In modern football, formations are designed around one vital aspect – possession.

The attacking manager will design his formation to ensure that his team can control possession and use it to construct meaningful attacks. The defensive manager will look to limit the threats caused by the opposition; either by winning possession back from them or by forcing them to hold onto the ball in safe, unthreatening areas.

The adaptable manager will look to use both of these elements. He will want the opposition to be limited in their time on the ball, and then will want to construct attacks once the ball is regained. But to do that effectively, week after week against different sorts of opponents, the manager needs a tactically adaptable squad – especially in midfield.

With a good pool of midfielders the coach can not only play different formations but play very different strategies within the same formation. Since Dalglish took over he has mainly used 4-4-2 and 4-1-2-3. Looking at the current Liverpool squad, then, what options are open to him?

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