At a glance, Liverpool’s decision not to bring in a specialist defensive midfielder last summer seemed like an unnecessary risk.
The Reds lost Fabinho and Jordan Henderson, their two senior defensive midfielders for the majority of the Jurgen Klopp era, and failed in their last-ditch attempt to sign Moises Caicedo.
They reacted to this with a move for Wataru Endo, much to the surprise of, well, everyone.
The 30-year-old was one of four midfield signings as Klopp looked to overhaul that area of the team. The former Stuttgart skipper was joined by Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister with the Reds retooling their engine room after a disappointing 2022/23 campaign.
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And while Endo had spent time at the base of the midfield during his time in the Bundesliga, he was primarily deployed in a double pivot.
It meant none of the four arrivals could be classed as an out-and-out single pivot and there were question marks over how Klopp might assemble a functional, well-balanced midfield.
Some in the media even felt this void in the Liverpool squad would cost them a top four finish for a second successive season.
Yet with 22 games played in the 2023/24 campaign, the Reds find themselves five points clear at the top of the Premier League table.
Klopp’s men are the only team to have conceded fewer than 20 goals in the English top flight this term, they’re currently allowing just 0.9 goals against per 90.
The underlying numbers are impressive too with the Reds ranked third for expected goals against or xGA (24.8) behind Manchester City (20.8) and Arsenal (17.5). They also have the joint-most clean sheets (eight) along with the Gunners, and, surprisingly, Everton.
Both Man City and Arsenal bolstered their defensive units with mega-money signings this summer. The reigning champions parted with a world record fee for a defender to bring Josko Gvardiol to the club while Mikel Arteta got the better of his former employers to pry Declan Rice away from West Ham in a deal worth over £100m.
Instead of relying on individuals, Liverpool addressed the issues with their system and the decision to do so is paying off.
For the most part, Mac Allister has been used as the No6 for the Reds with Curtis Jones and Szoboszlai flanking the World Cup winner.
There’s a lot of running power on either side of the former Brighton maestro, which limits the space he has to protect.
Simply put, he isn’t exposed. Instead, he’s protected. Klopp referenced this after the win over Nottingham Forest earlier in the season.
The Liverpool boss said: "I’m really pleased for him.
"A lot of top defensive moments, really killed the counter and stuff like this – he’s good in these things. That’s why we play him there. In one-v-one situations, he’s really good and we have to make sure as a team that the spaces are really small in these moments.
"We can do that with the [No.] 8s, wingers and the central striker and we can do that with the centre-half defending in midfield in these moments. We have a really creative player in the centre of the park, together with Trent in some moments which is, obviously, helpful. Very helpful."
Mac Allister bossed things against Bournemouth recently.
No Liverpool player has made more tackles in a Premier League game in the last eight seasons than Alexis Mac Allister against Bournemouth (9).
— Squawka (@Squawka) January 21, 2024
He also won possession 15 times and won 14 duels. 🤯 pic.twitter.com/YgDVORq4Lv
No Liverpool player has made more tackles in a Premier League game in the last eight seasons than the Argentine managed against the Cherries (nine). He also won possession 15 times and won 14 duels in the 4-0 win.
If he’s given a small space to dominate, he’s deceptively combative. Again, Klopp singled him out for praise.
“Absolutely exceptional performance, I have to say. I’m so happy for us obviously but for him as well," he said.
"He didn’t play the single six at Brighton, but he’s an incredibly smart player. And as long as you can create a compact formation, Macca is an outstanding six.
"You can all tell me what you want – he’s an outstanding six. On the ball, better than all sixes you can imagine, and [off] the ball, he’s just really strong. If the pitch is too big, the half-spaces are too open, yeah, I don’t know a lot of sixes who are then great – but there might be a few who come off [better] on the defensive side of it."
Back in 2016, Klopp said: "No playmaker in the world can be as good as a good counter-pressing situation."
Now there is an argument that no defensive midfielder in the world can be as good as a fully synchronised counter-press. After all, there are only so many fires that one individual can put out on a pitch.
Instead of looking to shoehorn players into roles they aren’t suited to, Klopp has designed a system that allows most of his team to play their natural game.
Mac Allister, though tasked with more of a defensive burden than ever before, is still allowed to act as playmaker. Against Bournemouth, for example, he created four chances.
To help solidify central areas, Trent Alexander-Arnold has inverted from his role at right-back. This gives the Reds another body alongside the sole defensive midfielder, thus enabling the No6 to concentrate their efforts on the left side of the midfield.
It has also armed Alexander-Arnold with a newfound freedom from a different part of the pitch, and he’s really been able to scale his influence on this team.
The Reds aren’t reliant on these two players though.
When Mac Allister hasn’t been available, Endo has carried out that role spectacularly. He isn’t as expressive as the Argentine but he does the basics exceptionally well and creates a platform for the 2019/20 Premier League champions to play their football.
Joe Gomez has filled in for the vice-captain and though he plays the inverted role more as a carrier than a playmaker, the system still holds up. There’s a screen in front of the defence and the defensive midfielder isn’t marooned on his own in the middle.
With Klopp leaving at the end of the season, any incoming manager is going to want to look at how successful this tactic has been before they look to put their own stamp on things. After all, why change something that isn’t broken?
Few had them down for a title challenge this term but all of the numbers seem to suggest this position isn’t a false one.
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