Midfield needs return of a simple genius

IT’S that time of the year now when one speculative story after another will be doing the rounds; some accurate, others no more than a whim.

Now it’s difficult to predict who can fit in where even if it is already known where the deficiencies of Liverpool have been this season. It’s the midfield.

That’s not to say it was completely dysfunctional but while many may blame the defence for a number of poor displays, having a strong and creative midfield can often make up for the errors at the back. It’s a luxury Liverpool didn’t have much of this season.

When the playmakers played well, they really did. But the lack of consistency and the Xabi Alonso-esque creativity was very glaringly missing when oppositions managed to stuff up the second-third of the pitch. Passes usually got played backwards and the first touches always had a tendency of dragging it in to trickier corners which would often lead to possession wasted.

Philippe Coutinho arrived at the scene a bit too late because he showed he had the ability to move the ball forward with simple vision past players, instead of trying the more complicated drills.

Of course it’ll be harsh to blame anyone with the question of why he wasn’t a summer signing, because we all know witchcraft doesn’t quite feature in the game so it’s unreasonable to expect it. You can’t predict these things.

He could easily have been as big a failure as Alberto Aquilani proved to be, and he was a creative magician with the ball at his feet by reputation – quite the opposite of what Inter Milan thought of Coutinho and until his performances, many Liverpool fans saw him as a repetition of the Aqua-fiasco.
[ad_pod id=”unruly-video” align=”center”]
It would help however to somehow find a way to incorporate the simple creative flare within the play of Lucas or perhaps sign someone who has a simple game but does it extremely well.

Alonso was a shining example of the fact that you don’t need to be able to dribble circles around defenders to be good. Mind you, when the time came he proved more than up to the task during the Champions League final of 2007.

Kaka had just performed that 360 degree turn which reminded you of Zinedine Zidane, to get the ball past one of Liverpool’s back four (it might have been Alonso himself).

Whoever it was, it was a bit embarrassing for the side and gave the Milan contingent a chance to gloat away for a bit. Minutes later Alonso picked up the ball outside the Liverpool box and began marching forward only find a Milan shirt in his way and he coolly uses the same trick but performs in a more simplistic manner by just using his right foot to shield the ball first, then drag it around and away.

The end result was the same. It’s that kind of simple brilliance which sets sides apart.

Liverpool have had that in Luis Suarez’s brilliance, then Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge’s emergence towards the end of the season.

Get someone to do the same from the centre of the park and spray the ball about at will, and options will open up tenfold.
[ad_pod id=’pubsquared’ align=’right’]
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at live4liverpool@snack-media.com

Follow us on Twitter here: @live4Liverpool and ‘Like’ us on Facebook