Plenty of Liverpool fans have called for Jurgen Klopp to tweak his tactical set up in order to get more goals out of Georginio Wijnaldum.
The Netherlands midfielder scored a hat-trick for his country last night in their 5-0 Euro 2020 qualifying win over Estonia, ensuring that he finished the campaign with eight goals from nine appearances.
By contrast, the 29-year-old has netted just twice in 18 games for Liverpool so far this season, but there may be a valid reason for the disparity in goal return between club and international level.
Wijnaldum has played as an attacking midfielder for Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands side throughout their Euro 2020 qualifying campaign, with the ex-Newcastle man plundering five goals in his last two caps. [via TransferMarkt]
At Liverpool, he is used primarily in a central midfield role, with Klopp routinely picking a 4-3-3 formation for his Reds line-up. However, the manager has used 4-2-3-1 on many occasions during his time in charge at Anfield.
Having seen Wijnaldum maintain his excellent scoring form for his country, these Liverpool fans on Twitter want to see him playing in a more advanced role at club level also:
All pundits and fans say Liverpool need a creative midfielder a new coutinho but for me just have a system change when in a bit of trouble and play wijnaldum in the 10 role absolute baller for Netherlands in that position.
— DomLFC* (@dom11richards) November 20, 2019
Play him more advanced
— ً (@FourRoIe) November 19, 2019
Need to start him at CAM and he’ll do the same for us
— . (@lfc5reds) November 19, 2019
Start him in the ten role or KloppOUT
— . (@DixonBonnerSZN) November 19, 2019
get this man further up the pitch!
— Quirky (@Quirky88) November 20, 2019
Maybe time to play him as a no.10? Idk 😏
— Tommie Vadàszi (@TommieVadaszi) November 20, 2019
Why is Wijnaldum a serious bagsman for Holland Klopp holding him@back bare smh https://t.co/UVth2bMepb
— Owen (@GJ33SB26) November 20, 2019
The Dutch played Estonia tonight in a 4-2-3-1, with Gini as captain, in place of Van Dijk, in a no. 10 role, and he scores a hattrick.
See Jurgen, the 4-2-3-1 should be restored and Gini will be banging em in for fun! #NEDEST 4-0 #Euro2020Qualifiers
— Chris Wright 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 🏆 (@chriswright35) November 19, 2019
Gini is so underrated, if Klopp played him as a no.10 he would get 10/15 goals a season, but for our system he’s sacrificing his natural game to be part of the engine room of the midfield. Classy professional
— Ace♠️ (@Amrick_S) November 19, 2019
Surely we’re not after a number 10. If we want a number 10 then why not Gini 👀
— Declan (@decZ109) November 19, 2019
Do you think Klopp should change Liverpool’s system to allow Wijnaldum to play in a more advanced position? Join in the discussion by commenting below!
