The 19-year-old shone alongside his Argentine teammate as the strongest midfield pivot of the night before Ryan Gravenberch and the Reds’ No.8’s introduction in the second half.
Iraola must drop 4/10 shadow for 8/10 Liverpool star with 81 minutes this season(empire_of_the_kop_articles_379)
(Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)
It goes without saying that we’re a big fan of stat providers, but last night’s display just goes to show that you can’t rely blindly on player ratings issued on most platforms.
Take FotMob, for instance, which claimed a difference of 0.5/10 between Gravenberch (6.9/10) and Nyoni (7.4/10) on the night.
Did the former come even close to the latter’s performance in the cup? The stats might suggest as much, but we would seriously question this.
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Our scores:
Ryan Gravenberch: 4/10
Trey Nyoni 8.5/10
Iraola must drop 4/10 shadow for 8/10 Liverpool star with 81 minutes this season(empire_of_the_kop_articles_379)
(Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
No one’s questioning that, on his day, Ryan Gravenberch is a perfectly capable, brilliant even, Premier League midfielder.
But Liverpool suddenly looked fragile in midfield when the Dutchman entered the fray alongside Szoboszlai in the second half.
Why? A collection of snapshots from the game (courtesy of @lfc_eddie_) offers some explanation here. Where you have the careful, considered play of a Nyoni, you have the evidently unconfident play of a Gravenberch to contrast.
Now, we can allow for moments when a footballer doesn’t see the right pass down the channel to unlock an opponent’s backline. It happens.
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But the one thing our Dutch international should not be doing is dallying on the ball and inviting a press he seems suddenly unable to evade. There was once a time that Ryan Gravenberch used to thrive on this, receiving the ball with his back to his opponent, spinning them and driving forward. But there’s one clear instance we see just outside our own half where this doesn’t work; possession is lost, and Spurs have a dangerous counter.
And if you’re going to be the furthest up the pitch of the pivot, you shouldn’t be losing the ball in a silly fashion when there’s a simple pass on. As far as memory serves, there were no such instances with Trey Nyoni.
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The stats may indicate that Gravenberch was properly involved in proceedings, but the eye test shows a player seemingly devoid of ideas, nous and confidence in the middle of the park.
And at the moment, it seems we have an alternative option who understands what’s required of him: when to sit to allow Alexis Mac Allister to roam higher up the pitch, when to intervene, when to back off. Nyoni shows no clear signs of wastefulness.
We appreciate it’s a difficult balance to strike, but it’s worth emphasising that Liverpool do have to be careful with Trey Nyoni.
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It’s not surprising that the Englishman, at 19 years of age, has only picked up 81 minutes of action (across all competitions) this term.
While we’re keen to see more of the midfielder on the pitch for Liverpool, we would hope, and expect, Andoni Iraola to ensure he’s not being exclusively relied upon ahead of Ryan Gravenberch for the time being.
But there’s certainly room for Nyoni to pick up more minutes, we feel, after such an impressive showing at L4.
