Liverpool’s season is back on track after they put in an excellent performance to beat AC Milan in the Champions League.
The Reds went into Tuesday’s game on the back of a dismal result against Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
The defeat at Anfield had dampened what had been a very promising start for Arne Slot. Having led Liverpool to three wins out of three, it was a first and very major setback.
After Milan started quickly and got themselves ahead after just three minutes on Tuesday, it seemed like another disappointment could be on the way for Slot.
But the Liverpool head coach and his players stayed calm, steadied the ship and then went for the jugular. 3-1 the game ended at it really could have been more.
Stephen Warnock praises Arne Slot tactical switch
This was always likely to be a transitional season for Liverpool. After so long under Jurgen Klopp, things have changed an awful lot in a short space of time.
Results such as Saturday’s loss to Forest are not acceptable at any time, though, and Slot evidently knew this.
Having seen Christian Pulisic fire past Alisson Becker so early on, the Reds’ boss may have feared the worst.
In such circumstances, some managers may have frozen. Slot, though, went the opposite way. Clearly seeing that something wasn’t working, the Dutchman made a small tactical tweak in his midfield.
Speaking to BBC Football Daily after the game, former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock raved about how Slot reacted to the early stages of the match to get his team back on top.
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“It’s something that’s been highlighted from Arne Slot’s time at Feyenoord,” said Warnock.
“His understanding and his tactical ability to change games and understand them in-play very quickly and he did that straight away within the first 15 minutes.
“That’s impressive that he was able to do that and the result itself hinged on those tactical changes because of the dominance of AC Milan in those first 15 minutes,” he added.
“They were cutting through Liverpool at will, they were finding things very easy. But once that change was made Liverpool dominated.”
What exactly did Arne Slot change?
To plenty of watching fans, it won’t have been noticeable what Slot did to stem the flow of Milan dominance. But things did change and from there Liverpool never lost control.
Expanding on his analysis for the BBC, Warnock explained that the Reds’ boss changed Alexis Mac Allister’s position in order to sit him deeper alongside Ryan Gravenberch.
“What’s vitally important to Arne Slot is his two holding midfield players and in the first 15 minutes or so the balance wasn’t right between those those two players in Mac Allister and Gravenberch,” he said.
“Mac Allister played a little bit too high, a little bit too advanced. Once they sussed that out and they dropped him back a little bit it nullified Reijnders getting on the ball constantly and then Liverpool started dominating possession and started to find gaps.
“That balance in midfield altered the game for Liverpool.”
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