Advertisement

Watch: Arne Slot publicly exposes Erik ten Hag’s Man Utd tactics after Liverpool masterclass

chris bascombe
·2-min read
Liverpool manager Arne Slot during the interview with Sky Sports with Roy Keane looking on in the background
Arne Slot reveals all after Liverpool's dominant victory at Old Trafford

Arne Slot explained the tactical blueprint for beating Manchester United after highlighting the flaws ruthlessly exposed during Sunday’s one-sided Liverpool win.

After comprehensively winning the battle of the Premier League’s Dutch coaches, Slot observed how United’s set-up enabled Liverpool to continuously create chances for a 3-0 win.

All of Liverpool’s goals came from United midfielders losing possession and leaving the home defence outnumbered. While Erik ten Hag saw this as the consequence of individual errors – in the first half by Casemiro and later Kobbie Mainoo – for Slot it was a strategy to ensure Luis Díaz and Mohamed Salah remained high up the pitch in readiness for his midfielders to steal possession and counter-attack.

“Their style is also – this is maybe last season, I don’t remember that well – but their full-backs, nine out of 10 times, are really high, and then Casemiro comes in between,” said Slot.

“So, if you pick up the ball and you can keep Díaz and Mo Salah high, then you’re constantly in a one-on-one situation.

“Then you need midfielders that can run, and we had three of them today that kept running, and if they arrive in a duel they are aggressive enough to win it. So that was, I think, one of the main reasons why we could win.”

Slot suggested United are covering more yards than last season, but he believes they have tweaked their system which required Liverpool to adopt a different approach to when Jürgen Klopp’s side were beaten in the FA Cup and drew twice in the Premier League.

“Last season, they [United] were man marking on the midfield, and they had a press with the seven and 11 [the wingers]. So with the striker, and one of the wingers jumped with him,” said Slot.

“This season, they are more with a nine and 10 press, so they’re more in a 4-4-2. So that’s different, of course.

“I see them, in my opinion, working harder if the ball is being played through them, so they run more. That’s at least what I saw in their first games.”