ARNE SLOT has revealed Liverpool’s big weakness after their disastrous start to the season.
The Premier League champions avoided slumping to a fifth successive loss – which would have been their worst run for 73 years – with a 5-1 hammering of Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Yet bizarrely, Slot admitted that in previous games, Liverpool struggled because the ball was in the AIR so much.
Frankfurt were different and their gameplan saw them fall into Liverpool’s hands.
So if you want to hurt Liverpool, the Reds manager has hinted that playing directly could be the key.
And that will be good news for Brentford manager Keith Andrews whose team host Liverpool on Saturday and are known for sometimes playing long balls while being effective at set-pieces and throw-ins.
REDS MISSED
Thousands of fans left unable to watch Liverpool clash with Eintracht Frankfurt
DUTCH COURAGE
An awkward truth: Cody Gakpo is Liverpool’s best player this season
Liverpool had lost to Crystal Palace, Galatasaray, Chelsea and Manchester United before sorting themselves out in Germany.
Slot was also delighted that with the score at 1-1 on Wednesday, his side scored two goals from corners – via Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate – to take a 3-1 lead.
The Dutch boss, who has been a target of criticism from some fans, said: “That is a big, big, big difference and you go in at half-time at 1-1 with still the same amount of chances, but people will judge us differently if you don’t score them.
“The biggest exception for me compared to the other games we’ve played was the playing style of our opponent.
“We got some energy out of the moments we could press them, which in the last four or five games we played we were not able to press the opponent because the ball wasn’t on the ground, it was in the air.”
There has definitely been a change in style from some teams over the last few months, which could be bad news for Slot.
Over the last few years, the majority of teams have tried to replicate Pep Guardiola’s intricate passing models with Manchester City.
But there has been a gradual change with sides looking to damage teams directly from goal-kicks, throw-ins and set-pieces.
Even England manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted that he is glad teams are varying their styles of play.
But if this means that the ball is in the air for longer, which Slot seems to hint is an issue for his team, then Liverpool could really struggle to defend their title.
Also, Slot knows his team – like Wednesday – have to score from corners.
He added: “The main difference with this to the four games before was most of the other teams scored set-pieces and now we scored set-pieces, so we were able to focus more on the attacks in the second half than misplaced passes.
“But if you are 3-1 up you are judged differently than 1-0 down.”
Read the full article here
