Liverpool FC Need to Sacrifice the DM Role

It’s 10 days before Christmas and Liverpool FC have a few fixtures to finish off before the craziness that comes with the January transfer window. Here’s what I think Liverpool FC should do, tactically.

Let’s look at the games before January first though:

18th December: Aston Villa (A)
21st December: Wigan (A)
26th December: Blackburn (H)
30th December: Newcastle United (H)

The holiday season has been rather forgiving to Liverpool FC, with Newcastle United the only real challenge over the Christmas holidays. Will Kenny Dalglish experiment with his formation and Starting XI and substitutes over this break? We can only wait and see to find out, but here’s what I think Liverpool FC should to over these games: sacrificing the defensive midfielder role.

The Logic Behind This

Well, so why, you might ask. Liverpool FC have a very sound defence, it being in fact the tightest defence in the entire Barclays Premier League, whilst having perhaps one of the weakest strike forces in the Premier League at the same time. So if you think about it that way, changing that defensive midfielder role into a more ‘middle of the park’ role would be more sensible. It would result in less protection for the defence, but with the form of our back 4, I wouldn’t think that this would be a problem at all.

We have had the likes of Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and more recently, Lucas Leiva, grace the defensive midfielder role, but Liverpool FC might be better off without the archtypical defensive midfielder in the first place.

Goals are what Liverpool FC essentially need, so this might just be the right move for the Reds.

And What to Shift to?

Personally, I think that Liverpool FC would be best off with a formation like this in Lucas’ absence:

Reina
Johnson-Agger-Skrtel-Enrique
Downing-Henderson-Adam-Rodriguez
Suarez-Bellamy

This tactic was made with the assumption that Steven Gerrard would still be out for a while longer. Another thing that we could fiddle with in this tactic is the potential inclusion of Andy Carroll, as a 4-4-2 set-up would be more wide, rather than the narrow 4-2-3-1 formation that is being deployed by the Reds at the moment.

A 4-4-2 formation would mean that the wingers would be on the touchline more and  there would be more deliveries into the box from the wings. But then again, that’s just a theory.

So, what do you guys think, should Liverpool FC give Jay Spearing a chance, buy a DM in the January transfer window or simply take away the defensive midfielder role? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.