Ten months after the iconic image of Dominik Szoboszlai, face down on the Etihad lawn, he wasn’t even on the pitch.
He was withdrawn from injury care as a precaution towards the end of last Saturday’s 2-0 win over Brighton, but his teammates were just as exhausted when the full-time whistle blew.
I was one of thousands applauding full-time at Anfield, on a day that demonstrated both the potential and the problems of Liverpool’s new system.
Tightening the defense
Arne Slot had to stop the goals. Due to the 4-1 defeat against PSV at Anfield, Liverpool had conceded ten goals in that three-match series.
In the five games since then, Liverpool have remained unbeaten with three wins and two draws, conceding four goals. Three of those came at Elland Road as the Reds suffered a late, self-imposed implosion.
The focus in those games was of course on the absence of Mohamed Salah. But it’s likely less about the removal of Salah and more about the addition of an extra midfielder.
In possession, Liverpool now have more players in central areas to quickly combine with shorter passes.
Slot spoke last year about the ball moving quickly “from foot to foot”, and this was visible when players like Alexis Mac Allister, Florian Wirtz and Curtis Jones exchanged fluidly with each other.
In the event of the ball being lost, Liverpool’s structure is now much more compact, with the central bodies better positioned to swarm around the ball and win it back.
While Liverpool’s attacking numbers have been relatively unremarkable, this new formation gets the best out of Hugo Ekitike.
Not only has he been fearless in showing possession and combining with his midfielders, he is also Liverpool’s current top scorer with four goals in his last two Premier League appearances.
Rediscovering intensity
One key difference at Slot’s Liverpool was the determination to maintain a plus-one at the back.
Many teams are now committed to a player-by-player pressing approach, where field players ‘link up’ with an opponent to mark once the press is activated.
This means the opponent won’t get any easy passes, but it also means the entire game becomes a series of 1v1s. Losing your 1v1 naturally opens up space for the opponent to take advantage of.
Liverpool have largely resisted this under Slot. He likes his front line to press the ball high, usually with a midfielder joining the front line to apply pressure with four players.
But the backline will always hold back an extra number rather than linking up with the opposition, meaning there is a free man in the build-up if the opposition can find him.
This approach means a lot more tracking instead of doubling down on the press, and a greater reliance on your last line of defense to fend off attacks. In theory, sitting deeper and tracking is safer, and that worked last season.
But this season the defense has struggled, with Ibrahima Konate “being at the scene of the crime a little too often” in Slot’s own words.
What was particularly striking against Inter was that Liverpool changed their approach during half-time. In the words of Slot:
“In the first half we tried to keep a plus one in and around our last line, but after the substitutions they made we found it increasingly difficult. So, we said at half-time, we have to be more aggressive in our press, we are going to go more one-on-one.”
Liverpool scored the winning goal in that half and that is why they started the match against Brighton in the same way.
The early opening goal came from this. When Yankuba Minteh has the ball he is under direct pressure from Jones, but Liverpool have pushed eight of their 10 outfield players into Brighton’s defensive third.
As a result, Brighton has every man back and no outlet for the ball. Minteh boots long…
…and with right back Joe Gomez pushed up, he wins his 1v1…
…to improve on Hugo Ekitike’s finish.
To enable this midfield approach, Slot has turned to his full-backs instead of wingers to provide width.
When fully fit, all full-backs are better suited to this style of play. With Gomez having to come on during this run, he has not only added his usual defensive solidity but also provided two assists.
The prospect of adding Jeremy Frimpong to this system on his return from injury is hugely exciting.
Risks of overload
But like all tactical approaches, it’s a trade-off. With a two-man front line, the job falls to midfield to step up and lead the press.
On Saturdays I would sometimes see Jones, Mac Allister, Wirtz and Ryan Gravenberch all sprinting forward to harass the opposition goalkeeper when he was in possession of the ball.
When Liverpool surged forward in attack, it could have been any number of the five midfielders Slot started who crashed into the box.
“Konate’s positioning, I just can’t believe it”?@Carra23 analyzes Leeds’ first goal against Liverpool? pic.twitter.com/B95ZNBfKGJ
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 8, 2025
Not only did this pose a risk to Liverpool’s half-time defence, but the absence of a true midfielder meant that each player had to cover the hard yards in both directions.
This threatened to become a problem late on, with Brighton pushing for a goal to get back into the game. Against Leeds, Jamie Carragher highlighted the tendency of Liverpool’s centre-backs, particularly Konate, to drop in and mark the central space rather than hiding behind the full-back.
Consequently, the midfield’s job becomes to follow the channel behind the full-back and defend it when the ball is turned over.
Imagine playing in midfield for Liverpool. You must be constantly available to receive the ball under pressure, jump up to lead the press, crash the box during attacking counters and also track back to cover the defensive counters.
Is it any surprise that the midfield looked mostly full-time on Saturday?
Slot has six senior options for his new four-man midfield lineup, and he used five of them on Saturday. The sixth, Wataru Endo, currently has an ankle injury.
Szoboszlai limped off after a painful landing towards the end of the match, while Mac Allister played through the pain barrier with no substitutions left.
Wirtz has been dealing with a fitness problem since the last international break, and Jones has struggled with injuries in almost every senior season so far.
The last time Liverpool had a system that relied on the work rate of the midfield, it was Klopp’s 4-3-3. They carried eight senior options into the 2022/23 season and still struggled to maintain the pace for a full season.
Slot’s fantastic five were brilliant on Saturday, but they will have to dig deep if they want to stay afloat towards the end of the season.
#LFC #succeed #Salah #midfield