Outlining the Role Emre Can Will Play for Liverpool in 2015/16
Emre Can was one of the revelations of the 2014/15 season and one of Liverpool's best players in a campaign that yielded a sixth-place finish. But what role will he play for the Reds in 2015/16?
Upon the midfielder's £10 million arrival from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers outlined there would be a period of development for Can, reported by BBC Sport: "He has recognised that we are a club that improves and nurtures exciting, ambitious players and I'm looking forward to seeing him take those next steps forward for us."
With 27 Premier League appearances last term, Can has made his first steps forward on Merseyside. But what comes next is crucial.
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The German should play a major role for Liverpool this season, one that is markedly different to that he played in 2014/15.
Last Season's Role
"Against top-class players he's been found wanting. He got beaten too easily and tried to rectify it and made two mistakes," former Reds defender and Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher said of Can after Liverpool's League Cup semi-final draw with Chelsea in January, relayed by Thomas Jacobs of the Daily Mail.
"He found it really difficult and looked like a midfielder playing at the back."
Carragher's criticism, stemming from a clumsy challenge from Can on Blues winger Eden Hazard in Liverpool's penalty area—with the resulting penalty putting Chelsea ahead in the eventual 1-1 draw—highlighted Can's role, and its issues, last season.
Brought in at centre-back at half-time of the 1-0 win away to Burnley on Boxing Day, Can's season didn't truly begin until five months after he signed.
Previously, the 21-year-old had made nine appearances—six in the Premier League, two in the Champions League and one in the League Cup—all as a central midfielder.
He showed promise, particularly against Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers in the league and Real Madrid in the Champions League, but his flashes of brilliance were just that. He represented a fragile talent and failed to complete the full 90 minutes in any of these nine appearances.
Signed as a midfielder, it wasn't until he was introduced into Rodgers' defence that he was given the opportunity to shine.
At centre-back, he impressed hugely. He was an important defensive and creative outlet on the right-hand side of Rodgers' back three in the 3-4-2-1, although his main strengths were in bringing the ball out of defence and creating chances—both key attributes of his midfield game.
There was a distinct feeling that, despite his excellence alongside Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho, he was being wasted in this role.
This was intensified when he was forced into a right-back role toward the end of the season, in which he performed miserably. His poor positional awareness was exploited mercilessly, and no player to make five or more appearances at right-back in the Premier League last season was dribbled past more times on average per 90 minutes than Can (1.8).
It was clear this wasn't his role, seemingly to all but the stubborn Rodgers.
Germany Under-21s
Finishing the season with a devastating 6-1 loss away to Stoke City, Can and his Liverpool team-mates went into the summer deflated. A sixth-place finish was married to semi-final losses in both domestic cups and early exits in the Champions League and Europa League.
However, while the likes of Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana enjoyed a break from football, Can transitioned swiftly into international mode.
Included in Horst Hrubesch's squad for the European Under-21 Championship in the Czech Republic, Can was central to Germany's charge to the semi-finals, where they lost 5-0 to Portugal.
Under Hrubesch, his role was very different to that he performed for Liverpool in 2014/15.
Starting the competition as a defensive midfielder, Can was slowly shifted forward through central midfield to a No. 10 role in their 1-1 draw with the hosts in their final group-stage game.
Hrubesch used Can as his utility man, but one constant remained: He was used as a midfielder.
"I've just been to Liverpool," Hrubesch told German news agency SID (h/t InsideFutbol). "There we were told that Emre will soon assume Gerrard's role in midfield. Emre definitely has leadership qualities."
Perhaps he was informed of Liverpool's future plans and used this as a prompt for his tactical outlook in the Czech Republic.
In midfield, and in particular alongside defensive midfielder Joshua Kimmich, Can was hugely impressive this summer—he was thoroughly deserving of Hrubesch's praise. That he managed to maintain consistency despite a shifting system is a credit to his ability.
Those performances alongside Kimmich in central midfield should be used as the blueprint for his 2015/16 season with Liverpool.
As Hrubesch noted, Liverpool go into the new season with a clear void in their midfield.
Steven Gerrard departed for LA Galaxy this summer, ending a 17-year spell in the first team on Merseyside, meaning Rodgers has to deal with a major loss ahead of a crucial campaign for the Reds.
Gerrard, despite playing a limited role in the second half of the season, made 25 starts in the Premier League—he was vital to Rodgers' plans.
Rodgers must revamp his midfield.
Signing James Milner, ostensibly earmarking him for the central-midfield role he has long craved, should shore up one of the positions in what could be a three-man midfield base—be that in a 4-3-3, a 4-4-2 diamond or a 4-2-3-1.
Alongside him should be Henderson, Liverpool's captain-in-waiting and 36-start midfielder from last term.
That leaves one position, and Can should take it. He is definitely ready.
"As a newcomer, it's normal that there's a certain period of adaptation, but I have always believed in myself and haven't regretted making the move to Liverpool for a second," the 21-year-old told German publication 11Freunde (h/t ESPN FC) in June.
He continued: "The Premier League is the best league in the world. At first that was a physical challenge to me, but after working in the gym on a regular basis, there are no players who can scare me anymore"
Referencing his spell in defence under Rodgers, he said: "It can be a disadvantage, but it can help a young player as well.
"I want to play as much as possible."
Finally, and most importantly, he concluded: "At the moment I am content, but I'll be playing my best position soon, which is central midfield. The coach knows about it and sees it the same way I do."
Clearly, both Can and Rodgers have a midfield role in mind for the German in 2015/16, and given his positive performances alongside the hardworking Kimmich this summer, he should flourish alongside the equally industrious Milner and Henderson at Liverpool.
Can will be key to Liverpool's success in 2015/16, and this should be in a regular midfield role.
Statistics via WhoScored.com and Transfermarkt.co.uk.
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