The Post believes that although Liverpool achieved the top spot in the Premier League at the beginning of the season, recent successive losses have exposed the deep problems under coach Slott's new tactics.
The core change is that the team has changed from a more controllable style when they won the championship last season to a more chaotic and high-risk "basketball" style of play.
data shows that the team's forward speed has increased from 1.75 meters/sec last season to 1.82 meters/sec, and the number of goals conceded per game has also increased from 123 to 130, which makes the team very easy for opponents to use the space behind them in the offense and defense transition. The concentrated manifestation of this tactical problem is the arrangement of the midfield core Sobosloy in the right-back position. There are many reasons behind this move: First, to accommodate the 116 million pound new player Wilz who struggled to perform, let him take the No. 10 position; second, to use Sobosloy's defensive ability and running coverage to provide protection for Salah; third, to try to replicate the former core Arnold's iconic long pass scheduling ability of the backcourt.
However, this series of adjustments brought about a chain of negative effects. First of all, Sobosloy lacked defensive experience in the full-back position and was targeted by his opponent in the game against Galatasaray. Secondly, new player Wilz has failed to fully integrate into the team, and has no goals and assists in the league so far, and his defensive contribution (regaining the ball 3.9 times every 90 minutes) is far inferior to Sobosloy at this position last season (5.0 times).
Finally, the high-pressure full-back tactics have extremely high requirements for central defenders, and Konath has made frequent mistakes recently, which directly led to the team's danger. All in all, Slott is trying to solve multiple problems with complex solutions, but this tactic has left the team unbalanced, and its effect has been counterproductive.