What will be Liverpool’s strengths this season?
Liverpool have started life under new head coach Arne Slot in fantastic fashion, winning their first three games, against Ipswich Town, Brentford and most significantly, Manchester United, without conceding a single goal.
When Jurgen Klopp left Liverpool in the summer, many questions were raised about how The Reds would react to losing the man who guided the club to numerous major honours, but the early signs are promising. Liverpool’s Premier League odds will continue to shorten if they continue in this vein as so far, they’ve been able to deal with every challenge thrown at them.
For Arne Slot, who became the first Liverpool manager to win his first game against Manchester United since Bob Paisley in November 1975, things could not have gone better, but he has spoken about remaining calm as he is well aware that there are further tests to come after the international break when The Reds will be tasked with playing midweek games, having had plenty of time to prepare, and rest, for the three games they’ve won so far.
Having taken over Klopp’s squad, and only making one addition with the arrival of Federico Chiesa, described as one of Italy’s top offensive talents, Slot himself has referenced how this similar group of players seemed to fade away at the end of last season given the intense fixture list, and that is something he’ll need to be aware of, especially as one of the strengths of his side so far has been their willingness to run about tirelessly and press their opponents into mistakes.
Liverpool’s success so far has not just been because of their physicality though, it’s been much more than that. Firstly, they’ve been excellent in defence and have hardly conceded a chance, never mind a goal, as their defence martialled by captain Virgil van Dijk, has looked water-tight, and they have been assisted by some great defensive work by those in front of them.
Speaking of those in front of them, Liverpool’s midfield three of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, have started the season in wonderful form. Liverpool tried, and failed, to bring in Spanish international, and European Championship winner, Martín Zubimendi in the summer as he chose to stay with Real Sociedad and plenty of questioned were asked about Liverpool’s readiness to compete with their current midfield options but so far, so good in that regard as their midfield has been a real strength throughout August.
No matter how good a team is defensively, they can’t win football matches if they can’t score goals and thankfully for Liverpool supporters, The Reds have had no issue finding the back of the net so far. With a front three of Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah all looking to be in great goalscoring form, Slot hasn’t had to look to his bench too often so far, but he’ll be comforted by the knowledge that he still has both Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez in reserve.
Of the current starting front three, Diaz, who was linked with a move to Barcelona in the summer, was probably the player being questioned the most in terms of his goals and assists, but with three goals, including a brace at Old Trafford, plus another assist, he’s been able to prove his value to the team.
Salah meanwhile, who is currently in the last year of his contract at Liverpool, has started the campaign in sparkling form. With three goals and three assists in the first three games, Liverpool’s Egyptian King has shown no signs of slowing down in his age 32 season and Reds’ supporters will be desperate for him to sign a new deal and extend his stay at Anfield as his performances have probably been the biggest strength so far this season.
For Slot and for Liverpool, there will be tougher challenges ahead. An intense fixture list will mean the Dutchman will have to rest, rotate and replace players and only then will we see if the other members of his squad are up to speed and ready to do the jobs that his starters have done with aplomb so far. Fans should be confident in the other players though as one of Liverpool’s strengths this year should be their squad depth, with the likes of Harvey Elliott waiting in the wings to get their chance to shine.
Fans are yet to see how Slot will rotate his squad as the League Cup and Champions League fixtures come into play later down the line, but for now, they’ll all be hugely optimistic about what could be in store this season as under Slot, they look like a well-oiled machine, one capable of building on what was left by Klopp and his staff, rather than looking like a team who can’t live up to what had gone before them.
