LIVERPOOL’S STRUGGLES CONTINUE: TACTICAL FLAWS, WIRTZ’S ROLE, AND THE SEARCH FOR BALANCE.

Liverpool began the season with five straight wins, but tactical flaws and fitness issues among new signings were evident early on. Despite results, performances declined compared to last year, six of their seven victories, including those over Atlético Madrid and Southampton, came via late goals in the last 10 minutes. Opta ranked Liverpool only sixth in expected standings before their first loss to Crystal Palace, who led the league in expected points.

Their struggles deepened with a defeat to Galatasaray, highlighted by Florian Wirtz’s slow start. Signed to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold’s creative output, he’s yet to score or assist despite strong underlying numbers (1.4 xG, 2.17 xA).

Arne Slot has experimented with Wirtz’s role, searching for the right structure. Early on, he played centrally rather than in a roaming left-sided role that suited him at Leverkusen. Gakpo’s relatively strong start to the season might have prevented earlier left-wing minutes. Against Palace, he finally started on the left, forming a more natural pairing with Milos Kerkez, whose overlapping runs complement Wirtz’s tendency to drift inside.

Still, Wirtz failed to impress and was benched against Chelsea. Once again, Liverpool conceded a late 2–1 defeat - their third consecutive loss, a career first for Slot. Their issues remained, and Wirtz’s presence/absence made little difference tactically.

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First half: without Wirtz

Both Chelsea and Liverpool wanted to press their opponents high and were willing to play direct and intense football in transition. This led to an open game in which the tactics of the managers mostly impacted the build-up phase of either team.

Starting without Wirtz, Szoboszlai moved back to his familiar number 10 position, whilst Bradley came back into the line-up as the right back. Operating next to Konaté, who is a worse passer than Van Dijk, Chelsea looked to apply pressure to Liverpool’s right side. Their press was initiated by Garnacho, jumping from Bradley to Konaté. Bradley often started from an inverted position, like below. When he moved wide to open the passing lane from Konaté to him, the receiving angle became awkward. So Liverpool needed third-man combinations to play Bradley onto his back foot, so he can play forward.

During the opening minutes, Liverpool did well in finding this third man. In the situation above, Gravenberch dropped deep and played a first-time pass to the unmarked Bradley, requiring Cucurella to leave his direct opponent (Salah). At other times, they looked for a third man higher up the pitch, finding Isak with long passes.

When they beat the press, Liverpool utilised the absence of Cucurella, progressing play as quickly as possible with their front three in a one-on-one situation. However, they lacked accuracy during these transitions or were not quick enough, allowing Moises Caicedo to recover and support his defence.

After the opening minutes, Chelsea successfully limited Liverpool’s third-man combinations. Enzo Fernández played an important role in this limitation. In the situation below, Bradley is making the same inside-out run as before and Gravenberch is dropping deep trying to link play to his right back.

Fernández was anticipating this pattern however, and covered Gravenberch from his left side, preventing a first-time pass to Bradley.

Konaté was then forced to find a different solution, but was unable to do so — this led to a turnover within his defensive third. It didn’t help Slot that his first-choice goalkeeper, Alisson, was injured. His back-up, Mamardashvili is less comfortable on the ball, which made Chelsea’s pressing easier - they were able to force many long balls.

On the other side of the pitch we saw the weaker compatibility of Kerkez and Gakpo. The Dutch left winger likes to position himself wide, close to the touch-line. Slot likes to create box-midfield and with Salah out wide, Bradley usually stays lower on the pitch, whilst Szoboszlai moves into the right half-space, in front of the double pivot. This requires Kerkez to move into the left half-space, like below.

This is not a zone where he is comfortable though. Here, he first makes an awkward run in behind. Then he moved wide, closing the space for Gakpo who was carrying the ball forward. Finally, he tucked back inside before turning the ball over with a poor pass.

On the other end of the pitch, Liverpool aimed to funnel Chelsea’s build-up to their right side. Isak covered the left centre-back whilst either Szoboszlai or Salah applied pressure when Badiashile (RCB) received the ball from his goalkeeper. This choice depended on how big the distance between Caicedo - Szoboszlai’s direct opponent - and his defenders was.

This looked like a poor tactical decision by Arne Slot however, as Salah struggled with covering the passing lane to Cucurella, and the Spanish left back was often found easily by Chelsea. Salah simply lacks the defensive discipline and capacity to initiate such pressing. Most of Chelsea’s danger came from these situations, which ultimately led to another mismatch between player and role; Mac Allister was often asked to cover large distances in midfield to compensate for unsuccessful pressing. The Argentinian midfielder is not an elite athlete like some of his teammates and doesn't suit this defensive requirement. This also led to the only goal of the first half. Although Caicedo should receive all the credit for his unstoppable long-shot, Liverpool created the space for his shot themselves.

Szoboszlai started pressing Badiashile, leaving Caicedo in his back. Isak failed to close the passing lane to Gusto, which allowed Chelsea to form a third-man combination, with Mac Allister in between two opponents. When Gusto played a first-time pass to Caicedo, he tried to close the space, but arrived late. Caicedo carried the ball into the open space between Liverpool’s defence and midfield and buried it into the top left corner.

In possession, Mac Allister was also not used to his full capacity. He is at his best as the tempo-setter and heart beat of the team. Sometimes invisible for the casual fan but extremely valuable for a coach who likes his team to dominate possession. Thus, he is best used in short combinations, luring in opponents before increasing pace and breaking lines at the right time. In the situation below, Kerkez is in possession and Mac Allister is asking for a short pass. Both Van Dijk and Gravenberch are pointing towards the same option. However, Kerkez decides to play a difficult pass down the side-line, which goes out of bounds.

These tactical challenges and sub-optimal player roles led to a first half with only two shots for the away side, of which neither hit the target.

Second half: with Wirtz

Slot increased his team’s synergy by bringing on Wirtz in the second half. Bradley, who had also picked up a yellow card during the first half, came off and Szoboszlai moved back to right back. The same 3-2 build-up and box midfield was apparent, but with Wirtz operating in his favorite zone instead of Kerkez.

Within 15 seconds of coming on, Wirtz made an impact. With his first touch he sent Gakpo in behind

His second touch was a back-heel flick to create a close-range opportunity for Salah.

Although Wirtz made an instant impact through his individual quality and he improved the synergy of Liverpool’s left flank, their tactical challenges remained. In the situation below Garnacho applies the same pressure as we saw in the first half. Mac Allister offers a short passing option. He already saw the possibility of creating a third-man combination with Szoboszlai.

Mac Allister is ignored again however, and Chelsea eventually recover the ball.

Defensively, Liverpool also didn’t improve much in the second half. Wirtz played a similar role as Szoboszlai in their pressing structure, although he looked to press with more intensity, utilizing his fresh legs. But the same issues as earlier were apparent.

Below, Chelsea have found Cucurella behind Salah yet again. Gravenberch closes the distance to the left back which leaves Mac Allister in a large space, responsible for two opponents (remember the 1-0?).

This attack leads to the 4-on-3 situation below, from which Joao Pedro decides to take a low-value shot.

Both teams continued playing for the win in the second half. This openness eventually led to Liverpool's equalizer by Gakpo. However, it ultimately cost Liverpool as well. In the 95th minute, Jones (who came on for Konaté) decided to press Caicedo, who was already being chased by Wirtz. He found Lavia in space, which ignited another transition in which Liverpool players were asked to cover large distances in between multiple attackers.

Inside their box, both Endo and Robertson are surprised by runs in behind their back by Cucurella and Estevao, who deliver the match-winning assist and goal respectively.

The tactical issues in Liverpool’s build-up phase and pressing structure have not much to do with Wirtz presence and benching him didn’t solve anything. Rather, other players should be used in roles that suit their play style (i.e, Mac Allister, Kerkez in possession, Salah defensively). Furthermore, the lack of final third technical quality hindered Liverpool during the first half, highlighted by Wirtz's instant impact in the second half. I think Slot will continue rotating his line-up and structure. However, I do believe his ideal line-up will allow Wirtz and Szoboszlai to occupy the half-spaces — either as left winger and number 10 or as number 10 and right back.