Patience Required as Slot's Liverpool Find Their Rhythm
Expectations remain ingrained at Anfield, but the current struggles feel less about intent and more about execution, balance and timing as Liverpool adjust to a new way of working.
Expectations and Misplaced Assumptions
I've no problem with people expecting Liverpool to play courageous, front-foot football. It's what we have come to associate with Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp. I want that as much as anybody.
What I find a bit mind boggling, though, is why folks think that Arne Slot doesn't want that as well. It's almost like folks on here think he has absolutely no clue about football and believes his tactical acumen amounts to passing the ball around for an entire game, only starting attacks once the opposition has set up their low block perfectly, and hoping that Ekitike, Isak or Wirtz can miraculously score the two or three shots on target we have every game.
Style, Safety and Reality
I agree that his safety-first approach, whether that's keeping a plus one at the back and not pressing aggressively from the front whenever the chance presents itself, or passing it around at the back and baiting the press endlessly, is not my cup of tea a lot of the time. But people are acting like Slot sends the players out there not to play a ball in behind when somebody streaks away, or not to hit the ball first time into the spaces when the opposition shape is stretched.
They had no problem doing those things last year, so why do you think Slot would have instructed his team not to create chances that his system and philosophy are designed to exploit.
Where It Is Going Wrong
Something is clearly wrong with the team this year. We are half a second late in transition and half a second late hitting the spaces and making the runs into space. The players sometimes do not look like they are on the same page. At times, two attacking players are coming short rather than one of them running into the space the other vacates. We look disjointed because we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing.
Time, Trust and Pressure
I don't think this is going to be a permanent problem. Surely the players will not be on the wrong wavelength with each other forever and will learn how to read each other's movements, learning which spaces they are supposed to fill and when, in time.
The question, as somebody else put it in another comment, is whether we will still be in a competitive position while this happens, and how long the leash afforded to Slot is when it comes to the fans and to Hughes and Edwards. Because when it doesn't work, it looks positively terrible.
Squad Balance and Passing Quality
I don't think this is a complete team yet. We obviously need another centre half who can spray the ball or is comfortable carrying it through the lines to rotate with Konaté. I still think Konaté can be a very useful player for us in the future, but we need another option who can pass the ball when Virgil is marked out of the game.
I don't think we need a defensive midfielder as much as everybody else on here. Rather, I think we need an accomplished passer who can tackle decently well if needed, but more importantly somebody who can stay deep and is always looking to hit players in attacking spaces. Now that Macca is in the worst form of his life, we do not have a passer who can get us out of pressure by playing through the lines. Instead, we have two great carriers in Grav and Jones, and one all-action eight in Dom.
Looking Ahead to the Right Profiles
We need somebody who can dictate play so Wirtz does not have to keep dropping short to link the play and can affect the game further up the pitch. I don't know who that would be, but Wharton and Angelo Stiller are two such profiles. Given the price of Wharton, I would say Stiller is probably a good bet. He is decently mobile, is not as injury prone as Wharton, and is a brilliant passer.
If we want another double pivot type, all-action player who can take turns with Grav doing the dirty work and going forward, then I guess the conversation turns to the likes of Baleba, Joao Gomes, Ederson, Hugo Larsson and Elliot Anderson, though Baleba and Anderson would be prohibitively expensive.
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