Mailbag: Richard Hughes, Scouting With Data, Jürgen Klopp and More

Answering a few Liverpool-related questions submitted by paid subscribers.

I recorded a Q&A episode of my podcast earlier this week. You can listen to that here, but as always, we failed to answer every question submitted by my wonderful paid subscribers.

I’m going to answer a few more in this post, starting with one on Liverpool’s sporting director, Richard Hughes.

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Ben Roberts asks:

“The team has been flying this season, so it seems like our minimal activity in the summer transfer window has actually been a good thing. Having said that, with the big three elephants in the room — contracts — still unresolved, how would you rate Hughes' start to life as Liverpool's sporting director?”

It’s a good and important question, but one that I think is impossible to answer at this stage. Hughes has only managed one window on Merseyside so far, and I think we saw some promising signs, despite the fact he couldn’t really plan for that window.

Giorgi Mamardashvili will prove to be an excellent capture in the next few years, I’m confident of that. And Federico Chiesa for buttons was another great deal, he’s just been very unfortunate to have gone without any pre-season training in Turin, so he’s arrived in England miles behind his teammates in a physical sense.

Hughes also sold pretty well, landing about £50m for two players who weren’t even second strings at Anfield in Fábio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg. Do not underestimate the importance of selling well. We also chased Martín Zubimendi — who was a great target — and Anthony Gordon, another top player.

But at the same time, I did expect at least one contract to be sorted by now. It is a concern, no doubt, but stuff will be going on in the background. For what it’s worth, I think two of the three players will extend, but even if all of them were to depart, I’d still prefer to wait before judging Hughes.

I’ll be giving him the next two windows before coming to any conclusions. By this time next year, we’ll know a lot more about his ability to buy and sell. His ability to identify capable targets. His ability to convince players to choose Anfield. And — crucially — his ability to manage contract negotiations.

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Juliette asks:

“Which player do you think has benefited the most from the change of playing style under Arne Slot, and on the flip side, who do you think has been disadvantaged by the new regime?”

So this feels like a relatively easy one to answer. In terms of the playing style in particular, a few things have changed compared to Jürgen Klopp’s game, with Slot now placing more of an emphasis on technical ability.

Liverpool are calmer this term. Everything is more measured and a bit less intense, with the ball remaining grounded as it progresses through the thirds of the pitch, as opposed to our midfield department being bypassed by long passes in the direction of our forwards.

Given that, I don’t think it’s a surprise that our cleanest technical players have benefited from Slot’s arrival. Ryan Gravenberch is an obvious pick. Alexis Mac Allister doesn’t quite look as red in the face as he often did under Klopp. And Ibrahima Konaté remains in good health, perhaps because he’s covering less ground.

On the other hand, the guys who aren’t the most technical — those who lack composure or possess a dodgy first touch — don’t quite seem as suited. Again, Wataru Endō is an obvious one. Maybe Andy Robertson, although nowhere near to the same degree. And I think Darwin Núñez should form part of this group, but he’s been alright in my mind. I wouldn’t say he’s been disadvantaged so far, which is a bit of a surprise.

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Patrick Rea asks:

“Can we examine how underexploited the squad was with Klopp at the end of his run? I defended him in the end, but the more cynical people seem to have been completely right that there was a lot more to wring out of this squad.”