11/04/2020

Season So Far: Liverpool Midfielders Ranked

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Ross – @rossic89

JUDGEMENT; The ability to make considered decisions or come to sensible conclusions. Easy for some, difficult for Twitter. We all like to judge, it’s natural. Some like to do it more than others though. In a desperate attempt to create content I have decided to judge and rate the Liverpool players so far this season, which could turn out to be the actual season. I hope not. The main problem with doing this is that one persons 6 out of 10 is another persons 8 out of ten. It’s a game of fine margins. I will do my best to explain my rationale behind the numbers and argue my points. If you choose to agree, thanks, if you choose to disagree, thanks. I’m here for the conversation. Working from home can be a struggle. I’ve nailed down self-isolation from human beings. In fact, I’d mastered that a few years back. Or maybe they mastered me. Who knows. All I know now is I really need to start doing it with my fridge as well….. I’ve done the goalkeepers which you can find here…. https://theredmentv.com/season-so-far-goalkeepers/ And the defenders which you can find here….. https://theredmentv.com/season-so-far-liverpool-defenders-ranked/ So now I will crack on with the midfielders.. Enjoy. @rossic89
James Milner James bloody Milner. What a fella. Mr Reliable, Mr Versatile. The all encompassing model professional and social media expert. Lets face it, when his football playing career is over we are all doomed. He’s going to run Twitter and we will all have to bow down to him. In fact, I reckon he runs it now. On the pitch this season James Milner has been everything we come to expect from such a mature, level headed and well experienced player. I joked about his versatility earlier but so far James has played in five different positions so far this season. Six if you include him in goal as he prevented Bournemouth scoring another in our most recent Premier League game at Anfield.  As I’ve mentioned it I think it would be extremely rude not to share it. Whist searching for that I stumbled on his stats from that game courtesy of The Tactical Times. James Milner vs. Bournemouth 86% Pass accuracy 2/4 Accurate long passes 1/1 Shot on target 5/7 Ground duels won 2/2 Aerial duels won 2/2 Tackles won 4 Clearances (1 goal line) This is obviously only from one game but I think it epitomises the man and the player from a fans perspective. And from his too actually. Never afraid of a challenge, never afraid to stick his body on the line and will do absolutely anything for the cause. In the previous articles I have ranked players so far this season I’ve always tried to look at this with some perspective and relate it back to expectation. Lovren a fine example of this. Not everyones favourite. With most of the complaints slating him for his performances and not being the same as van Dijk or Gomez etc. But realistically he’s a fourth choice centre half. And he’s obviously not van Dijk or Gomez. He’s not meant to be. Anyway I think it is only fair to do the same with Jimmy Milner. What are our expectations of him? How many games do we think we will get out of him? Do we overlook his age when it comes to pace or do we just directly compare him with Robertson? I think a fair assessment of Milner or at least my expectancy is that he’s a utility man. Someone who just does as he’s fucking asked. You can’t really measure that and I don’t think a lot of people consider it when it comes to ranking him. It’s not just the physical side of his game. It’s his experience, his mentality and his professionalism. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve said “Bring Milner on for the last 20 to calm things down and see things out.” That’s what he brings to the party. A calmness. A winning mentality. Sure he may have made the odd mistake. But who the fuck hasn’t? So far this season Milner has played 33 games totalling 1,541 minutes. A statistic I was somewhat surprised at. Not sure why. Maybe everything just feels a distant memory at the moment. 4 goals and 4 assists for Milner is a somewhat decent return too considering he hasn’t started or completed a full 90 that often. 6 yellow cards is pretty impressive though. Always willing to take one for the team! Only fair to give Milner 8/10 in my opinion. I’ve taken his social game into account here too. I shouldn’t but it’s my article so fuck it.
Fabinho Everybody’s favourite long-legged Brazilian. Also possibly because I can’t think of another. It has been a somewhat mixed season for Fabinho, I think you’ll agree. Although this is the internet. It’s someones job to disagree! Fabinho was nothing short of immense for the first few months of the season. The dynamic midfielder carried on his tremendous form the previous campaign and continued to highlight the positive aspects of his game; the ruthlessness, the range of passing, the ability to intercept or tackle when you think the opportunity has been missed but it’s sound because he has go-go-gadget legs. Oh and lets not forget the thunder-bastard versus Manchester City. Liverpool were flying and Fabinho played a huge part. Then on November 29th we got the devastating news that he would be out until New Year. Having someone who dominated that position and freed up Jordan Henderson was a gift. To have that taken away going into the busiest period of the season and with a trip to Qatar thrown into the mix it was the worst possible news. Subsequently we were pretty sound. Hendo had it covered and he had improved vastly from his previous stint playing the deeper role. So despite the initial panic and arse clenching. We were good. Fabinho missed a total of 13 games through that injury, one or two he probably wouldn’t have played due to being domestic cup games. But it was, and probably still is, his form since the return from injury which has caused a few concerns. Given he was so instrumental before it and the form of Hendo in his absence it was never going to be easy to slot straight back in. But I suppose that is what we have come to expect. That is the standard now. Raise your fucking game or there will be someone to take your place. I had some great feedback on the social posts which has helped to come to some sort of conclusion. One of which said he should get 9/10 before injury, 7/10 after, so 8/10 overall. I don’t think you can argue with the score or logic there.
Naby Keita Baby Keith to most of us. I’m conflicted with Naby. As I’m sure a few of you are. I adore him, I like his style of play, I think he brings something else to the table. His link up play and vision to pick out a team mate in the way he does is unique to this side. And as much as some people are still crying out for a Coutinho replacement. I think it is Naby. Well it is supposed to be and I have every faith that he will be. People have grown frustrated with his lack of game time, the persistent injuries, the glimpses of genius and then lets face it, missing him. You know what though? I bet he’s fucking frustrated too. No player wants to be injured. And if you think for one second that nobody wants to be part of this tremendous, trail blazing, dominant and infectious Liverpool side well I suggest you pick a new sport. Naby will feel annoyed, he has so much to offer. I understand the frustration. On my part, I’m frustrated for him, not at him. For all the reasons I’ve just mentioned. There’s a world class player there. You know it and I know it. It also stems from last season. I get that. It stems from spending a year watching him on YouTube pissing it in the Bundesliga, ghosting past players, cute assists and twatting it in the top bin. Life isn’t YouTube highlights kids. Life can throw shit at you. That’s whats happened to Naby. A total of 18 games for him so far this season. 915 minutes. 3 goals and 1 assist. Not what we come to expect from him but again the frustration is because we expect more and we all want him to do better, not just for us, but for himself. Lack of game time will have hindered him, there’s no doubt about that. But I still think he fully deserves a 7/10. There’s lots more to come from Naby.
 

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Gini Wijnaldum Gini the workhorse, symbolism of the press and integral to Jurgen Klopp and how this Liverpool side operates. Doesn’t often get the credit he deserves for me. A victim of the ‘Hendersons’ if you will. Our opponents often dictate the job Gini does or the role he is required to play. It’s terribly frustrating that a lot of fans don’t see this nor do they have the patience. The ‘Hendersons’ being someone who is required to do a certain job, no frills, no flair but gets lambasted for not scoring screamers or essentially being Maradona in a deeper role. It’s not his job. Whatever it is we need, Gini can do it. And there’s a lazy narrative with Gini too, which to some degree I get. Because he plays further forward for his national team and literally every time he goes away, or what feels like every time, he scores goals. Lots of them. Of course what follows is “Well just do that at the weekend mate.” or “Why can’t he do that for us.” It’s not his role. His job is to put out fires, press, counter press, protect the full backs and fill in for the full backs. No it isn’t flashy, no it’s not like watching Ronaldinho. It’s not meant to be. The highlight of Gini, for me, is his strength, getting his body between the man and the ball, and quite frankly his arse. You know what I’m talking about, he could protect the ball from the U.S military if he wanted to. Gini has played a phenomenal amount of football so far this season – 38 games, 3,028 minutes if you’re asking. And he has managed to score 5 goals within that time. A slight criticism of Gini is his lack of assists, again not really his job but when the likes of van Dijk, Lovren and Alisson all have assists it is perfectly reasonable to ask the question. The future is very much clouded for Gini as his contract runs down. I very much hope he signs a new deal because he has plenty left in the tank and I want him to win more trophies with us. Which we will do once the footy is back! With all the above considered Gini gets 8/10 for me. Like Milner, I’ve also thrown his social game into the mix.
Adam Lallana Ok maybe Adam is the hardest one so far. BUT. I will use the same hypothesis as I had previously taken into account his role and what we expect of him realistically not bashing him because he’s not Gini, Fab or Hendo etc. I’ll start off with a bit of Lallana propaganda before I get serious. I’ll ask the questions before I move on. What do you expect from Adam Lallana? Where is he in the pecking order for Midfield? Why is he in that order? For me, out of the list I’ve done he’s probably last. And that’s not a slight on him. We’ve got world class midfielders in the squad. He’s had a terrible time with injuries and form has been difficult to find when you find regular game time hard to come by. But as I’ve mentioned. I don’t expect him to start week in, week out ahead of the others. He’s a squad player, so why do people expect him to come into the side and replicate his form of two or three seasons ago? Standards have been raised and younger, different types of players which have surpassed him, as has our style of play which oddly, he used to be the pinnacle of. So when he comes on or even when he’s announced in the squad during a match day, why does Twitter continue to lose its head? Albeit not the best measure for a reasonable reaction but honestly, its overwhelming. Take the United game for example. Why do people write someone off before they’ve even come on? Like Jurgen doesn’t have a fucking clue what he’s doing, he doesn’t see them in training every day, he doesn’t trust them. Have we not learned anything?! Hindsight it a wonderful thing and I’m using it as it backs up my argument. Lallana is a squad player and some of his performances have been really impressive for me. 22 games totalling 869 minutes for Adam. 1 goal and 2 assists. Not a bad return really for someone who has largely been a substitute so far this season. 7/10 for me.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain “You to me are everything my Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, OHH BABY” might just be one of the best Liverpool songs this season. I’ll leave the second verse out though. If you aren’t sure, google it. With a devastating injury now behind him I don’t know a single Liverpool fan that isn’t routing for Alex this season. Like the rest of the lads he has such a likeable character, he’s mature, he’s professional and he loves this club. With such a big injury it can take time to gather pace, rhythm and most of all, confidence. Not just confidence in ability but more so going into a challenge, physically and mentally. It can’t be easy. I mentioned James Milner’s versatility earlier and I didn’t realise it’s pretty much the same with Alex. That’s filling in if ever I’ve seen it. Which again can’t be easy for Alex. We know his preferred role is centre mid. But we are pretty well stocked there. So he has had to find his game time elsewhere. Which is fine to an extent but you have to adapt. I have been critical of him when playing out on the left if he’s had to cover for Mané so I have been guilty of what I’ve mentioned before, he’s not Mané, so why should I expect him to be? They are completely different types of players. Having said that, I think it was the Southampton game at home where you could see he had grown into the role and was showing signs of improvements. He has remained relatively injury free so far this season and I can’t even begin to explain how I felt when he went down in Qatar just in front of us. It was a half-crawl and a worrying glance at the bench, I feared the worst. I thought he’d done it again. It just goes to show the character and mentality of the man to fight back again and to play as well as he’s done. This next clip has no relevance to his season. But fuck it, it makes you smile. Ox has racked up 34 appearances across all comps so far this season scoring 7 times and assisting 1. I think you have to take into account the roles he has played and his previous injury when judging Alex which is exactly what I’ve done. Gets a 7.5/10 for me. Pushing for an 8/10. You decide.
Jordan Henderson Saved the best until last here. And I can’t but help take recent events into account when writing about him and when judging him. I’ll get it out the way now. He gets 10/10. To give him otherwise would be fucking ridiculous. Rallying Premier League captains to create an initiative to support the NHS, hospices and other front line charities that need the support. Despite the desperate attempts from that cock womble Matt Hancock to distract, point fingers and cover up the shambles of how other things have been handled. And he had the cheek to try and take the credit for it. This was in the works well before. Which is a testament to Jordan. On the field Jordan has continued his fine form which has been sustained for a significant period. The European Cup winning captain has led Liverpool to two more trophies so far this season asserting his and the clubs dominance in European and World football. Hendo has added so much more to his game since Fabinho joined the club. He’s been allowed to express himself, support the front three, to be the extra man in the box, to contribute with goals and assists. Of course of that all went to pot slightly when Fabinho got injured but then the pressure was really on. I’ve already covered this but Fabinho was arguably the best DM in the world. My arse went. Why? Hendo just stepped in and bossed it. It’s all well and good Hendo playing further up the field where he can press high in the opponents half but the biggest compliment I can give him is he’s done all that but he’s also learned from Fabinho. Stepping up and filling in for Fabinho was a mammoth of a challenge but Hendo has taken so much is, he had someone in that role to look up to where in previous seasons, lets face it, he didn’t. To play his own game and take the plaudits whilst simultaneously soaking up knowledge from Fabinho to adapt his all round game I think is inspirational and something which often goes underrated. The clip above very simply says everything you need to know about Hendo; PASHUN, heart, desire, inspiration and a hunger to succeed. I’m sure there are many more superlatives. Feel free to add your own. Playing in the Liverpool midfield is not an easy task. You need exceptional work-rate, discipline, the professionalism to do the dirty work and a solid team ethic. The way Liverpool play means it’s not a particularly flashy role. Our creativity comes from our full backs, meaning the midfielders have to make a sacrifice. Hendo does all of these things and more. In total Hendo has played 35 games (2,814 minutes), scoring 3 and assisting 5. Surprisingly he’s only had two yellow cards. Not a bad feat for someone who constantly tells officials, opponents and pretty much anyone who stands in his way to fuck off. More of that please.
Happy to have a discussion on any of these any points I’ve missed, if you think I’ve got them spot on or if you think I’m completely wide of the mark on any of them. Tweet me. Ross – @rossic89
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