Liverpool manager Arne Slot has said he has been surprised by how ‘comfortable’ Ryan Gravenberch has been since being moved into a defensive midfield role.
Gravenberch has been one of the surprise packages of the campaign after shining for Liverpool at the base of Slot’s midfield. The Dutchman endured an underwhelming debut season in the Premier League last term, but has been reinvented under the new manager.
Liverpool failed in a bid to sign Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad in the summer, a situation which has opened up opportunity for Gravenberch.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Liverpool’s clash with Chelsea in the Premier League, Slot provided his reasoning for handing Gravenberch a new role and admitted his surprise at the success of the switch.
“He is very comfortable with the ball, and I think that’s what everybody saw, but not every manager. So, it’s a bit of a choice. You can bring a No 6 in that’s only really good without the ball – hard tackles and sliding – which every fan loves, and a lot of pundits love as well.
“Or you look more at what can he bring for us if we have the ball, and I think he can help us a lot with the ball. And he has a good tackle, but he’s not a… Where would you compare him? He’s not an N’Golo Kante, he’s a Declan Rice, whatever you want to come up with. But he is a very good runner, so he has long legs, he can keep on running, closing down lines. Is that the way to say it?
“So, he is not the typical No 6 that is making sliding tackles of three or four or five metres, which a lot of fans also like to see. But if you play in a possession-based team, which he does, it’s a lot about keeping the ball, making the right decisions if you have the ball, and bringing the ball from the last line towards the forwards. It’s just a bit of how you look at a player.
“But in the end, he also surprised me, not how comfortable he is with the ball, but also how trustable he is without the ball. And I think that is something he picked up really fast, or which was maybe already inside of him, but people and me never saw before.”
