Do Liverpool rotate their midfield a lot?

[Strelok]

I had a look at the total number of minutes per player of Liverpool in 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. And I found that their midfielders generally have a significant lower numbers than the like of VVD, Mane, Salah.
https://www.anfield-online.co.uk/stats/2018-19/2018-19-lfc-stats.html
https://www.anfield-online.co.uk/stats/lfc-stats.html

That means they rotate their midfielders a lot I think.

Tbh I don't watch them much but the few times I watched them it's almost a same scenario. Their midfielders work their ass off and press like crazy to win the ball back, then give the ball to TTA or Robertson who position a bit over the half line. Then these two hit an early cross. If it doesn't work then the cycle repeat again. Like the match we drew 1-1 with them. They kept doing this until Rojo had a brainfart and they scored.

As I said I don't watch Liverpool much so I don't know this is true or not. Would love to hear your opinions, especially from Liverpool fans. Do you rotate your midfielder a lot? Do TTA and Robertson usually just hit early crosses or they'd run down and overlap a lot?

Thank you in advance for your replies.

 

[Cheimoon]

Can't find good info now online, but haven't their midfielders been injured more than their attackers? I can't recall any major injuries for Salah, Mané or Firmino, but at least Henderson, Fabinho, and Keita have both been out for for some periods this season.

I would also say that midfield is the only place where Liverpool have real quality depth. Wijnaldum, Henderson, Keita, Fabinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Llalana can all do a job across a couple of their three midfield positions (the DM and the two guys ahead of him). So it would make sense if they rotated there more than in attack and defence, where the drop-off is much bigger (although there might not be much between Matip and Gomez).

 

[Strelok]

Can't find good info now online, but haven't their midfielders been injured more than their attackers? I can't recall any major injuries for Salah, Mané or Firmino, but at least Henderson, Fabinho, and Keita have both been out for for some periods this season.

I would also say that midfield is the only place where Liverpool have real quality depth. Wijnaldum, Henderson, Keita, Fabinho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Llalana can all do a job across a couple of their three midfield positions (the DM and the two guys ahead of him). So it would make sense if they rotated there more than in attack and defence, where the drop-off is much bigger (although there might not be much between Matip and Gomez).

I checked and basically Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Milner were injure free in 2018/2019. Only Keita had a lot.

If you look in the 2018/2019 number of Henderson (2821'), Wijnaldum (3713') it's significantly lower than the 4469' of VVD. Fabinho (2927') but only played from November onward so it doesn't mean anything here. Milner (2817'). Keita (1823') but he's injured a lot so same with Fabinho. Anyway we can see that all their midfielders had a fair share of minutes, but significantly lower than the like of VVD, Mane, Salah, TAA,...

I used to think it's a bloody miracle that their first XI seem immune to injure despite playing a lot in the last two seasons. However seeing this now and the fact whenever I watch them only their midfielders run a lot and press a lot I've come to a theory. That their midfielders are their actual engine and they are supposed to do most of the hard work like pressing so the rest of their first XI could play a lot of minutes without being run into the ground and risk injures. That also explains why Klopp signed a bunch of decent, hard working, great stamina midfielders and got them rotated a lot to keep them fit.

However as I said, I don't watch them much so I've no idea whether my theory is correct.

 

[Patchbeard]

They rotate a lot although I'm not sure if it's out of necessity or choice. As in, a few of them seem injury prone and others maybe aren't as good as they were supposed to be (Keita, Lallana and to a lesser extent Wijnaldum in an attacking sense). It does seem like their style of play inhibits goal scoring midfielders, like how Wijnaldum had/has a record of 1in3 for recent previous clubs and the Dutch national team and Keita scored 1in4 in the Bundesliga, but are nowhere near those numbers in such a highscoring team. They are more like the cogs which allow the front 3 and the fullbacks to attack at will.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Yes they rotate their midfield a lot. Just not their forwards or defenders. Thread/

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Their midfielders aren’t integral like the CBs, FBs & forwards. All they are there for is to break up counter attacks & get the ball out wide. They can easily rotate without upsetting their rhythm.

 

[fps]

The energy of their midfield is so important so it would appear that, yes, they are rotated to maximise their effort when they’re on the pitch. Henderson and Wijnaldum seem like the key ones just from observation though.

 

[Relevated]

If you're trying to compare to us then basically their front guys are our pogba and bruno. How often do they rotate their front 3?

 

[Cheimoon]

I checked and basically Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Milner were injure free in 2018/2019. Only Keita had a lot.

If you look in the 2018/2019 number of Henderson (2821'), Wijnaldum (3713') it's significantly lower than the 4469' of VVD. Fabinho (2927') but only played from November onward so it doesn't mean anything here. Milner (2817'). Keita (1823') but he's injured a lot so same with Fabinho. Anyway we can see that all their midfielders had a fair share of minutes, but significantly lower than the like of VVD, Mane, Salah, TAA,...

I used to think it's a bloody miracle that their first XI seem immune to injure despite playing a lot in the last two seasons. However seeing this now and the fact whenever I watch them only their midfielders run a lot and press a lot I've come to a theory. That their midfielders are their actual engine and they are supposed to do most of the hard work like pressing so the rest of their first XI could play a lot of minutes without being run into the ground and risk injures. That also explains why Klopp signed a bunch of decent, hard working, great stamina midfielders and got them rotated a lot to keep them fit.

However as I said, I don't watch them much so I've no idea whether my theory is correct.

Sorry, I was only talking about 2019/20 for those injuries.

Yeah, from what I can tell, you are absolutely right about Liverpool's midfield. They are workhorses, nothing flashy about any of them. That's also why they don't have a lot of goals from midfield. It's really a rather peculiar system, with their fullbacks doing a lot of the work you'd normally get from a midfield. (I wonder if that was really purpose-built, or mostly a response to having Robertson and TAA - like how Rogers rejigged his preferred system once he found out how he could make Sterling, Suarez, Sturridge, and Coutinho work together up front.)

 

[Strelok]

If you're trying to compare to us then basically their front guys are our pogba and bruno. How often do they rotate their front 3?

No I'm not trying to compare anything here mate. Just curious if what I think is correct or not.

Btw Bruno and Pogba are midfielders, they have to run a lot anyway. If they don't we'd got dominated. It's not like our strikers can run back and press or defend in their places mate. We will have to rotate Bruno and Pogba if we don't want to run them into the ground anyway, in a normal season I mean.

Imo if what I think is correct it's a very smart approach. First it helps you to dominate the midfield. Second, it's very cost effective. Decent backup midfielders are generally much cheaper than decent backup attackers.

 

[#07]

You cant press in midfield like they do if your players aren't fresh. Yes, they rotate a lot and they have the depth to do so.

 

[11101]

That their midfielders are their actual engine and they are supposed to do most of the hard work like pressing so the rest of their first XI could play a lot of minutes without being run into the ground and risk injures.

That's what I have seen. Their forwards are happy to let you have the ball until you reach a certain point and just focus on cutting out passing lanes, the aggressive pressing only starts once you get past that and into their midfield. They play a midfield 5 in those situations as the fullbacks don't sit quite as high as they did a season or two ago, and they focus mostly on funneling into the three centre mids who put the real pressing work in, albeit in a fairly small area of the pitch.

I don't remember that always being the case though, the front 3 used to press insanely high up the pitch. They will still do that but only when they're very close to the opposition goal.

 

[Strelok]

Sorry, I was only talking about 2019/20 for those injuries.

Yeah, from what I can tell, you are absolutely right about Liverpool's midfield. They are workhorses, nothing flashy about any of them. That's also why they don't have a lot of goals from midfield. It's really a rather peculiar system, with their fullbacks doing a lot of the work you'd normally get from a midfield. (I wonder if that was really purpose-built, or mostly a response to having Robertson and TAA - like how Rogers rejigged his preferred system once he found out how he could make Sterling, Suarez, Sturridge, and Coutinho work together up front.)

Oh no need to apologize mate. I knew you're talking about the injure of this season. I focused on the last season only because this season is just too weird.

Yeah, they relied heavily on their FB to create chances, and their midfield to do the hard/dirty work. Tbh it's a very smart approach imo.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Yes.

Yes they rotate their midfield a lot. Just not their forwards or defenders. Thread/

This.

 

[Strelok]

Ok thread closed then.

Thanks a lot for your replies. Have a great day guys

 

[Josh 76]

Their system is so good, no one can come up with an answer to beat it.

Benitez was on Monday night football and he actually said their is no flaw in their system.

It's actually mind boggling to be honest.

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Between Henderson, Fabinho, Keita, Wijnaldum, Milner and Ox-Chamberlain.

6 Midfielders and all of them have good fitness and good injury record.

Minutes played --> (Link)

 

[Klopper76]

We're far more likely to rotate our midfield than any other area of the pitch.

The back five is set when everyone is fit. Alisson, TAA, Robertson & Van Dijk will play every league/Champions League game they're fit for (with a rare exception here and there). Gomes is likely to play in most games or if not him Matip. Lovren rarely plays now.

Up top Salah, Firmino & Mane will all play as well. There's a drop in quality if one of them doesn't.

In midfield we were without Fabinho for a couple of months so Henderson dropped in and did a job. Wijnaldum plays a fair bit but Chamberlain & Keita have played occasionally. Henderson is injured now so you'll see one of those two or Curtis Jones play tomorrow. Lallana and Milner have also been brought in here and there as well.

Our options in midfield are more balanced throughout the squad than they are in attack or within the back five. Our midfield is more functional than reliant on quality as well, so we're able to rotate more without losing as much as we would in other areas of the pitch.

 

[Bastian]

If you're trying to compare to us then basically their front guys are our pogba and bruno. How often do they rotate their front 3?

I'd say those guys would be Robertson and Alexander-Arnold.

 

[Strelok]

We're far more likely to rotate our midfield than any other area of the pitch.

The back five is set when everyone is fit. Alisson, TAA, Robertson & Van Dijk will play every league/Champions League game they're fit for (with a rare exception here and there). Gomes is likely to play in most games or if not him Matip. Lovren rarely plays now.

Up top Salah, Firmino & Mane will all play as well. There's a drop in quality if one of them doesn't.

In midfield we were without Fabinho for a couple of months so Henderson dropped in and did a job. Wijnaldum plays a fair bit but Chamberlain & Keita have played occasionally. Henderson is injured now so you'll see one of those two or Curtis Jones play tomorrow. Lallana and Milner have also been brought in here and there as well.

Our options in midfield are more balanced throughout the squad than they are in attack or within the back five. Our midfield is more functional than reliant on quality as well, so we're able to rotate more without losing as much as we would in other areas of the pitch.

Thank you.

And may I ask do TAA and Robertson usually run down the pitch and overlap a lot, or they usually sit above the half line hitting those early crosses ?