ILast season’s champions Manchester City started with a 2-0 win over Chelsea, last season’s runners-up Arsenal started with a 2-0 win over Wolves and Liverpool, who finished third last season, started the season with a 2-0 win over Ipswich.
City and Arsenal will both acknowledge that improvements are needed, with City perhaps feeling some satisfaction that they failed to beat Chelsea in either league game last campaign and are therefore back to the level they set last season. But it is probably Liverpool’s win that feels most meaningful. Replacing a figure like Jurgen Klopp is a tough one. Any manager who has been at a club for nine years leaves a void when they leave, especially when he is as charismatic and successful as the German. Arne Slot had a decent record in the Eredivisie with Feyenoord, but many managers have found the transition from Dutch football to the Premier League difficult. His start, however, was probably as satisfying as could realistically be expected.
There will, of course, be much tougher tests to come. One of the three teams that the Opta supercomputer rates with more than a 0.2% chance of winning the league will be expected to beat one of the promoted teams, even away on the opening weekend of the season, when they are riding a wave of euphoria. No one can say after the weekend that Slot will definitely be successful. But what was clear was how, after a difficult start, he transformed the game with his half-time adjustments – and coming from the outspoken school of Dutch football, he was happy to explain exactly what he had done.
Ipswich could be content with enough. Their squad size and lack of resources may ultimately be a good thing, but they pushed hard and played bravely from the back, just as they did in successful promotions. Southampton did the same when they lost to 10-man Newcastle, and the bravery of promoted teams attempting to play the progressive football that had brought them up the ladder has been a feature of recent seasons. The case of Burnley last year shows that intent is not enough. It may not have been enough for Kieran McKenna’s side, but in the first half they prevented Liverpool from developing any rhythm without really threatening themselves.
At that point, it was tempting to look at Liverpool and see a team that looked a bit lackluster and in need of some inspiration. If it had stayed that way, there would have been a lot of talk about the post-Klopp hangover and questions about the lack of transfer activity this season following the arrivals of Michael Edwards as GM of Football and Richard Hughes as Technical Director. But that didn’t happen, and Slot deserves credit for that.
He brought back Jarrell Quansah for Ibrahima Konaté, concerned at how the 21-year-old struggled in the air against Liam Delap. Quansah won just 50% of his aerial duels; Konaté won 80%. That eased the sense of potential threat, but also gave Liverpool more control of the ball, allowing them to set pressing traps for Ipswich, and use their approach against them.
There was a clear attempt in the second half to get Mohamed Salah into positions where he could run one-on-one with Ipswich left-back Leif Davis. Perhaps the most obvious was the opening goal, which began with Andy Robertson in the left-back position. Ipswich’s pressure went to that side of the pitch to pin him down, with the ball quickly passing through Alisson to Konaté. Ryan Gravenberch, playing at the back of midfield, provided an option inside, past Conor Chaplin. That forced Massimo Luongo infield to cover, leaving Trent Alexander-Arnold with a channel of space in front of him. Gravenberch cut forward to Salah on the halfway line, he cut the ball back to Alexander-Arnold and stretched into space behind Davis to receive a perfectly weighted return, ran through and passed low for Diogo Jota to score.
Chaplin and Luongo may have been feeling the pace – both were withdrawn shortly afterwards – but while it may have been that Ipswich ran out of steam, Liverpool also deserve credit for the greater speed and purpose of their passing after the break. But there were repeated balls over the top to Salah, while Gravenberch was far more involved in providing options for his back four, with Jota’s movement drawing defenders away. They had 15 shots in the second half as opposed to three before the break, with an xG of 2.6 after the break compared to 0.1 before.
There are a number of issues that will determine whether Slot will be successful at Anfield, but his first test of match management – finding a way to avoid an opponent’s pressure – he has passed with style.
-
This is an excerpt from Soccer with Jonathan Wilson, the Guardian US’s weekly look at the game in Europe and beyond. Register here for free. Got a question for Jonathan? Email him at soccerwithjw@theguardian.com and he’ll feature the best answer in a future edition