Arne Slot wants Liverpool’s fullbacks to stay as narrow as the opponent’s press allows, to minimize the distance between players so they can move the ball between players “faster from one foot to another” and to give the opponent “less time to defend.”

Arne Slot speaking with Sky Sports:

The idea of the fullbacks not being that wide, and it depends also what the press, what the other teams will give us. But if the fullbacks are all down the line and you play the fullback, then he is very far away from some other players. And it takes really long to get the ball over there, so if you are playing closer to each other, then the ball goes faster from one foot to another, and that gives less to the opponent to defend.

I think Trent (Alexander-Arnold) has been used in the past, and we will use him also during this season, a lot on the inside, but the way they (Ipswich Town) pressed was with nine, ten, and their (left-winger) went all the way to Ryan Gravenberch. And when we play to Trent, then the left midfielder, the number eight, stepped out towards him. Then it’s not a smart idea to play on the inside because then the distance is really short between the midfielder and Trent, so then it’s smarter to stay wider because then the distance for him to run is longer, create more time for Trent.

We did speak at halftime that he should be wider to make distance between the one who wanted to press him longer, which creates more time for him.

Another thing they changed was to have Dominic Szoboszlai rotate out wide more often to allow Trent Alexander-Arnold to move inside into the right half-space. Szoboszlai is an underrated defender in wide areas.

The narrowness of Liverpool is the greatest feature currently because of how quickly it allows them to move the ball from back to front on the ground. It is the most direct way to play without playing through the air. It squeezes the ball forward.