Jose Enrique as Defensive Midfielder

He's got pretty good technique, is confident with the ball. Good passing, also long-range. Good at outmuscling the opponent, not easy to get past. Good stamina, too.

What do you think?

Interesting thought. I've never seen him try to defend down the center so I'm not sure how he'd be positioning-wise... He already gets forward a lot as a LB, I'd be a little worried about him wandering out of position/being undisciplined if he was given a spot in the center.

Anyway, I think it would be an interesting experiment in a pinch, but I'd REALLY prefer to not be in that situation to begin with.

I think we have rather a lack of options at LB as it is, so converting our main LB to CDM would be causing unnecessary issues in the squad for a problem that could be much more easily addressed.

His passing is, at best, hit and miss. He's not what I would consider a "good" passer and especially not with the consistency you would want of a player who needs to help recycle possession in midfield. He also tends to be inconsistent positionally and has absolutely no experience in the CDM role, further hurting his ability to position himself well in active play. Enrique likes to rely on his pace and strength to deal with players in one-on-one confrontations out wide, but in the middle he's not going to have that option as the opposition players will have extra space to move into and passing options that aren't generally available out wide. I think people are underestimating some of the skills required for the anchor role of Rodgers' midfield.

Can't see it, personally. Jose Enrique is not Fabio Aurelio.

Enrique lacks tactical awareness (makes up of with his pace) and is not consistent enough as a fullback; what's going to make him more consistent in the middle of the pitch? He tries way too hard on the ball and his passing is inconsistent too. He's also our best left back so he should stay where he stands.

While I acknowledge that Enrique might not be any good at DM, I think the abilities he has shown would make it intriguing to try him there. Could be that his tactical awareness would suit to the role if given the chance, never know. Also while his passing isn't always spot on, he is often put in tricky situations passing wise on his flank, it's kinda easier to pass the ball in the center when there's not a sideline right next to you limiting your options.

I'd be interested to see him play DM in a few games. It would also mean that one LB signing would provide cover for two slightly-in-need-of-strenghtening positions: We'd have Lucas and Enrique for DM and New LB and Enrique for LB.

I'd be more tempted playing Agger at DM ahead of Enrique.

McAgger wrote:I'd be more tempted playing Agger at DM ahead of Enrique.

Well, I don't know which of Agger's qualities would make him the better choice for DM out of these two. For my money Enrique is better on the ball, is more physical and sort of is used to working harder up and down the flank than Agger is at CB. Agger is a good ball-playing CB, but imo Enrique possesses more qualities asked of a DM.

Agger's passing is better (pass accuracy 88.7% - 76.7%), he has twice as many interceptions (63-35), He has a far greater number of aerial duels won (61.2% - 31.2%)... need i go on?

Those are only the (relatively) objective statistics. That doesn't even touch on the more subjective things such as positional discipline, decision making, and footballing intelligence (manifested in an ability to "read the game").

Enrique is a solid left-back with exceptional physical qualities. He's not the best footballer, but his athletic ability allows him to recover. He's capable of remarkable moves, but all-too-often squanders this potential with poor decisions.

That's not the profile of a player I want to stick at DM.

Speaking of hypotheticals, how would Carroll go as a CB?

McAgger wrote:I'd be more tempted playing Agger at DM ahead of Enrique.

Spoke my words..

mr-r34 wrote:Speaking of hypotheticals, how would Carroll go as a CB?

Decent I guess. Physically he's up there with anyone but technically he is pretty bad which is quite obvious. He isn't even a good technical forward.

donttreadonred wrote:Agger's passing is better (pass accuracy 88.7% - 76.7%), he has twice as many interceptions (63-35), He has a far greater number of aerial duels won (61.2% - 31.2%)... need i go on?

Those are only the (relatively) objective statistics. That doesn't even touch on the more subjective things such as positional discipline, decision making, and footballing intelligence (manifested in an ability to "read the game").

Any CB in Rodgers's system is going to have good passing stats and any CB is expected to be good in the air and CBs also make more interceptions than full-backs due to the nature of the game. You can't look at stats when pondering which player might do a better job as DM.

The second paragraph might be true, but my point is that we cannot know how Enrique would do mental-ability wise in DM. In my opinion he has shown such physical and technical attributes that would justify trying him out in the DM position to see how he'd do there (and I'd prefer him to Agger in such an experiment).

He'll have the same effect as Charlie Adam. lol

He struggles to be in position at full back at times, how's he going to be suitable in the centre?

We don't need his passing in midfield either, as Gerrard is pretty much playing the DLP role for us. Let him be at LB.