Arne Slot experimented not only with his use of players but also his tactical setup during Liverpool’s win over Real Betis on Friday night.
The Reds’ new head coach took full advantage of our opening pre-season friendly on the U.S. tour to assess a large chunk of the travelling squad and try out a formation which evolved as the match went on.
At the outset it was apparent that the 45-year-old had deployed a four-man attack with Harvey Elliott and Szoboszlai as false 9s while Mo Salah and Fábio Carvalho operated out wide.
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However, Slot candidly admitted that such a setup was borne out of necessity with most of Liverpool’s senior forwards still on holiday after their international exploits over the summer.
He said in the post-match press conference (via The Times): “During the season you will see us play with a real striker but in this moment we don’t have one available. With Dom and Harvey we have two No 10s, so we put them in that position and played with double tens. It was maybe out of necessity.”
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After years of seeing a 4-3-3 under Jurgen Klopp, it was quite a novelty for Liverpool fans to witness what was effectively a 4-2-4 from Slot in the first half against Betis on Friday night.
As noted by Charlotte Duncker for The Times, that formation was modified to a 4-4-2 and 4-2-2-2 as the Reds interchanged throughout the game, with the head coach’s post-match admission perhaps suggesting that he’ll adopt a 4-2-3-1 once he has his full squad available.
When quizzed about his preferred setup at his introductory press conference earlier this month, the Dutchman was keen to stress that he wanted to give his players the ‘freedom’ to drift between ‘different positions’ (The Athletic).
Either Slot was being deliberately opaque so as not to give a heads-up to other Premier League managers, or he was hinting that Liverpool will be quite fluid in how they line up on the pitch instead of sticking rigidly to a single defined formation.
For now, the 45-year-old is keeping us guessing as to what we can expect to see from the Reds once the competitive season begins. That’ll only become apparent once the stars of Euro 2024/Copa America are back with the club and he has his full deck available to him.
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