Liverpool don’t play once more till April 2 and, whereas nearly all of Arne Slot‘s squad are on worldwide responsibility, there’s a lot for the top coach to work on.
The Reds misplaced all momentum with back-to-back defeats to PSG and Newcastle, with 17 days between the Carabao Cup ultimate and the upcoming Merseyside derby leaving frustration to fester.
However with Liverpool nonetheless on target to win the Premier League the fact can’t be misplaced that that is an excellent marketing campaign for Slot and his gamers.
Nonetheless, the weeks between their loss at Wembley and the go to of Everton subsequent Wednesday evening ought to enable Slot and his employees loads of time to think about their flaws and act.
Listed below are three issues Liverpool can enhance on throughout their day off and within the the rest of the season.
Set-pieces
Liverpool went public with their want to nominate a specialist set-piece coach final summer time, with adverts posted on LinkedIn and their official jobs portal.
However the failure to land Feyenoord analyst and technical advisor Etienne Reijnen – a former teammate and long-time colleague of Slot’s – noticed the membership park their search.
• READ: How Liverpool missed out on their No. 1 set-piece coach goal
The belief is that Reijnen will likely be approached once more forward of 2025/26, when it is going to be hoped that he will likely be eligible for a UK work allow.
Till then, although, it’s clear that Liverpool are missing within the set-piece division – whatever the high quality and invention of Mohamed Salah‘s well-worked purpose from a nook routine within the latest 2-0 win over Man Metropolis.
Per WhoScored, Liverpool have solely scored 4 set-piece targets within the Premier League this season – six p.c of their general tally – which is the second-worst complete in the complete high flight.
Among the many golf equipment round them are Leicester (4), Southampton (5), Ipswich (5) and Wolves (5), or in different phrases, the worst groups within the league.
Liverpool are eleventh when it comes to set-piece targets conceded within the league (seven) which is much from spectacular both, and the choice to permit Alexis Mac Allister to mark 6’7″ Dan Burn within the Carabao Cup ultimate make clear a probably dogmatic method to zonal marking.
First-team particular person growth coach Aaron Briggs has taken the lead on set-pieces within the absence of a specialist coach, and whereas he deserves credit score for the successes, it is usually clear that there’s loads of room for enchancment.
Hopefully, this lengthy break between fixtures will see options discovered earlier than they’re put into motion on the coaching pitch.
Ending
This one is actually exhausting to work on throughout this break given all however one among Slot’s senior forwards are on worldwide responsibility – with Federico Chiesa the truth is the one match outfielder not known as up.
However there’s a clear want for enchancment in relation to the ending of these attackers outdoors of Salah, Cody Gakpo and, maybe on the proof of his strike at Wembley, Chiesa himself.
• READ: Julian Alvarez, Alexander Isak and 4 extra strikers Liverpool ought to goal
Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz have all been missing in latest weeks and months and there’s a sense {that a} psychological break is required greater than something.
Talking whereas on responsibility with Uruguay this month, Nunez admitted that his time away was a chance “overlook slightly about what’s occurring” at Liverpool the place “the ball doesn’t wish to go in.”
“I’m joyful fascinated about the nationwide staff, having fun with each minute with it,” he defined.
“These are moments that one goes via in soccer, and as I stated just lately, I’m not somebody who throws within the towel as a result of they don’t play, however relatively I’m going to maintain working so I can play.”
After expensive misses and an over-reliance on Salah to attain and create, Liverpool want their centre-forwards to seek out their crowning glory once more.
There was hopefully proof of that at the very least in Diaz’s well-taken strike in opposition to Alisson in Colombia’s 2-1 loss to Brazil at first of the break.
Probabilities for squad gamers
The frantic finish to the Carabao Cup ultimate highlighted arguably the most important flaw in Slot’s administration this season: his failure to belief these outdoors of his core group of gamers.
It was Harvey Elliott who received the ball in the midst of the pitch and threaded an ideal go via, and it was Chiesa who had the sharpness and composure to time his run and end for 2-1.
Wataru Endo went unused within the ultimate – a clearly overworked Ryan Gravenberch enjoying 74 minutes earlier than being changed by Chiesa – however the Japan captain had been equally influential in latest weeks.
None of these three gamers have clocked over 750 minutes on the pitch up to now this season – Endo has 742, Elliott has 583 and Chiesa simply 387.
13 of Slot’s squad have performed extra minutes than these three gamers mixed (1,712) and Gravenberch, Salah and Virgil van Dijk have all clocked greater than double that.
• READ: Chiesa, Elliott and methods to earn an even bigger position for Slot’s Liverpool
Subtract minutes within the cups and Endo, Elliott and Chiesa have performed a mixed 698 minutes; an equal of beneath eight full video games between three gamers.
Whereas there’s a advantage in Slot sticking along with his key gamers – it has, in spite of everything, led them to inside a most of 5 wins from the Premier League title – there have been factors when his squad may have been managed higher.
With solely 9 fixtures left to play it could possibly be seen one among two methods for these on the fringes: both there will likely be even fewer alternatives with no cups or Europe to rotate in, or extra with the elevated time to impress in coaching.
Both method, it’s a scenario which Slot and his employees will certainly study from and, whether or not now or subsequent season, there needs to be an improved appreciation for the broader squad.
