Liverpool don’t play once more till April 2 and, whereas the vast majority of Arne Slot‘s squad are on worldwide responsibility, there’s a lot for the pinnacle 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 remaining and the upcoming Merseyside derby leaving frustration to fester.
However with Liverpool nonetheless on track 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 night time ought to permit Slot and his workers loads of time to think about their flaws and act.
Listed here 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 season, 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 might be approached once more forward of 2025/26, when will probably be hoped that he might 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 objective from a nook routine within the current 2-0 win over Man Metropolis.
Per WhoScored, Liverpool have solely scored 4 set-piece targets within the Premier League this season – six % of their general tally – which is the second-worst whole 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 remaining make clear a probably dogmatic method to zonal marking.
First-team particular person improvement 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’s also 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 laborious to work on throughout this break given all however one in every of Slot’s senior forwards are on worldwide responsibility – with Federico Chiesa the truth is the one match outfielder not referred to as up.
However there’s a clear want for enchancment in terms of the ending of these attackers exterior 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 current 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 possibility “overlook slightly about what’s taking place” at Liverpool the place “the ball doesn’t wish to go in.”
“I’m comfortable fascinated with the nationwide crew, having fun with each minute with it,” he defined.
“These are moments that one goes by in soccer, and as I mentioned lately, I’m not somebody who throws within the towel as a result of they don’t play, however somewhat 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 search out their final touch 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 remaining highlighted arguably the most important flaw in Slot’s administration this season: his failure to belief these exterior of his core group of gamers.
It was Harvey Elliott who received the ball in the course of the pitch and threaded an ideal go by, 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 remaining – a clearly overworked Ryan Gravenberch taking part in 74 minutes earlier than being changed by Chiesa – however the Japan captain had been equally influential in current weeks.
None of these three gamers have clocked over 750 minutes on the pitch to this point 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 learn how to earn a much 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 might be seen one in every of two methods for these on the fringes: both there might 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 workers will certainly be taught from and, whether or not now or subsequent season, there must be an improved appreciation for the broader squad.
