As Arne Slot Liverpool FC’s new boss, he has the daunting task ahead of him. All three of these matters have the potential to severely undermine the club’s hopes for a successful season. Liverpool are coming off a dominant title-winning season a year ago. They have hit a rocky patch of late, losing three in a row for the first time in Slot’s tenure. The team faces significant change in prevailing opponent strategy, with holes opening up that need to be patched now.
In last year’s corresponding fixture, Liverpool asserted their dominance over the playing surface. They laid down a stalk for their own Champions League and Premier League title run. What happened this season is that teams changed their approach to play against Liverpool, deciding instead to sit deep, stay organized and hit Liverpool with the quick counter. Slot is keenly aware of this transition. As he clarifies, “The first half of the season, teams treated us very differently, they played against us much different than when we were top of the league and first place in the Champions League after the first half of the season.”
Counter-Attack Vulnerabilities
Liverpool’s recent performances reveal a troubling trend: they are frequently being caught out on the counter or as a result of individual errors. Despite all of Liverpool’s attacking talent, this tactical shift from opponents has forced them into an uncomfortable position and Slot is acutely aware of it. He elaborated further on this issue, emphasizing the stark contrast in strategies employed by rivals: “If you compare how we won the away game against Man Utd where they tried to play out from the back, and compare with how they played at Anfield, when [Andre] Onana just kept going long, that’s what has changed.”
With these changes, it’s hardly surprising that the impact has been visible in Liverpool’s performances. After seeing the tide of fortune during their first five Premier League games provide them with a few crucial late winners, this luck has now evaporated. The team is suddenly in a position where they have to adjust on the fly to get back to what made them great. Key players such as Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving for Real Madrid. For the first time since December 2017, both he and Andy Robertson are not first-choice full-backs. This makes Slot reconsider his plans for defense as well as offense.
Struggles of New Signings
Florian Wirtz transfer Liverpool Bayer Leverkusen summer 2023 He hasn’t exactly left a strong imprint on the club just yet. In nine appearances in the Premier League and Champions League combined, he has failed to register a goal or an assist. This lack of output has led to questions about how he fits into the squad. Julian Nagelsmann, Wirtz’s former coach at Leverkusen, commented on his adjustment to the Premier League: “Wirtz needs to get used to the league. I saw him playing with total freedom. He’s just smart enough to know what’s possible, what’s not, what he can do and how it all works.
Wirtz’s season has been a difficult one, but despite that fact, he has still created more chances than any player in the league so far. This advanced statistic is an indicator that he’s impacting the match in ways that don’t necessarily result in goals or assists. He is critical in opening up opportunities for his teammates. Jamie Carragher expressed skepticism about Wirtz’s adaptation thus far: “It’s fair to say he hasn’t been great for Liverpool so far.” He added that Liverpool needs to do more for Wirtz: “Liverpool have got to do more for him because he’s not getting the ball anywhere near as often as he did before [at Leverkusen].”
The Salah Dilemma
Another big worry for Slot has been the form of Mohamed Salah in the lead-up to the final. The Egyptian forward has been in a slump this year. He’s been very inefficient, only scoring three goals and three assists through ten games. His lack of influence during crucial matches against Crystal Palace and Chelsea has raised eyebrows among fans and analysts alike.
Gary Neville remarked on Salah’s performance: “Some of the decisions from him today when he comes inside and you think he should pass it or you think he should do something better with it and his finishing was so poor.” Salah himself expressed confidence in his abilities, stating, “I told him [Slot], ‘as long as you rest me defensively, I will provide offensively.’” Yet contrary to that promise, this has not come to pass.
Slot’s tactical setup and the way it functioned on the field probably contributed to Salah’s disappointing showing. The new manager will certainly have to think more creatively about how he uses Salah if the current squad is to be built around the Egyptian superstar. Slot previously relied on a playmaker behind a front three during the first half of the 2017/18 campaign, but with current midfielders like Gravenberch, Mac Allister, and Szoboszlai excelling together, it might be time to explore similar strategies again.
Looking Ahead
As Liverpool look to pull themselves out of the rut they’ve found themselves in this campaign, Slot has a tough task on his hands. At the back, the team need to sort out both tactical weaknesses and personal form if they want to get back to winning matches. Strategic tweaks are required across the board not just in formation but in terms of player-to-player action on the field.
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