Why Liverpool’s midfield balance is broken and how to fix it immediately

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In Nicol’s eyes, Wirtz’s current struggles are inadvertently clogging the team’s creative pipeline, and the solution requires a bold step backward into a formula that has delivered silverware before. For Nicol, nostalgia isn’t just comforting it’s tactical common sense.

“He’s [Wirtz] not part of my front four,” Nicol bluntly declared, assessing a domestic campaign where the playmaker’s flashes of brilliance have been far too sporadic. While acknowledging the midweek Champions League display as his finest outing in red yet, the Scot pointed out the glaring inconsistency: “That’s one game in how many?” The tactical rationale behind Nicol’s preference for Szoboszlai boils down to pure geometry and gravity.

“When you have Szoboszlai in the middle and he has the ball at his feet, the one thing you know he’s going to do – if you give him any time – is he’s going to have a shot,” Nicol reasoned. “He’s shown that anywhere from 30 yards he’s capable of sticking it in the back of your net.” That singular threat alters everything.