Manchester United v Liverpool
From a Liverpool fan’s perspective, there is not much in life that can compare to beating Man Utd at Old Trafford, even more so when it is as easy a win as this one. And, make no bones about it despite what the stats may suggest, this was a very simple victory. Shockingly so really. Slot has been left an excellent team by his predecessor, and so far at least, he looks to have the tactical edge to use it to its full. Liverpool’s team, and squad, are better than United’s, but last season showed that can be irrelevant if the tactics are not right. Slot is getting the tactics right, after an initial half against Ipswich Town in the first game, turning games from struggles and into cruises. His challenge now will be maintaining this run and, the biggest one of all, getting things right back on track after a defeat. There will always be blips, but it is how a manager copes with the problems and bad times that tell you how good he actually is. So far though, Slot cannot be faulted for the way he has taken an excellent team and made them better.
Last season, LFC were wide open at the back, with Endo having to firefight constantly trying to protect huge open spaces and a defence that was left confused by the tactics and unable to cope with covering all the space. Now there is a return to an older system of play at the back, as they return to the way it was before wing-backs became en vogue. There are two full-backs in place when the team is set up to defend, but when attacking, only ventures forward at a time, leaving three players back to cover across the pitch. Usually it is Robertson that sits in, while Alexander-Arnold is given freedom. That provides much better coverage across the back, without overly large gaps appearing.
In midfield, Liverpool were very chaotic, despite Pep Lijnders’ obsession with ‘control’, showing very little control for large periods of the game. Lijnders idea was simple, and could easily have worked fairly well if organised properly, he just wanted an extra man in there to give that control. His thinking being that Alexander-Arnold moves inside when LFC were in possession to provide an overload in there compared to the opposition. A sitting midfielder – usually Endo – would patrol in front of the backline, and in front of that would be two midfielders that could get up and down the pitch. The problem was that, in transition, there would be two midfielders high up the pitch and full-back sat in midfield who was never sure whether to return to the full-back position or stay in the centre and provide an overload in the centre. That left gaps everywhere, and often led to soft goals being conceded by opponents counter attacking quickly. Now the team understands their roles much better and the second deeper-lying midfielder, when out of possession, allows the full-back to just get back to his position as quickly as possible. There is not then a gap in midfield, as there are two dropping in, rather than one.
Other than that, most of the set up is changing game by game to attack pinpointed weaknesses. Against Man Utd, the wingers stayed high to exploit the space left behind full-backs, similar to the way teams were doing against Liverpool last season. But it is the fluidity of the whole team that is most impressive when attacking and the workrate when defending. Szobszlai has a free role, playing as a number 10 if you prefer that terminology, almost alongside Jota/Nunez up front at times, but he was also chasing back if a gap was left behind him, or if he gave away a loose pass. On one of Robertson’s rare forays forward, even though the game was really over at that point with LFC 3 up, he raced back to fill the gap left and front up the winger and it was Nunez who got back to help and put the ball out for a corner. The desire is there from this team so far, even without the legendary motivation skills of Klopp to fire them up for everything.
For me though, it feels like the main difference is the clear direction from Slot, compared to the previous Klopp/Lijnders tactical plan. Having watched lots of footage of the training and dressing room build ups etc, it feels like Slot has an excellent way of describing what he wants and give out his instructions. Even just in interviews he is very clear and concise, making it simple for the players to follow the plan and play the game without spending their time overthinking things, which can lead to hesitation. Klopp was never the tactician in his coaching team, so the job of giving tactical instructions came from others within the staff. The last few years had seen that responsibility gradually handed over more and more to Pep Lijnders, who had a very similar tactical ideology to Slot but was obviously not able to communicate that ideology in such a way that players could understand it easily. In fact, judging by footage, he is now trying to be more like Klopp at Red Bull Salzburg, with his dancing and geeing up of the players. It will be interesting to see how he gets on as a manager second time round, though Salzburg is not exactly a difficult place to start, it allows him to develop his own way of playing and managing with little pressure as their team is so far ahead of the rest. The trouble he has is that mistakes will rarely get punished, so bad habits can form easily and it can be difficult to learn how to adapt and improve when you are light years ahead of your opposition.
What can I say about United? It took them until 40 minutes in to actually have a proper shot at goal and it was their only real threat of the half. Even that was more of a hopeful shot from distance than a well manufactured chance. They did create some better chances later on, but the game was 3-0 by then and Liverpool had slightly taken their foot off the gas, so it is difficult to put that down to an improvement from them. In fact it is difficult to see any improvement in this team from last season’s at all. The team will no doubt significantly improve when Casemiro is replaced in the line up by Ugarte, but there are still so many issues that Mainoo is beginning to look almost beleagured in their midfield, trying to do everything himself. It is little wonder he made a mistake in the second half – he must have been knackered trying to be an entire midfield on his own! The defence is the biggest worry, no matter which back four is playing the full-backs advance too early and are easily caught out of position. Worse is the disorganised nature of the defending against crosses. Why do the centre-backs both go so far over and leave the centre of the goal empty for a deep cross? It is like watching schoolkids, all running to the ball rather than watching their individual positioning and adjusting to deal with opposition runs.
The worst for me is the lack of real fight in the team. There is plenty of petulance, we all know about Fernandez’ tendency to pet his lip when things are going against them (and waste possession constantly trying ridiculous things), but he is not the only one. Both De Ligt and Martinez showed petulance with pointless challenges, that were late and offered nothing other than a sign of weakness. They both just kicked out rather than having to continue to chase back. At least with Maguire, for all his lack of quality, keeps going and you can never accuse him of not trying to do his best. There seems a real lack of team there right now. So many players just seem to go through the motions far too much, there feels like a lack of real desire, that will to win that can carry you through when things get tough. It would have been easy for Ten Hag to sub off half the team at half-time, as there was so little coming from anyone. Rashford has not been anywhere near his best for a long time, but Garnacho was even worse in this match. Certainly questions need to be asked of the manager, and his tactics, but if the players are unable to motivate themselves for a game against United’s bitter rivals, then they do not deserve to wear the shirt.
Quick notes on the players:
Alisson – what can you say about him? He comes up big when it matters. It does not seem to matter whether it is about quick reactions or quick foot movement to get across and make a block or whether the ball is to his right, left, down low, up high, wherever and whatever is thrown at him, if it is physically possible to save it, he will save it. The best I have ever seen. His contribution was key to making it such a clear win.
Alexander-Arnold – defensively he looks so much better under Slot, with it clear he understands his role and knows what he has to do. On the ball he has always had special vision and passing range, but even that seems to be improving. Now though the opposition have no idea where he will pop up to pick his passes from. There are times it is like the flying Alexander-Arnold of old, out on the flank putting dangerous balls into the box. Other times he is pinging the ball about from the centre. With plenty of movement to pick out, it is allowing him to get the most of his undoubted quality. Just a shame his goal was ruled out.
Konate – since returning to the side, he has been excellent, except when in the opposition box! He is the perfect foil for van Dijk, they compliment each other almost perfectly and it is key to keep him fit now.
van Dijk – he is defending really well still, using his experience to help with that, while being less prone to the lapses in concentration he could often be plagued by earlier in his career. He is helped massively by having Konate alongside him, with his more aggressive style of play requiring van Dijk to be more alert and ready to cover. Added to that, he is showing real leadership as captain. It not just the moments such as telling Martinez to try that with him after his late challenge on Szobszlai, but the moment when he embarrassed Onana after the goalkeeper gave him a slight dig with his elbow. He is not just intimidating opponents with his defensive ability, now he is becoming a real intimidating force with his personality and using his size and power to make opponents think twice, making them dither and commit errors.
Robertson – once again he is showing that he can adapt and learn. He has improved massively since he joined from Hull City, but it did look last season like this more restrained role at left-back did not suit him at all. He has improved once again, adapting his game to suit the new system like it is natural to him. Garnacho was almost completely shut out of the game by Robertson and he is still able to get forward at times. This new set up is much less physically demanding on him, something that was needed, even if he was younger, as he would often struggle physically to maintain his workrate as the season entered busier periods. There should be no such problems this season for him.
Gravenberch – the ability has always been there, apart from an occasional tendency to overplay at times, but he was lacking in workrate and had a tendency to shirk a challenge. Now the workrate is excellent and he is not shirking challenges, he is shining in midfield and looking like a genuine superstar. Bringing the ball forward from deep suits him much better than a higher starting position as it gives him time to spot a run and pick the pass, rather than dallying on the ball at a crucial moment. It really does show how much difference you can make to a player’s game simply by putting him in a role that suits his game completely. The key for him now is to maintain this form and not allow his workrate to dip. So far, and I know it is very early, but he has been Liverpool’s player of the season. But there are 35 more Premier League games for him to keep this up.
Mac Allister – another good game from the Argentine, his best of the season. Produced some really good passes and worked so hard for the team, but he is being overshadowed by Gravenberch’s performances. It does feel like he is growing into the system and getting better by the game, especially his defensive contributions, which made such a difference in this match. His performances are effective without being showy, so can often go under the radar as he wins the ball back with a simple foot in at the right time, rather than a lunging tackle.
Szoboszlai – along with Diaz and Jota, Szoboszlai was having a poor game until the first goal went in. Though all three were working hard, they were just not playing well in the early parts of the match. It just seemed like he grew after that goal and his game went up a few levels. At times he is almost playing as a second striker, but he is great at chasing back to make up for mistakes – whether his own or somebody else’s. The freedom of his new role seems to suit him and it feels like he is playing a more natural game this season, similar to how he began last season. I just wish he would take the shot sometimes. I get ducking under the ball for Diaz to open the scoring, even if Diaz had missed, he was in the better position to score. But there were a few times he got into position to score and he passed the chance up.
Diaz – his workrate is always phenomenal, but it was end product that was missing. This season that has changed, he still has the workrate, but now he has added end product and he is looking like the player we thought we were getting when he pushed Mane aside after arriving. He did struggle with his dribbling in this game, which meant he was poor early on, but he never stops and now he is scoring goals you just have to feel sorry for Gakpo and his chances of getting back into the team.
Jota – the only starter who did not have a good game, I feel that was down to his lack of involvement in the game. Despite a 3-0 win that could have been more, the centre-forward was barely in the game! It shows how well the system was working, as it is not reliant on any one player.
Salah – two assists and a goal, he must absolutely love playing against Manchester United! He is really forcing people to sit up and take notice of his all-round game. All the pundits have stopped talking about how selfish he is at last and realised that he is just a genuinely brilliant player. Yes, he may well have lost a tiny bit of his blistering pace now, but he is adapting and is just as dangerous. It has been a genuine pleasure to watch him each week and I just hope that he continues on like this for a few more years yet.
Gakpo – came on in the 66th minute for Diaz. He is finally getting the chance to play in his favoured position but the form of Diaz has meant it is only limited minutes. But what a great option to have, and he was once again good in his limited time. Working hard, getting involved and trying to make things happen. I like his desire to win the ball back and willingness to track back. However, it is not enough to push him ahead of Diaz in such form.
Nunez – brought on in place of Jota in the 76th minute. Like Jota, he struggled to get involved, but he did showcase his incredible desire, tracking back into the left-back area to shut down a United attack.
Bradley – also arrived in the 76th minute, when he replaced Alexander-Arnold. He is such a totally different proposition for a defence to deal with from Alexander-Arnold. He gets himself into such dangerous positions, charging forward and getting at the opposition, but is very rarely found wanting defensively, which is extremely impressive for a youngster. While Alexander-Arnold is more likely to hang back around the edge of the box, knowing that he can create havoc with a pass or shot, Bradley is more of a bull who charges in there to cause that havoc. Both brilliant players in their own right, and great to have such alternatives to alter the play without needing to change too much.
Tsimikas – replaced Robertson in the 83rd minute. Tsimikas is a great personality, but it does not seem like he has that same adaptability that Robertson has. He does not seem able to just adjust to playing with restraint. Always a willing worker and tries his best, but he does not seem to understand when to charge forward and when to sit, he just seems to always want to get forward.
Written by Tris Burke September 04 2024 04:43:01
