Liverpool are going to miss Trent Alexander-Arnold more than they imagine because Mohamed Salah thrives from direct passes into space or into his feet. He might become lost in the game without them in the short-term.

Trent Alexander-Arnold does everything on his first or second touch. He rarely takes a third touch before spraying the ball forward into space or into a teammate’s feet.

This is Liverpool’s most potent automation because it is an explosive athletic sequence of passes.

A direct pass on the first or second touch forward catches the defense off-guard and draws them into the man receiving the pass. Then try to play up and over the backline in on goal, either over the top or across goal.

Notice Mohamed Salah’s body language when he receives a pass like this. It is immediately positive. He jumps into receiving the pass, and he knows exactly where to direct the next pass to generate that high-quality chance. It opens up play.

Alisson and Virgil van Dijk are the only two other players who are capable of playing this pass out from the back. Alisson from the half-volley with the ball in his hands and Virgil van Dijk near the halfway line. Trent Alexander-Arnold was that third option, the escape route out from pressure. Dump it to him, and then he punts it forward.

With Florian Wirtz you are going to get a lot of straight horizontal passes to feet and through balls. A more cramped style of play.

To get Salah more involved in the play, they might have to try having Dominic Szoboszlai drop back into that right fullback position, let Jeremie Frimpong bomb forward to act as a right winger, and then have Salah invert into the half-space to combine with Wirtz and the center-forward.

In the long-term they have too much quality in the starting lineup to be having issues in attack.