Federico Chiesa to wear NO 14 at The Reds?

Welcome to Liverpool

yalo...the social media issue lagi teruk than he being selfish on the pitch.

this is not how a legend should act.

Tactically, Slot prefers possession and passing through the middle. The style is naturally slower and boring.

To create the middle channel, he prefers inverted fullbacks. When one of the fullback inverts, the back 4 become back 3, with the inverted fullback (just 1) becoming the link up between defence and midfield. By design, Slot's tactics create narrow passing channels through the centre. The width comes in the forward areas (e.g., Salah hugging the corner flag).

The problem with that tactic is, it worked when TAA was around. He inverts (move to middle of midfield), then he does his long-range accurate passes to break low blocks. You have the benefit of the ball moving up the pitch away from defense, and a more direct play - benefitting Salah and even Diaz/Gapko. Hence only the right-side inverts - clear instruction.

Yet, he approved the purchase of 2 wing backs that prefer to run down the flanks. The current 4 full backs are runners. Hence why he uses Dom on right back - attempting to recreate TAA, which will help Salah, but Dom is not TAA.

This is why Kerkez seems lost most of the time. He doesn't know when to invert (move up), and when to stay back (if the right back inverts). Similarly with Bradley. Last season, it was clear, only TAA inverts. This season, it seems both full backs will have to invert depending on the moment - sometimes left side, sometimes right side.

The defence has not yet figured out who or when that happens - sometimes left, sometimes right. So, you get into moments where both full backs thought they will advance when only 1 should - hence the gaps at the left and right flanks. This is likely why the space between defence and midfield is so big, the midfield expects the inverted full back to provide link up, hence 6 players press high up the pitch. But the defence wants to see how the midfield is setup before deciding whether its left or right-side press.

Then there is the case of neither centre backs pass to the full backs, which means even if the full backs wanted to invert, they end up collapsing into a back 3 because one of the centre backs "inverted" instead.  If an opponent sees this (i.e. when VVD or Konate advance too far forward), they will pass through the middle spaces since the left and right backs will typically stay wider - it's their instinct - and the opposition can easily overload 2 vs 1 in the open spaces.

VVD seems reluctant to pass to Kerkez, I suspect, is because he doesn't want to cover the entire left side of the defensive half when Kerkez advances. He has no problem passing to Robbo because Robbo doesn't invert even with the ball, and Slot uses Robbo more for defensive stability.

There is nothing wrong with Slot's philosophy. Most fans are used to Klopp's style of all action football. The issue is Slot not addressing the basic of his tactics. He must have seen how the full backs don't invert properly. Must have seen the timing of the press is wrong. Must have seen how Wirtz is playing to Slot's own instruction of keeping the ball on the ground, slowly moving the ball forward but many players around Wirtz have a tendency to to launch direct long balls to either Gapko or Salah.

Most importantly, he already know Liverpool have 0 full backs that play like TAA. Hence, he already know Salah won't get TAA passes. He also knows Dom is better in central positions. All this are not new information. Yet Slot just ignored what his players can and cannot do.

Maybe persists like Amorim, 3-4-3 all the way, eventually it will stick.

But honestly, as a fan, I find Slot's current philosophy boring and lifeless. It's too much thinking, lots of mid game formation changes, moment to moment tactical changes. Which I think is also why the players are finding it difficult to adapt. There is less fluidity in the gameplan. Everything is a "if this then that" play, and players have to remember multiple combinations, rules, formations during play.

Maybe more accustomed to the Klopp style. Even if loose, its not for the lack of trying. Even if win 5-4, conceding 4 goals, it was an exciting game to watch. And who can forget Klopp's fist pumps.

If Slot can fix the issue between his players and his tactics, great. If he persists like Amorim - drill until it sticks, then we will just wait out the "crisis".