As Arne Slot‘s preparations for his first season as Liverpool head coach step up in america, the Dutchman remains to be lacking a key piece of his puzzle.
Liverpool have arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the beginning of their first tour of the US since 2019, and the survivors from that three-stop jaunt round Indiana, Boston and New York could possibly be forgiven for feeling issues aren’t fairly the identical.
Certain, Jurgen Klopp’s travelling squad 5 years in the past was bulked out with youthful faces, however the supervisor may nonetheless work with nearly all of his key gamers.
Alisson, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane all missed out, however Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Gini Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Joel Matip, Jordan Henderson and James Milner had been amongst these to make the journey.
This time round, Salah would be the marquee identify that pulls in informal audiences within the US, however there are few real first-choice starters in Slot’s preliminary group.
Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai ought to match into that class, whereas Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Wataru Endo and Jarell Quansah can current a convincing case for a beginning spot, however there are few others past that.
Slot will undoubtedly see it as a chance, and maybe even extra priceless as he can work carefully with these fringe gamers who he might not have been capable of monitor in his evaluation of Liverpool’s video games in seasons passed by.
However the uniquely difficult summer season dealing with a membership overhauled can have its influence on the fine-tuning Liverpool’s new head coach will hope to undertake Stateside.
Assessing the choices accessible to the Dutchman and it’s abundantly clear that he’s missing in a single key space.
Brief up prime
Whereas six attackers made the journey in Salah, Ben Doak, Kaide Gordon, Lewis Koumas, Harvey Blair and Fabio Carvalho, in the end these are 5 wingers and a No. 10.
Koumas is closest to a typical striker, however he has extra usually discovered himself stationed on the left wing resulting from his capacity to chop onto his proper foot.
Slot is predicted to set his Liverpool aspect up in the identical fluid 4-3-3 system that introduced him success at Feyenoord, however the friendlies in opposition to Actual Betis, Arsenal and Man United shall be lacking one key cog: a centre-forward.
The brand new head coach’s techniques have usually relied upon the striker to attain the targets, along with his aspect’s attacking play designed to offer possibilities for the person up entrance, whether or not through passing lanes or crosses from out large and deep.
Mexican striker Santiago Gimenez has comfortably scored greater than some other participant throughout Slot’s teaching profession to date, with 49 targets in 85 appearances, and it stands to purpose that the centre-forward shall be a spotlight in his setup at Liverpool.
However Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo are nonetheless absent following their exploits at Copa America and the Euros, whereas even Jayden Danns has been dominated out with a again harm.
The identical state of affairs noticed Slot begin the Reds’ unofficial pre-season opener – a 1-0 loss to Preston on the AXA Coaching Centre – with Carvalho as a nominal No. 9.
It’s a function that Klopp advised Carvalho may play upon his arrival from Fulham, however there gained’t be many anticipating him to fulfil the function in maybe the best way Slot will hope.
Whereas Carvalho’s tendency is to drop and hyperlink play, as a pure playmaker, Slot’s methods are constructed round a extra orthodox striker.
Salah, Gordon and Koumas may all feasibly step in up entrance, however none would play the place in the best way Liverpool can count on to see because the season unfolds.
One alternative missed, one other gained?
It’s via no fault of Slot’s, however till Nunez and, to a lesser extent, Jota return, the Reds won’t be able to completely realise their new tactical transient.
The passes performed to the striker shall be completely different; the areas his runs would open up is probably not there to use.
This makes it notably irritating that Danns, the 18-year-old throwback-type striker who stepped up final season when Klopp wanted him, was unable to make the journey throughout the Atlantic.
Like Bobby Clark, who additionally stayed on Merseyside to proceed therapy, the time within the US would have been a giant probability for Danns to imprint on his new coach.
As a substitute, the default choice will probably stay Carvalho, with Jota maybe accessible to step in after he hyperlinks up with the squad halfway via the tour.
It’s definitely a chance for Carvalho to show himself – not solely as a participant, however as a personality, selflessly stepping up in a task he would like to not settle in.
That state of affairs may be associated to quite a lot of positions and gamers who landed within the US, however when Slot’s system is more likely to rely so closely on a centre-forward, alternative is simply so helpful when the fitting personnel just isn’t accessible to know it.
When it may all come collectively
After all, Slot just isn’t a dogmatic coach, and he can use this time within the States to work on different options, maybe together with the likes of Salah and Blair rotating up prime.
However Liverpool followers might solely see the primary actual shoots of his attacking system in full circulation when the Reds return to Merseyside in August.
By then, Nunez, Jota, Gakpo and hopefully Danns can have returned to the fold and, all being effectively, the workouts labored on in coaching may be put into motion in opposition to Sevilla at Anfield.
Whereas it’s removed from the perfect begin for a brand new head coach, with out nearly all of his key names for many of pre-season, little doubt Slot will nonetheless see double classes and warmup friendlies within the US as an opportunity to kick on.
