Liverpool are struggling to find a midfielder to fit Arne Slot's system

There are cases to be made for a left-back, a centre-back and, despite having a lot of depth there, someone to bolster the forward line for Liverpool.

You can make cases for and against these three positions within the team being focused on this summer. The same, however, cannot be said for midfield. Generally speaking, everyone is in agreement that a defensive midfielder is needed.

The Reds failed to bring in a long-term Fabinho replacement last summer when the former Monaco man joined Al-Ittihad. He didn’t have the best final season on Merseyside, but seeing him depart was still a surprise.

Liverpool overhauled their midfield, bringing in Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch following the departures of Fabinho (as mentioned above), Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

They tried, and failed, to sign Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia.

Last season's defensive midfielders showed inconsistencies

The 2019/20 Premier League champions replaced the numbers within their midfield. The profiles weren’t exactly identical and this is why now, 12 months down the line, there is a sense that the Reds need to add a proper number six to their ranks in order to compete.

Mac Allister did a good job there last season but he was operating as more of a deep-lying playmaker rather than a destroyer. He chipped in with the defensive work, and his performances went under the radar, but Jurgen Klopp used him in that role for his ability on the ball more than anything else.

Endo initially found it difficult to get minutes but after replacing the injured Argentine midfielder, he impressed for a couple of months. And then the physicality of the Premier League, combined with the amount of minutes he was racking up, seemed to catch up to him.

All of a sudden, he looked like a 31-year-old playing his first season in England. The four-year deal handed to him, seemingly at the behest of Klopp, looked a little naive.

Jurgen Klopp's options won't work

Endo's cameo against Real Betis in the first pre-season of the Arne Slot era wasn’t great either. You shouldn’t read too much into these games but both Trey Nyoni and Tyler Morton looked comfortably better than the former VfB Stuttgart skipper.

Here lies the problem. A Klopp number six is not the same as a Slot number six.

Both managers want their deepest midfielders to help with the build-up and control the tempo, but the Dutchman also places extra demands on his sitting midfielder. At Feyenoord, Mats Wieffer had to cover a lot of ground. The role needs to be occupied by someone with the capacity to get up and down the pitch. They need to be fairly physical too.

Wieffer did a bit of everything. He was heavily involved in the build-up phase but he was also an aggressive presser without the ball. The Dutch midfielder combined being a number six with being a number eight.

He could sit and repel attacks just as well as he could go on search-and-destroy missions when Feyenoord wanted to be really front-footed.

Klopp didn’t ask his number six to do as much. They would, primarily, sit deep and the German tactician made a big deal about the system, and spacing, needing to be perfect in order not to expose Mac Allister especially.

The former Brighton man could defend small spaces but as soon as the press failed and he was having to cover large areas, it was a problem. It was the same with Endo and this is the main difference between Klopp and Slot. It is why Klopp’s defensive midfielders might not be right for Slot.

Not enough alternatives in the squad

Internally, Liverpool don’t have a lot of options. Stefan Bajcetic has the potential but after the best part of an entire season out, he needs to be managed carefully.

His minutes need to be managed, as does his training workload to ensure he doesn’t suffer any more setbacks in his development. It is best to probably view him as a luxury player right now.

Tyler Morton impressed on loan with Hull City and there’s a reason he’s reportedly being courted by a host of European clubs, including RB Leipzig. But can he make the step up to play such a pivotal role for the Reds under Slot?

This position, in this league, isn’t really for a player to be learning on the job. The 21-year-old could be an understudy there though.

Jones will need too much time

Curtis Jones has the physical traits to play the role and he has the experience for the Reds despite being just 23. The issue with the number 17 is his use of the ball. He was brought up by Klopp to retain possession and the role of the midfielder was to limit the transitional situations.

Jones takes his time in possession to pick a pass. He wants to make sure he finds a teammate and this means that, at times, he’s very slow on the ball and it kills the tempo.

This happened a few times against Real Betis. It is ingrained in his play and it could well take a while for him to get used to Slot’s way of playing. He might not ever manage it.

Again, though, this is something Liverpool can’t really afford right now. A key part of Slot-ball is the build-up phase and he wants players to build out from the back via central areas. If Jones is slowing things down, everything falls apart.

If they want Slot-ball, the Reds need someone comfortable in possession and brave enough to pick out progressive passes. But they also need someone who at least has the potential to sit and control space as well as having the ability to essentially go and bully the opposition into giving them the ball.

They need someone who can do it all rather than simply excelling with or without the ball. That is likely why it is so difficult to find the right player.