Liverpool's Full-Back Dilemma: Araujo, Frimpong and the Need for Change
Danny Murphy believes Liverpool’s full-back issues run far deeper than a simple change of personnel – and he’s not convinced Ronald Araujo is being groomed as Virgil van Dijk’s long-term successor either.
The former Liverpool midfielder, speaking to GOAL in association with Snabbare, expects the club to keep a close, ongoing watch on Araujo’s performances, but he stopped short of framing the Uruguayan as the heir to the armband at the heart of defence.
“I think the club will be assessing Araujo game-in, game-out, week-to-week,” Murphy said. “I don't think they'll be necessarily thinking he's the one to come in and take Van Dijk's place because of his age. I think they'll always be open-minded to what else is out there.”
That potential scenario – Araujo signed permanently next summer, then shifted inside to the central role currently dominated by Van Dijk – would in theory free Andoni Iraola to go back into the market for another full-back. For Murphy, though, the problems in those wide defensive areas are already urgent.
Full-backs failing the Liverpool test
Murphy did not sugar-coat his view of Liverpool’s current options out wide.
“There’s a problem at Liverpool with the full-backs,” he said. “What Liverpool's success has thrived on over a long period is having two full-backs who are wonderfully good going forward and the team suited their style and they had midfielders who filled in for them when they bombed on and all those things we know.”
That template – high, aggressive, creative full-backs with the technical quality to dominate games – has, in Murphy’s eyes, disappeared.
“The full-backs at the moment aren't good enough with the ball and that's a real problem when, in a lot of games, Liverpool will dominate the ball,” he argued.
Modern football, he pointed out, has shifted from man-to-man duels to congested, tactical battles in central areas. As a result, opponents close the middle and concede space outside, forcing full-backs to become playmakers.
“Generally, the space will come in wide areas and teams will defend the middle of the pitch. So, the full-backs are getting lots and lots of the ball, the numbers tell you that. And the end product of Frimpong and [Milos] Kerkez is certainly not up to the level Liverpool need.”
Murphy then pushed the argument a step further. If you’re not delivering in the final third, you must at least be rock solid at the back.
“And there is an argument also saying, are they good enough defensively to sacrifice that forward quality, if you like, and the answer is no. So, it is a problem. Both of them have failed, in terms of so far, let's say, in their Liverpool career.”
Frimpong out of position, Araujo not a “marauding” answer
Jeremie Frimpong, Murphy suggested, is a victim of his own profile and Liverpool’s tactical demands.
“Now, the argument for Frimpong, he never really did play as a right-back, so what was the thinking behind that? That's a fair argument and I feel for him a little bit at times,” Murphy said. “I'm not just digging him out. He's played the best season of his career in a different position than he's been asked to play when he's come to one of the hardest leagues in the world.”
Araujo, by contrast, has adapted with far more ease to a defensive role on the flank, but Murphy does not see him as the kind of swashbuckling full-back that Liverpool’s system once relied on.
“I don't think, although Araujo does it really comfortably because he's got a defensive mind and I know he had the wonderful flick against Atletico for [Dominik] Szoboszlai for his assist, but generally you wouldn't class him as a marauding full-back who's going to whip crosses in and create goals.”
That leaves Liverpool at a crossroads. Araujo is steady, reliable, and defensively tuned. Frimpong and Kerkez have yet to hit the required level on either side of the ball. The wide channels, once a weapon, now feel like a weakness.
“So,” Murphy concluded, “I think it's a definite area for Liverpool to look at, even in January.”
