Look at this area. It may look like a normal zone on a football pitch, but for this man, it's the danger zone. A zone that completely dismantles the oppositions in his way.
And if you look at his other wild tactics, then you'll understand why Liverpool chose him. A club which was managed by Klopp for nearly a decade, has now found a man who presses even more intensely, yet still maintains a balanced structure. He is a man who avoids traditional crosses, and often plays almost all of his players centrally.
And inspired by Pep and de Zerbi, his tactics are so fluid that it instantly creates spaces out of nowhere. And using these, he led Feyenoord from a mediocre side, into a title winning team in just two years. So what exactly are these wild tactics of Arnislas?
And how is he redefining Liverpool after Klopp? Let's discuss in this video. If you look at Klopp's tactics over the years, he consistently deployed his iconic 4-3-3 formation.
Where apart from centre backs and pivot, nearly every player was positioned higher up the pitch. And rather than keeping long possession, Klopp's philosophy was all about if you win the ball back, then just keep attacking the oppositions all the time. However, when we look at the tactical approach of Arnislas, he is a bit different.
Where Klopp's game was all about speed and intensity, Slot brings a more calmer and calculated approach. Greatly influenced by Pep Guardiola and de Zerbi, his tactics focuses more on keeping possession to maintain control, and creating spaces through clever player movements. And when we look at his formation, Slot commonly sets up in a 4-2-3-1 structure.
However, instead of a traditional shape, his system is highly fluid, with players constantly interchanging positions based on the opposition's structure. For example, when facing a team with a narrow front two, then Slot sets his keeper to step up between the centre backs, effectively forming a 3v2 overload at the back. This helps them to bypass the initial press and smoothly play it to the full backs.
And if the opposition utilizes a front three, then Arne adjusts his formation by positioning his pivot in a vertical manner, with the bottom one staying close to the back three. However, when they're playing against a really strong side who deploys with four or a five player up front, then Slot's system adapts even further. Where the additional centre mid drops deep and one of his full backs tucks inside narrowly, which then creates a massive 6v5 superiority.
And the special thing about having this superiority is that it tilts the opposition markers to one side, which then opens up clear space for the wide full backs as a receiver. However, if they attempt a direct pass to him, the opposition still manages to make quick runs and restrict his forward progress. So to solve situations like these, similar to de Zerbe, Arne applies a pressing trap strategy.
For instance, if the keeper has the ball and wants to pass it to the full back, instead of taking a direct route, he first passes the ball to his nearest centre back. Then the same centre back quickly makes a second touch to the nearest midfielder. And by doing these extra movements, it creates a focal point for the opposition to trigger their pressing towards these players.
Which then completely isolates the full backs to receive the final touch and eventually exploit the open space further. However, after using these, when it comes to creating chances into the attacking half, when playing from the wide, Slott often argues that there's a very slim chance of a cross being converted into a goal. So instead of having multiple players on each flanks, he limits it to only one.
For example, you might see the right back and the left winger staying narrow, while the left back and the right winger provides the width. Or you might commonly see both full backs inverting, while both the wingers stay wide. However, when it comes to scoring goals, Arne puts more emphasis through the centre by using his central overloads.
And along with that, he targets a specific area which is just behind the penalty box known as zone 14, which he also calls as the scoring zone. So to understand this, if you divide the football pitch into 18 smaller parts, the area just behind the penalty box would be the 14th zone. And the special thing about this zone is that if you receive the ball here, then you will have multiple angles to pass the ball as well as an option to shoot directly at goal, something that's not possible in the wider areas.
So to exploit this, Arne overloads the zone with his central players. And in order to provide the ball into the zone, they typically rely on their wingers to carry the ball and dribble inside the box. So with the forwards and wingers in the final third, the opposition expects a cross and shifts their entire defence inside the box, creating an overload.
This movement opens up space in zone 14, where deeper players are ready to receive a cutback pass and take a direct shot. However, if the opposition recognises this pattern and attempts to counter the zone, then Arne cleverly uses this as an assist zone instead of scoring, where he intentionally overloads the area with more numbers and draws the opposition's backline even further forward. And while doing this, it indirectly increases the gap between the keeper and the backline.
So instead of shooting, the ball carrier quickly makes a through pass into that gap, where the overloaded players receives the ball in a position to face the goalkeeper directly. And this zone was beautifully explained by Mark Lamberts in his Medium article, so you can check out his article in the description. Underclop Liverpool usually pressed with a 4-3-3 shape, with the front three aggressively pressing the backline, while the midfield three restricting the central progression.
However, if the opposition manages to beat the first line by passing the ball out wide, due to Liverpool's narrow midfield, their full back has to jump up and press the opposition wide players, which then destabilise their backline by leaving out an ample amount of space for the opposition to target. However, under Arne, instead of a 4-3-3, he lets his wingers join the midfield while one of his centre mids partner with the striker, forming a compact 4-4-2 shape. This shape easily allows for a wider presence and lets the full backs stay deep to maintain the backline.
But without a front overload, one might think the shape would easily let the opposition build up from the back. However, it's quite the opposite. As when they press with a 4-4-2 shape, instead of the front two pressing the centre backs in a straight line, one of them makes an outer curving run toward the wide area before pressing the ball carrier, while the other makes an inward curving run to mark the other centre back.
So both of these clever runs blocks the ball carrier's passing angles on both sides and pressurise him to act quickly. And when he attempts to play central, both midfielders quickly activate a man press on the opposition's pivots from behind, which force them to play a back pass to the centre back, who is then compelled to play long or go diagonal where the winger is already positioned. In this way, even with a 4-4-2, Slot brilliantly locks all the passing angles for the opposition, while still maintaining the defensive structure.
However, when it comes to counter-pressing, instead of pressing the opposition immediately after losing the ball, Arne instructs his players to wait for them to make a second pass, as he believes that if a team reacts immediately after losing the ball, it indirectly helps the opposition bait their pressing and bypass it with quick touches. So Arne usually looks to block the central routes for the ball carrier with his overload and forces them to play their second pass wider. And as soon as the ball goes wider, his team instantly apply their man to man press, and locks the passing options from all the angles.
And along with this, the pitch touchline also act as a secondary pressers from the opposite side. This creates a sandwich effect for the wide players from both the sides and forces him to play risky passes, resulting in losing possession. And when they win the ball back using this, instead of counter-attacking the opposition straight away, they usually pass the ball sideways to take a breather and return to their proper shape.
As Slott also thinks that if a team instantly counter-attacks after winning the ball, it risks itself exposed at the back for the opposition to do the same. And this issue was also prominent under Klopp's Liverpool, where they often conceded after failed counter-attacks. So by following this principle, Liverpool can maintain control throughout the game and be less vulnerable to counters.
Looking at their weakness, one area where Liverpool might struggle under Arne is their flanks. As due to his one player per flank strategy, the opposition is likely to target the wider areas. And with the fullbacks usually staying central, the centre-backs has to cover the wide spaces, which then opens up central spaces for the opposition to target.
So to mitigate this, it's crucial for the pivots or fullbacks to drop deep and cover those central channels. And previously they had Fabinho who could drop deep into those areas and had qualities similar to a centre-back. So having a stronger pivot or a fullback will provide Liverpool with a more genuine backup in the centre.
However interestingly, Arne also instructs his wingers to drop deep near the flanks as a secondary fullbacks. So at times, you might even see Salah acting as a fullback, which was very rare during the Klopp's era. Hey guys, before we dive into the next chapter, I just want to thank you all for your incredible support as we hit 100k.
Whether you've been with me since day 1 or just joined recently, each of you has played an immense role in reaching this milestone. And I can't wait to keep bringing you more improved content in the coming future. So thank you so much again for being part of the journey.
Now let's get back to the video. Looking at the keeper, Alisson would be a sweeper, who comes out of his box to form Arne's superiority while building up. Fullbacks might invert, or sometimes only the right back inverts.
However, regardless of that, they usually stay inside the half spaces most of the time. Also due to their narrowness, it allows more freedom to the centerbacks to play as a ball carrier, as whenever the centerback finds space to dribble forward, you would often see the fullback drifting deep to take his position. At the midfield, the right pivot plays more as a deep-lying playmaker, as Arne uses midfield rotations to target the space between the lines to progress centrally.
While the left pivot usually plays as a roaming playmaker, as you would see him drifting wide like a winger, making underlapping runs into spaces and getting in the scoring zones to shoot. This position also serves as a midfield engine for Liverpool, which is capable of covering the backline when the centerbacks drift wide or when the fullbacks invert. While on the wing, Arne prefers his wingers to stay as wide as possible, so on the left both Diaz or Carvalho fits this role perfectly.
However on the right, Salah plays more as an inside forward rather than a traditional winger, who would usually receive the ball out wide, but then looks to cut inside with his dribbling. So to accommodate this, you would often see Salah carrying the ball inside, while the right center mid takes up the wide position. Finally up front Arne uses a combination of a pressing forward and a false 9, so you would see the striker constantly pressing the backline and also dropping deep to pull the opposition defense with his strength to create space for the wingers.
Looking at Arne's mentality, he is often called as a control man by the people, as along with his pressing and attacking patterns, he also brings a great balance of maintaining structure and ball control throughout the game. At defense, they play a very high line and tends to close down the opposition on one side with their overloads. And in the final third, Arne prefers creating chances through central zones rather than using traditional crosses, so he is more likely to use shoot at sight and look for overlap.
So overall, the transition from Klopp's era to Arne presents both challenging and exciting opportunities for Liverpool. While both coaches emphasizes attacking football, Slot's tactics introduces more structured yet adaptable system which might help them to control the game more efficiently. So it will be really fascinating to see how Arne implements his unique strategies and evolves within Liverpool's traditional framework.
Speaking of traditional framework, Spain, a team who ruled the world with their tiki taka 12 years ago, has again broke football but with a completely new framework. A framework where you would see more long balls, rotations and an unbreakable team chemistry. And led by an unknown manager and young players, their tactics dominated almost all the winning favorites to claim the Euros.
So what exactly is the new tactical framework brought by Spain? And how they are slowly moving away from tiki taka? Let's find out by clicking this video.
Hope to see you there!
