ETIHAD STADIUM — Arne Slot’s Midas touch simply cannot be curtailed.
Despite not naming a central striker, leaving three of their top five goalscorers on the bench, Liverpool tore apart a team they have been hanging onto the coattails of for the best part of the last decade.
The football was at times as fluid as anything Pep Guardiola’s all-conquering machine has been able to conjure. Of course, it helps when you have a rejuvenated Egyptian wonder in Mohamed Salah who is a shoo-in for the Ballon d’Or leading the charge, but everyone in this unstoppable red juggernaut plays their part.
As does Slot. Knowing full well Guardiola and City would be out for revenge following their humbling at Anfield earlier this season, the Dutchman was brave with his tactical curveball, deploying a 4-2-4 system with two false nines who proved impossible to control for the champions’ disjointed backline.
The spectacle, as a result, was pleasing on the eye. Liverpool swept from back to front with unerring regularity. Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai dropped deep before springboarding attack after attack into action.
With Salah and Luis Diaz stretching the play gaps became chasms, opportunities these champions in waiting were never going to pass up.
It is exactly how Erik ten Hag inspired Manchester United to a rare high point in last season’s FA Cup final, with Bruno Fernandes and Kobbie Mainoo operating centrally in forward positions, exploiting space Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho created in wide roles.
Ten Hag was unable to perfect the system, for a variety of reasons. Slot himself may never repeat his tinkering at the Etihad.
The difference between the two Dutchmen, however, is that Slot has the players to make a success of it on a more regular basis.
Liverpool owed their second goal almost entirely to this new way of thinking. Once again, the visitors swept from back to front in the blink of an eye, making a mockery of the City press.
With Salah picking up his wide position, he was able to cut inside, delaying for that split second longer, creating space for Szoboszlai to creep into before scoring a fine goal.
By delaying his pass, Salah, and he is more than capable of such ingenuity, almost mocked Guardiola by bringing in that element of la pausa to allow play to evolve and create more space. The Catalan builds his philosophy around the same principle.
By empowering Jones and Szoboszlai to essentially do as they pleased, both players, neither of whom were particularly pivotal last term, played with a real sense of freedom. If Slot trusts them to take the attack to the best team in the world last season, they must be capable.
It is an incredible luxury to have and is why nobody will be able to stop the Slot machine. Against lower blocks, or teams with nine players behind the ball, it would be easier to nullify. Ten Hag will testify to that.
No dramas for Slot, though, he will just go with one of either Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez or Cody Gakpo in a central role. Diaz can go back there, too. Options like this win you titles, with even the might of Guardiola powerless to stop it in its tracks.
Comments
Leave a Comment