I know it's early days and we the fans (as well as Klopp and Trent himself) are only starting to find out what it could mean to have Trent playing as our CM playmaker, but if this experiment is successful, I think it can subtly shift some priorities in terms of our summer spending. It's ironic that this evolution within the team is happening in real time while our recruitment team were already apparently full steam ahead meeting with potential targets' agents and the offers and budgets were being finalized. So let's imagine a team build around Trent as a midfield maestro and what other elements it needs to be successful.
First, on the evidence of the last two games as well as his career at RB up to this point, we can say that Trent is an incredible attacking weapon. They say the hardest thing in football is to score goals, but I think providing the killer last pass is just as difficult and Trent is undoubtedly among the top 5 players in world football at this element of the game. Shifting him to midfield dramatically increases the amount of touches and passes he gets to attempt per game (he had more passes vs Leeds than in any other game in his senior player career – by some distance); the surprising aspect of this is that it allows him to be much more patient with his pass selection. Now he doesn't have to force anything, he can look for opportunities and allow his teammates to make multiple runs before pulling the trigger.
I have always being curious about the idea of moving Trent in midfield, but even I had no idea how potentially devastating he can be in this position – honestly, the likes of Jorginho, Verratti, Paredes or any other modern-day regista have nothing on him, for every goal-scoring chance they can generate, Trent can make 3 because he has so many more tools in his toolbox. Look at the pass for Nunez's goal again – it's not just the pass itself, he is putting it on a sixpence for Darwin while also evading an opponent's challenge and running forward, all in one flowing motion. It's not just passing, it's the whole package – press resistance, athleticism, speed, relentless energy and creativity... He is Thiago with twice the speed and athleticism; it's fucking scary to be honest. As Leeds and Arsenal found out to their detriment, if you don't stop Trent from doing what he wants to do, he will toy with you the whole game and pick and choose the moments to destroy you.
Before we talk about how teams will try to stop him, let's think how teammates will benefit. As we know from the times of Xabi in LFC, having a super consistent long passer in the middle of the park means you now don't need to progress the game with short passing any more – you still can, of course, but short passing combinations become a Plan B of sorts, a decoy for the real creative force, which is Trent's right foot. This in turn means that you can have more forwards and wingers who make runs beyond the opponent's defence and you have less of a need for a true AM – that's why Rafa's Liverpool almost never played with one. Among our strikers, Nunez seems like he will be the biggest beneficiary – he won't need to worry about creating things (where he usually overthinks), he will just need to make sure his head or foot gets on the end of those self-guiding Trent passes, much like Haaland is getting on the end of De Bruyne's.
Another downstream effect of this tactic will be that Trent's midfield partners will need to be more defensively minded – as opponents try to trap and press him, Trent will drift to various areas of the pitch to find some space to turn and launch yet another missile, perhaps even back to the right wing touchline – so his partners will need to constantly adjust their position relative to his in order to plug gaps in real time. So that calls for a certain type of player – a workmanlike Caicedo-Wijnaldum-Gattuso type rather than those who always need the ball at their feet. Most LFC fans would say this type of player has been our biggest unmet need for a couple of years already, so in that sense the transfer priorities don't change much – but perhaps the emergence of Trent in midfield makes the potential signings of the likes of Lavia and Gravenberch a bit more redundant and perhaps to some extent it applies to Bellingham too. This also makes it harder to see a future here for the likes of Elliott and Carvalho, unfortunately, and any other #10 type. And of course the big decision will be whether Konate will stay in his role as "Trent's RB protector" long-term or we would need to sign someone else there and move Konate to the middle or LCB. In any case, bringing in another top-notch all-around dominant defender who can potentially shift between CB, fullback and possibly midfield roles will be absolute key to making the whole thing work – because in our current squad if Konate gets injured tomorrow, Trent won't have sufficient protection behind him and the whole system will likely collapse.
Lot's more to say or think about, but I think I'll stop here for now. Next few games will be very interesting and perhaps determine the direction of our summer and the following season.
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