Arne Slot was back with a smile on his face after Liverpool turned in a much better performance to beat Marseille 3-0 on Wednesday.
The Reds’ head coach has not had too much to be happy about this season as he sees his job come under constant pressure.
It is not only that results have been poor for Liverpool since October, but performances have been equally as bad. The Anfield crowd have become bored to tears by a risk-averse style of play, finally being reduced to booing their own team after Saturday’s draw against Burnley.
Who was your man of the match during the win over Marseille?
Nice to have a few contenders!
Thankfully, Wednesday’s display was much more like it from Liverpool, with a more expansive, free-flowing style resulting in a handsome win.
Slot tweaked things a little, playing Mohamed Salah and Hugo Ekitike as a wide front two pairing, and it worked nicely to edge them closer to Champions League knockout qualification. Asked by Jamie Carragher post-game what was the thinking behind the system, Slot joked that he was simply responding to the former Liverpool man’s own criticism.
Arne Slot jokes with Jamie Carragher
After leading Liverpool to a much-needed win in Marseille, Slot faced the legendary CBS Sports Golazo studio, where Carragher, Thierry Henry, Micah Richards and Kate Abdo greeted him with a round of applause.
Questioned by Carragher on his formational changes, Slot joked that a quip made by the former Liverpool defender after the Reds’ Premier League opening day win over Bournemouth made him reassess.
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“I had to listen to you Jamie, because you were the one who told me we had to make sure we don’t concede much, so I started to do that and as a result of that people started complaining that we became boring!” smiled the Dutchman. “So, I’m not sure if I should listen to you!
“But because of some injuries we have, the players we have available and because of Marseille’s style of play, we thought it was a good idea to play Hugo and Mo up front and to overload the midfield with players who are very good in between the lines.
“I think you could see that today with full-backs who could attack down the side and Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] and Ryan [Gravenberch] who could help out Joe [Gomez] and Virgil [van Dijk] in build-up. That worked, in my opinion, quite well today.”
Give me a % chance of Liverpool going all the way in the Champions League 👀
Some top-class teams, but the Reds can beat anyone…
Could Liverpool keep their new system long-term?
Slot has tried so many different formations this season in an attempt to fit his new players into the team and also to combat shortages in attack.
On Wednesday, Ekitike and Salah pulled wide, allowing Dominik Szoboszlai and Florian Wirtz the space to operate centrally. It worked a charm.
The question now is whether Slot will keep the same system in the Premier League, or revert back to having Cody Gakpo wide left and Ekitike through the middle.
The longer-term query is whether this will work when Alexander Isak comes back into the team. Initial thoughts are that it could, but not with Salah in the side as well.
Liverpool should also aim to get Isak as close to the goal as often as possible, and that would not feel especially conducive in this tactical set-up. For now, though, there is no reason for Slot to change what was an attractive and, more importantly, winning formula.
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