Following In The Footsteps Of Wenger

Peter Anderson ⚽ In July 2008 Arsene Wenger sold Gilberto Silva to Panathinaikos.

It signalled the beginning of the end of Wenger's incredible spell as a top manager, as a winner of EPL titles. From that moment on, Arsenal went into terminal decline. From that moment on, Wenger decided to set up his team without a holding midfielder.

In 2003 Chelsea signed Claud Makelele from Real Madrid and something changed in the EPL. Makelele was the first in a revolution that continues to this day, where a "holding" midfielder sits in front of the centre backs to screen them from attackers running straight on to the defensive line. After initially adopting this idea, Wenger decided to ditch it in 2008 and sold Gilberto Silva.

At the time I thought he had made a mistake, but as he was a football genius and I'm not, I expected to be proved wrong. I wasn't. After Gilberto Silva left, Arsenal became flaky, vulnerable. Wet Tuesday nights at Stoke and Bolton became nailed on defeats. Pundit after pundit, questioned his mad decision and called for the signing of a holding midfielder. It never happened and after a long, slow decline, Wenger was sacked. It was one of those times when you think you know better than a manager, years of watching footy tell you that a decision is wrong and you are proved right. Sometimes they can't see the wood for the trees and the armchair supporter really does know best.

So, it is with Klopp this season. Klopp put together a fantastic team when he arrived at Liverpool. The creativity came from the best attacking three in EPL history of Salah, Firmino and Mané. The assists came from the full-backs who would push on high. The midfield was largely structural, to screen the defence from counter-attack when the full-backs pushed on and to pen the opposition in when Liverpool had the ball.

This has worked like a dream, until now. I, like many others, could see it coming. Trent Alexander-Arnold is great going forward but is too often exposed in defence. Teams are wise to this, and almost every game Liverpool concede from the right-back channel or at his back post. The midfield, too, is getting exposed. Milner and Henderson just don't have the legs anymore for EPL matches and Thiago is often injured. Fabinho backed up by some youngsters just won't cut it at this level.

I thought that this summer Klopp would reinvent his team, spend big on a midfielder or two and move TA-A into midfield or at least to wing-back. He didn't, but after Liverpool beat City in the Community Shield, I thought that Klopp knows better than me and there is another year in this old team. But the first three games of this season tell a different tale, especially the drubbing they took from Man U.

When Aguero, Fernandinho and David Silva got past it, Pep reinvented his team. I thought that this summer Klopp would do the same. However, replacing Mané with Nuñez, and buying Carvalho for the bench is not a reinvention. Maybe this is a temporary blip and Klopp will prove me wrong; my gut tells me he won't.

Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports.