The (good) problem is Rice.

Partey was our buildup, along with Zinchenko. He is the best in the world at collecting off the back 4 and dipping through a press and line breaking from that position while carrying.

We’re at a juncture now. Do we find a way to incorporate him back in the team, or do we jettison and just go full Rice 6. Rice is elite in different ways at 6, but one of them isn’t build up, and in a strange way, it seems to negate the usefulness of Zinchenkos party tricks. Rice dominates the whole space. He’s not a builder, he’s a breaker, to put it in very simplistic terms. Which isn’t to say he has no playmaking, but he’s not absorbing pressers and stepping through them.

(All of the above is why I will die on the hill that Tierney, or a player like him, still had a place in our team, injuries aside)

I take your point about our attackers but with that Liverpool team, I think you have to remember the midfield had 0 creativity. They offered little to nothing offensively, they were just a back wall for Jurgens box of doom. We use our wingers as creators, we could use them as outlet, but it would mean a retool of the midfield.