FUN Arne Slot Liverpool Tactic
Arne Slot took over Liverpool after Jurgen Klopp left and set the Premier League on fire.
If by the time you watch this video, Liverpool is no longer leading the Premier League…it’s not my fault, alright?
This tactic seems to be so simple, yet so effective. Just pass the ball to Mo Salah and score. No, I am…I am just kidding.
But Arne Slot’s 4-2-3-1 formation took the opposition by storm and this is how he sets it up.
Before we move to that – who is Arne Slot?
Arend "Arne" Slot is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Liverpool.
Slot played as a midfielder for PEC Zwolle, where he won the Eerste Divisie in 2002 (Second division in Netherlands), NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam before retiring as a player back at PEC Zwolle, where he won another Eerste Divisie title in 2012.
He started his managerial career in the academy of PEC Zwolle and as an assistant at Cambuur before taking over as co-manager at the latter.
In 2017, he became an assistant at AZ, where he was appointed manager in 2019.
Slot became manager of Feyenoord in 2021. He led the club to the 2022 UEFA Europa Conference League final in his first season and won the club the Eredivisie and the Dutch Cup in subsequent seasons.
However, in April 2024, it was rumoured that he would be the new manager of Liverpool, after Jurgen Klopp would leave the club, at the end of that season.
Slot confirmed this news in May. On 20 May, Liverpool announced that Slot would become head coach on 1 June 2024, subject to a work permit.
On 17 August, he won his first Premier League match with the club after a 2–0 win away at Ipswich Town. He was the first Liverpool manager since Gérard Houllier in 1998 to win his first game in charge.
He beat club rivals Manchester United 3–0 on his first game to Old Trafford in his third game as manager on 1 September, becoming only the second Liverpool manager to win in his first match at Old Trafford, after George Kay in 1936.
Shortly after, Slot became the first Premier League manager to win his first 6 away games, the quickest Premier League manager to reach 15 wins in all competitions and the first Liverpool manager to win the first 11 out of 12 matches at the start of a season.
On 27 November, he beat Real Madrid during their Champions League matchup with a 2–0 scoreline, ending Liverpool's 15-year winless run against the current defending European champions.
Even though Liverpool started to drop some points recently, his management style and tactic influenced the club for the better.
The same happened in my save, with Olympique Lyon and if we exclude Paris Saint-Germain from this view, we notice that we had a pretty good season, minus the drop off close to the end of it.
The league title was close, and we lost it in the last games of the season. But we did score 103 goals, the highest in the league. And we conceded 35 goals.
We had the highest crosses tally, with 20% and this resembles part of Liverpool’s playing style, as they prefer crossing the ball when the opportunity comes.
We dominated in terms of chances crated, shots for, shots on target and shots on target ratio.
This tactic is fun to play with. But what is the setup?
As I mentioned, a 4-2-3-1 formation is preferred. Although, it’s not the only formation used.
In goal, we have a sweeper keeper on support duty. Both Alisson and Kelleher are there as passing options and ready to sweep up loose balls. But will not go out of their way to have an outfield play.
The back four is made of an inverted wing back on support, a central defender on defend, a ball playing defender on defend and a wing back on attack.
Trent Alexander Arnold was kept as an inverted wing back in Arne Slot’s setup. Although, there are times when he goes up on the flank.
But most of the time, he pops-in at the edge of the opposition’s box, creating an overload in that area. Take more risks and get further forward as player instructions for him.
The central defender is told to take more risks.
The ball playing defender to stay wider. And this is needed, as the left back goes up to the attack very often, so the ball playing defender must defend his area, too.
Dribble more as player instruction for the wing back.
The two defensive midfielders are one on support duty and a Segundo volante. Ryan Gravenberch is usually the one covering the defensive midfielder position, with either Curtis Jones or Alexis MacAllister playing as a Segundo volante.
Take more risks for the defensive midfielder and dribble more and move into channels for the Segundo volante.
The front four are two inverted wingers – one on attack duty and one on support, an attacking midfielder on attack and advanced forward.
The role chosen for Mohamed Salah is an inverted winger one, on attack duty. But Mo Salah seems to interpret different roles, depending on the game moment.
Shoot more often and mark specific position (the left back) as player instructions for him. Arne Slot seems to prefer marking the full backs of the opposition when his team is not in possession of the ball. This is done to have a more organized pressing game, to try and force the opposition to play a long ball.
The left-sided inverted winger is told to take more risks, get further forward and mark specific position (the other opposition full back).
The attacking midfielder is told to move into channels. Here it depends, though. If Curtis Jones or Harvey Elliott play in this position, they will go up in the attack often.
If Domink Szoboszlai plays in this position, as he seems to prefer a passing game over attacking the opposition’s goal.
And there were times when Arne Slot tried Cody Gakpo or Luis Diaz in this position, and they would attack the goal often.
And the striker is told to dribble more.
As I said earlier, Arne Slot used different formations as well this season, so far. The other preferred formation seems to be the 4-3-3. But he started with the 4-2-3-1 formation and seems to use it when his team needs some balance and structure in the game.
As mentality, I chose positive. But there were times when I noticed Liverpool play with an attacking mentality.
In possession, fairly wide attacking width and pas into space. Focus play down both flanks and play out of defence. Shorter passing directness and slightly higher tempo. And run at defence.
In transition, counter-press, counter and distribute the ball to the defence through short kicks.
And out of possession, a high press and a higher defensive line. Trigger press much more often and prevent the goalkeeper short distribution.
As said, the tactic is a fun one to play with. And depending on the team you manage, the squad available to you, the tactic could also be a dominant one.
Arne Slot is only at the beginning of his career at Liverpool. And even though things go very well for the English club, I am curious to know what’s next.
