How Liverpool beat Man Utd: Arne Slot’s tactical explanations examined | Football News

Liverpool manager Arne Slot gave a clear overview of how his team beat Manchester United 3-0 on Sunday.

The visitors celebrated a convincing victory over their arch-rivals at Old Trafford thanks to a double from Luis Diaz and a goal from Mohamed Salah.

Finally, Sky Sports explained how they did it. Here, we dissect his analysis…

Press high

It was a trait under Jurgen Klopp and it will be a trait under Slot. Whatever the opposition, wherever the game is played, Liverpool will look to press high and win the ball as close to the opposition goal as possible.

“We always want to press high. That’s what Jurgen did. That’s what we’re trying to keep doing,” Slot said. “And we scored a couple of goals from high pressing – (including) one that was disallowed.”

All three of Liverpool’s goals and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s disallowed effort came from errors. Liverpool won the ball seven times in the final third of the game, compared to three for Man Utd.

In the first three rounds of the Premier League, Liverpool have applied more pressure in the final third of the pitch than any other team.

It’s front-foot football under Slot.

Unmask Man Utd’s high backs

Roy Keane was critical of Man Utd’s full-backs, who sometimes played too far forward. Slot said he knew Liverpool would have chances given the way United’s full-backs were set up.

“Their full-backs are sometimes really high and then Casemiro comes in between them (the central defenders),” Slot explained. “So if you get the ball and keep Luis Diaz and Mo Salah high, you’re constantly in a one-on-one situation.”

Diaz has been electric with the ball at his feet so far this season, adding four more attempted dribbles to his tally after totals of five against Ipswich and three against Brentford. Salah, however, has taken these one-on-one opportunities with gusto at Old Trafford, doubling his tally of attempted dribbles in each of the first two games with his four here.

Run hard and fight hard in midfield

To force those turnovers, Liverpool needed a lot of energy and intensity in the midfield, which they got from Ryan Gravenberch, Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, who each ran over 11km, with Szoboszlai topping the sprint stats.

That trio, led by Szoboszlai, also topped the ball possession charts.

“You need midfielders who can run and we had three today who kept running, and when you get into a duel they are aggressive enough to win it,” Slot said. “That was one of the main reasons why we were able to win today.”

Forwards chase back to help

That midfield was supported by retreating attackers. Asked if it was a gamble to leave Diaz and Salah up, Slot said: “It’s only a gamble if they play through or over… but if (Diaz and Salah) then sprint back, it’s not a gamble.

“Today we saw many moments where our whole team, but especially our attackers, are so aggressive in pushing back and that’s what we need if you want to win these games. If you don’t do that, the defenders come underloaded, that’s not what you want when you play against these players because Man Utd have a lot of quality.”

Diaz and Salah both recorded tackles and interceptions, with Salah also making a clear. Substitutes Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez continued the approach, each also making a tackle and clearing.

Szoboszlai’s modified role

A subtle change on the ball? “In the last two games Dominik Szoboszlai played on the right, today we let him play on the left,” said Slot.

The change was clearly visible in Szoboszlai’s heatmap, with the midfielder topping the stats for chance creation, creating three chances from open play.

Maintain high standards

While United were sloppy with the ball, Slot demanded more from his team at half-time to ensure they would not make such costly mistakes.

Slot said the following in his half-time team talk: “We showed them three moments where Noussair Mazraoui had a chance when Lucho (Diaz) didn’t get back well and Trent (Alexander-Arnold) made a sloppy pass to Alisson.

“Moments like that can change a game here at Old Trafford, so you have to be focused and concentrated every second if you want to win here.”

Thanks to a combination of quality, Slot’s tactics, Man Utd’s mistakes and Slot’s high standards, Liverpool secured that valuable victory. Their fans will now hope that this is the start of a successful season.