Flipping the Script
Some Boxing Day bits.
So I’m expecting this post to be a shorter one than usual. The festive schedule hasn’t been kind to me, with Christmas Day falling on a Thursday, when I’d usually make a start my Friday post.
I mean, I’m sure you’re not quite focused on football just yet anyway. Too busy playing with toys. Too busy digesting those Heroes. Too busy watching Home Alone. While I park up on Boxing Day to write about Liverpool’s new-look build-up.
So this is something that I noticed upon reflection of the game against Tottenham Hotspur.
In my last post, I touched on some of the tactical tweaks that Arne Slot has made of late. After originally adopting a diamond shape in the middle of the park, the Dutchman proceeded to move towards five midfielders shortly after, with some people describing the shape as a weird pentagon of sorts.
I wrote about the perks of fielding five midfielders, with Milos Kerkez and Conor Bradley benefitting from the freedom to play higher up the pitch, due to the added presence in the centre.
Well, I want to specifically focus on build-up in this post. Long-term subscribers to this Substack will remember some of the points that I made in the summer. Jeremie Frimpong in particular was a player who Liverpool simply had to appreciate as different to the guy who came before him.
By signing runners in Frimpong and Kerkez, it was my belief that Slot had to adjust his build-up structure to accommodate their qualities. Let them run. Transform them into vehicles for the team.
For a number of reasons, that hasn’t really happened yet this season. But against Spurs, we saw evidence for arguably the first time. Slot flipped the script, and the landscape looked a bit more comfortable.
You can see what I‘m talking about below. The first goal kick of the match, taken by Virgil van Dijk, for some reason.
