The Midweek Maxi #16: Rousing Radars, A Scandalous Sending Off & The Hodgson Shambles
Our new Liverpool FC weekly compendium. News. Stats. Views. Debate. Links. Data. Insights. Delights.
To read about why we’ve replaced Free Friday with The Midweek Maxi, see the intro to the first edition.
So far the bumper weekly roundup is going down extremely well with paying subscribers:
This week:
Excerpts and links to the different pieces we've published across the TTT Substack network, prior to the paywall kicking in;
Then, some of the best comments from the site this past week;
Next, Daniel Zambartas’ bumper LFC News, Media & Transfer Round-Up;
And then finally, bit of Midweek Moby (the TTT stalwart, not the beautiful bald middle-aged man), for the third mini-article of new writing within this week’s Maxi.
Job done! (Oh, and it’s also a discussion thread for the issues raised.)
Note: the Maxi may exceed the email size limit on Substack, but the whole piece can be read online by paying subscribers.
TTT Network Roundup
Links and excerpts to articles on the various TTT sites, which are run by different people and require separate subscriptions to this, the TTT Main Hub.
The Main Hub
First up is the detailed scouting report on our new, surprising, but also quietly impressive signing Wataru Endo.
This article is a remedy to anyone suffering from “never heard of him” bias. First of all, his in-depth, deep-diving data:
Okay, so. excuse my slightly tongue-in-cheek radar, but with Endo's actual radar already looking so good, it was worth trying to make a point about the less-measurable aspects (albeit I expect that computer games do give values for these).
Anyway, below follows an article from our separate Transfer Hub Substack, which is a way to subsidise Mizgan Masani's analysis, as well as the fees for editing and scouting software. This piece went live on there yesterday, but today I'm topping and tailing it, to share on the TTT Main Hub, as I tend to do once a player is officially signed.
Of the 11 metrics that Mizgan uses to compare Edno with four other midfielders (including Moises Caicedo and Roméo Lavia and two others linked with Liverpool), only Cheick Doucouré has more 1st-placed rankings (five). Caicedo has one, and Lavia has none. All of Doucouré’s are in the defensive-only categories.
Caicedo scores well to rank 2nd a further five times, but of the five players covered, Endo ranks 1st or 2nd in seven metrics, ahead of anyone else for combined 'gold' or 'silver'. These include on-ball stats in a weak team in Germany.
Lavia has just one such placing, but I still think he's ahead of the game for his age. (But Stefan Bajcetic, a year younger, is even more ahead of the game.)
Also, Caicedo and Endo are the only two who have their 1st or 2nd-places spread from defensive to on-ball statistics. They seem the two most-rounded players at this point.
And as one of the stats that Endo doesn't win (pass completion %) is one that I see as mostly an utter waste of time (the most expressive passers actually tend to have lower rates, with someone like Kevin de Bruyne statistically 'worse' than 92% of midfielders by this metric, and with Trent Alexander-Arnold ranking way down in 39th out of 100 compared to other full-backs passing rates).
It has to be combined into some metric with pass difficulty, as about 95% of backwards passes are completed.
Finally, there's a full, professional scouting video, that isn't about highlights but assessing in detail, followed by various glowing testimonials about the player.
Wataru Endo - Scouting Stuttgart's Former Superman
If this is the starter, then it is business well done
While we were muddling through the defensive midfield options Liverpool can look at for this summer, the news of an agreement with Stuttgart to sign Wataru Endo came out of nowhere to sweep us aside.
Although relief was the first reaction to that news, there was also an air of apprehension regarding the player the club is getting. Understandably so! Not many Liverpool fans have heard of him unless they watch Bundesliga regularly.
Wataru Endo is a Japanese international who is currently the captain of his national side and the club he is employed by - Stuttgart. So, Liverpool are at least getting a player who knows a way around taking responsibility.
The 30-year-old started his career in Japan and only moved to Europe in 2018 when Belgian club Sint-Truiden signed him. A year later, the midfielder was sent on loan to Stuttgart and eventually that move became permanent in the summer of 2020.
He has played 133 games in all competitions for the German side so far, scoring 15 goals and assisting 12. His positional flexibility is probably one of the things that struck through.
If we look at his senior-level footballing career, Endo has made 439 appearances - 239 of which came as a centre-back, 15 as a right-back and the rest in midfield (be it as a lone six, in a double pivot or as a number eight).
…
Below is a section from Paul’s post-match analysis piece. And don’t forget the hundreds of comments underneath picking apart the victory at Anfield.
It was a bright start by the referee in at least giving a clear penalty (which the sensational Dominik Szoboszlai earned by drawing a late, lazy swipe, which I likened to the one Liverpool correctly conceded at Fulham at the start of last season) to the Reds. But they give with one hand, the PGMOL, and take back with two. Shocking stuff.
(And of course, Bournemouth have won more Premier League penalties in the Jürgen Klopp era than Klopp's Liverpool, for those who continue to think Liverpool get lots of penalties; literally any and every time one is given there’s an outcry.)
*Rant over*
Still, this is about the Reds fighting and battling back from a torpid start to absolutely hammer the shit out a team who had an extra man (or five).
If Liverpool’s midfield understandably lacked understanding, with three making their home Anfield debuts (with one sent off), and at times linking like strangers, the energy and effort from the team as the game wore on was outstanding. The slowness of last season was gone, and the bonds will build.
There were lots of stand-out performers to credit, as I will go on to do.
When they beat a team 9-0, it rarely goes well in the next game; at least, for Liverpool.
Maybe the 9-0 was on the Reds' minds, as they looked set for a stroll. It was a shockingly lax start, with Bournemouth having a goal disallowed and then scoring within less than three minutes.
Also, neutrals should remember that you're allowed to go down in any manner you want when you've been tripped/swiped by a lazy leg; as Aleksandar Mitrović showed when Virgil van Dijk did the same at Fulham on the opening game of last season. If you draw a lazy dangling leg, you've been tripped. Yes, it’s ‘soft’, but trips are soft.
Szoboszlai was man of the match, as a powerhouse of a footballer; the next Kevin de Bruyne, to mix pace, power, size and skill, only with more energy. If KdB was this good at 22, Chelsea wouldn't have let him go. My only criticism of Szoboszlai was that he yet again passed up the best shooting opportunity he had, but that ability to seize the moment (and not pass to others when it’s there to be hit) will come.
Or was Luis Díaz man of the match?
His energy was insane, to the point where he tweaked a hamstring. He ran inside, and a few times, outside too. He went up and down, and scored yet another improvised goal (going back to last season and all through pre-season), to the point where he looks the best actual finisher at the club right now.
As Liverpool move on to look at midfield all-rounders, sources (who refuse to be named to protect relationships with their fictitious existence) inform me that Todd Boehly is excited about this great Brazilian player he's just heard about, with a ton of money being found to buy the attacker.
Some guy called Pelé, apparently. Guarantees you goals. An eight-year deal, with the option to extend to 17 years.
But let Chelsea marinade in their own madness (young side/short side/new side/price-tag pressure), which may or may not work, but remains madness all the same.
Liverpool have to be smarter, and that means getting a mix of leadership and experience, with youth, energy and hunger.
So, who should Liverpool go in for? Over the summer I've created radars for various midfielders, and I've created some new ones, for other potential targets.
Paying subscribers may access the rest of this article and use this thread to comment on the latest midfield transfer speculation, and add their opinions on targets.
The issue with Ryan Gravenberch, if Bayern were ever to sell him as they stockpile midfielders, would be the additional lure of working with his old boss and mentor, now at Man United. They can offer the Champions League, and several ex-Ajax teammates. (I can't count at least four, including Donny van de Beek, who now cleans the toilets.)
Plus, higher wages, presumably. He's already earning more than over half the Liverpool squad. Gravenberch has reportedly finally told Bayern Munich he wants to leave, with reports that the Reds are in talks over a deal for the midfielder.
The lure of Liverpool would be Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo (and a Dutch coach). The three players link internationally as a unit, from centre-back to centre-midfield to centre-forward, so there's some understanding already there.
FourFourTwo states:
"The Daily Mail says that the Merseysiders are in talks to bring Ryan Gravenberch to Anfield this summer, having held interest in him for a year now – with assistant Pep Lijnders perhaps influential in the deal.
"Lijnders has played a bigger role in recruitment since the exit of sporting director Michael Edwards according to the Telegraph... "
[Or, as noted on TTT at least 18 months ago.]
But after losing out to Chelsea twice, it would perhaps be risky to go head-to-head with a richer rival.
The Zen Den
Double on The Zen Den this week, with this one below on our new signing - Wataru Endo - from the Bundesliga; as well as a deep dive on another signing from Germany - Szoboszlai - who shone in the Red’s victory over Bournemouth.
I wrote a piece last night on the Main Hub, but I wanted to add a few more positives about Endo (and some radar comparisons with several other midfielders), who may suffer now from being underrated, but who will not have the burden of high expectations that would come if he was 25, Spanish and cost £70m, and with the exact same game.
One of the radars I’ll explain is this one below, which is about all-rounder skills; with Endo also coming out on top on my no.6 radars, too.
I still expect another no.6 to sign (Cheick Doucouré?), but definitely a defender. (Although Endo can surely fill in as one of the wider centre-backs in a three, as I noted last night on the Main Hub.)
Will the Reds go higher-end for a defender now with our budget or still stick with Gonçalo Inácio at the new release fee of £42.9m? To be honest, he still seems the best option.
Age is not a problem with Liverpool losing a group of midfielders averaging at 32. Height is not an issue as 5’10” is okay, and he’s got an exceptional leap and timing, even if that will be tested in England; and Liverpool have enough big units. (Aerial duel success rates often drop dramatically between Germany and England, but still an achievement to be in the 95th percentile at 5’10”.)
Cheick Doucouré and Gonçalo Inácio, if signed, will likely cost £100m combined, maybe more (or maybe less if the former also has a clause, which some have suggested).
To get someone in now, with this skillset, is good business. Then, take it from there. Remember, this is a player at the top of his game, lauded across Germany but somehow largely unknown in England.
Even with his stamina, I don't quite get how Endo is everywhere. Defensively he has the numbers of a no.6, but otherwise he has the numbers of a no.8.
But this is a player for the purists as well as the stats-folk.
He looks like an upright passer, a bulked-up Glenn Hoddle or Jan Molby on the SlimFast, who seems like he can just stand around and make the ball do the work; but then has that burst of real pace, to go past players and to close them down.
Add his movie star looks, and you'd think he would be a bit casual; a poseur. But no. He works like an ugly mongrel, a Jimmy Bullard or a Carlos Tevez. Indeed, he physically reminds me of Emre Can, and works hard like him too; only he's a much better footballer, and a bit quicker too. (Strangely, Can would have made a great no.6 to sign this summer, had he not already burnt some bridges.)
Szoboszlai doesn't look like a dribbler, as he's tall, upright. But he glides past players. As Mo Salah slows, his pace on the overlap will be vital.
And Szoboszlai has yet to play in a balanced midfield since joining the Reds, with Alexis Mac Allister quietly impressive as the no.6 but where it's not his role, and Cody Gakpo better as a false 9 than a no.8.
When Wataru Endo came on to play as a proper no.6, it was with 10 men.
All of the new midfielders feel durable, in a way that most of those leaving did not.
Dynasty
As the turmoil surrrounding the ownership of Liverpool FC finally headed towards its seemingly inevitable descent towards the courtroom, events on the pitch, including a managerial sacking and contorversial - to put it mildly - new appointment seemed to be on a parallel downward spiral.
Originally written by TTT Subscriber Anthony Stanley, this major series was first serialised on The Tomkins Times and then published by TTT as a book, called A BANQUET WITHOUT WINE - A Quarter-Century of Liverpool FC in the Premier League Era.
Broughton’s choice to fill Benítez’s shoes was the clichéd steady hands of a much travelled but respected English coach, Roy Hodgson, who had garnered much domestic respect by improbably getting his Fulham side to the UEFA Cup final, where they had been beaten by Atlético Madrid. It was enough to secure him an LMA manager of the year award and, on the Liverpool board’s part, a catastrophically myopic move to the Reds. Hindsight may well be a boon to all football experts, but the infinitely pragmatic Hodgson’s success had been built on uninspiring football and securing survival.
Fine for the likes of the Cottagers, but expectations at Liverpool are on a wholly different level. Sure, he had won titles in the relative footballing backwater of Scandinavia but, even here, his methods had been more about grinding than decisive football. When he had been given big jobs – Internazionale of Milan and a then still-flush Blackburn Rovers – the results had been borderline disastrous.
And so it would prove at Liverpool. On the face of it, Joe Cole was the new manager’s first signing, but it was a transfer that had the grubby fingerprints of managing director Christian Purslow all over it. Cole was joined by Paul Konchesky and Christian Poulsen in a troika of mediocrity to rival the summer of 2002’s horrendous transfer dealings. Brad Jones and Raul Meireles were also recruited; the former would still be claiming a wage at the club six years later while the latter was one of Hodgson’s better signings but still barely lasted a year.
To make matters worse – and in fairness to the new manager, this was hardly his fault – Mascherano effectively downed tools and went on strike after Barcelona started casting flirtatious looks in his direction. By 30th August he would sign for the Catalans, robbing Hodgson of one of the best defensive midfielders in the game. The woefully one-paced and insipid Poulsen was hardly a replacement in the Reds’ engine room.
Things never really got going for Roy Hodgson in the Liverpool dug out. Certainly, the so-called coup that was Joe Cole (later to be memorably, and with waspish scouse humour, christened ‘Joke Hole’) getting sent off in his first game (a decent 1-1 draw with Arsenal in the opening league game) in a red shirt didn’t help and there were other mitigating circumstances. Fernando Torres clearly never bought into the new project and soon his away performances of the previous campaign were the norm.
The Spaniard was patently disillusioned with promises that had been made and then broken and looked a shadow of the player that had terrorised defenders throughout Europe. Added to this, there was never any real affection for the new manager as there was still a significant residual support for the departed Benítez and, moreover, there was a ready-made replacement – and club legend – in the looming Dalglish, who still stalked the halls of Anfield. It was notably said that using Torres in the manner Hodgson did was like using a Ferrari to plough a field.
The fanbase was splintered, seething with fury at the shambles that was going on behind the scenes, and patience was in short supply. Liverpool supporters were in no mood to listen to the posturing of a besieged manager whose sound bites added to the conviction that he was just not up to the challenge. In short, it wouldn’t take much for the atmosphere to truly turn noxious and, along with the feeling that clearly Hodgson never ‘got’ the club, it meant that a poor start to the season would be accompanied by the hammering sound of a gallows being constructed.
The Transfer Hub
Mizgan managed two pieces this week with one being ‘promoted’ to the Main Hub above on Endo, here’s the other equally important piece looking at potential options for another six midfielder after the collapse of the Caicedo and Lavia deals.
The club has the money to fork out. The sale of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson has swollen the pockets, which was on display when the Caicedo fee was agreed with Brighton.
Now, it is high time the recruitment team decides whether they want to sign one elite defensive midfielder at whatever the price, or try and get two at a mid-range price (between £30m-£65m) and let Jürgen Klopp have the options to choose from.
Before jumping on to have a detailed look at the options below, I would ask you to go through a few scouting reports on this website on the defensive midfielders who could be great additions to the squad. I am linking those articles here -
Right, let's take a look at the four others Liverpool can look at before potentially making a move for them in the next couple of weeks. The list had five players in it initially, but Tyler Adams is now off to Bournemouth.
Martín Zubimendi (Age - 24, Contract until June 2027, Height - 1.81m)
Martín Zubimendi is a highly-rated defensive midfielder currently playing for Real Sociedad. He started as a youth player there before making his senior debut in the latter half of the 2019/20 season.
The Spanish international has made 144 senior appearances for Sociedad, most of which coming as a lone number six. Aside from four games, the 24-year-old operated in that position in a three-man midfield last season.
Zubimendi is a technically strong player - as most of them are in Spain, who possesses the tenacity to be as effective off the ball as he is on it. Arsenal wanted to sign him earlier in the summer and were very close to doing so before turning their attention towards Declan Rice.
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