Aston Villa’s questionable tactics were brushed aside by Liverpool as Arne Slot continues to tactically outsmart the opposition…
AND then there were five.
Five points ahead of City. To say that this is dreamland is something of an understatement.
Top of both leagues having played Arsenal, Chelsea, Brighton, Villa, Milan, Leipzig and Leverkusen, no Alisson for part of that and with a new manager, a new system and three lads (almost) out of contract.
Not bad. I’m sure Arne wanted a decent start and, Forest aside, he must be content with how it’s going. He’d be hard to please with that if he wasn’t.
I like him. Of course I do, but I really like him. I love that he’s his own man with very strong views on how he likes to play the game. Let’s face it, if FSG had handed you and I the keys and told us that Jurgen left us some notes on what to do, we’d have just carried on with his system. 4-3-3, use the full backs high and be Liverpool.
Everything’s there so why mess about? That alone should get you Top Four if injuries go your way. You’d just carry on regardless. Well, I would.
Not for Arne Slot. He has his own ideas.
More than anything I love how technical he gets in interviews after the game. Ordinarily we’d be happy with ‘Well, that’s what Mo brings to the team’ and ‘it’s three points but it’s early days and we’ll just keep doing what we’re doing,’ but he’s not afraid of a deep dive.
After Old Trafford he went into details about targeting Casemiro’s space between him and his full backs. He also identified and shared that they usually press, initially from a striker and winger, but, this season they prefer the 9 and 10 do it so if you keep Mo and Lucho up high, it presses the Brazilian or whoever the number 6 is and they can be got at. You don’t really get that level of involvement from other managers.
He’s talking football to football fans. This is far removed from commentators who are usually just happy to drum up a controversy in the hope of making content. Tell us why, not what.
I’ve no issue with the two who covered the Villa game, both were fine, but some of the haranguing looked a bit desperate with very little tactical insight.
Maybe it’s just me but I prefer a commentator and pundit to tell me what I can’t see. Why does a player receive a pass in a certain way? What’s the benefit of a half turn? Why does he press there but not there? Why is he struggling against or getting something out of his man? The stuff that’s not blindingly obvious. So, it’s great to have the manager talk to us like we’d like to know rather than dressing it up with niceties and stats.
I like Emery, too. A manager who isn’t afraid of 4-4-2 when it’s needed is always refreshing. Villa will bother a few teams with him in charge. He’s an absolute coup for them.
One problem though. The timewasting. I can’t stand that, and I thought he’d be better than that.
It’s not just them and I know we’re all hypocrites here. If we’re 1-0 up in the 8th minute of injury time against City I wouldn’t be in any hurry for us to take a goal kick or suddenly collapse to a sudden cramp epidemic – but in the third minute of a game? When it’s still 0-0? Are you really playing for a draw at 0-0?
All that told us was that Villa would be happy with a point when they’re good enough to go toe to toe with us. That would frustrate the hell out of me if I’d travelled all the way up the M6 just for that form of surrender.
‘Yeah, we had a great day. We took 12 minutes out of the game by resetting the ball from a goal-kick. We loved it!’ Weird.
To give them credit, Villa did have a go at us once they got the ball away from their persiflage merchant keeper. Before Darwin’s goal it was an even game, but still they pissed about.
Surely the usual delaying tactics gave us further impetus rather than reducing it. Martinez and his back four weren’t taking the sting out of the game, they were allowing us to get back into shape and press from either flank whenever they went wide. What an odd thing to do! If they were leading, then fair enough but …
Actually, they still messed about when they were losing. I’ll never understand that.
I get why teams do that weird goal kick. They want to bring us out and play behind the press. There are two issues with it. 1) You have to be good enough to do it (A big hello to Wolverhampton Wanderers here) and 2) You have to hope that the opposing manager can’t see what’s going on.
And our manager is a man who looks at how full backs receive the ball and look at their number 6 for an easy option. He’s not going to fall for that. He’s likely to bring Virgil and Ibou even higher at a goal kick.
Timewasting burns my head out. Mostly because I’m stingy and feel that I’ve paid to see the ball in play.
That said, I hope we do it in a few weeks against City. I’ll pay for that.
But Arne’s unconcerned by such tactics. He’s looking at another international break and casually asking how Trent, Mo and Virgil’s agents are doing. Are they happy? Are they getting enough sleep? Do they need any printing doing? I’m quite curious myself.
Top of the league. Top of both leagues. Walk around that.
Rest a little. Have a week off. Go for a walk. Take in nature. Liverpool are alright here.
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