By my count, there’re only a few plausible scenarios in which the conception of this brand of idiocy could have occurred from Sky Sports.
1) An embarrassing attempt for clicks on a slow day of news.
2) A man or woman higher up in Sky mistakenly bestowed writing and editing powers onto their 14-year-old kid.
3) Jamie Carragher had a little bit, way too much to drink and anonymously smacked this up just to see how Sky would react.
New look Liverpool: how will they line-up next season? Read here: http://t.co/HOchl2pBS9 pic.twitter.com/D1EfG5Rkvh
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) June 27, 2015
Number 1 has got to be the clubhouse leader, but it’s more fun to think about Carra sitting alone in front of his laptop in his underwear, with his screen being the only light in the room, bottles of Carlsberg lying around accompanied with constant chuckling from the Liverpool legend. Dare to dream, right?
Realistically, you’ve got to believe Sky Sports is above fishing for clicks, so this certainly is embarrassing. Were they trying to rouse up Liverpool fans into talking about it? Were they trying to hype up new signings? Do they really think Brendan Rodgers is this incompetent?
Everything is wrong with it.
I’d be shocked if Liverpool trotted out in a 3-4-2-1 on opening day next season. Rodgers switched to it in an attempt to change fortunes last season, and it worked for a while, but the overwhelming general view is that it’s not sustainable. Rodgers knew that. I remember reading something along the lines (shout out to @Brenzie on twitter for this gem) that because Glen Johnson was so s**te, Rodgers schemed a formation that would eliminate the role of right-back completely.
Next season, Liverpool should have a certain English right-back currently playing for Southampton, thus there’ll be no reason to shackle attacking players in wing back roles with more defensive responsibilities.
I’ll play devil’s advocate for a second and pretend that Liverpool will play 3-4-2-1 on opening day, just to prove how asinine Sky Sports was in this wayward prediction.
– The back three all are sorts of out of whack. Martin Skrtel would be in the centre, Mamadou Sakho on his left and Emre Can on the right, as they were every single time they played together in this system.
– Speaking of Can, he’s talked numerous times about how he is a centre mid and will play centre mid this season. He’s not a defender. He played marvelously at right sided centre back and that’s a huge credit to a kid playing in a new formation and new position, but he’s a midfielder. A good one, too.
– James Milner is widely reported to have been given assurances that he’ll play through the middle, one of the reasons why he signed for Liverpool
– Philippe Coutinho could play deeper only with a defensive mid cleaning up behind him. In Sky’s attempt, they’re taking away the threat of either him or Jordan Henderson going forward regularly, or pretty much stranding the back three.
– Danny Ings was not signed to be a starter. Sky Sports was just looking for a way to overblow new signings. I’m surprised Joe Gomez wasn’t slotted into centre of defence and Adam Bogdan wasn’t in goal.
Wait, hold on a second. Sources are telling me that Sky had another try buried behind the tweet. There’s hope yet, let’s investigate.
No hope. None at all.
Henderson as the anchor of a 4-3-3? Javi Manquillo as the first choice right back? Henderson as the anchor shielding the back line and not getting forward? Coutinho and Milner level tactically? Ings at left wing in the first team? Firmino at right wing? Sturridge not on the physio’s table? (just kidding on that last one, but still.)
Two attempts: absolutely shambolic.
Sky Sports, sit this next play out. You’re better than this. Come back strong next time.
