Who To Pick From Liverpool

Drafting from Liverpool

Liverpool are third on power at 88, and the first thing to correct is the size myth. Thirty-three players is a big squad, but it is not the biggest on the wheel: Chelsea carry 38, and Tottenham and Coventry match Liverpool on 33. What Liverpool genuinely do own is the widest rating spread in the league at 12, a figure Aston Villa and Manchester United equal but nobody exceeds.

That spread is the whole story. The top of the squad is superb. Alisson 94 in goal, Florian Wirtz 94 at CAM, Virgil van Dijk 93 at centre-back and Alexander Isak 92 through the middle. Then Ryan Gravenberch at 87 in fifth, and after him the floor drops away. The goalkeeping group is the clearest illustration: six keepers averaging 76, despite one of them being a 94. Draft Alisson and you have the best in the position. Draft any other Liverpool keeper by accident and you have a problem.

The attacking midfield group at 86 across three is the reliable one, and it is where the depth actually shows. Twelve elite players is a healthy return rather than a dominant one. Manchester City have 20, Arsenal 19, and both Manchester United and Tottenham reach 14. Liverpool's ceiling is higher than most of those squads. Their fifteenth-best player is not.

If you can spend on a legend, Steven Gerrard at 97 is the one that fits the hole rather than the sentiment. Central midfield is precisely where this squad thins out. Gravenberch at 87 is the only CM in the top five, and Gerrard is a ten-point upgrade on him in a position you would otherwise be filling from the shallow end of a 33-man squad. Mohamed Salah is rated the same 97, but the right wing is not where Liverpool are short.