Arne Slot said that Liverpool did not have a “specific plan” to defend against Manchester United’s buildup. Their defense was dictated by how they wanted to attack. Keeping Salah and Diaz high, with Szoboszlai on the left, attacked United’s weaknesses.

Arne Slot when asked if Liverpool had a game plan on how to press Manchester United, when United were building up from the back in an interview post-match with Sky Sports:

There’s not a specific game plan (when defending against Manchester United’s) buildup from the back. We always want to press the opponent high; that’s what Jurgen (Klopp) did (last season; that’s what we tried to continue. The game plan was more when we had the ball, where normally in the last two games, Dominic (Szoboszlai) played more from the right; today we played him from the left. But without the ball, we always tried to press as high as we can, and we scored, I think, a few goals from the high press.

Every thought they have relates back to their attack. Classic school of Johan Cruyff mentality, aggressive in all phases of play on and off the pitch.

Having Dominic Szoboszlai on the left accomplishes several things.

Ryan Gravenberch normally plays on the right behind Szoboszlai. Having Szoboszlai on the left means that Gravenberch had a natural avenue forward to help press their right. Gravenberch didn’t have to fully commit to press either.

That means Szoboszlai can target Kobbie Mainoo more aggressively, as he is United’s best midfielder; he could even make a case to say he is their best player on the day. Casemiro was the weak link in Manchester United’s buildup. Casemiro normally plays on the right, but he drifted ahead of Mainoo in the buildup.

When Casemiro moved forward, Gravenberch could attack him from behind. Or when Joshua Zirkzee dropped from center-forward, Gravenberch could follow him. Gravenberch had the out ball covered and was applying pressure to Mainoo when he moved to United’s left.

All the pressure is on United’s left side to work the ball out from the back because Szoboszlai, Diogo Jota, and Luis Diaz overload their right. Diogo Dalot can’t bomb forward to overload right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold or invert into the midfield as often because he has to move wide to help Lisandro Martinez on United’s left.

Their fullbacks, nine out of ten times they are really high, and then Casemiro comes in between, so if you pick the ball, if you can keep (Luis Diaz) and (Mohamed Salah) high, then you’re constantly in a one-v-one situation. And then you need midfielders that can run, and we had three of them today that kept on running, and if they arrive in a duel, that they are aggressive enough to win it. That was, I think, one of the main reasons why we could win today.

Having Szoboszlai on the left means that their main attacking target, Mohamed Salah, was always more free on the far side, the right side of the attack. I’d take Lisandro Martinez one-v-one versus Mohamed Salah nine times out of ten, any day of the week.

Diogo Jota was dropping off from a center-forward position, moving behind Dominic Szoboszlai, allowing Szoboszlai to run through between Salah and Diaz to pressure the man with the ball, whether that be a center-back or midfielder.

If the ball was passed forward, they wanted someone in the back of that player to win a duel and then spring an attack. If the man receiving was facing United’s goal Dominic Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Alister, or a defender moved full speed towards the ball carrier as the ball was passed forward. If they were facing upfield one of the forwards could come from behind with the team collapsing on the ball from all sides.

All four of Liverpool’s goals (including the one that was disallowed for offsided) resulted from a turnover; three from duels won and one from a passing error by Casemiro in Manchester United’s half of the field.

Because of how aggressively United position themselves, Kobbie Mainoo is more likely to try to get forward. When Szoboszlai wins the ball, he can turn and then play towards Salah’s side to play him through.

Arne Slot on Manchester United’s change to a 4-4-2 this season:

I see them, in my opinion, working harder if the ball is being played through them. So they run more.

We all remember the massive space Liverpool created last season at Old Trafford. Making them run, tiring them, is key to dominating them.

If you get past their first and second line, they’re running and running and running the entire match. Like a Basketball game, a constant game of many transitions with massive amounts of space. Liverpool can stretch the pitch wider than they normally would with the fullbacks spread wider, to take advantage of United’s two front lines pushed high up the pitch and their defensive line far back in their own end.

All of that defensive organization from Liverpool comes together because of the plan they laid out in attack. Defend to attack. It’s as simple as marking the closet man and pressing when the ball is played forward to United’s midfield. The emphasis on the press is more on applying pressure to United’s midfield than the backline.

Match: Manchester United 0-3 Liverpool, 1 September 2024