Slot can fix Liverpool in four steps without any new wingers; seven PL No.10’s ‘far better’ than Fernandes | OneFootball

The Mailbox reckons Arne Slot can fix Liverpool in four steps and should not sign a single winger in this summer’s transfer window.

Also, there are apparently seven Premier League No.10s ‘better’ than Manchester United captain Bruno Fernandes.

Best Premier League No.10s…

It’s been a good decade since I last wrote into the mailbox (shout out to the early 00s when I was a regular) but the recency bias of New York’s Gaptoothed Freak (perhaps he’s in his 20/30s and doesn’t have much to compare to?) about number 10s has well and truly hooked me.

He states that Bruno Fernandes is the greatest Prem number 10 of all time and goes on to list a few other 10s who all appear to be current.

Just considering the same club, I’d posit that Cantona was a far better player; Dragging his team to absolute dominance over the league and actually winning things, whilst playing twice a week every week? Paul Scholes was what we’d now consider a number 10 for the first half of his career, before dropping back to become the number 8 he finished his career as. Both were better, less whiny, and more team focussed than Bruno. Also Wayne Rooney was fairly decent as a number 10 and again, won quite a bit of silverware. Teddy Sheringham may not have been at Utd long but what an impact, including showing up in every big game. Do you remember Juan Mata? Arguably his best work was at Chelsea but he still absolutely rocked at United.

Let’s bounce around some other teams now – Just a small selection of 10s that I’d rate way higher than Fernandes – Peter Beardsley, Dennis Bergkamp (my personal pick for GOAT 10, even as a Spurs fan), David Silva, Kevin de Bruyne and finally conspiracy theories Matt Le Tissier all get a shout over Fernandes.

I’m sure others have their picks but Fernandes is a very good number 10 who benefited from a freak one game a week season where Utd had no european commitments and threw the cups, he’s not the GOAT of anything. Best Wishes, Matt L, London

Wow, Bruno (and Gaptoothed Freak’s claim that he could be the best no.10 in prem history) has really confused a few people on here. Mainly Arsenal fans to be fair, and they tend to be an easily confused bunch. John Matrix AFC blessed us with the intriguing counterfactual of a world where Ruud Van Nistelrooy is a ‘no.1o who actually won stuff’. No John, he was pretty much the platonic ideal of a no.9 (who also didn’t actually win that much, despite scoring a shedload). But thanks for giving us an insight into the generals state of your football knowledge.

Meanwhile, King Rat disdained Bruno by casually throwing out Luka Modric’s name – a man who may have played a handful of games at no.10 for Spurs, but the bulk of who’s career was spent a) not in the Premier League and B) very much not a 10.

Other, far more honourable mentions, go to Rooney, Bergkamp, and De Bruyne. Here it comes down to taste, I suppose. In terms of chance creation, it’s just a fact that Bruno is streets ahead. But in terms of goals/assists/aesthetics, anyone of those three have just as much a claim. Almost like it’s completely pointless trying to definitively state who is the “best 10 ever”. So pointless in fact, it drove some mailboxers out of their gourds.

Playing the Director of Football game with Liverpool…

I was recently watching a YouTube video with the premise that one of the hosts was appointed Liverpool’s sporting Director with a £150m net transfer kitty and they had to overhaul the team to provide Arne Slot with a squad capable of challenging for the league title next season. Watching them desperately struggle, and then myself desperately struggle playing the game, crystallized something I had already felt in my bones. Liverpool absolutely f*cked it last season, and the ramifications of that monumental b@llsup are going to linger for a considerable length of time to come…

There are a shed load of problems at Liverpool. Most clubs have problems though, the key is identifying them and then creating a solution. Some of Liverpool’s problems are easier to fix than others. Unfortunately, the biggest problem Liverpool have, is also the most difficult to fix. Balance.

Liverpool currently have attacking, pacy full backs. Mostly small. We have an attacking number 6, an absolute abundance of attacking central midfielders, and an attack that offers nothing from an aggressive press point of view. It’s wildly lopsided in terms of profile, on the ball versus off the ball emphasis, and defensive resilience versus attacking flair. Hence, we see Liverpool being very easy to play through. We should also be scoring a lot. The reason we didn’t is probably due to an over-the-cliff and unhappy RW, a bereft of confidence one-trick-pony LW, and two omni-broken centre forwards. Yet, despite seeing in painful clarity the difference between the pressing vigour of Diaz, Nunez and Jota and the ambling, disorganised jogging about of Isak and Ekitike, I still don’t think their lack of defensive profile is as alarming as our midfields…

Ryan Gravenberch is really bl00dy good, but in very specific ways. He is extraordinarily press resistant. He can beat players one-on-one. He is extremely quick and a great ball carrier. In Slot’s first 6 months this was used to perfection. By default teams were setup to press our midfield. Even those that wanted to lie deep in a low block accepted they couldn’t sit off Liverpool’s midfield, allowing them time and space. What subsequently happened on an extremely frequent basis was watching Gravenberch wait for the expected challenge, wonderfully roll/take a breathtaking first touch and ghost past them. He would then utilise that speed and ball carrying ability to drive at the heart of the opposition whilst Liverpool’s attacking players zigzagged in all directions in front. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, teams identified this trait and subtly adjusted their tactics. After that initial 6 months, teams learned to press by closing down the space and blocking off the passing lanes but not diving in. This then removed his ability to beat players who had committed to the challenge, and instead forced him to use his passing ability to try and work the ball through. This is not Gravenberch’s strength. In fact, for a midfielder he doesn’t have a great range of passing.

In 24/25, this issue was mitigated by Alexander-Arnold. Playing as a deep lying, passing maestro RB close to Gravenberch allowed him to be a frequent outlet when Gravenberch couldn’t progress the play himself. The 25/26 edition substituted out TAA’s passing range and brought in an ever-rotating array of makeshift options. And if Liverpool did actually play one of their two definitive RB’s, he was faced with a speedy, ball carrying profile who wanted to receive a splitting pass to run onto, not offer short and deep to provide passing penetration themselves.

Hence, Liverpool’s stodgy and ineffective play out from the back. And this is all before the acceptance that Gravenberch understandably has few of the natural defensive attributes and tendencies that are usually honed over years of experience. He may be able to learn, but right now he is no defensive destroyer. And with the profile of the other midfield options, this is a major issue.

If you were to pick our most important midfielders, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai and Wirtz would almost certainly be at the top of everyone’s lists. Szobo is the player of the season, entering his peak years at 25 yrs old and undoubtedly one of the most technically gifted midfielders in the world. Wirtz was signed for £116m and is the wunderkind upon which Liverpool have staked their grand future.

The problem is Liverpool can’t play both of these players. They essentially have near identical playing profiles. Both are far more suited to no.10 positions. Both like to get forward and do their best work in the final third. Both lack the top end speed to frighten full backs in the wide forward positions, thus requiring a central role to fully flourish. Both want to score goals and assist and know they will be judged on these metrics. Both carry and use the ball well, shoot well and use lots of energy to keep trying to find pockets of space. Both struggle in deeper positions, Wirtz due to his lack of physicality, Szobo due to a weakness in the short, quick passing cycles required for ball retention in deeper positions. Although Szobo is a good presser due to his unrelenting energy, he is not a good defensive player. His natural tendencies are towards exploiting opposition when Liverpool have the ball, not identifying and filling positional weak spots to provide solid coverage when Liverpool don’t.

Wirtz is a virtual non-entity when Liverpool don’t have the ball. He’ll press defenders but a lack of a coordinated approach leaves him isolated. He shows none of the nous of a Jota or Diaz and none of the physicality of a Nunez. Szobo has far more versatility, playing a multitude of other positions reasonably well, but the problem is that you don’t want arguably your best player acting as a decent RB stopgap instead of playing as a world class no.10. Spending £200m on two strikers when we only play one, and spending £116m on a player to play in the one position we already had a 25yr old world class player, were the biggest folly’s of last summer’s transfer splurge.

It screams of a lack of joined up thinking and squad planning. It is impossible to play an offensively minded DM alongside two out-and-out no.10 central midfielders. It would be madness. And rotating them is not a long-term option. At best they play 50% each, not enough for either. At worst one plays the majority and the other gets exceptionally angry, sees his resale value plummet but eventually forces his exit knowing there are a wealth of top teams who would dearly love to fill a no.10 gap in their squads. Neither have equally effective positions anywhere else, at least not in the current 4-2-3-1 formation…

The other seasoned central midfielders are Jones, MacAllister and Elliott. All three are naturally attacking. MacAllister has better defensive nous than the other two but lacks the athleticism to cover the ground in the way many top teams prefer. Elliott is completely unsuitable for playing as an 8 and Jones loves tight play, has energy but lacks any natural defensive awareness and tackling ability. Endo is there too, but woefully short of the technical standard required and now too slow as a defensive enforcer.

And so we arrive at our ramshackle forward line. First we have two strikers. Not forwards, not wide players who can play across the front line. Strikers. The reason they can’t play as wide forwards is their lack of defensive attributes, athleticism and stamina to complete the required tracking back. They could try, but the knock-on effect on their forward play would likely be too severe. Ekitike may eventually have the legs for it, but likely carrying that big frame around would take a heavy toll and he would be a 60 minute player in that position. We currently have a broken Gakpo for the left, a completely ineffectual Chiesa for the right and a 17yr old prodigy who needs minutes but should not yet be expected to be a starter for a team with aspirations of winning league titles. That’s it. I’m not missing anyone here people, that is literally it. I would breakdown why this is not suitable, but I think just listing the names and their positions should provide evidence enough.

Liverpool’s plan – It seems the brain trust at Liverpool plan on bringing in quick wide players. Lord knows Liverpool need them, as detailed above. This will then solve the wide forward positions. My question is – to what end? Buying wide forwards when you’re Liverpool is an expensive business. Diomande, the media favourite, will likely cost north of £80m, is 19, has one season of evidence, and has never played in the Prem. It is extraordinarily high risk. Doesn’t mean he won’t be a world beater, it just means they are betting big on little data and lots of hope. He is also right footed and probably not an ideal replacement for Salah. He is apparently versatile. We’ll see how that plays out in the sky-high standards of the Premier League. Most people expect another pacy winger to replace under-performing Gakpo, but who that will be is anyone’s guess. There will likely be other additions too, perhaps a backup LB, maybe another midfielder, there’s a lot of talk.

I think it is all meaningless. Our lack of effective wide forwards is not the problem Liverpool should be concentrating on, the problem we should be focusing on is creating as many positions for Ekitike, Isak, Szobo and Wirtz. This is over £300m of new players plus our best player from the last few seasons. Additionally, we need enough defensive resilience to balance those attacking options, our non-defensive no.6 and reasonably attacking full backs. Sounds impossible? It probably is, but this would be my solution…

My Plan – Get rid of 4-2-3-1. Don’t buy any wingers. Buy another CB and Play 3-5-2 or 3-4-2-1. The beauty of this solution is the amount of problems it solves.

I’ve never been a fan of 3 at the back, but my lord does it suit our squad. Right off the bat we have 3 CB’s to provide extra defensive balance. This is not a drift into midfield, float about 3 CB’s, it is a flat back 3 who do not move. Suddenly our too small FB’s become sprint up and down WB’s. This plays very much to their strength and allows width the length of the field. No more wide forwards, just wing backs providing genuine width. That’s their role – width. That’s important because this formation is about creating central positions for the abundance of central players in the squad, and they do that. Now we have 5 positions, all effectively central, though with opportunity to drift wider, for us to fill.

So, let’s put Gravenberch as a no.6. With the extra CB behind and WB’s to sit deep and wide when Liverpool are without the ball, he is now provided desperately needed additional defensive support. There will still be concerns about ball progression (this is not a fix-all unfortunately) but he has a solid base around him at least. With that defensive cover you can actually play two no.10’s either alongside, or at a push, behind two no.9’s. That’s all of Ekitike, Isak, Szobo and Wirtz. But more likely, and especially since Ekitike is out until the new year, they can play one striker and put Macallister/Jones as the additional CM who can sit deeper as a double pivot behind Szobo and Wirtz.

They also (with Elliott) provide good cover for Wirtz and Szobo, giving them opportunity for decent minutes and importantly some variation. Chiesa and Gakpo can provide cover for the no.9 position. This isn’t great but it makes use of the existing squad until Ekitike is back.

This formation is stable and well-balanced, allowing those extremely expensively assembled central players to flourish. I’m not saying we’ll win the league, I am saying you can buy 1 CB, changing the enormously expensive squad overhaul into a budgeted squad adjustment that makes use of the enormously expensive players already bought. It provides balance, game time, creativity and solidity at a marginal cost. Personally, I would love Colwill, but Van De Ven but is more realistic as an example, providing Jacquet, VDV, Konate and VVD as starting options with Gomez and Leoni as further backup for the three starting positions.

Having said all that, I think Slot has no intention of changing formation (If Konate does leave on a free that will be confirmation of it) I don’t think the fans have an apetite for it either, and instead he will just spend big on attacking wingers, our enormously unbalanced team will fail, and he’ll be out by November. His replacement will be makeshift, have no money to spend, a horribly unbalanced, downbeat squad and I’ll be there shouting that Edwards and Hughes should be leaving with him. Alex

World Cup prices

Following on from the recent letter about world cup ticket prices being similar to concerts in the US, that simply isn’t true.

I’ve been to see Oasis, Coldplay & Sting (Just naming the biggies) recently and have tickets for upcoming Gorillaz tour and GOOD tickets were affordable for me and my family (4) . $2-300 each if I recall.

My son wanted me to take him to the World Cup (Dad its the only time we’ll get to see one) so I looked into it.

Decent seats were around $2K each and that was for the group games!

There is no way I am spending upwards of $6K (including travel) to watch England sail through “The group of Dross”

Yes tickets for concerts here can be expensive but you are talking front row and VIP. (VIP for Gorillaz is $4-500 BTW).

Most of the tickets here for the top teams have been snaffled up by Bots and sold on third party websites (stub Hub etc.) for thousands of dollars!

I’m really hoping that the people who are buying these tickets in the hope of “cashing in” lose their shirts.

FIFA have completely misjudged peoples appetite here for the WC as I do not know of anyone who is going.

I will be at home watching the games on my extra large TV. Neil, LFC, USA

The FA need to look after match-going fans

With, it seems, a record number of English teams qualifying for Europe next season is there any chance of the FA and its broadcasting partners giving the slightest thought to match going fans this time?

Maybe the teams playing on Thursdays can play each other on Sunday? Instead of dragging a club’s fans that shouldn’t be impacted up and down the country on a day when public transport is patchy to non-existent?

Could the FA and its broadcasting partners maybe announce TV games far enough in advance to meet the promise they made to fan groups (fun fact, not a single month’s game announcements made this commitment last season)?

When the FA look at Friday night fixtures will they ponder whether sending Bournemouth and Fulham fans to Newcastle or Manchester City and Everton fans to Tottenham might not be that easy for them?

Will they look at how many Monday night games a club has instead of just picking on the same ones?

I think we all know the answer to these to be honest. Gav, Edinburgh

Another take on Jordan Henderson

In response to the mail defending Jordan Henderson by Leonard (LFC) Singapore I feel compelled to side with 365 here. Any player that moves to Saudi Arabia should be criticized for it and doubly so if they been virtue signaling about some social issue for clout thus proving they are hypocrites.

We are all very familiar with Saudi’s backward culture in regards to women, gay people and human rights but they’ve also been bombing Yemen for over 11 years leading to a famine and humanitarian crisis that has resulted in almost 400,000 deaths, most of which are civilians. Russia are banned from the World Cup because of the Ukraine war but Saudi aren’t over Yemen because one of them is buying weapons from the US and UK to bomb people so we should just give them a pass, it might be a phobic of some sort not to.

Roman Abramovich had Chelsea confiscated from him just for being a Russian billionaire despite having no connection to the war but the Saudi government are allowed to own Newcastle after mercilessly bombing children for over a decade. My view is that both countries should be banned from the WC or neither but who are we kidding, the barely less morally questionable Qatar hosted a WC while both human rights abusing aficionado’s China and North Korea have played at one. FIFA’s morals and ethics are about on par with the late Jeffrey Epstein’s (who most of FIFA’s top brass were probably friends with).

Players can sign for who whoever they want but also aren’t free from criticism after signing for clubs in countries run by evil despots just for the money, after trying to advertise how morally superior they are by pretending to care about the “current thing”. Jordan Henderson isn’t a sincere, genuine or moral person and he can go **** himself along with every other English player that signs for Saudi clubs and anybody defending them from totally justifiable criticism. William, Leicester

Did Johnny miss the memo?

Reading Johnny Nic’s last article about the likely domination of PL clubs in European competitions had me wondering if John has had his head buried in the sand or had simply vacated the planet for the last 30 years.

Statements like “For example, Aston Villa v Freiberg was a revenue/income battle of €450.2 million v €162.8 million and this isn’t unusual. So as good as a win might feel just now, it’s not really a fair fight is it?” and “If they can win a trophy just by being massively financially dominant then it ceases to be a proper sporting contest. It’s an achievement equal in status to your dad winning the 100 metres against 11 year olds on Sports Day.”

Well yes, quite – but has Johnny boy not noticed that Football has not been a fair fight for a few decades now? That it has not been a fair fight for Villa or Newcastle, or Bournemouth to even qualify for these UEFA competitions against 6 entrenched and protected financial behemoths when they are not allowed to spend their owners’ money as they wish?

Has he not noticed that the gap between Villa’s squad value and that of City, Arsenal, United, Liverpool and Chelsea, not to mention Real and Barca and Bayern, is much bigger than the gap with Freiburg? Or the even more massive gap between Burnley or Brentford and the Sky 6?

How often do these financial chasms in the Premier League and Champions League get mentioned in match coverage? Practically never. So why should Villa v Freiburg be any different? Freiburg are a relatively small club from a relatively small town who maybe over achieved in getting to the final despite being in the top 10 of the Bundesliga. They did so via the side of the draw that avoided Villa, Forest, Lille, Bologna, Fenerbache, Roma, Stuttgart and Porto, any of whom might have made more challenging finalists with slightly less financial disparity than Freiburg. It’s a bit like a championship team making the FA Cup final against someone like City and not really a great example with which to make your very belated point John.

Those of us with eyes and capable of paying attention will know that the unlevel playing field process has been in place since at least the 1990s when Sky money entered the building along with the money-centric Premier League replacing the sport-centric and merit-centric First Division, followed by UEFA introducing the money-centric Champions League to replace the European Cup. Enabling the biggest richest clubs to entrench themselves into a position of virtual financial (and therefore sporting) unassailability. Except of course for those who could find a sugar daddy Oligarch or Oil State and were able to crash the party. Can’t have too many of those though, only enough plastic TV fans around the world to support a few mega clubs and we can’t harm the “product” by diluting it. Hence FFP/SCR/PSR and who do you think UR to shut the door on any other uppity clubs with deep pockets and ideas above their station. Kevin Villa (with a genuine apology to WHU for our disgusting “performance” against Spurs – not saying it was dodgy but it was so bad it certainly walked a lot like a duck and looked a lot like a duck etc.)