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Liverpool’s loss to Arsenal at the Community Shield is disappointing but ultimately pointless.
What was not meaningless, however, is how Jurgen Klopp created his team in the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold. With Alexander-Arnold out, Neco Williams stepped in as the obvious replacement. There was a hint of debate before the game over whether Klopp should slide James Milner back into place or find another solution to better deal with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Kieran Tierney.
Williams was fine. He was out of place defensively and solid, if unspectacular, going forward.
And that’s normal! Young players, particularly those who are converting positions, are supposed to dominate one aspect of the game. Most young defenders these days excel at advancing, but they struggle defensively. Defending is difficult. It is reactive. Maintaining the team structure for 90 minutes is not easy. And neither is one-on-one defense against some of the most individually gifted forwards in the world.
If anything, Arsenal’s first goal, a classic from Aubameyang with the forward cutting to the left and finishing with the right, was as much a structural failure as anything else. Williams fought in isolation against Aubameyang, but so do the best. The biggest problem was that Liverpool compromised bodies in midfield, failed to win the ball, and allowed a 3v1 overload for their inexperienced right back to face off (Williams, admittedly, could have done better once he was matched Aubameyang.)
What was most telling was Liverpool’s lack of creativity without Alexander-Arnold, the team’s preeminent playmaker. Again, it was less about individual skills and more of a structural flaw. Fabinho, Gini Wijnaldum and James Milner are good individual players. In the right environment, they can work together. But those three as the kingpin of the wing without Alexander-Arnold didn’t work out.
The Fabinho-Wijnaldum-Milner axle is tough, box-to-box, covering some ground. They didn’t offer much wit or skill. When the team sheet first fell, the set-up made sense: Milner’s industriousness could help cover Williams on the right side, with Wijnaldum’s combination of technique and discipline always welcome against well-trained opposition.
But the team was not organized like that. Instead, Milner assumed a freer attacking role to the left with Wijnaldum crawling to the right to help Williams.
Liverpool lacked spark. They were static. The ball didn’t move fast enough and there were few, if any, of those “oh-so-present, hit-and-go, blink-and-you-lose-one-two” have become on a team feature. in and around the box. Give. Let’s go. Break down the defensive structure. Push the ball wide. No team in Europe has been as effective in serving mid-position blocks with short, precise passes as Liverpool.
And those work so often because Andy Robertson and Alexander-Arnold can be placed in the open position, either on the touchline or in Alexander Arnold’s preferred inside right pocket. From these positions, they are able to throw balls to the rhythm, in motion, with the defensive structure of the opposition shattered.
Without Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool lacked their usual creative verve. The starting trio in midfield – Wijnaldum, Milner, Fabinho – hosted a single pass inside the box:
In the first 60 minutes, Liverpool recorded only one “direct pass” in the final third. Ugh.
If Alexander-Arnold is ever lost or is going to rotate this season, it’s just as important that Klopp get his midfield combination right as is Williams, Oxlade-Chamberlain or Milner or whoever comes into his void.
There is only one Trent. He is a unicorn. There is no player who can replace what he offers. Instead, when he’s out, Klopp needs to reformat things. Having someone more industrious to follow the right side is a smart tactic, but it cannot be at the cost of ingenuity or creativity in the middle of the field.
It was evident how much things changed as soon as Naby Keita entered the fold on Saturday. He is the best moving creator of the Liverpool team. He delights in dropping to pick up the ball and then moving forward, increasing the team’s pace along with him. Liverpool are a different team in possession with him in the lineup; they are not necessarily better (it depends on the match) but they are different.
Keita or Curtis Jones are the obvious agents of chaos. They are both dribbling and driving players who are also happy to play shy stuff in the box. Klopp was surely reluctant to give Keita the full 90 minutes against Arsenal due to his injury history. Half an hour will suffice. We will need it this season.
Even then he lacked a bit of enthusiasm, and this against a team that had been training in preseason for two days! From an analysis point of view, the last 20 minutes of the match were useless: Arsenal were so discouraged that the game became a training exercise.
Klopp will find positives to this almost pointless outing. He always does. A key takeaway: Williams is an excellent backup and a solid prospect, but with Alexander-Arnold out, the coach needs to make sure there’s plenty of creativity in midfield.
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