THE IRONY OF all ironies, where Liverpool fans were left to rue the fact their manager has none of the tactical intransigence that so animates Ruben Amorim.
Liverpool will truthfully feel they were denied a draw today largely by bad luck: Cody Gakpo hit the post three times and missed a sitter he would ordinarily bury, while United’s opening goal would not have happened at all if Michael Oliver had noticed Alexis Mac Allister’s head injury.
But luck alone does not account for Liverpool’s fourth-straight defeat. Where Amorim and Manchester United at least know what they are doing, the champions continue to look a jumbled mess.
They are lacking all semblance of balance and cohesion, and Slot is failing to integrate his many expensive new signings. The proof of this is in the fact Florian Wirtz started a second-straight league game on the bench. Slot has been talking of how Wirtz needs time to adapt to the Premier League, but the reality is Slot needs time to adapt to Wirtz.
They are presently scoring goals through sheer weight of numbers, which is what has given rise to the cadence of their three consecutive league defeats: fall behind early, throw on enough attackers to force an equaliser, and then concede late.
Advertisement
Defeats to United sting more than any other for Liverpool, but it is the similarity to the losses to Crystal Palace and Chelsea which will cause them to worry, and has created the first crisis of Arne Slot’s reign.
Mo Salah was substituted as Liverpool chased a late equaliser. Peter Byrne / PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Peter Byrne / PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo / PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
His first means of addressing it be must to make the ultimate decision about Mohamed Salah, around whom this greatly diminished team is still built. Salah’s astonishing output last season vindicated Slot’s tactical approach, but last season is currently looking like the great man’s final encore. Here, he was painfully off the pace. No longer able to face up a defender and beat him, Salah missed one easy chance at the back post, while only ever showed an ability to create a chance for those he remembers from last season, namely Gakpo.
Salah was hooked immediately after Harry Maguire’s goal and he instantly saw Jeremie Frimpong do what he is no longer able to do: drive to the byline and create two big chances, one of which Gakpo somehow glanced wide.
Not only is Salah currently not justifying building the team around him, he is not even justifying a place within it.
But Liverpool’s problem is not just the legacy under-performers. Of their summer signings, only Hugo Ekitike can be said to have quickly settled… and he is out of the team at the expense of the most expensive signing of them all. Bar the one-on-one that was well saved by Senne Lammens, Alexander Isak today might as well have still been on strike.
Milos Kerkez is meanwhile the most bizarrely undroppable new signing in the Premier League, while Giorgi Marmadashvili is a downgrade on Caoimhín Kelleher. That Frimpong is not trusted to play at right-back ahead of this diffident edition of Conor Bradley speaks to his impact since joining from Bayer Leverkusen.
Manchester United's players celebrate in front of the away end at full time. Peter Byrne / PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Peter Byrne / PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo / PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Slot has also spent much of the last few weeks moaning about how teams have been changing their tactics against Liverpool, and today he was surprised to see Matheus Cunha start up front instead of Benjamin Sesko. Amorim’s idea was to drag Liverpool’s centre-backs out of position, and it worked within a minute. With Kerkez attracted to wing-back Amad and Van Dijk drawn out, Mbeumo and Cunha ran off the back of the Liverpool captain. Mbeumo latched onto the pass and then Marmadashvili’s generosity in contorting his body in such a way as to make himself stick-thin.
Gakpo then set about rattling the post a few times, and though there was a sense of gathering Liverpool pressure, Slot was impatient. Hence, on the hour mark, he threw on Wirtz, Ekitike and Curtis Jones, shifted to a 4-2-4 and went, in Dutch tactico speak, balls-out. Dominik Szoboszalai went to right-back and Liverpool’s midfield duo were Wirtz and Jones. Wirtz was excellent, and it was his calmness in the penalty area that helped Federico Chiesa slide the ball across for Gakpo for a chance so simple he couldn’t miss (in spite of his best efforts.)
But this was another all-or-nothing line-up and for the third game in a row, Liverpool got nothing. Liverpool half-cleared a corner and Bruno Fernandes’ pushed the rebound to the back post, where three United players lined up to score. Maguire was merely at the front of the queue. It was terribly explicable defending from Liverpool: if you remove all of your defensive-minded players, you’re likely to be undone in this way.
No serious team should need to abandon all pretence to defending two-thirds of the way through a game to score a single goal.
Liverpool may have a title-winning squad, but they currently do not have a title-winning team. Arne Slot needs to find a means of building that team fast, because time waits for no man. Not even a man who has defied it as brilliantly as Mohamed Salah.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
Man United expose Liverpool as a jumbled mess - Arne Slot has a first crisis on his hands
THE IRONY OF all ironies, where Liverpool fans were left to rue the fact their manager has none of the tactical intransigence that so animates Ruben Amorim.
Liverpool will truthfully feel they were denied a draw today largely by bad luck: Cody Gakpo hit the post three times and missed a sitter he would ordinarily bury, while United’s opening goal would not have happened at all if Michael Oliver had noticed Alexis Mac Allister’s head injury.
But luck alone does not account for Liverpool’s fourth-straight defeat. Where Amorim and Manchester United at least know what they are doing, the champions continue to look a jumbled mess.
They are lacking all semblance of balance and cohesion, and Slot is failing to integrate his many expensive new signings. The proof of this is in the fact Florian Wirtz started a second-straight league game on the bench. Slot has been talking of how Wirtz needs time to adapt to the Premier League, but the reality is Slot needs time to adapt to Wirtz.
They are presently scoring goals through sheer weight of numbers, which is what has given rise to the cadence of their three consecutive league defeats: fall behind early, throw on enough attackers to force an equaliser, and then concede late.
Defeats to United sting more than any other for Liverpool, but it is the similarity to the losses to Crystal Palace and Chelsea which will cause them to worry, and has created the first crisis of Arne Slot’s reign.
His first means of addressing it be must to make the ultimate decision about Mohamed Salah, around whom this greatly diminished team is still built. Salah’s astonishing output last season vindicated Slot’s tactical approach, but last season is currently looking like the great man’s final encore. Here, he was painfully off the pace. No longer able to face up a defender and beat him, Salah missed one easy chance at the back post, while only ever showed an ability to create a chance for those he remembers from last season, namely Gakpo.
Salah was hooked immediately after Harry Maguire’s goal and he instantly saw Jeremie Frimpong do what he is no longer able to do: drive to the byline and create two big chances, one of which Gakpo somehow glanced wide.
Not only is Salah currently not justifying building the team around him, he is not even justifying a place within it.
But Liverpool’s problem is not just the legacy under-performers. Of their summer signings, only Hugo Ekitike can be said to have quickly settled… and he is out of the team at the expense of the most expensive signing of them all. Bar the one-on-one that was well saved by Senne Lammens, Alexander Isak today might as well have still been on strike.
Milos Kerkez is meanwhile the most bizarrely undroppable new signing in the Premier League, while Giorgi Marmadashvili is a downgrade on Caoimhín Kelleher. That Frimpong is not trusted to play at right-back ahead of this diffident edition of Conor Bradley speaks to his impact since joining from Bayer Leverkusen.
Slot has also spent much of the last few weeks moaning about how teams have been changing their tactics against Liverpool, and today he was surprised to see Matheus Cunha start up front instead of Benjamin Sesko. Amorim’s idea was to drag Liverpool’s centre-backs out of position, and it worked within a minute. With Kerkez attracted to wing-back Amad and Van Dijk drawn out, Mbeumo and Cunha ran off the back of the Liverpool captain. Mbeumo latched onto the pass and then Marmadashvili’s generosity in contorting his body in such a way as to make himself stick-thin.
Gakpo then set about rattling the post a few times, and though there was a sense of gathering Liverpool pressure, Slot was impatient. Hence, on the hour mark, he threw on Wirtz, Ekitike and Curtis Jones, shifted to a 4-2-4 and went, in Dutch tactico speak, balls-out. Dominik Szoboszalai went to right-back and Liverpool’s midfield duo were Wirtz and Jones. Wirtz was excellent, and it was his calmness in the penalty area that helped Federico Chiesa slide the ball across for Gakpo for a chance so simple he couldn’t miss (in spite of his best efforts.)
But this was another all-or-nothing line-up and for the third game in a row, Liverpool got nothing. Liverpool half-cleared a corner and Bruno Fernandes’ pushed the rebound to the back post, where three United players lined up to score. Maguire was merely at the front of the queue. It was terribly explicable defending from Liverpool: if you remove all of your defensive-minded players, you’re likely to be undone in this way.
No serious team should need to abandon all pretence to defending two-thirds of the way through a game to score a single goal.
Liverpool may have a title-winning squad, but they currently do not have a title-winning team. Arne Slot needs to find a means of building that team fast, because time waits for no man. Not even a man who has defied it as brilliantly as Mohamed Salah.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Comment Liverpool Manchester United Premier League