Are we about to change the system?

During Klopp’s tenure at the club, with the exception of a few games, our system has been fairly rigid and set in stone 4-3-3 with a false 9. Many of us, myself included, expected to see a change of formation last year after the big money acquisition of Nunez who we all assumed would play CF and I think most of us were surprised when we just carried on as before, with Darwin shoehorned into the side predominantly on the LW when he did play.

Results were poor, our midfield was continually overrun, yet much to the annoyance of most fans, we continued with the same system week in, week out. We did eventually mix things up with Trent moving into midfield from his starting RB position but that system being played in the manner it was, has absolutely glaring holes in it. Our right flank was wide open when we were in possession and Robbo dropping back into a back 3 meant we lost his attacking threat but there were also huge spaces between our CB’s. The fact we were conceding an average of 2 goals a game just serves to highlight those issues. Our results may have improved playing that way but you can’t expect to win trophies if you’re conceding that many goals. As Fergie used to say, attack wins game, defence wins titles.

What’s the answer then? With Trent showing how effective he is in midfield, many of us had hoped we would target a dedicated RB this summer and make Trent’s midfield role permanent. It’s all quiet on the RB rumours front, however it’s been said that we’re interested in a new CB so could we be about to switch to a proper 3 at the back formation?

It has its perks, if we had a proper 3 at the back defensive setup, I wouldn’t have such a problem with Trent’s free role starting from the RWB position as we’d have the numbers behind him to cover and we have the players available to play a 3-4-3 or a 3-5-2 depending on the opposition. We could also have Fabinho drop back when Trent pushes into midfield to effectively create a back four and close off the space that’s been so open to the counter attack.

The only thing is, Klopp has previously stated he’s not a fan of a back 3 so it may be purely conjecture on my part but I really don’t want us to go into next season playing exactly the same as we were in the last few games of the season, or we can expect to continue to see games where we conceded four to the side at the bottom of the league as we did against Southampton on the last game of the season.

Anyway I’d intended to write a bit more but I’m on standby and my work phone just rang so I’ll let you lot pick the bones of how we should set up going into next season. Walk on!!