81% Tackling Accuracy, 6 Assists – 3 Reasons Why Liverpool Should Sign This German Midfield Engine

Liverpool have been playing well this season, but the lack of squad depth has come back to haunt them yet again now that their only defensive midfielder Lucas is out for two months with a knee injury. With immediate need for a defensive midfielder in the team, we believe that Liverpool should look into Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Lars Bender to pug the hole.

1. Tackling & Interceptions

One of the aspects in which Lucas has been crucial for the Liverpool side has been his ability to snuff out the danger. He is not afraid of sticking his foot in and he is eighth in the league in terms of successful tackles made. When he is not on the pitch, Liverpool have tended to struggle to cope with direct runs down the middle of the park, something that was brilliantly exploited by Aston Villa in the first half of their 2-2 draw last weekend.

Lars Bender would be the ideal replacement in that regard- he has made 42 successful tackles with an accuracy of 63% in 13 appearances compared to Lucas has made 52 successful tackles with an accuracy of 43% in 19 appearances. Bender is averaging 3.6 defensive actions per game. Last season, Bender made an incredible 109 successful tackles with an accuracy of 81%, and collected just the solitary yellow card in the entire campaign, suggesting an excellent tackling technique.

2. Dynamism

Bender plays as a part of three man midfield for Bayer Leverkusen, with all three of them being defensively minded. However, they are all quite happy to break forward when the chance arises. Bender is one the most well-rounded dynamic midfielders in Europe, and has the ability to make an impact going forward. He often gets into the right areas and he’s willing to gamble in the box.

While creating chances is not his forte, he does manage to get into good areas and last season, he scored 3 goals in the league to go with 31 chances that he created, including 6 assists. This season, he has created 6 chances and scored one goal. He also has a decent range of passing and has a passing accuracy of 77% this season, while it was 79% last season. He is not afraid to take on players, and has an incredible 91% success rate from the 27 take-ons he has attempted.

Stats Courtesy: Squawka

3. Tactical flexibility

One of the key features of the Liverpool midfield has been the tactical flexibility that Rodgers expects from his players. Jordan Henderson has been deployed as the part of a conventional 2-man central midfield, has played in the more advanced role as well as playing out wide. Lucas was deployed in a more box-to-box role against Stoke and Joe Allen has been used as both a defensive as well as a box-to-box midfielder this season. Steven Gerrard to has had a change of role, and is still adapting to a much deeper role.

Bender on the other hand is comfortable playing any one of these- he started off as a defensive midfielder for 1860 Munich, and then molded the game to suit to the requirements of the team during his time at Bayer Leverkusen. He is equally adept at playing as a defensive or a box-to-box midfielder, and can also fill in at right back if the need arises. He can be easily played as the holding player along with Gerrard in a 4-4-2 formation or be used in the box-to-box role along with Lucas, or he can play almost any role—be it disciplined, box-to-box or roaming —as one of the midfield trio in a 4-3-1-2 formation that Rodgers may use.