One feature of Liverpool under Arne Slot this season is that the Dutch coach knows exactly where he wants his players to play.
While Jurgen Klopp valued versatility within his squad, Slot likes each player to have a defined position.
Cody Gakpo is solely a left-winger, for example, having been moved all over the pitch during Klopp’s tenure.
There are one or two exceptions, but by and large Slot prefers the Liverpool squad to have two set options for each position in the team.
One player who was hardly seen as versatile even under Klopp was Andy Robertson. The Scot is a left-back through and through.
Nevertheless, with Liverpool taking a young group to face PSV Eindhoven last Wednesday, Robertson was shifted to an alien central defensive role. Looking back on the game, the 30-year-old has given his assessment of how he enjoyed the new position.
Andy Robertson happy in central defence
Robertson was not an obvious choice for Slot to stick alongside Jarell Quansah at the Philips Stadion.
Officially standing at around 5 foot 8 inches as per premierleague.com, the full-back is one of the shortest members of the Liverpool squad.
Despite that, Slot chose to throw Robertson into the Virgil van Dijk, left-sided role and also handed the Scotland international the captain’s armband.
And reflecting on the occasion with liverpoolfc.com, Robertson admits that he enjoyed the change up.
“It’s always a massive honour to captain the team in whatever game, whether it’s a pre-season friendly or a Champions League game. It’s always an honour,” he says.
“I enjoyed it, obviously it was a bit of a different role playing centre-back but I think I enjoyed it. I learned on the job and I thought there was a lot of good stuff from all of us [in the] first 35 to 40 minutes.”
Is Robertson a genuine option at centre-back?
Although there were some bright moments from Robertson on Wednesday – most notably with his passing range – he should not be troubling the more established central options any time soon.
The No.26 got sent sliding the wrong way for Johan Bakayoko’s equalising goal and did not cover himself in glory for either of the other two PSV strikes, either.
As a result, we don’t think we’ll see Robertson feature at centre-back when the stakes are higher.
Wataru Endo has done well when moved back this season and although the Japanese is actually the same height as Robertson, he has looked more natural in the role.
Fair play to Robbo for slotting in, but we don’t think he should quit the day job!
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