Is Trent Really Worth It?

[Captain Turdseye]

It seems like we’re ready to rip up the last few years and start again with Trent moving inside like he has towards the end of the season. 
 

There’s always been talk of him moving into MF one day but he’s only been playing this hybrid stuff because he’s deteriorated in his role at right back. I love Trent, he might be my favourite player but there’s a sense here of shoehorning him in purely because of who he is. 
 

As well as he’s done in some games I'm unsure if this can be Kloppball going forward. Wouldn’t fixing the midfield (with or without Trent) and buying a capable right back be the smart thing to do?

[Lee909]

100 yes

Needs to get a few more goals though

[3 Stacks]

It's a good question. It depends what building your team around Trent means, and to what extent. In any position we play him in or in any way we play, we have to protect him. That is the nature of who he is as a player, you can't leave him on an island. 

 

I think the most important thing is having the right balance and offering that protection, but making sure he's also not our only creative player. Whatever way we're able to achieve that tactically will be the right one. I think he's mostly in the right areas already. The wide half space, not too far forward, where he can pick forward passes and cross.

[Bobby Hundreds]

Yes he's but I don't like this "hybrid" thing or whatever it is. I'm tired of the team having such an obvious weakness that even shit players and teams constantly put us in danger it seems unessecary. Like we are leveling the playing field ourselves. I know people will say new midfielders should fix that issue but I'm unsure i dont see why we have to work so much harder than other sides when we have massively superior players. Back to the 433 with trent as right back and a high energy midfield back again then great, let's see how it goes.

 

This season reaked of us trying to ape city like that would be the difference between 99 points and 100 because Trent was playing similar to this role at the beginning of the season and it was shit then too. I dont know it feels like we've massively overcomplicated the team and it doesn't even make us stronger in other areas. Hopefully we sign that many new players its all a moot point because no one will have a clue how any of it is going to look.

[Bjornebye]

He's been brilliant since the shift in role. If we can get a top RB in I can see him easily being our player of the season next year. 

[johnsusername]

Yes but not this hybrid thing. Feels like we're a player down rather than up. Guess that might have something to do with the invisible quality of our midfield. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

I can't help feeling that this odd role of the last few weeks was a contingency measure and that we'll be playing something less wacky next season.  Whatever it is, it won't be built around one player.

[VladimirIlyich]

No. Because he's not the type of player you build a team around. Klopp doesn't do individuals except their worth to the team. When we have previously tried to build a team around one player it was because the rest were mostly shit. We have a lot of good players now,Trent is just one of them.

[Strontium]

I don't think the hybrid role is some temporary thing. Klopp introduced it after City destroyed us at the Etihad with John Stones playing there. Hopefully we copy some of the other stuff City do, like having a midfield.

[Section_31]

Second best passer of the ball in the league after KDB. Might one day be the best. 

 

A major risk at rb though unless the midfield is pulling its weight. I don't know what the answer is. Maybe he can fulfil the non crocked Thiago roll at some point.

[an tha]

A player who can do what he can do with the ball is 100% "worth it".

 

Like all players though regardless of individual quality, he and will only see the absolute best if he is used where he is most effective and if the other parts of the engine he is part of work properly/are fit for function.

 

 

[No2]

He looked mentally beaten at right back, like all Southgate's sniping had finally gotten to him. I'd have no qualms at all about sticking him at right back if we signed Caicedo and McCallister or 2 players of that ilk. Equally I'm comfortable with him in the hybrid role. 

 

I wouldn't be comfortable with him as a fulltime midfield player, the reason we where so shit this season is because the opposition ran through our midfield unopposed. I can't see how that changes if he's one of the eights. Its concentration that is the issue at RB, that won't suddenly resolve itself in midfield.

 

[Bourbon]

As good as he can be, he was starting to lose his runners and cause the new shape to falter, towards the end. 
 

He can’t do right back anymore and can’t stick to the plan as a box to box replacement or Wijnaldum or Henderson; he just isn’t disciplined enough or sniffs out danger like they could, that minty goal against Villa a key example. 
 

Klopp might have to change the shape, maybe a 5-2-3 as one of the two or 3-1-4-2 with him as a the one or something and that’s a lot to ask of someone so committed to a system that’s so proven. 
 

A huge summer on this alone and it may then decide the rest of the entire strategy. 
 

The compromise may be to allow him a collapsed right-sided midfield role in a modified 4-3-3 but if the other player is say a Mac Allister, as we need another source of creativity, then that’s a very open midfield - the 6 will be blowing out of his hole after 20, as the least of the problems. 

[Moo]

In midfield as a CM, would be a complete luxury - No

 

From the right, either in our traditional 433 or in a beckham type role in a midfield four - Yes

 

Voted yes on balance.

[TD_LFC]

Where the fuck did people think he played in our old system, this 'shock' at his 'hybrid' role is mental, I'm not sure whether it's collective amnesia or willful ignorance.

 

We've gone from this

 

 

To this

 

 

 

 

[an tha]

Who was that "Firminio" - was he any cop?

[VladimirIlyich]

2 minutes ago, an tha said:

Who was that "Firminio" - was he any cop?

Sounds like a Brazilian Hooligan Outfit.

[TD_LFC]

4 minutes ago, an tha said:

Who was that "Firminio" - was he any cop?

 

He was shit, I've replaced him with a better one.

[Moctezuma]

Trent is a pretty weird player, excellent in executing some of the harder elements of the game (perfect through balls, the vision to pick out forward runs, intelligent switches of play, good initiative, effective close control and technique, great freekicks and long range shots), but he can be very prosaic/poor at other more mundane elements (tackling, short range passing, defensive positioning, alertness to pressing against him, heading). I think his confidence can then be substantially linked to poor passages of play (like the vast majority of players) and he also suffers from bouts of hubris, so I'm slightly unsure about this move to building an entire team around him. The one positive though is that football is a low scoring sport, so having someone who is contributing significant chance creation at least once or twice every couple of games gives teams a decent advantage.

[A Red]

Trent is an amazing player. I think he should play in the Bobby role, let the problem be where we play Gakpo . I'd certainly play Trent in a role that maximises his strengths (as highlighted by Moctezuma above) if that means shifting Gakpo about I want it. He's that good.

[Bjornebye]

2 hours ago, TD_LFC said:

Where the fuck did people think he played in our old system, this 'shock' at his 'hybrid' role is mental, I'm not sure whether it's collective amnesia or willful ignorance.

 

We've gone from this

 

 

To this

 

 

 

 

 

I'd swap Thiago for Wijnaldum in that example at the top there mate if you're on about us when the full-backs were at their best 

[an tha]

2 hours ago, TD_LFC said:

 

He was shit, I've replaced him with a better one.

Good management

[TD_LFC]

6 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

 

I'd swap Thiago for Wijnaldum in that example at the top there mate if you're on about us when the full-backs were at their best 

 

I'm not, I'm just looking at our previous system when in possession, and Trent's position within that, compared to our current system, the names are largely irrelevant.

 

There's lots of pearl clutching about hybrid roles and all this extra work Tent has to do now because he's not just playing at RB when in reality he's only ever a RB in defensive situations and, like most footballers, in attack they occupy different positions and fulfill different roles.

[TheHowieLama]

2 minutes ago, TD_LFC said:

when in reality he's only ever a RB in defensive situations 

 

Some would disagree.

[TD_LFC]

Just now, TheHowieLama said:

 

Some would disagree.

 

Correction: he only ever stands in the position usually occupied by right backs in defensive situations.