Post Match Ipswich (a) August 17th 12:30 BST
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Can I trade likes for licenses?
The whole shirt is shite. That stripe down the side of horrendous.
Do these work?
First half:
Second:
Any time
Yepp, the second half was boss and Arne identified the issue from the first half to make it so
Me neither. And there was a game against Spurs where he would have been perfectly justified taking Sakho of at half time and shooting him.
Didn't do Kyle Walker any harm.
Just saw the match day program for the game and Ipswich had a nod to the 97. Very classy gesture. Lovely to see.
Not a bad game at all, however, the 3 points and clean sheet were more important, good team performance in the second half. The players at back need to be careful playing out from the bank, they weren't blessed with good passing, this tactic might hurt us in the future! Good Luck
Mohamed Salah sprints, Bukayo Saka one-on-ones and Mason Mount pressing analysed in The Debrief
Each week in The Debrief, Adam Bate picks out tactical trends and underlying statistics from the Premier League action over the weekend; we begin with Mohamed Salahs sprints, Bukayo Sakas positioning and Mason Mounts counter-pressing…
Perhaps you will have seen that Mohamed Salah's goal in Liverpool's 2-0 win against Ipswich at Portman Road means the forward has now scored more goals on the opening weekend of the Premier League season - nine - than any other player.
But it was another lesser-spotted statistic that shed more light on how he helped to ensure Arne Slot's first game in charge of Liverpool ended in victory. Salah made 31 sprints in the game, the second most of any Premier League player over the weekend.
In part, that reflected the tactics at play. The only man with more was Leif Davis, the Ipswich left-back tasked with tracking him. His total was 32. If it had been 33, he might have stopped Diogo Jota's opener but he allowed Salah to run free to set that one up.
The Egyptian's energy coupled with his intelligent movement exposed Ipswich's high line. "Their centre-back always stepped in towards [Dominik] Szoboszlai," noted Slot. "That means you leave three defenders against three attackers." Salah took advantage.
By the end, he had registered a higher expected goals total, excluding penalties, than in any Premier League game away from Anfield last season. The relationship with Jota helps. He favours the left channel and that opens up space in which Salah can work.
At 32, there has been inevitable speculation about just how long he can continue to do this. Liverpool's legendary winger John Barnes moved to a deeper role in midfield and Ryan Giggs made a similar journey. Cristiano Ronaldo became a centre-forward.
On this evidence, Salah can keep doing this role for a while yet. "If I see what he does to keep his body as it is and be ready to play every game I think there are many more years inside of him to play," said Slot. Physically and tactically, this was very encouraging.
Last season’s champions Manchester City began with a 2-0 win at Chelsea, last season’s runners-up Arsenal began with a 2-0 win over Wolves and last season’s third place finishers Liverpool began with a 2-0 win at Ipswich.
City and Arsenal will both recognise improvements that need to be made, while City perhaps will feel some satisfaction that they failed to beat Chelsea in either league game in the last campaign and are therefore already up on the standards they set last season. But it’s probably Liverpool’s win that feels most significant. Replacing a figure like Jürgen Klopp is tough. Any manager who is at a club for nine years leaves a void when they depart, and all the more so when they are as charismatic and successful as the German. Arne Slot had a decent record in the Eredivisie with Feyenoord, but plenty of managers have found the transition from Dutch football to the Premier League difficult. His start, though, was probably as a satisfying as could realistically have been expected.
There will, obviously, be far tougher tests to come. Beating one of the promoted sides, even away on the opening weekend of the season when they are riding a wave of euphoria, is expected for one of the only three teams the Opta supercomputer believes has more than a 0.2% chance of winning the league. Nobody can say after the weekend that Slot is definitely going to be a success. But what was apparent was how, after a difficult start, he transformed the game with his tweaks at half-time – and, because he comes from the candid school of Dutch football, he was quite happy to explain exactly what he’d done.
There was plenty for Ipswich to be pleased with. Squad size and a lack of resources may do for them in the end, but they pressed high and played boldly out from the back just as they have in winning successful promotions. Southampton did similarly in losing at 10-man Newcastle, and the courage of promoted teams, trying to play the progressive football that got them up, has been a feature of recent seasons. The case of Burnley last year shows that intent isn’t enough. It may not be for Kieran McKenna’s side but, in the first half, without really threatening themselves, they prevented Liverpool from developing any sort of rhythm.
At that point, the temptation was to look at Liverpool and see a side looking a little flat, in need some sort of inspiration. If it had stayed like that there’d have been a lot of talk about the post-Klopp hangover and questions about the lack of transfer activity this season after the arrival of Michael Edwards as chief executive of football and Richard Hughes as sporting director. But it didn’t, and for that Slot deserves credit.
He withdrew Jarrell Quansah for Ibrahima Konaté, concerned about how the 21-year-old was struggling in the air against Liam Delap. Quansah won only 50% of his aerial duels; Konaté won 80%. That relieved the sense of potential threat but also gave Liverpool greater control of the ball, and that allowed them to set pressing traps for Ipswich, using their approach against them.
There was a clear effort in the second half to get Mohamed Salah into positions where he was running one-on-one against the Ipswich left-back Leif Davis. The most obvious, perhaps, was the opening goal, which started with Andy Robertson in the left-back position. Ipswich’s press went to that side of the field to try to pin him in, at which the ball was switched quickly through Alisson to Konaté. Ryan Gravenberch, playing at the back of midfield, gave an option inside, getting beyond Conor Chaplin. That then forced Massimo Luongo infield to cover, leaving Trent Alexander-Arnold with a channel of space in front of him. Gravenberch went forward to Salah on halfway, he knocked it back to Alexander-Arnold and span into the space behind Davis to receive a perfectly weighted return, ran on and crossed low for Diogo Jota to score.
Chaplin and Luongo were perhaps feeling the pace – both were withdrawn soon after – but while it may be that Ipswich ran out of steam, Liverpool also deserve credit for the greater zip and purpose of their passing after half-time. But there were repeated balls over the top to Salah, while Gravenberch was far more involved offering options to his back four, with the movement of Jota drawing covering defenders away. In the second half they had 15 shots as opposed to three before the break, with an xG of 2.6 after half-time compared with 0.1 before.
There are a huge number of issues that will dictate whether Slot is a success at Anfield, but his first test of in-game management, of working out a way of bypassing an opponent’s press, was passed in some style.
www.theguardian.com
City and Arsenal will both recognise improvements that need to be made, while City perhaps will feel some satisfaction that they failed to beat Chelsea in either league game in the last campaign and are therefore already up on the standards they set last season. But it’s probably Liverpool’s win that feels most significant. Replacing a figure like Jürgen Klopp is tough. Any manager who is at a club for nine years leaves a void when they depart, and all the more so when they are as charismatic and successful as the German. Arne Slot had a decent record in the Eredivisie with Feyenoord, but plenty of managers have found the transition from Dutch football to the Premier League difficult. His start, though, was probably as a satisfying as could realistically have been expected.
There will, obviously, be far tougher tests to come. Beating one of the promoted sides, even away on the opening weekend of the season when they are riding a wave of euphoria, is expected for one of the only three teams the Opta supercomputer believes has more than a 0.2% chance of winning the league. Nobody can say after the weekend that Slot is definitely going to be a success. But what was apparent was how, after a difficult start, he transformed the game with his tweaks at half-time – and, because he comes from the candid school of Dutch football, he was quite happy to explain exactly what he’d done.
There was plenty for Ipswich to be pleased with. Squad size and a lack of resources may do for them in the end, but they pressed high and played boldly out from the back just as they have in winning successful promotions. Southampton did similarly in losing at 10-man Newcastle, and the courage of promoted teams, trying to play the progressive football that got them up, has been a feature of recent seasons. The case of Burnley last year shows that intent isn’t enough. It may not be for Kieran McKenna’s side but, in the first half, without really threatening themselves, they prevented Liverpool from developing any sort of rhythm.
At that point, the temptation was to look at Liverpool and see a side looking a little flat, in need some sort of inspiration. If it had stayed like that there’d have been a lot of talk about the post-Klopp hangover and questions about the lack of transfer activity this season after the arrival of Michael Edwards as chief executive of football and Richard Hughes as sporting director. But it didn’t, and for that Slot deserves credit.
He withdrew Jarrell Quansah for Ibrahima Konaté, concerned about how the 21-year-old was struggling in the air against Liam Delap. Quansah won only 50% of his aerial duels; Konaté won 80%. That relieved the sense of potential threat but also gave Liverpool greater control of the ball, and that allowed them to set pressing traps for Ipswich, using their approach against them.
There was a clear effort in the second half to get Mohamed Salah into positions where he was running one-on-one against the Ipswich left-back Leif Davis. The most obvious, perhaps, was the opening goal, which started with Andy Robertson in the left-back position. Ipswich’s press went to that side of the field to try to pin him in, at which the ball was switched quickly through Alisson to Konaté. Ryan Gravenberch, playing at the back of midfield, gave an option inside, getting beyond Conor Chaplin. That then forced Massimo Luongo infield to cover, leaving Trent Alexander-Arnold with a channel of space in front of him. Gravenberch went forward to Salah on halfway, he knocked it back to Alexander-Arnold and span into the space behind Davis to receive a perfectly weighted return, ran on and crossed low for Diogo Jota to score.
Chaplin and Luongo were perhaps feeling the pace – both were withdrawn soon after – but while it may be that Ipswich ran out of steam, Liverpool also deserve credit for the greater zip and purpose of their passing after half-time. But there were repeated balls over the top to Salah, while Gravenberch was far more involved offering options to his back four, with the movement of Jota drawing covering defenders away. In the second half they had 15 shots as opposed to three before the break, with an xG of 2.6 after half-time compared with 0.1 before.
There are a huge number of issues that will dictate whether Slot is a success at Anfield, but his first test of in-game management, of working out a way of bypassing an opponent’s press, was passed in some style.
Arne Slot passes first Liverpool test thanks to savvy in-game adjustments
The club’s new manager showed his eye for in-game adjustments with a half-time swap that helped his side carve open Ipswich
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