How Arne Slot Won The Premier League
Functional, not Funky Pt.2
Inheritance
“Functional not funky” is how I described Arne Slot in the first half of my season review a month ago.
The piece focused on how the manager can improve going forward.
But here, we are going to talk about what he already has done. And boy is there a lot to talk about.
Last season it was evident that Jurgen Klopp’s final push for a second Premier League title was not sustainable. He ramped up the intensity that had been missing the previous season and heavied up the metal to levels we hadn’t yet seen.
All gas, no brakes.
The only way you could conceivably have seen Liverpool winning the league last season was if the commitment to this approach from the club top to bottom carried the team over the line - recruitment (summer 2023), players and fans.
Everybody, all in.
Sometimes the Fairy Tale comes true. We are fortunate enough as Liverpool fans to have lived a few.
Last season was not one of them.
Stick or Twist?
Even though the side did not win the League last season, Jurgen and Jorg Schmadtke left a very healthy squad for Arne Slot and Richard Hughes to work on. The decision was made early by the pair of them to ‘stick’ with what they have and for the ‘twist’ to come from how the manager uses his squad.
Yes, the squad is his now. He was not involved in the recruitment of any of them, but Arne Slot has moulded the players in his image.
He deserves so much credit for it.
The reason to stick is because the side ended the 23/24 campaign in third place with 82 points. City won the League with 91 and the managers’ goal was to aim for that.
From the very start, he was targeting a title challenge.
LFCTV:
But a title challenge was nonsense according to every pundit across mainstream platforms…
So how could the Head Coach take a side that finished on 82 points and improve on it without any further recruitment? What potential did he see?
A pattern that I wrote about when I started this Substack was Liverpool conceding the opening goal early in games last season. That is your first quick win - stop that from happening.
This was obviously something everyone knew about and scrutinised Jurgen for, but it kept happening. Two goals that really highlight Liverpool’s problem was building through the middle of the pitch, especially with the pivoting midfield players.
Semenyo vs Liverpool (23/24)
Adingra vs Liverpool (23/24)
A lot was made about Slot playing out from the back and not going as direct as Klopp. Obviously this has proven to be false given the amount of times Salah and Diaz have been fed long balls from Kelleher and Alisson respectively.
When Liverpool have played out from the back, it has been no different to what they do in the other two thirds of the pitch. The goal is to go around the opponent, or over the top, not through the middle. A perfect example is the first goal in our 0-3 win at Old Trafford. A fitting example also of the game where some of us really started to believe.
Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool FC (‘Diaz 0-1)
Casemiro, having just received a pass back from Bruno Fernandes goes for a first-time ball into Kobbie Mainoo. It is a terrible decision to make, and Ryan Gravenberch is poised to pounce.
When Gravenberch steals the ball, his team mates are set for transition and Liverpool are in business.
United are extremely compromised when we see the full picture. Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui, deployed as attacking full backs are caught very high. Liverpool now have a 5v3 with Mo Salah in the process of overlapping Gravenberch, Diaz making a move to the back post, Jota moving between the centre backs and Szoboszlai keeping pace to support the man in possession and make a move if needs be.
At any stage from this moment until the point at which he releases the ball, Gravenberch can take the high risk/high reward option and play Jota in. He can also offload his responsibility to Szoboszlai, but he waits for Salah to get in position knowing (as Jota is pointing to) that Luis Diaz is free at the back post, and Mo is the man to deliver.
He chooses the less direct route and it is the right choice.
There are two reasons why I love this goal. It encapsulates everything the managers’ team have stood for since, and only in his third Premier League game.
#1. He was brought in for his previous sides’ likeness to Klopp and Liverpool have won the ball in the opposition half with five players primed and ready for transition. Those arrows were knocked and ready to loose.
#2. When loosed, the way in which it plays out is as much defensively focused as it is offensive. Liverpool commit bodies to the attack (like a Klopp team would). If you lose the ball, United can turn you back around quickly and would have the numbers game to their advantage, leaving you likely to concede a quality chance.
By moving with speed and playing sensible progressive passes, Liverpool use the numbers to their advantage in the best way possible, create a valuable chance, and take it.
Consistency
Comparing data from the first 28 games of this season to Liverpool’s defensive performance last season (per 90), Liverpool have reduced the amount of counter attacking shots conceded from 1.00 to 0.89 and clear shots conceded from 2.11 to 1.89. The big leap however is xG conceded from set pieces. Liverpool finished last season 34th percentile with 0.29 and are now 92nd percentile conceding only 0.18 xG from set pieces.
What needs to really be appreciated with how Slot has approached this, is that you can (like Arteta) overload on the defensive side and risk not creating enough chances to turn draws into wins, but Slot has kept his side just as aggressive as Klopp, with only a 0.02 downturn (per StatsBomb’s ‘Aggression metric). Passes per defensive action are also up a tad more and opposition passing percentage has also swayed against. But I am going to hazard an educated guess and say these two metrics are down to game state.
We can all agree that Liverpool are a different side when chasing a scoreline than they are holding onto one this season. Whereas, the last manager would keep the intensity to a maximum when leading, Slot tones it down and keeps the opposition at arm’s length a lot more.
Coda: A Boring League
It is funny seeing neutrals and haters alike claiming this Premier League season to be boring. You haven’t heard much of that in other seasons when sides have run away with it.
Don’t get me wrong… the lack of a title race or relegation battle leads to games without any jeopardy. Above the bottom three, all sides possess really good players and everyone has essentially cancelled each other out as I pointed out recently, here.
I can’t help but also think that Arne Slot’s functional Reds have contributed by just winning with a minimum of fuss over and over again. You don’t have the devastating 10-15 minutes of Klopp’s 19/20 side putting the opposition in a washing machine and going from 0-0 to 2-0 in the blink of an eye. You also don’t get the City centurion side putting on a positional passing masterclass where no one can get near them.
What Arne Slot identified and brought home week after week from the very start was acknowledging (unlike any mainstream pundit) that he would go into every game this season with the better team.
The better Eleven and the better squad.
Draws are useless, wins are everything, and when you are the A-side, you should do everything to win.
Arne Slot is a winner and so are Liverpool Football Club.
20 (TWENTY) of your football leagues.
And we’re never gonna stop.
Take care