Liverpool’s risky makeover: Millions spent on high-flying attack, but can defense hold for a title repeat?

Dean Henderson has the ball in his personal penalty space, assessing the place Crystal Palace may greatest assault into hazard. In the meantime, 50 yards up the sphere, Curtis Jones is gesticulating forcefully within the course of Jeremie Frimpong, urging him to drop again into the again line earlier than the opposition have time to get the ball into superior areas. Not a second of nice risk in and of itself, however this one occasion was indicative of the challenges Liverpool appear to have created for themselves via this summer season’s radical overhaul of Arne Slot’s squad.

Frimpong was many issues throughout 4 and a half exceedingly profitable years with Bayer Leverkusen: a dribbling dynamo, a penalty field poacher and a ball progressor down the flank. Nonetheless, hardly ever, if ever, was he even a semi-orthodox proper again in a 4 man protection. Xabi Alonso’s system was designed to place the Dutchman the place he was handiest, that meant that over the previous two seasons Frimpong registered 347 touches within the opposition penalty space and 38 in his personal.

His first thought is to get ahead and when that pays off — as in his good if doubtless inadvertent clip over Henderson — will probably be very laborious for Liverpool’s opponents to quell the overlapping risk from full again, notably when it’s Mohamed Salah that he’s driving past. Ibrahima Konate has coated for proper backs that wish to stand up the sphere up to now and he may have to take action once more, although Frimpong’s restoration tempo is to not be sniffed at. There had been a college of thought that, when Trent Alexander-Arnold left, Liverpool would search for a extra orthodox successor. As a substitute, they’ve discovered a person on the defensive flank who as soon as extra poses the query: how good does a defender need to be in assault to just accept the defensive burden that poses on his group mates?

That may very well be eased with the type of cautiously positioned full again on the other flank that has turn out to be one thing of a dominant pattern within the tactical metagame of the final half decade. There have been events when Milos Kerkez did precisely that and others the place the attacking instincts that made him so admired at Bournemouth got here to the fore. His inverted runs within the first half created area within the left channel for Cody Gakpo and Hugo Ekitike, their left again’s intuition clearly to stretch play up the sphere. Kerkez’s fingers had been all around the construct as much as Hugo Ekitike’s opening objective.

When Kerkez and Frimpong had been at their greatest in superior areas, Liverpool had too many our bodies for Palace to cope with. Sometimes deploying a six man attacking line, they stretched play in pursuit of gaps for Florian Wirtz to slip a go into. With additional reps, their motion will solely turn out to be more practical, notably as Ekitike, Gakpo and Mohamed Salah will not be the type of forwards who wish to be tied to their beginning place.

The problem is these gaps are wealthy pickings for the opposition in the event that they flip the ball over in optimum positions. Take this occasion within the twenty third minute the place Palace win the ball again on the sting of their very own third. Jean-Phillipe Mateta’s first intuition is to maneuver to the ball, trusting that Virgil van Dijk will observe him. The Liverpool captain does precisely that and a primary time go to Eberechi Eze takes him out of the sport. On the far facet Kerkez is nearly within the recreation, however on the fitting Frimpong is a great distance forward of play and defensive midfielder Curtis Jones is static.

Finally Jones and Frimpong dart again in time to recuperate, although maybe that was not less than partially as a result of Eze is having to gradual the counter down whereas he waits for reinforcements. Throughout the sphere Ismaila Sarr is a really troublesome go away. These is perhaps troublesome breakaway assaults to execute, however generally a protection will not be functioning in optimum trend when a middle again is left one on one, even when just for a second, with Eze.

This may not be the one event the place Liverpool had been stretched, giving up 14 photographs and over two anticipated objectives, together with a penalty that had come after Mateta darted in behind the backline. The Reds posed loads of risk of their very own and talking after the sport Slot appeared to acknowledge that this 12 months’s iteration would ship extra open contests.

“In the entire preseason we noticed that we’re in a position to create extra and are extra snug on the ball,” he stated. “We create extra possibilities and dominate perhaps much more [than previously]. Final season we had a variety of ball possession, but it surely did not at all times result in promising conditions. Now we’re higher at creating than we had been all through the entire of final season.

“The opposite facet can also be true, that we have conceded 4 towards AC Milan, one towards a Japanese group [Yokohama F. Marinos], two towards [Athletic Club] Bilbao and two once more right now. What made us actually sturdy final season was we solely received by a margin of 1 objective, principally that was to do with conserving a clear sheet or at most conceding one objective.”

Slot insisted his facet weren’t making a gift of many openings at Wembley, however he did acknowledge, “It wants a bit little bit of adjustment defensively as a result of we do not concede a variety of possibilities not too long ago, however we do concede a variety of objectives in the meanwhile.”

In fact, Liverpool have beforehand discovered their technique to sturdy defensive returns when enjoying with assault minded fullbacks, conceding solely 26 objectives when ending second in 2021-22 and 22 three years earlier. The compromise that Jurgen Klopp made was a extra conservative midfield, Fabinho dropping between the middle backs whereas Georginio Wijnaldum and particularly Jordan Henderson prioritized construction, safety and biking possession earlier than they darted into the field.

You wouldn’t count on the identical of Dominik Szoboszlai. Whereas Curtis Jones was doing his greatest Joe Allen impression, conserving the passing accuracy excessive with out slicing via the Palace traces, the Hungarian was flicking balls loosely round midfield, twice handing the opposition possibilities to counterattack shortly. In certainly one of these cases, Szoboszlai exacerbated the problem by sliding onto the deck. These will not be the type of fast fixes {that a} participant can strive when there are so few teammates forward of them and when their forwards are so reluctant to trace again. That transfer led to an unmarked Daniel Munoz crossing to an unmarked Tyrick Mitchell on the again submit. Salah and Gakpo had been nowhere to be seen.

As a result of even a defensively-lacking midfield and front-footed full backs may very well be mitigated towards by a frontline that actually works to get the ball again. Slot, nevertheless, dialled again the press in final season’s extra cautious system, with Liverpool going from being a group who averaged six or seven remaining third recoveries per Premier League recreation to 4.4, the ninth most within the division. Salah’s out of possession burden was eased — it’s laborious to see that selecting again up at 33 — whilst you would not have confused Gakpo with prime Sadio Mane or Roberto Firmino. Wirtz and Ekitike had been out of possession workhorses within the Bundesliga, however two gamers don’t a urgent system make.

There are then points to offset the scintillating assault that Liverpool appear to have developed in a matter of weeks. None of those are intractable thoughts, definitely not while you’ve received not less than $150 million to decide to strengthening your squad. The tragic passing of Diogo Jota and the following gross sales of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez signifies that Slot does want larger numbers within the ahead line. Harvey Elliott got here on for Wirtz towards Palace, however his future is unsure whereas the truth that Federico Chiesa was unused in a recreation the place two additional adjustments may very well be made spoke volumes.

Nonetheless, the proof of this recreation and a dispassionate evaluation of Liverpool’s squad is that what holes they’re are not greatest addressed by Alexander Isak, the proverbial “layer of gold paint on the Bentley” that wants upgrades to the engine. Take the $150 million or extra and discover a actually prime tier defensive-minded midfielder, the kind who can ease the stress on Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister that appears to exist with no ball being kicked. There ought to nonetheless be cash after that to poach Marc Guehi from Palace so as to add to the middle again group and discover some again up forwards.

In any case, for all that the previous 1400 phrases have pointed to the failings on this Liverpool group there may be an terrible lot to love. Wirtz appears to be like to have slotted in seamlessly; on the Wembley discipline it regarded as if he and Ekitike had already gone via the rising pains of coming to English soccer. Kerkez confirmed a flair for attacking on the underlap in addition to the over. As long as Salah is something just like the participant he was final season, this would be the excessive watermark of Premier League assaults subsequent season. If the middle backs can simply be afforded a bit extra safety, there is perhaps no stopping the champions.