Liverpool and the Search for Balance Under Arne Slot
A sense that Liverpool's current approach is about survival as much as style, with familiar strengths dialled down in favour of avoiding further damage.
I am honestly not entirely sure that this is Arne Slot's vision for how he wants Liverpool to play, and it looks more like he is trying not to lose his job after a horrendous and traumatic run for everyone involved, by trying his hardest not to let in stupid goals and betting on the quality we have to edge results.
Playing within limits
True, there are certain principles he has that I wish he would abandon, like his obsession with leaving a plus one at the back and thus leaving our front line press woefully short and useless. But this weird mid block thing we are doing, with a half press allowing the opposition to get into our half with ease, and then the slow movement through the thirds when we have the ball because we do not have passers who can ping the ball early in behind or get from our half to theirs in a flash, I am pretty certain this is not what Slot wants.
He is an intelligent man, and I am sure that he knows this is going terribly and poses very little threat to the opposition.
The irony of the press
The irony is that as much as people on here complain about our press, we have scored the most goals in the prem this season from high press situations, winning the ball back in the opposition half, I think six goals. So it is clear that our players are still very good at it when tasked with doing so.
Every time we adjust the press to be brave and push our players up, with Konate jumping to press the midfield, we look a much better team. The rubbish thing right now is that we have been so rattled by the results that preceded this run that Slot is petrified of opening up with the press and chooses to retreat into a shape that is not comfortable for these players and is still very new to them.
Losing our biggest strength
It might be true that we are not letting in as many big chances as we were earlier in the season, but we also lose the biggest strength that we had for years, what allowed us to dictate games and what every Liverpool fan wants to see, the counter press.
I suppose the most frustrating thing as a Liverpool fan these days is knowing that many of our players were trained to play a more aggressive style of football, but that the high press is now only used selectively when we are chasing the game and desperate for a goal, or against the likes of Madrid, when we did that high press, low block thing that we have not seen since.
Squad trust and selection
Of course, there is the other issue, which is not Slot's fault and is squarely on Edwards and Hughes. That has to do with the fact that we still have players in the squad that Slot clearly does not trust, but who have not been replaced with players that he does trust.
I love Endo and Chiesa as much as anybody else on here, but there is no point in them being in the squad if he is not going to use them. They are never going to hit form if they are put in the team for 10 minutes or less at a time. Why have they not been sold and replaced?
Also, the decision to let Quansah go, who for all his many faults was a perfectly capable centre half with room to improve, looks more foolish by the day, with Gomez not being preferred by Slot and injured when asked to play too many minutes.
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