Multi-functional players at Liverpool are nothing new – but Arne Slot’s current team contains a few that are doing it so well…
A FEW YEARS ago I was playing left centre-back for the Man versus Fat team, Al-Fatilad. I was very much making up the numbers but would earn the odd ‘Well in, Karl’ from team-mates when I hoofed a dangerous ball clear.
I like defending. I don’t have to worry about what’s behind me, I can marshal the team, spot dangers and point unnecessarily around the pitch so it looks like I know what I’m doing. I seldom do.
It also affords the opportunity to have a bit of a rest from time to time. While the front lads are legging it all over the place in short bursts, I’m stood at the back, shouting ‘Shape!’ for no apparent reason.
Al-Fatilad were skippered by my mate Ben, who is streets ahead of me in every aspect of the game. He closes constantly and isn’t afraid to let you know he’s there. Committed, I think the word is.
In one game, he shouted to me and made the ‘change positions’ hand gesture. He wanted to drop back and have me patrol (mismanage) the left-hand side of the attack. I was vice captain so did as I was told. Hopelessly.
Ten minutes later, Ben trotted forward and told me to drop back again. Maybe he recognised me as the superior defender. Maybe he realised that what Ian and I did back there required a level of almost psychic understanding and its delicate balance could not improved by a newcomer. Maybe it was that he was just less knackered now.
Actually, the truth was more prosaic.
‘Jesus, I don’t know how to defend.’
That surprised me. For a player who was and still is a significantly better footballer than me, he couldn’t do the one thing I could. Sort of.
It makes me wonder how players determine their position as they’re growing up. Virgil van Dijk used to take the free-kicks when he started his career in the Netherlands, Jamie Carragher played upfront as a Liverpool junior before making his debut at centre mid, winning a treble at right-back and then the Champions League at centre-back. Steven Gerrard played right-back, centre mid, right midfield and as a ‘10’ for the Reds.
Most famously of all, the great Ray Kennedy won a double for Arsenal as a classic number 9 and then everything else as a left-sided midfielder for Liverpool.
Only two seasons ago, the club were criticised for not buying Martin Zubamendi when we were desperate for a number 6. Ryan Gravenberch sat in and promptly won the league. Nice work.
Can every proper footballer play everywhere? If so, how?
I mean, I know that players have to fill in. Jordan Henderson was often derided for his commonplace midfield work, but without his tireless management of the game , we wouldn’t have had Trent’s forward play. Henderson filled in whenever there was a gap, like all good players should.
But play there for a whole game? In a specialised position?
Ask Dominik Szoboszlai. Ask Curtis Jones.
‘Just fill in at right-back, lad.’
It’s not that easy. Fullbacks have to run more than usual, they have to take care of the wide player, the fullback and the meandering ‘8’ or ‘10’. They have to play offside and take a line from the centre-backs who are drilled daily.
Sure, anyone can stand there but to play it well. To play it to Premier League standard? To European?
That speaks of the sheer quality of Dom and Curtis.
And it just might be what Arne Slot needs to turn things around now. The serendipitous idea.
The manager is still trying to find answers in his tricky second season. Managers crave things like this. The ‘Hold on! He can do that too!’ moment.
I hate the term ‘utility player.’ It usually prefixes the words ‘Garry Mabbutt,’ but it’s still a requirement in any team.
Not in my position though. That’s too specialist. You can’t have any clogger coming in and hoping they can pick it up. It requires skill.
My mate Ian, the other half of the Al-Fat’s defensive axis, agrees:
‘There is an art to defending that some of those glamour boys further up the pitch don’t appreciate. It’s not all about old fat blokes waiting for the game to come to them and then trying to get in the way or stick a foot out to knick the ball away, or blasting the ball as far over the touchline as possible to gain an extra breather.’
Quite right. Leave that bit to us experts.
Managers love versatility. They also love a happy accident.
It may not last forever, but it can be a start.
