View: https://youtu.be/STEkU1dxUOQ?si=5Ma4PF6brG_np8IJ
View: https://x.com/Watch_LFC/status/1823056811420799093?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1823056811420799093%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=
Now that Ryan Gravenberch looks like our potential starting #6 for the season, he deserves his own thread. What are your expectations, worries and predictions? Does he have what it takes to make this position his own?
When we were first linked with Gravvy, I described him as a “jack-of-all-trades” midfielder; someone who has some outstanding attacking, dueling and playmaking qualities, but at the time it was very unclear how those assorted qualities can be pieced together into one defined role. Now that I had more opportunities to watch him develop, it’s becoming clearer where his true “center of gravity” (pardon the unintentional pun) lies and I think generally it’s in playing deeper rather than more advanced. Midfielders with great touch and some dribbling and goal-scoring ability often start out playing in fairly attacking roles, but here are some hints that a player is better suited for a deep-lying role:
1. Body type. It's not an absolute rule, but generally it's more energy consuming to lug a big body around, making attacking run after attacking run. Whereas larger, lanky midfielders can often use their momentum to build a head of steam for rare, but highly effective runs from deep. Examples: Declan Rice, Emre Can, Yaya Toure.
2. Forward passing from deep. Sometimes, a player is so good at progressive passing that this side of their talent is wasted when playing further forward. Andrea Pirlo is a classic example. Gravenberch certainly has varied and reliable passing with both feet among his many qualities, however so far he hasn't demonstrated a real playmaker-like desire to get on the ball and control the game with his passing. His number of touches and passes per game has been on a low side for someone with his qualities. This area of his game could still develop or he could become someone like Yuri Thielemans – a quality secondary passer, but not exactly a playmaker. I think Lavia was in the same category when I was looking at his stats last summer.
3. Danger vs safety mindset – this is kind of subjective, but I think with many players you can feel whether they enjoy hurting the opposition with a moment of unorthodox thinking or with consistency and quality. Zubimendi was definitely the latter; with Gravenberch it's confusing because he has traits of both - his highlight reels are Pogba-like collections of audacious moments, making him look far better than he is - but I think in his recent friendly game appearances, I saw signs that he might really enjoy making safe, but consistently forward-looking passes, being a hub rather than tip of the spear. Also his dribbling style, while very eye-catching, seems to be more suited to elegantly evading pressure in the middle of the park rather than creating a shooting opportunity in the penalty box.
Why didn't he ever play as a DM for Klopp or Bayern (according to Tranfermarkt, he did play around 30 games as a DM for Ajax, although he was still probably the more attacking part of midfield duo with Klaasen)? I think part of it is obviously just being too inexperienced for that role – plus like I said earlier, many technically gifted midfielders start further forward before being moved back, like Gini or Fernandinho who played as an attacking midfielder for Shakhtar. It's also possible that Gravenberch's best position after all will be as a deep-lying LCM and that he will still perform better with a "true" #6 next to him (like Rice is better playing a bit ahead of Jorginho in big games, even though he can do the #6 role himself).
