Former Tottenham and Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood has claimed that Tyler Morton is not yet ready to play in the No. 6 role for Liverpool on his own.
The 19-year-old has started the Reds’ last two games, including Sunday’s Premier League draw away to Tottenham, but was substituted in the 60th minute after picking up a yellow card early in the game.
‘With the young boy Morton, as the six, I think he is a decent player on the ball, but he’s not ready to play in there on his own,” Sherwood said (via the Metro).
‘To be the only protection, with Trent [Alexander-Arnold] and [Andy] Robertson just vacating them areas and playing as wingers really.
‘I think with [Jordan] Henderson, I can understand it, even without [Virgil] van Dijk. But you have to tweak it sometimes without Van Dijk.’
The style of play that Jurgen Klopp has adopted in recent seasons means that our full-backs constantly find themselves high up the pitch.
This, therefore, requires our midfielders to offer sufficient protection for our central defenders.
Fabinho is the main man for the No. 6 role – his strong tackling and excellent reading of the game allows our attacking players to do the business with confidence in our defensive players to blunt any counter-attacks from the opposition.
Morton started our EFL Cup game against Leicester at Anfield on Wednesday and although he showed glimpses of his ability, his inexperience showed at times as Brendan Rodgers’ men calved through our side at ease on numerous occasions.
The No. 80 did perform superbly against AC Milan at the San Siro at the beginning of December, though, so it’s clear that he has the ability, he just needs more game time and more experience to continue his impressive development.