Just by ignoring Virgil van Dijk, Ryan Gravenberch added to Jürgen Klopp’s predicament at Liverpool.
Jürgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, may need to alter his strategy for Ryan Gravenberch after witnessing his newest midfield addition put up a masterclass against Everton.
In Saturday’s Merseyside derby between Liverpool and Everton, Jürgen Klopp gave summer midfield addition Ryan Gravenberch his complete debut because Curtis Jones was still suspended.
Harvey Elliott was the player Klopp had originally considered to replace Jones in the 2-2 draw with Brighton before the international break, but Gravenberch outperformed Elliott after entering the game at halftime to earn a starting spot here.
The former Bayern Munich player rewarded Klopp with a masterclass, demonstrating his status as possibly the greatest technical in the Liverpool midfield.
Above all, a one play in which Alexis Mac Allister smashed a header into him, flipped it up over James Garner, and then controlled it on his chest as it landed, summed up his distinct elegance.
Another impressive aspect of his display was the clarity and speed of his actions.
When Mac Allister slid a pass to him through the lines, he functioned like a wall, bouncing the ball straight to Dominik Szoboszlai without so much as turning his head.
Szoboszlai then worked it onto Mohamed Salah on the right side of the area, who fluffed the chance with a miskick.
Later, when the ball broke to Gravenberch inside the Everton half, he slid a first-time diagonal pass to Diogo Jota, once again lifting the tempo of the attack rather than hesitating for a second.
Despite his insistence on playing at pace, he doesn’t sacrifice accuracy, completing a an outfield-best 96.9 per cent of his passes.
It would have been easy for Gravenberch’s failed move to Bayern to shatter his confidence, but there’s certainly no indication that this is the case. If anything, he’s braver than ever.
The 21-year-old makes receiving the ball an art-form, repeatedly turning away from the man on his shoulder to launch an attack.
After picking it up from Ibrahima Konaté at the start of Liverpool’s build-up, he spun gracefully, strode forward and released it to Kostas Tsimikas as Amadou Onana slid in.
Better still, there was a point where he ignored Virgil van Dijk’s instruction to knock a simple backwards pass into Mac Allister, and instead flicked the ball around corner before shifting down the line for Tsimikas.
James Tarkowski would have been beaten just as easily as his midfield teammate, but he clattered the turning Gravenberch instead to earn himself a yellow card.
The Dutchman was fouled three times overall, more than any of his teammates, and he completed both of the take-ons he attempted before his withdrawal on the hour.
Klopp has very much looked to ease him since his deadline-day arrival, which is no surprise given that he only started three Bundesliga games at Bayern Munich so probably needs to ramp up to full 90-minute fitness.
His first three starts came in the cup competitions, and even then he played a maximum of 78 minutes.
In the league, he got 45 under his belt at Brighton and 61 here, so logically it wouldn’t be a surprise if he logged around 75 against Nottingham Forest next weekend as Jones serves the final game of his three-match ban.
As it stands, the duo will then go head-to-head for a starting spot for the trip to Luton on November 5.
Jones has been been very good in his own right — and we shouldn’t allow recency bias to let us forget that — but it’s also true that Gravenberch has been excellent virtually every time he’s played, and should only get better from here as he improves physically and adapts to a new team, league and philosophy.
You’d imagine that Jones will start against Toulouse in the Europa League on Thursday, offering him a chance to symbolically strike back.
But another strong Gravenberch performance against Forest at the weekend would then leave Klopp with perhaps the toughest selection call he’s faced all season.
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