I see some of us arguing who should start for our midfield. Honestly speaking, it’s hard to to tell right now. Let me explain to you bit by bit.

Expectations on midfielders

Liverpool midfielders have the toughest job in the world. They need to press like motherfuckers and maintain quick transition between attack and defence. That means they should have a decent understanding of positioning, off the ball movement, tactical knowledge and anticipation. They also maintain >80% pass completion most of the time.

Potential issues for new midfielders

We know both Keita and Fabinho are great signings. But there is always an issue whether players can settle themselves in the club quickly.

Here is a list of issues:

• Are they going to adapt to the local weather?
• Are they going to adapt to the local cuisine?
• Are they going to adapt to the pressure due to high expectations?
• Are they going to adapt to a highly physical league, since French 1 is relatively slacking and Bundesliga isn’t as physical?
• Are they going to maintain their previous work rate, since gengenpressing is so stamina-demanding and EPL is very physical?
• Are they going to develop good understanding (or even synergy) with the existing teammates. This could affect the execution of tactics and players’ emotion/morale.
• Are they resilient enough against the racial discrimination within the English football scene?

This could be a very long list. No one can truly answer these questions, only time will tell us whether new players are truly settled and are able to perform at both their expected and actual levels.

I know some of you have no prior experience living in a foreign culture for long duration, you may not realise the difficulty of integration. Some people find it easy, some people find it not. Also, racism can be a source of demotivation. If Sterling thinks it is an issue, then it is convincing to say that foreigner footballers (especially non-white) will speak the same.

Players’s quality

What do we mean by players’ quality? If you are talking about raw talents, flair and potentials, Ox, Keita and Fabinho (also Fekir ;_;) are probably the starter. BUT, this is not a Football Manager game. Simply referring to a player’s ability and potential are unreasonable, unresponsible and unacceptable. Leadership and teamwork do matter. If the player fails to work with existing teammates, he will not be picked at all by manager. If he isn’t a member of any social groups in the dressing room, he will be isolated by teammates. No matter how decent a player is, he must be patient and slowly gain recognition from both the manager and his teammates. It’s not like you buy someone CA 190, then you can start winning matches easily. Roma is not built in a day!

Players’ experience

Meanwhile, experience is very very important. It gives a player composure in matches. The presence of Henderson effectively calms the team (see Hendo’s absence in Manure game). It also helps Keita/Fabi integrate into the squad quickly. Also, some players could perform exceptionally well in certain competitions. See Milner, the UEFA assit king and Gini, the big game player. These players thrive under pressure, or they are just better in non-league matches. In terms of strategic flexibility, Milner can be a starter in both 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 narrow. Milner is a very very good Mezzela. If you watch his game carefully, he often runs ball to the flank and delivers dangerous low crosses. I don’t see Keita and Fabinho able to do this shit right now. These two players often run ball in the middle.

Also, if we immediately start two new players in midfield, it is likely (not necessarily, but more than a speculation) to destablise the team dynamics. They don’t have the synergy, or they are not used to the game plan, or they are still adapting to the EPL style. Of course, it will be great if they are playing smoothly with us, but you can’t think in that way. Everyone needs time to settle regardless.

4-3-3 Pivot

Many people say that Fabino should be the DM. Fabinho is a Mascherano player, he is good at tackling and passing. It adds steel to the Liverpool’s midfield which has been absent since Mascherano’s departure. I hold a different opinion however. Fabinho’s strength is his ability to make a quick transiton from defence by bringing the ball forward himself. He is a complete midfielder who is good at defending and conducting counter attack at the same time. My theory is that he should be a roaming playermaker where he has proved himself in Monaco. Henderson can remain as pivot, as he is very good at recycling balls and he remains calm under pressure. I don’t see Fabinho doing a better job in this aspect. Therefore, Kloop is likely to rotate them to see which works best for the team.

4-2-3-1 Double Pivot

If Kloop wants more steel in midfield, Fabinho and Henderson are prioritised. If he wants more dribbler or flair, Ox and Keita are the options. Lallana and Milner also give insane pressing, compsure, killer passes and vision in the midfield.

Conclusion

While Ox-Keita-Fab (Fekir ;_;) are the strongest set up on paper, there are lots of consideration before we can actually realise the best set up in reality. Time will tell us who’s better.

Fuck Ramos

Fuck Alas

Edit: typing this load of shit on phone at 4am. gg

Edit2: lmao guys, I’m just trying to list out eveything possible here. Some issues seem laughable, but who knows? If you are living in a foreign culture for a long while, you will notice the issue. But I doubt some of you have experienced before, thus overlook the issue. Also, if Sterling considers racism as an issue, it speaks for the problem per se.

Edit3: while football has the least amount of racism among all sports, you cannot deny its impact towards players. The relative amount of racism in different sports and the absolute impact towards player are two different things. According to /u/JimmyRush’s logic, he will agree that people in US ought not to be unhappy with the poor economy, because US economy isn’t relatively the worst. That’s the utter shit hole.