. It gets held onto. Somebody turns around. It goes sideways or backwards. By the time Liverpool eventually get it into Wirtz, the opposition have reset and the moment has gone.
Nyoni wants to speed everything up. Win it, get your head up and play through the lines.
That would benefit Wirtz enormously.
Which is why my midfield would now have Alexis Mac Allister and Nyoni behind Wirtz. Szoboszlai at right-back. Gravenberch on the bench.
I can completely understand somebody disagreeing.
Anybody who wants Szoboszlai at number 10 after watching him score another absolute worldie against Tottenham has a fair argument. It was an unbelievable goal.
I’m not going to pretend otherwise because I’ve been criticising him.
Before the goal, though, I thought he was pretty poor.
Both things can be true.
One incredible strike doesn’t answer my questions about him as a midfielder. I still don’t think the double pivot suits him.
Liverpool need steel in that midfield. They need somebody willing to put a foot in, win the ball and get the team moving.
Mac Allister gives you that. Nyoni looks capable of giving you that.
I’m not seeing enough of it from Szoboszlai.
That doesn’t mean I think he’s a bad footballer. Far from it. He’s got an unbelievable engine. He can cross. He can hit a long diagonal. He can take a set-piece. And we know he can absolutely leather a football.
That’s why I’d put him at right-back.
Use the running. Use the crossing. Use his delivery from the right and let him get up and down the pitch.
I’m not pretending moving him out wide fixes his defending. He would still have to win his battles. But I think it makes better use of what he does well.
Szoboszlai himself has said Iraola made it clear he wasn’t going to use him there. He also said he would be available if needed.
I’d reconsider.
Because if Iraola doesn’t want him at right-back, he has an even bigger call to make.
Wirtz or Szoboszlai.
Two of the biggest names in the squad, competing for one position. One plays at number 10. The other sits on the bench.
For now, I’d pick Wirtz.
Not because he’s been good enough.
He hasn’t.
I’m not picking him because of his name or his fee. I’m picking him because I think this team needs what he can create at number 10.
Wirtz has to do more. A lot more.
This is his second season at Liverpool. When he arrived, Liverpool weren’t expecting a project. They were expecting a world-class footballer.
We haven’t seen that consistently.
If we reach next summer and he still hasn’t shown that level after two full seasons, I think Liverpool will have given him enough time.
But we’re not there yet.
Before Liverpool give up on him, give him the best possible platform. Get the ball into him quickly, before the opposition have had time to reset. Then he has to start making more of it.
Wirtz has a job to do without the ball as well. This can’t all be somebody else’s problem.
But dropping him now doesn’t solve what is happening behind him.
That’s the bit I can’t get past.
Take Wirtz out and Liverpool still have to win their battles. They still have to progress the ball quicker. They still have to stop being so easy to play through.
Putting Szoboszlai at 10 doesn’t magically fix the double pivot.
Neither does simply going back to Mac Allister, Gravenberch and Szoboszlai because Liverpool once won the league with them.
Yes, they won the league.
They played their part and deserve credit for it.
But the question is what this team needs now.
Look at what surrounded them in that title-winning side.
Mohamed Salah had an extraordinary season. Trent Alexander-Arnold was creating from right-back. Virgil van Dijk was outstanding. Alisson was outstanding.
That midfield didn’t have to create everything.
We’ve seen that before.
The midfield of the best Liverpool team in my lifetime was Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Gini Wijnaldum.
Excellent players, but Liverpool didn’t expect them to provide all of the creativity.
Trent and Robertson gave them huge amounts from full-back, while Salah, Mané and Firmino were ahead of them.
The midfield gave Liverpool the platform.
This team is different.
Trent has gone. Salah has gone.
Liverpool need creativity from somewhere else. That’s another reason I’d persist with Wirtz at number 10 for now.
Then there is Gravenberch.
This is his fourth season at Liverpool. For me, he has had one genuinely good one.
One.
His first season wasn’t good enough. His title-winning season was excellent. Last season was poor. This season has started poorly again.
That isn’t enough.
Especially when you look at his attributes.
He’s tall, athletic and technically gifted. He should be an absolute monster in midfield.
I’m not saying he has to become Patrick Vieira. But somebody with those physical tools should be horrible to play against.
Too often he isn’t.
And when we’re talking about a player reportedly earning around £280,000 a week, I don’t see why reputation or salary should guarantee him a starting place.
I’d bench him.
Nyoni plays.
Before Tottenham, I wanted to see Nyoni given an opportunity.
After Tottenham, I think he has earned the shirt.
There is a difference.
Of course he’s young. Of course he’ll have poor games. Starting every week in the Premier League is a different test from one cup appearance.
Fine. Give him the chance to prove he can do it.
Liverpool aren’t protecting some brilliant functioning midfield by putting Nyoni into it. They’re changing something that isn’t working.
If a young player comes into the side and performs better than established players, his age shouldn’t count against him.
Reputation shouldn’t matter. Wages shouldn’t matter. Transfer fees shouldn’t matter.
Pick the player who is performing.
Right now, I think that player is Nyoni.
So my midfield is straightforward: Mac Allister, Nyoni and Wirtz. Szoboszlai at right-back. Gravenberch on the bench.
Iraola doesn’t have to agree.
Maybe it doesn’t work. Then you change it again.
That’s management.
I don’t care whether Iraola solves this exactly the way I would.
I care that he solves it.
Liverpool can’t keep waiting for the same expensive midfield to suddenly start working.
Nyoni got his chance against Tottenham.
For me, he took it.
Now play him.
And let the big names fight over what’s left.