Why Liverpool are feeling the effects of Trent-shaped gap this season
After winning the Premier League fairly comfortably last season, Liverpool reinforced their squad with some of Europe's most impressive talent.
Arne Slot's Reds spent about £416.2m on summer signings, the most spent by any club in a window, bringing the likes of Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike to Anfield.
But, despite sitting third in the table, Liverpool have lost three matches in a row in all competitions and host Manchester United on Sunday with a few questions being asked about them.
New signings need time to gel but the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid may have had a larger impact on Liverpool's squad as a whole than first thought.
Despite being questioned for his defensive ability at times, the 27-year-old scored 18 goals and contributed 64 assists in his time at the club - but his absence is being felt for less obvious reasons.
Here we analyse what Liverpool are missing this season in Alexander-Arnold's absence.
Reds struggling against high defensive block
The Premier League is home to some of the best executed defensive set-ups in the world whether that is in the form of physical high-presses or stubborn and compact blocks.
Bypassing a high press can be done in two ways: by playing through the pressure or by going long and playing over the pressure.
Against a good press or a higher defensive block, Liverpool have struggled to get the ball up the pitch as effectively as they did last season.
This can partly be explained by Alexander-Arnold's on-ball quality and using an example against Spurs last season helps illustrate the point.
Throughout the game, Spurs applied a high press looking to win the ball early. The right-back's body was angled in field and, with Son Heung-min closing Alexander-Arnold down quickly, access to players in the wide areas was cut off.
A massively underrated part of Trent's game, and one that Liverpool miss greatly, is his ability to play with his weak foot. In this scenario, Trent was able to use his left foot to accurately sweep a pass into the unmarked Alexis Mac Allister.
A hallmark of Liverpool's build-up last season was in finding the midfielders centrally who were often staggered.
In this example, Ryan Gravenberch has left the centre of the pitch to move into the right flank dragging his marker with him. Mac Allister comes over and Dominik Szoboszlai arrives to form a sort of zig-zag-like shape.
This staggered positioning allowed Liverpool to bounce passes around late-arriving pressure between the midfielders and full-backs with minimal touches used getting up the pitch.
Bradley less accomplished with weaker foot
In the defeat by Chelsea, Slot opted for Conor Bradley at right-back, who found himself in a very similar situation as Alexander-Arnold did against Spurs; Alejandro Garnacho pressed high, Bradley was facing in-field, and access to the wide areas was cut off.
Bradley, similar to his right-back rival Jeremie Frimpong, is less accomplished on his weak foot and as a result was unable to build up play centrally in these scenarios.
With a pass on into the midfield, Bradley instead played with his right foot back to Ibrahima Konate. This restarted the build-up with the same problems needing to be tackled from the beginning.
Wirtz dropping deeper than at Leverkusen
Short build-up is clearly an issue that requires addressing and compromises have had to be made in getting the ball up to the attackers. One way in which Liverpool have done this has been in using Wirtz deeper.
The German midfielder's biggest strengths lie in the final third but given his excellent technical quality, particularly his passing, Wirtz is dropping deeper in order to get on the ball, before helping bring it up the pitch.
For Xabi Alonso's Bayer Leverkusen, Wirtz would often stand on the left flank waiting for the ball to be brought up the pitch by team-mates before getting involved. Comparing where he's receiving passes this season to last season highlights a stark difference.
In the short term this is a sensible solution given Wirtz's qualities and Liverpool's weaknesses but it fails to maximise Wirtz's individual attacking game.
Florian Wirtz is dropping deeper in order to get on the ball, before helping bring it up the pitch.
Long build-up and switches of play
Aside from short build-up and technical quality, long passes and switches are tools teams need to bypass a press or to disrupt the shape of the opposition's defensive block.
Liverpool played 3.4 switches of play per 90 minutes last season and this is down to 1.3 per 90 minutes this season. This decrease is partially explained by Trent leaving with the English full-back able to play crossfield passes reliably and with both feet, often finding the left winger.
Tactically, this forced a deeper defending side to have to shuffle across the pitch. Switching the play quickly allows the players receiving the ball to exploit the spaces that appear in the opponent's now less-compact shape.
In terms of long passing, Virgil van Dijk possesses a great long diagonal pass that has found Mohamed Salah isolated on the right wing numerous times over the last few years to similar effect. However, the rest of Liverpool's current crop of defenders don't tend to play as long very often.
Alexander-Arnold played 11.3 long passes per 90 minutes last season with a 42.1% pass accuracy. In the league this season, Bradley and Frimpong by comparison have only played 3.7 and 1.1 long passes per 90 minutes with a 16.1% and 0% pass accuracy respectively.
Salah playing with back to goal
The players at a coach's disposal dictate what tactics become viable and, without Alexander-Arnold, skipping short build-up to find Liverpool's quick attackers in space is less of a possibility.
Isak and Salah are both players who thrive when attacking at speed, facing defenders, in space. With this option not being opted for as much, their strengths aren't being platformed as often as they could be.
Slower build-up results in attacking situations against deeper, more compact defences as there is more time for the defending side to get back into their desired shape. It has also meant Salah has found himself playing with his back to goal both centrally and out wide more often.
For as great a player as Salah has been, he struggles more when defenders apply close pressure on his back, preventing him from turning to face the goal. His options become more limited and he tends to pass it back when this scenario arises.
How can United take advantage?
Slot's men face Ruben Amorim's Manchester United and if United are to get anything from the game, they will need to look to take advantage of some of Liverpool's recent frailties.
Amorim has on occasion asked his team to defend in a 5-4-1 shape out of possession, moving away from his normal 5-2-3 and, if chosen, this alternative approach is likely to pose Liverpool more questions.
By defending deeper and blocking the centre of the pitch well, a larger percentage of the possession for Liverpool will be with the central defenders who are less apt in breaking down a stubborn shape. This may force Wirtz deeper, out of zones he may be more destructive in.
The reluctance for Liverpool to play switches of play will make it harder for them to break down a 5-4-1 shape that has good coverage across the width of the pitch to begin with too.
Finally, a shape that aims to reduce space the likes of Isak and Salah can run into is naturally a smart plan to counter two of Liverpool's most impressive players, especially if it is paired by proactive, aggressive defending from United's left wingback.
BBC
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is denied by United keeper
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