Liverpool Finding The Right Balance Under Arne Slot
Liverpool's struggle between control and creativity is clear to see, and the search for the right balance feels like a problem facing much of the Premier League right now.
My feeling about Liverpool is, yes, we are a hard watch right now. Nobody is going to pretend that we do not miss the days of Mane, Bobby and Mo streaking into the box and scoring for fun. But when people were demanding that Arne Slot tighten things up, stop being wide open on the counter and stop conceding clumsy goals, he did exactly that.
Tightening up without the threat
Last night we gave them nothing on set pieces, when that was exactly how they did a smash and grab against us last time. We can bash the team as much as we want for not scoring, despite pinning the other team back, but the one player who has received the most bashing of late was actually excellent yesterday, Konate.
I am wondering how we can play the sort of open, free flowing, gung ho attacking play that everybody on here wants, while also managing not to give up space in behind or cheap fouls in our own third. That is what leads to what most teams in the Premier League see as their best chance of creating chances, set pieces in the opposition half.
Trying to strike the right balance
I do not think Slot really knows right now either, and I do not think any of the top teams do. That is why fans of every top team, except Manchester City, are not pleased with the style of football. We are trying to get the balance right. We are a team that relies on creating in open play, not set pieces, so we are finding it tough going.
What he is doing right now is trying to keep us from conceding the chances that we were coughing up at a ridiculous rate during the losing run. In that regard, you would have to say he has been successful.
League context and patience
I do not know when we are going to find the right balance between putting an emphasis on our attack while keeping things tight in behind, and I do not think that is an easy thing to achieve the way this league is going. It is certainly not as easy as a lot of people on here are insisting, as though all we need to do is be fit and press for 90 minutes.
When that works for Bournemouth and all their attacking players are on form, for example, it looks great. But it often does not work for them either, and Iraola himself is slowly moving towards a more possession based system to try and control games more.
A flawed template, not a negative coach
I think Slot certainly has his faults, but in my eyes he is trying to crack a formula that is affecting any team that wants to play attractive, high risk football based on committing lots of players forward. You cannot say he did not try something along those lines early in the season, and we certainly bought players for that model. It would be wrong to say that he is instinctively a negative coach.
The problem is that the template he and the board imagined was flawed and does not correspond to how the league has turned out. In that regard, he is making do with what he has to try to get results without giving up easy chances.
Living with the reality of the league
I do not want to be seen as making excuses for the coach all the time, but watching other Premier League games shows it is not easy to work out how to play free flowing football without conceding for fun right now. While Slot is figuring it out, and I do not think throwing Alonso, someone with zero experience of solving this problem in this league, into the mix would help, he is inevitably going to take a lot of stick.
I wonder if we have really attuned ourselves to what football in the Premier League looks like right now, and what style of football is actually tenable for top teams trying to impose themselves on the lower lights. That is how I see it anyway.
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