Do Liverpool Need a Defensive Midfielder, or Just More Discipline?

After the way Liverpool were opened up on the break time and again by Newcastle United at the weekend, there has been plenty of discussion about their midfield make-up. But do they really need a new ‘six’ before the transfer window shuts?

The notion a team ‘just needs a defensive midfielder’ is a bit of a tired cliché.

For so many years, Arsenal fans insisted they were ‘only a defensive midfielder’ away from glory, while Chelsea just needed a ‘Claude Makélélé replacement’ to dominate again, and now you can’t move for Liverpool fans and pundits alike calling for a ‘Fabinho replacement’ if they’re to challenge this season.

The Brazilian, known as the ‘lighthouse’ at Anfield, did a fine job anchoring a midfield that led Liverpool to a Champions League, Premier League, and a remarkable three 90+ point seasons after his arrival in 2018.

There was more to that team, of course, but there is a growing feeling the club never replaced Fabinho after his departure in 2022, and those claims echoed louder on Sunday after Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at Newcastle United to kick off the 2026-27 season under Andoni Iraola.

Despite the new era under a new head coach, familiar problems cost Liverpool two points on Tyneside, and almost all three had it not been for Dominik Szoboszlai’s 99th-minute penalty.

Newcastle took the lead in the fifth minute from a direct and simple move straight down the middle of the pitch, with Anthony Elanga firing past Alisson Becker.

After Cody Gakpo equalised with a terrific strike from long range early in the second half, Newcastle went back ahead just two minutes later, once more from a direct move straight down the middle of the pitch, with Joe Willock finding the net this time.

Liverpool controlled much of the game at St. James’ Park, with almost 61% possession, and 27 shots to 13, and 16 shots to six inside the opposition’s box. In fact, no team played in a low block for a greater percentage of their game than Newcastle across Matchday 1 of the new Premier League season.

However, that Matthias Jaissle’s side were protecting a lead for almost the entire game was undoubtedly a factor, and they also still generated more expected goals (xG) from open play than Liverpool (1.46 – 0.96).

Newcastle identified an openness in Liverpool’s midfield and based their gameplan around exploiting it. Elanga’s goal was scored just nine seconds after Amar Dedic intercepted the ball in his own box, while there were only 12 seconds between Malick Thiaw passing to Yoane Wissa on the edge of the Newcastle area and Willock finishing at the other end.

It has led to a debate about the profile of Liverpool’s midfield, and their apparent lack of a ‘number six’ – a colloquial term for the deepest of midfielders, unless you’re one of those who believe a ‘six’ is a centre-back and the defensive midfielder is in fact a ‘four’.

Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch played in a double pivot on Sunday, with Florian Wirtz as a 10 behind Alexander Isak. Gravenberch was theoretically the six, but he was also the one who gave the ball away both times in advanced positions, leaving acres of space behind him for the hosts to take advantage of.

Daniel Sturridge certainly thinks it’s something his former club should address. He told Sky Sports after the game: “I think the team needs a defensive midfielder, personally. We’ve been talking about a defensive midfielder at Liverpool for the last three years.

“Gravenberch coming into the team, playing consistently and Liverpool winning the Premier League sort of changed that philosophy, but if you actually analyse the midfield, they’re all naturally more attacking players.

“For instance, if you look at someone like Brentford, they bring in [Mamadou] Sangaré… For me, £39 million, you sort of think to yourself: ‘That’s not a load of money for someone like Liverpool’. I’m not suggesting that he was the man, but [his] stats jump off the page. Liverpool don’t have that profile of player right now.”

Sturridge was referring to Mamadou Sangaré, who was there to be purchased this summer from Lens, having been one of the standout defensive midfielders in Europe last season. Brentford snapped him up for a fee of around £40m, but that they seemingly had a free run at him suggested Liverpool had little interest in signing someone of that profile, and reports have since emerged that despite the noise, the club apparently have no intention of addressing the area in this transfer window.

It is slightly curious when you consider they have tried and failed to sign Moisés Caicedo and Martín Zubimendi in recent years, but the only ‘six’ they have signed since Fabinho left is Wataru Endo. The Japan captain is a tremendous professional but ultimately a 33-year-old squad player who hasn’t looked like breaking into the team as a regular starter at any point in his three years at the club.

A slightly concerning stat came out after the game that Liverpool have conceded more goals via fast breaks in all competitions than any other Premier League team since the start of last season (9).

Of course, they played more games than many of the teams on that list in that time, while it should be pointed out that Newcastle faced two shots from fast breaks themselves on Sunday, the same as the visitors, but Liverpool failed to score from either of theirs. Had Elanga and Willock also not been as lethal with their finishes, we’re probably not having this discussion.

Was it really such a big problem last season, though? Six teams conceded more goals from fast breaks than Liverpool (5) in the Premier League, while six teams, including Man City (46) and Iraola’s Bournemouth (36), allowed more shots from fast breaks than Slot’s side (34).

So, it has perhaps been slightly overstated how much of a problem it is, but Iraola and Liverpool fans would probably still rather it not be that high. The new Reds boss mentioned after the game it’s something that can be corrected, and not necessarily by just signing a specialist defensive midfielder.

“It’s not just personnel,” he said in his post-match press conference. “I understand [for the Elanga goal] that Ryan Gravenberch is basically the six and is on the edge of their box. If he shoots and scores then we are saying ‘what a play from Gravenberch’.

“I don’t want us to take that from his game, but we have to adapt as a team to these situations. We have to know these situations can happen.

“[For the second goal] it wasn’t like they caught us by surprise. We should compete for the first ball and probably make a foul – be a bit more aggressive against the ball carrier.

“There were different reasons for both the goals, which happened in transition. We have been preparing in the week for these transitions but there’s a reason why Newcastle are so good at them.

“It’s not just because one person is playing [as a defensive midfielder]. It’s something we have to correct between a lot of players.”

What makes the conversation about a lack of a six curious is that Gravenberch played there when they won the title two seasons ago.

The Dutchman had a bit of a stop-start debut season in England under Jürgen Klopp in 2023-24 after joining from Bayern Munich, playing mostly as a box-to-box ‘eight’. But a year later, his fellow countryman Arne Slot asked him to adapt into more of a six after missing out on signing Zubimendi from Real Sociedad.

It worked an absolute treat. Gravenberch had a sensational season in the deep-lying role in the middle, forming a solid partnership with Alexis Mac Allister. Not only did he end with a league winners’ medal, but he was also voted the Premier League’s Young Player of the Year.

Gravenberch made 60 interceptions in the Premier League that season, at least 11 more than any other midfielder, while only seven midfielders won possession more times than him (193).

That didn’t stymie his usefulness on the ball, either. Of midfielders, only Bernardo Silva (130) made more than his 118 long progressive carries (carrying the ball forward at least 10 metres), and the now former Man City player featured on the right wing for over 40% of his minutes that season.

However, things changed last season. Not only did Wirtz come in to predominantly play as the number 10 in place of Szoboszlai, who moved deeper, and sometimes to right-back, but Mac Allister’s form also dipped.

Gravenberch wasn’t the same player himself, but so many Liverpool players struggled for form that it was difficult to pinpoint whether it was down to individual issues or a team structure problem.

That said, the Dutchman did still record 48 interceptions, the fourth most of all midfielders, and when you look at his respective heat maps from the two seasons, there was not much notable difference in where he was taking his touches.

Liverpool were far more open, though, and as happened on Sunday, it felt like opponents could regularly just waltz right through the middle of them without much, if any, resistance.

Some blamed the introduction of Wirtz in the 10 role. The German has a much smaller frame than Szoboszlai, and is broadly seen as more of a soft touch than the Hungarian. That might not be entirely fair, though.

In the 2024-25 title-winning campaign, when largely playing as the most advanced midfielder, Szoboszlai won possession in the opposition’s final third 16 times (0.58 per 90). Last season, Wirtz did so 21 times (0.79 per 90). Wirtz also applied high pressure to an opponent – closing down an opposition player on the ball within 2 metres – 58.3 times per 90, compared to Szoboszlai’s 61.0 the season prior, so there really wasn’t much in it.

Was it because of the make-up of the midfield? Jamie Carragher expressed his belief on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football this week that having players with attacking instincts like Wirtz, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch in midfield was the main problem.

It’s a perfectly valid critique, especially when you see how the Newcastle goals came about. The first one in particular started with Gravenberch dribbling with the ball into the Newcastle box while his midfield partner Szoboszlai was already well ahead of the ball. His final pass was poor, though, and when Dedic cut it out and released William Osula, Gravenberch and Szbobszlai were caught about as far out of position as it was possible to be.

This was the first time Liverpool conceded two goals from fast breaks in a single game since the opening match of last season, which was, funnily enough, against Iraola’s Bournemouth.

On that occasion, though, Gravenberch didn’t play as he was suspended. Szoboszlai partnered Mac Allister in the pivot, with Wirtz as a 10.

Bournemouth’s first goal at Anfield that night came down the Liverpool right rather than through the middle, but the second was especially poor to concede. Liverpool had made subs by then, with a midfield trio at the time of Szoboszlai, Endo and Curtis Jones. Endo is most definitely a defensive midfielder, and yet all three of them were caught the wrong side of the ball when Antoine Semenyo began his run from one penalty area to the other without being challenged, allowing him to fire in an equaliser.

Listening to some, you would think Gravenberch and Szoboszlai were stood next to Isak all game against Newcastle, but looking at their average positions in the first 63 minutes (before the first substitution and after Newcastle had scored their two goals), they didn’t seem outrageously high. Gravenberch was perhaps a little high for a six, but Szoboszlai’s position was rather conservative, if anything, considering how much of the ball Liverpool had.

It’s not quite as simple as saying a ‘destroyer’ cures all ills. Not that Liverpool wouldn’t be better by strengthening their midfield with someone more defensively minded, but the 2024-25 season had the most fast breaks on record in the Premier League (since 2006-07), with an average of 1.79 per game, and the Reds only conceded twice from them with basically the same midfield as they strolled to the title.

It should also be noted that Liverpool conceded four goals from fast breaks in the title-winning 2019-20 season, with Fabinho in midfield, only one fewer than 2025-26, and twice as many as in 2024-25.

We actually looked into who Liverpool could buy to replace Fabinho three years ago and somewhat dismissed Gravenberch – then of Bayern Munich – as an option due to him not really being a ‘six’.

He proved us wrong in 2024-25, but the question is coming up again for many. Either way, it is something Iraola must solve, and it is reasonable to give him far more time to do so given we are *checks notes* one game into the season.

The answers to Liverpool’s structural issues are a lot more complicated than saying they ‘just need a defensive midfielder’… but that’s not to say they don’t need one.

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