Why Harvey Elliott deserves to be a starter for Liverpool

As one era ends at Anfield, a new one begins. Jürgen Klopp’s incredible nine-year run brought every trophy possible (bar the Europa League) to the club, and Arne Slot is the man tasked with ushering in new successes to the Reds.

The early signs have been positive, bar a behind-closed-doors defeat to Preston, Slot’s side has beat Real Betis, Arsenal, and Manchester United – scoring six goals and conceding just once.

While results don’t matter in pre-season, getting your ideas across does. The former Feyenoord boss’s ideas have been clear.

While some themes have remained from the previous regime, others have changed. One key difference is that Liverpool now operates with an attacking midfielder (or number 10).

Harvey Elliott’s Liverpool career

One player this could benefit massively is Harvey Elliott. Despite being just 21 years old, Elliott has racked up over 160 appearances for the club he supported as a boy.

The majority of these, however, have come from the bench. Elliott has suffered from injuries, but he’s also suffered from not having an established position in the side. His best spell came as the right-sided central midfielder in a 4-3-3, fluidly combining with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mo Salah. 

He’s also been used as a back-up to the Egyptian, due to Liverpool’s lack of options in that area. The truth is though, while he can do both – they don’t really optimize his strengths.

His strengths are very much on show when you get the England under-21 in the final third of the pitch.

He’s putting up 0.22 expected assists per ninety, which ranks him in the 64th percentile for attacking midfielders and wingers in Europe’s top five leagues (bear in mind he’s played a lot of football in central midfield where that would rank him in the 94th percentile).

Last season he had 6 assists, and during his time on loan at Blackburn – where he was able to start further up the pitch – he had 11.

Harvey Elliott’s Role

Give Harvey Elliott the ball around the opposition’s D, and good things will happen. On Arne Slot’s first pre-season tour, Elliott got the chance to be Liverpool’s #10. He was extremely effective, particularly against Arsenal.

His first assist – a through ball from his own half to release Salah – was good. His second was even better. 

Elliott receives the ball from Dominik Szoboszlai and has little time to think or space to operate in. Fabio Carvalho makes his run into the box and his former Fulham youth teammate acts almost on instinct, flicking the ball over the Arsenal defense. It wasn’t the first time he’d broken Arsenal’s defenses in the game, slipping a ball through to Diogo Jota who hit the post.

Elliott played most minutes in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and South Carolina, and besides his highlight reel of assists, he impressed. At times, he holds on to the ball too long, but for the most part, he adds energy and creativity to the side. 

Slot’s appointment gives Elliott a chance to cement himself as a starter for the club, and he has a lot of attributes that the Dutch manager appreciates.

With absences at the start of the season thanks to international commitments and extended holidays (as well as the club’s lack of movement in the transfer market so far) give Elliott to establish himself as a starter, from there he has the talent to cement himself as a star.

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