Steven Gerrard's Warning on Liverpool's Midfield Flaws

Steven Gerrard has fired a pointed warning at Liverpool’s hierarchy, insisting the squad remains structurally flawed without a specialist defensive midfielder – and that the issue could haunt Andoni Iraola’s debut season at Anfield.

The former Liverpool captain, now a prominent voice on TNT Sports, believes the failure to properly replace Fabinho has left a gaping hole at the base of midfield. For Gerrard, that blind spot is no longer something the club can gloss over.

Speaking ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest, he cut straight to the heart of the problem.

"There's one area that hasn't really had much focus, only really in the last week since the Newcastle game. I believe they need a specialist in the No. 6 position, that's my opinion," he said.

The Newcastle match is clearly still nagging at him. Liverpool escaped St James’ Park with a 2-2 draw, but the scoreline masked a worrying pattern. Each time they lost the ball in the middle third, Newcastle poured through them on the break. The Reds clawed back a point late on, yet looked alarmingly vulnerable without the ball.

For Gerrard, that vulnerability has a clear cause – and a clear solution.

"I think that position's been sorely missed, I don't think they've got a specialist in that position," he explained. "That can allow your [Dominik] Szoboszlai's and your [Ryan] Gravenberch's and your [Alexis] Mac Allister's to go and join attacks, to make the back four secure. I think they miss that position badly."

In other words, the attacking talent is there. The structure behind it is not. Without a true No. 6, the creative midfielders can’t fully commit, and the back four are left exposed whenever Liverpool try to squeeze games high up the pitch.

Iraola inherits a puzzle, not a blank slate

The pressure on Iraola is already intense. He has walked into a club that spent around £250m last summer under Arne Slot, a spree meant to fuel a title defence that never materialised.

Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong and youngster Giovanni Leoni all arrived as part of that overhaul. Big names, big fees, big expectations.

The return? No Premier League crown, and ultimately Slot’s departure.

Now Iraola must turn a lavishly assembled but uneven group into a coherent team. He has to do it while absorbing the loss of senior figures like Ibrahima Konate, Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson, all of whom have moved on at the end of their contracts.

That blend of heavy investment and high-profile exits has left Liverpool with a squad that looks deep in some areas and strangely thin in others. Hence Gerrard’s insistence that the midfield anchor role cannot be left to improvisation.

Centre-back ranks swell, but one big question remains

Not everything in Gerrard’s assessment was bleak. He sees reasons for optimism at the heart of Liverpool’s defence, where recruitment has at least addressed the numbers.

With several new centre-backs drafted in to cover for the outgoing stalwarts, Liverpool finally have bodies in a position that looked dangerously light not so long ago.

"I think in terms of numbers now, they're better than they were last year," Gerrard said. "Konate has moved on, we wish him luck, he's done a great job. We've now got four or five centre-backs, so volume, I think they're secure. I think the key is: is Jacquet going to be good enough?"

That final line hangs over the entire rebuild. Liverpool have volume at the back, flair in advanced areas and a manager tasked with welding it all together. But until someone steps in as a true No. 6, and until defenders like Jacquet prove they belong at the sharp end of a title race, Gerrard’s warning will echo around Anfield.

Liverpool’s season may hinge on whether the club acts on it – or gambles that the balance will somehow fix itself.