Perfect start for the Reds 

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While Liverpool fans are still trying to come to terms with the fact that Jürgen Klopp’s beaming smile is no longer illuminating the Red’s touchline, some things never change: For the 9th time, Mohamed Salah scored in a Liverpool season opener, making the Egyptian international the sole record holder for most goals in match week one. From a tactical point of view, the Red’s comfortable 2:0 away win over Premier League returners Ipswich already showed signs of what Liverpool fans can expect from their new manager.

A tale of two halves

Going to the home ground of a newly promoted team on opening day is never an easy task. Ipswich were fired up by an enthusiastic home crowd including shareholder and celebrity Ipswich faithful Ed Sheeran. Liverpool were scrappy in the first half and lost the majority of their individual duels. It was evident that against an aggressive Ipswich side, Arne Slot’s philosophy of dragging the opponents deep into Liverpool territory to then outplay them with high-paced vertical passing could not come into fruition. On a number of occasions, the Tractor Boys’ high press forced Liverpool into long balls from which they could not maintain possession.

Slot’s half time reaction gave an indication of the former Feyenoord manager’s tactical approach. In a rather surprising move, right centre back Jarell Quansah made way for Ibrahima Konaté – a purely tactical decision as Slot confirmed after the match. While Quansah looked anything but happy on the bench, Slot’s pragmatism seemed to pay off in the second half. The Reds won more duels, appeared to be a lot sharper in possession, and managed to create more and more chances. Diogo Jota, who played in a centre forward role, finished off a beautiful string of passes at the 60 minute mark before Salah made it 2:0 only a matter of minutes later to kill the game off.

No Zubimendi, no problem? Slot’s options on the number 6 position

There has been a lot of talk about Liverpool’s lack of ambition to act in the transfer market. As other teams significantly strengthened their squads, Liverpool’s title chances seemed to grow slimmer by the day, with most bookmakers in the UK putting Man City and Arsenal ahead of Liverpool by some margin. Most notably, the Reds failed to sign Real Sociedad’s Martín Zubimendi, after the player had already agreed to a move to Liverpool verbally, but did not follow through. The club’s inaction in the transfer window left fans worried about the lack of options in the number 6 position. Neither Alexis Mac Allister nor Dominik Szoboszlai are natural holding midfielders, and Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch while deemed solid, cannot be considered world class players on their position.

However, in Slot’s system either Gravenberch or Endo share the defensive workload with Mac Allister as was evident in the line up against Ipswich. Gravenberch put in a very solid performance against the Tractor Boys, especially in the second half, and Mac Allister was as reliable as ever. With two central, defensive midfield options in a variable 4-2-3-1, Slot’s system of playing out from a deep defensive back four with two or three options in midfield can outplay the opponent’s press. However, it will be interesting to see if the squad and the system can also pass the test against top teams like Arsenal or Man City who remain the outright Premier League winner odds favorites after successfully starting their campaigns.