Jurgen Klopp stepped down as Liverpool manager at the end of last season. Despite reported links with various managers, including Xabi Alonso, he was replaced by Arne Slot, who had led Feyenoord.
He is in the process of building a new Liverpool style of play by adding the essence of the possession-oriented football he prefers to the fast, vertical football established by Klopp. The team, including the players, is still far from ideal, but it is improving day by day.
Former England midfielder Frank Lampard, who had a great deal of success with Chelsea during his playing days, explained the differences between the Klopp and Slot regimes in terms of the way midfielders play, based on the game against AC Milan.
He explains in detail, including when he does not have the ball.
“You control a game from the middle of the pitch and everybody wants to have that superiority in there [midfield],”
“The three players they have in there [Gravenberch, Mac Allister and Szoboszlali], they all have different attributes. They all have energy and technical quality, but they are also very intelligent.”
“While Szoboszlai mainly is the higher [up] midfielder, but sometimes you find him going into wider areas. But they still maintain players in the middle of the pitch who are always ready to receive the ball.”
“And they tend to stay behind the ball a bit more. I think Jurgen Klopp’s team, off the ball, they would be aggressive and they would jump to win the ball back and it was very hard to play against.”
“These guys, up to now, seem to have a good balance off the ball and as soon as they have the ball they can control games. I think they controlled so much of the game, it was 50/50 in terms of possession, but in terms of the feeling of the game Liverpool had a lot of control in midfield.”
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