Trey Nyoni wants to do something Gravenberch & Szoboszlai don’t like at Liverpool

Trey Nyoni is a more willing six than Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch

Liverpool midfielder Trey Nyoni warms up alongside Ryan Gravenberch and Rio Ngumoha. — (Photo by Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

Nyoni appeared to express willingness to play the role when in conversation with the club.

“Everything out of possession is important, so yeah, I’d say this suits me,” the midfielder told the club’s official website.

The teenager continued: “At the minute I’ve been playing as a six, so I assume that’s the role that he probably sees me playing the most.

“I’m still willing to learn to play as the eight or wherever, but right now I’d probably say primarily a six.”

Which is a great deal more that can be said for the likes of Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch who both evidently prefer more advanced roles on the pitch.

“8 to 10 – like a box-to-box 8. Get the balls from the defender, give the long passes, but also arrive in the box, shots from a little bit further. That’s what I really like,” Szoboszlai spoke about his favoured position.

Gravenberch, likewise, is on record as having told former boss Arne Slot in his first phone call with the Dutchman that he could play the six but he preferred the eight role.

That’s not a dig, to be clear. However, if we’re being realistic, we can’t have every midfielder available playing higher up the pitch and showing a lack of interest to stay deep and offer some structure in the middle of the park.

Indeed, it was incredibly telling that Liverpool’s midfield balance was almost instantaneously upended when the club’s senior starters traded places with Trey Nyoni and James McConnell in the second-half of our Carabao Cup tie.

Yes, Szoboszlai deserves credit for his sensational long-range strike to help nail down our progression in the competition. But Liverpool can’t rely on moments of individual excellence to carry them through; we need structure, balance and reliability in the midfield. Ultimately, we’re not seeing a great deal of that when both Gravenberch and our No.8 are on the pitch together.

In fact, our most ideal combination at this stage seems to be Alexis Mac Allister, Nyoni and Dominik Szoboszlai.

Liverpool need another midfielder to “sacrifice”

Trey Nyoni takes a wide stance during a Liverpool game. — (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)

There are obvious drawbacks to relying on Nyoni week in and week out.

For starters, he’s bloody 19 years of age! You cannot expect a young midfielder with limited top-flight experience (never mind Premier League experience) to be Liverpool’s sole answer to the six problem for the season.

Do we want to see Trey Nyoni score more regular minutes? Of course. The talent and quality’s there, but we’re still talking about a player who doesn’t have the perfect physical makeup yet to consistently dominate in an extremely physical iteration of the Premier League.

We need to protect his development while simultaneously bleeding him in and out of fixtures.

But that does mean, then, that someone needs to step up into the six and accept they’re not going to be venturing forward at every available opportunity and leaving the midfield short of bodies.

We’re not going to be able to correct this issue until the January transfer window at the earliest (in case Lamine Camara is a goer), so that does mean one of Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch (whomever sits in the pivot alongside Mac Allister) is going to have to learn when to sit back and when to progress without harming the midfield balance.

We’ve not seen a lot of evidence that either player can do that yet, and we fear it’s the kind of thing that’s going to cost Liverpool points after the international break.