Mohamed Salah‘s position within the Liverpool setup this season has prompted concern from supporters – and Arne Slot may have a brand new Plan A with regards to the Egyptian.
There’s no solution to assure profitable a soccer match.
It doesn’t matter what you gained final yr, what you spend available in the market or what number of subs you can also make. All a supervisor can do is make a judgement name, to weigh the chance versus the reward after which act accordingly.
Arne Slot has had quite a lot of instruments to work with since becoming a member of Liverpool, however he’s additionally received quite a lot of his calls proper.
Now he’s misplaced three matches in a row for the primary time ever, he has extra calls to make.
– Arne Slot, August 15 2025 | Bournemouth 2-4 Liverpool
A part of Slot’s profitable takeover from Jurgen Klopp was right down to the overlap of their kinds. However whereas Slot is completely satisfied to press aggressively, he prefers to have a plus-one in his again line.
If he’s taking part in towards a lone striker, he desires two defenders again, and if it’s a strike partnership he desires three within the final line.
To realize this, Liverpool press in a 4-2-4 form however with fewer gamers dedicated to the press. Slot’s workforce has fewer excessive regains than Klopp’s, however they concede fewer possibilities and lower-quality possibilities.
How issues have modified this season
This labored brilliantly in his first season, as groups initially loved the decrease depth of the excessive press solely to be stymied within the ultimate third after which punished on the break.
However with a goal on their again from profitable the league, Liverpool now should take care of opponents attempting to negate that plus-one by overloading that final line.
We noticed this towards Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
When triggered, Liverpool ‘bounce’ right into a player-for-player press. This implies Ryan Gravenberch might be dragged out of place by Enzo Fernandez, and Alexis Mac Allister is caught between Malo Gusto and Moises Caicedo, who is ready to obtain and get away.
Chelsea at the moment are operating at Liverpool’s again line, and with six Blues up towards the again 4 there’s no one free to shut down Caicedo.
This enables him to attain a rocket, and it highlighted Chelsea‘s capability to create overloads towards Liverpool’s construction.
– Marc Cucurella, October 4 2025 | Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
Gary Neville was harsh on Conor Bradley post-game, likening his battle with Alejandro Garnacho to a boxing match that the Chelsea man was “shaving on factors.”
However for many of his 45 minutes on the pitch, Bradley wasn’t in a one-vs-one duel in any respect, however coping with each Garnacho and left-back Marc Cucurella on the similar time.
This was intentional, with Cucurella even revealing post-match that his position was designed to use an absence of monitoring again by Mohamed Salah.
However whereas this has rapidly been construed as an indication of Salah’s ego or declining legs, the truth is that he has been used on this approach ever since Slot arrived on the membership – to title-winning impact.
Take a look at the aim once more. As Mac Allister challenges Caicedo, Salah isn’t monitoring Cucurella. He’s really beginning to dash forwards – away from the participant he ‘ought to’ be marking.
When the duel is misplaced, Salah is miles away from Cucurella. But when the duel had been gained, because it typically was final season, he would have been miles away from Cucurella – and free to run at Chelsea‘s centre-backs.
We noticed this for Liverpool’s finest probability of the primary half. Right here, it’s Chelsea who lose the duel, and Cucurella – pushed forwards – isn’t catching Salah.
This offers Salah a free run at centre-back Benoit Badiashile, backing him off and creating area for a cross which is headed over.
As soon as once more, it’s a tradeoff – danger versus reward.
Final season, Salah completed with a daunting consistency, and this setup remains to be producing possibilities for him. However they’re now persistently being wasted.
– Arne Slot, October 4 2025
Slot withdrew Bradley at half-time, with the teenager on a reserving. However Liverpool’s equaliser confirmed this was as a lot tactical because it was psychological.
Bradley’s extra typical positioning in buildup meant it was straightforward for Chelsea to dam passing lanes to him.
Garnacho seemed to press Ibrahima Konate and Cucurella jumped as much as mark Bradley.
Nevertheless, placing a pure midfielder in Dominik Szoboszlai to right-back and Gravenberch in at centre-back gave Liverpool better selection of their buildup positioning and created a pressure for Garnacho.
Keep on the centre-back and depart Szoboszlai free, or monitor Szoboszlai and let Gravenberch carry the ball out?
This confused press meant that Liverpool might discover Szoboszlai in area, and he drove forwards to mix with Salah and cross in for the equalising aim.
This adjustment reveals that, reasonably than counting on lazy evaluation of labor fee or boxing metaphors, Slot is watching the sport and adjusting appropriately.
He has a behavior of discovering a Plan B that solves the weaknesses of his Plan A.
However for his facet to regain their management from final season, it is likely to be time to design a brand new Plan A: one that enables his workforce to start out video games on the entrance foot and keep there – although, as ever, there aren’t any ensures of success.
