There’s a temptation to pin every blunt attacking afternoon on Arne Slot, like he’s the only manager in the league staring at two banks of four and wondering where the gaps have gone. Truth is, breaking down packed defences has become everyone’s problem, and even the sides people label “free-flowing” don’t always look that way when the space disappears.
Take Manchester City. The reputation is still that they carve teams open with automated patterns and create chance after chance, but plenty of the time it’s looked a lot more like relying on big moments and top-end finishing. A bit of wing magic here, a smart touch there, someone doing something that turns a quiet spell into a goal. That isn’t a criticism, it’s football. Sometimes you need match-winners, not a perfect system.
Moments are there, but we’re not cashing them
That’s what makes the frustration with Liverpool feel so sharp. It’s not like we never get chances to tilt games. In the example raised against Leeds, there’s a proper penalty shout if Hugo actually goes down, and there are also those flashes where Frimpong gets in behind. The issue is what happens next: the final ball is overcooked, the shot doesn’t come, or the move just fizzles out.
And in a league where so many matches are decided by one or two key incidents, you can’t keep letting those moments drift by. Low blocks are designed to test your patience and your decision-making. If you don’t punish them when the door creaks open, they settle straight back into shape and you’re back to forcing it.
The final third is where it goes scruffy
The annoying part is that the build-up often looks fine. Through the first two thirds, we can play. We can turn pressure into territory. Players like Gravenberch and Jones can take it on the half-turn and get us up the pitch without it looking laboured. That bit feels like there’s a plan.
Then we arrive around the box and it gets messy. A runner goes, and the pass never comes. Or it comes late, when the defender’s already spun and covered the space. Too often we choose the safe ball to the man beside us instead of the riskier one that actually breaks the line. You can feel the move dying in real time.
When that happens repeatedly, you end up with the worst version of attacking: hopeful balls into the area that defenders head clear all afternoon. It’s not that the effort isn’t there, it’s that the timing and the relationships aren’t quite clicking. Are the players on the same page? Not consistently. Do they read each other’s runs well enough? Not often enough.
What Liverpool need is a sharper edge
None of this requires panic. It does, however, require honesty about where the margin is. The shape and the progression can be decent, but if the final decision-making is poor “about half the time”, as put here, then you’re leaving points on the pitch. And against resilient sides who sit in, that’s all they need.
The fix isn’t always tactical genius. Sometimes it’s simply being braver with the early pass, quicker with the release, and more ruthless when the opening appears. You can coach patterns, but you also need players to take responsibility in those tight moments and make them count.
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