Trent- full back or middle

[joe_fishfish]

I’d give him a go in the middle and see how he does. He basically plays there in possession anyway, and he’s shite out of possession at right back. 

 

If we signed three aggressive ball winning midfielders who can sprint and tackle for 90 minutes three times a week all season long then I’d leave him at right back, but we won’t.

[Pidge]

2 hours ago, Colonel Bumcunt said:

He's been in and out of the Bayern team this season, and he's done a few years there now.  Contract expires in 2 years. 

Fair enough, maybe you're right then.

[No2]

Been thinking about how this would work against a serious side. City are about to play Real Madrid and Vinicius Jnr. It would be a seriously ballsy move to leave him the freedom of the right handside. The idea will be that the extra player in the middle gives you midfield dominance but in reality Modric will win that battle release Vinicius several times.

 

Next season are we going to gamble on dominance and leave Rashford, Son and all completely free and is the payoff worth it? Arsenal and City are both playing 3 centre backs, they are restricting forward movement from Ake and Ben White, we sacrificing Andy Robertson and Trent, that's 30 assists a season in exchange for more control. I'd think it makes more sense to just buy better midfielders that give you control.

[TD_LFC]

What Madrid will do to counteract it sounds like a 2024/25 season issue (hopefully!)

[TheHowieLama]

9 minutes ago, No2 said:

Been thinking about how this would work against a serious side. City are about to play Real Madrid and Vinicius Jnr. It would be a seriously ballsy move to leave him the freedom of the right handside. The idea will be that the extra player in the middle gives you midfield dominance but in reality Modric will win that battle release Vinicius several times.

 

Next season are we going to gamble on dominance and leave Rashford, Son and all completely free and is the payoff worth it? Arsenal and City are both playing 3 centre backs, they are restricting forward movement from Ake and Ben White, we sacrificing Andy Robertson and Trent, that's 30 assists a season in exchange for more control. I'd think it makes more sense to just buy better midfielders that give you control.

 

Trent just got two assists there in 90 minutes - basically double his entire year. Not sure we are sacrificing anything.

[3 Stacks]

42 minutes ago, No2 said:

Been thinking about how this would work against a serious side. City are about to play Real Madrid and Vinicius Jnr. It would be a seriously ballsy move to leave him the freedom of the right handside. The idea will be that the extra player in the middle gives you midfield dominance but in reality Modric will win that battle release Vinicius several times.

 

Next season are we going to gamble on dominance and leave Rashford, Son and all completely free and is the payoff worth it? Arsenal and City are both playing 3 centre backs, they are restricting forward movement from Ake and Ben White, we sacrificing Andy Robertson and Trent, that's 30 assists a season in exchange for more control. I'd think it makes more sense to just buy better midfielders that give you control.

It's a good point, but look at City. What they do is essentially have 5 offensive players and the way they get away with that is by playing 5 defensive profiles. In our 2018-2020 team we did the same thing to an extent. 3 workhorses in the middle and 2 CB's. If we put Trent in the middle and give him this sort of free role, we'd just have to add 1 or 2 defensive minded players, depending on what Robertson does in this sort of system. There's a trade-off and discussion to be had about that, but I don't really think he's enthusiastic anymore about playing right back like he's played it in the past.

[VladimirIlyich]

Why not just buy a right back who is an actual defender? A crazy thought I know.

[TD_LFC]

8 hours ago, 3 Stacks said:

I don't really think he's enthusiastic anymore about playing right back like he's played it in the past.

 

That's largely because he's not been able to play right back like he has in the past as the cover isn't there anymore so he's playing further back and is less involved in the game.

 

This role switch might see a newly enthused Trent.

 

I wouldn't play him in midfield permanently though, rather it be a system reason than personnel. 

 

 

[Razoray]

9 hours ago, No2 said:

Been thinking about how this would work against a serious side. City are about to play Real Madrid and Vinicius Jnr. It would be a seriously ballsy move to leave him the freedom of the right handside. The idea will be that the extra player in the middle gives you midfield dominance but in reality Modric will win that battle release Vinicius several times.

 

Next season are we going to gamble on dominance and leave Rashford, Son and all completely free and is the payoff worth it? Arsenal and City are both playing 3 centre backs, they are restricting forward movement from Ake and Ben White, we sacrificing Andy Robertson and Trent, that's 30 assists a season in exchange for more control. I'd think it makes more sense to just buy better midfielders that give you control.

City do very similar with John Stones. Watch their Madrid games to see how it works. Akanji is their version of Konaté. He will move across towards Vinicius if they are countered on that side and Dias plus Aké shift over. It is up to the two defensive shields - Rodri and Stones to get back and support them. The idea is that with an extra man in midfield the chances of being countered on are reduced, so rather than dealing with Vinicius receiving the ball you are making it harder for Vinicius to receive the ball in dangerous areas. 

Getting back to us, if we do play with Trent in the hybrid role next season, then Robbo's role would need to change to become more disciplined, especially in the bigger games. Or maybe we buy a left sided centre-back in the summer and his games are reduced. 

 

[joe_fishfish]

Would seem a bit weird that left back, the one place where we have a good player and a good backup, is the position where we’d look to get someone else in.

 

Have seen people say that getting Trent to defend at right back and then move into centre mid helps him stay unmarked, but I reckon that’s a bit bollocks really. Not many teams actually try and press us high, especially not at Anfield.

[El Dangerous]

Can’t we just play Gomez at right back in the big games and keep Trent next to the DM. 

[TD_LFC]

1 hour ago, El Dangerous said:

Can’t we just play Gomez at right back in the big games and keep Trent next to the DM. 

 

Because you lose a player in the attacking build up.

[Barrington Womble]

18 hours ago, No2 said:

Been thinking about how this would work against a serious side. City are about to play Real Madrid and Vinicius Jnr. It would be a seriously ballsy move to leave him the freedom of the right handside. The idea will be that the extra player in the middle gives you midfield dominance but in reality Modric will win that battle release Vinicius several times.

 

Next season are we going to gamble on dominance and leave Rashford, Son and all completely free and is the payoff worth it? Arsenal and City are both playing 3 centre backs, they are restricting forward movement from Ake and Ben White, we sacrificing Andy Robertson and Trent, that's 30 assists a season in exchange for more control. I'd think it makes more sense to just buy better midfielders that give you control.

He played it against arsenal last week, so not complete chumps. 

 

Also, it's not like his role before was hold the line with the centre backs, he was often upfield 30-40 yards away from them and his defensive position. So we lose the ball, he needs to get back. He's probably closer to his defensive position in this new role than he was previously.  

 

We've just got to see how it works. I think the interesting thing actually was how hard he appeared to be working to get back into position when we lost the ball, where most of the season he just jogged back from right wing. Maybe this new role energises him and gets him back to the levels he's performed before, just in a different part of the pitch..because his performances for most of this season haven't really been near his best level. 

[Em City]

9 hours ago, Razoray said:

City do very similar with John Stones. Watch their Madrid games to see how it works. Akanji is their version of Konaté. He will move across towards Vinicius if they are countered on that side and Dias plus Aké shift over. It is up to the two defensive shields - Rodri and Stones to get back and support them. The idea is that with an extra man in midfield the chances of being countered on are reduced, so rather than dealing with Vinicius receiving the ball you are making it harder for Vinicius to receive the ball in dangerous areas. 

Getting back to us, if we do play with Trent in the hybrid role next season, then Robbo's role would need to change to become more disciplined, especially in the bigger games. Or maybe we buy a left sided centre-back in the summer and his games are reduced. 

 

 

I was thinking the same. Gvardiol would be ideal, but I also think Bastoni from Inter would be a great option. 

 

I'm really liking the inverted FB role for Trent. Going by his body language, you can see he's loving it too imo. A game and a half and he's already got 3 assists, very promising.