As Arne Slot‘s preparations for his first season as Liverpool head coach step up in america, the Dutchman continues 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 may very well be forgiven for feeling issues aren’t fairly the identical.
Positive, Jurgen Klopp’s travelling squad 5 years in the past was bulked out with youthful faces, however the supervisor may nonetheless work with the vast majority 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 title 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 possibility, and maybe even extra helpful as he can work intently with these fringe gamers who he might not have been in a position to observe in his evaluation of Liverpool’s video games in seasons passed by.
However the uniquely difficult summer time dealing with a membership overhauled may have its influence on the fine-tuning Liverpool’s new head coach will hope to undertake Stateside.
Assessing the choices obtainable to the Dutchman and it’s abundantly clear that he’s missing in a single key space.
Quick up high
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 typically discovered himself stationed on the left wing on account of his skill to chop onto his proper foot.
Slot is predicted to set his Liverpool facet up in the identical fluid 4-3-3 system that introduced him success at Feyenoord, however the friendlies towards Actual Betis, Arsenal and Man United can be lacking one key cog: a centre-forward.
The brand new head coach’s ways have sometimes relied upon the striker to attain the objectives, along with his facet’s attacking play designed to supply probabilities for the person up entrance, whether or not through passing lanes or crosses from out broad and deep.
Mexican striker Santiago Gimenez has comfortably scored greater than another participant throughout Slot’s teaching profession up to now, with 49 objectives in 85 appearances, and it stands to cause that the centre-forward can 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 scenario 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 instructed Carvalho may play upon his arrival from Fulham, however there received’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 anticipate to see because the season unfolds.
One alternative missed, one other gained?
It’s by means of 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 can be completely different; the areas his runs would open up will not be there to use.
This makes it significantly 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 possibility will doubtless stay Carvalho, with Jota maybe obtainable to step in after he hyperlinks up with the squad halfway by means of the tour.
It’s definitely a possibility 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 prone to rely so closely on a centre-forward, alternative is simply so helpful when the precise personnel will not be obtainable to know it.
When it may all come collectively
After all, Slot will not be 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 high.
However Liverpool followers might solely see the primary actual shoots of his attacking system in full circulate when the Reds return to Merseyside in August.
By then, Nunez, Jota, Gakpo and hopefully Danns may have returned to the fold and, all being effectively, the workout routines labored on in coaching may be put into motion towards Sevilla at Anfield.
Whereas it’s removed from the best begin for a brand new head coach, with out the vast majority of his key names for many of pre-season, little doubt Slot will nonetheless see double periods and warmup friendlies within the US as an opportunity to kick on.
