Arne Slot has not noticed Ryan Gravenberch flaw which has left Jan Molby ‘surprised’

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Arne Slot has been told that there is a fatal flaw in Ryan Gravenberch’s game, which is severely costing Liverpool.

The Dutchman has been dubbed “the best” for his performances this season as he has continued his sensational form from last year.

Gravenberch enjoyed a breakout campaign at Anfield, finding a new home in the Reds’ midfield as the anchor of the midfield three, and has become vital to the side’s success.

He already boasts two goals and two assists to his name after the opening 10 matches, and Gravenberch scored a “magical” goal in the Merseyside derby to help secure a 2-1 win at Anfield.

However, the Reds have lost both their subsequent matches since, and with them appearing so defensively fragile this year, club legend Jan Molby believes it is indeed the in-form man who is proving to be the biggest problem in this regard.

Ryan Gravenberch is the problem in Liverpool’s midfield

When discussing Liverpool’s recent downturn in fortunes on the Anfield Index YouTube channel, Molby believes Gravenberch’s freedom in the midfield is becoming detrimental.

“There has to be a structure in midfield. How often did we talk about Fabinho, (Jordan) Henderson, (Georginio) Wijnaldum, what a dream to play with, yeah? For the back four, to have those three in front of you, and for the front three to have those three behind you. Absolutely dream. So we need to get back to that.

​“So, we praised Ryan Gravenberch for the way he plays, and he plays well. I’m just more and more thinking that if Florian Wirtz has to be in and around the team, and we talk about the freedom of Ryan Gravenberch to go and join in. I think we have to rein that in and go ‘you’re not a six Ryan’, we all know he’s not a six, but you have to play as a six, you’re the only six we’ve got.

“It can’t be right that we talk about who’s been our best players this season, Alisson and (Virgil) van Dijk has been okay. Gravenberch, (Dominik) Szoboszlai, and Hugo Ekitike they’ve been our best players. Well, two of them, five are midfield players, but we have such a flat spot in any game where we lose control. Where do you lose control? Lose Control midfield. So it isn’t to do with how individuals play. It’s to do with how they play together, you know?

“And I’m a little bit surprised that Arne hasn’t seen that, you know, there’s a reason that we have these long periods, you know, I mean, we keep coming back in about we’ve thrown away three two-nil leads, okay, we have been on to win those games. There has to be a reason for that. And I’m thinking that, yeah, you can go away from the game and go, that’s what Ryan Gravenberch really played well, but did he also play well for the team? You know?”

Gravenberch produced his worst performance of the season in the 1-0 loss against Galatasaray in the Champions League, another match wherein Liverpool struggled to deal with the opposition.

The Dutchman was hardly the worst performer overall; all the players struggled at RAMS Park as the Reds lost possession 126 times on the night, following their second consecutive defeat across all competitions.

Slot has thus far struggled to strike the right balance in his starting lineup after acquiring approximately £450 million worth of talent this summer.

One of the crown jewels of the summer rebuild, Wirtz, has become a problem at Liverpool as the team has been caught out in the transitions often this year, and a return to type for Gravenberch, as seen last season, could be the solution to all their problems.

Arne Slot should return to his Premier League title-winning midfield

It is not just Wirtz who has failed to make the mark at Anfield; all of the Reds’ signings, excluding Ekitike, have not hit the ground running.

With Alexander Isak slowly but surely returning to full-match fitness, full-backs Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez have massively underwhelmed.

Slot has veered too far from the players who won the Premier League title on the Dutchman’s first attempt last term, and he must return to what he knows works.

Naming Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, and Alexis Mac Allister as the midfield trio, with Andy Robertson and Conor Bradley on either side of the defence, must be how Liverpool line up to face Chelsea on Saturday, and perhaps moving forward, until the summer signings prove they are ready to perform.