Tactical Board|Magic Ball Concept Team Building! Liverpool's new manager, just the stats are like Klopp

Mitch watches the ball

2024-05-21 11:46Posted in Shanghai Super League Scout, Football Tactics Analyst and creator in the field of sports

Liverpool's recruitment and selection of coaches are all based on a surprise. After Edwards, who advocates big data, returned to Liverpool, he selected Feyenoord coach Slote as Klopp's replacement for his first shot.

Statistically, Slote's side have a lot of overlap with Liverpool, but in reality they are fundamentally different. But Slote is a supporter of the Magic Ball idea, which is the fundamental reason why Fenway chose him.

01. Relationship with Liverpool: Big data got him selected by Edwards

A. A number of old Liverpool acquaintances: full of praise for Slot

As a player, Slote played in the Eredivisie and played for FC Zwolle, Breda and Sparta Rotterdam. Dutch goalkeeper Westerved, who once won the "Little Five" for Liverpool, was a team-mate with him when he was in Sparta Rotterdam, and he is also a frequent friend and golfer at this time.

He thinks Slot is the best candidate for Liverpool's manager: "I knew from the moment I played that he was going to be a coach, a leader, because he was the number 10 in the team, leading the attack and being a guy who could change tactics on the spot. ”

As a Liverpool and Feyenoord legend, Kuyt has a lot to say about Slot.

He has a high opinion of Slot: "He is an attacking footballer, he is very aggressive defensively, he plays in his own way and in the opposition half.

Kuyt, who also knows Feyenoord very well, added: "One of the things that appeals to me about him is that Slote always convinces the players that he is right. ”

In his first year in charge of the team, when facing Marseille in the knockout round of the European Cup, Slote asked the midfielder to practice long passes to find a striker, which was once questioned.

As a result, the team took a 2-0 lead with two long passes at the beginning of the game, and after that, the Feyenoord players were convinced of Slot's requirements and resolutely carried them out.

b. Only 5 years after his coaching career: He is a supporter of the Magic Ball philosophy

After retiring as a midfielder, Slote began his managerial career at AZ Alkmaar. In the 2019-20 season, before the league was suspended, his side were only behind leaders Ajax on goal difference.

In his first year at Feyenoord, the team finished third in the league and reached the final of the UEFA Europa League, but lost to Jose Mourinho's Roma.

A year later, Slote won the Eredivisie title by seven points despite Feyenoord's sale of a number of key players. Although the league title is likely to be reclaimed by PSV Eindhoven this season, Feyenoord still secured second place in the league and Champions League qualification, as well as winning the Dutch FA Cup.

There is reason to believe that what really made Liverpool director Edwards decide to bring in Slote was not that Feyenoord's data model was similar to Klopp's Liverpool, but that Slot never spent a lot of money on signings and believed in scouting and the academy system.

During his three years at Feyenoord, the net investment in reinforcements was -33.92 million euros. In his three years, the most expensive player to buy was the Slovak central defender Hanzke for 8.3 million, and his German transfer price was 35 million euros.

02. Pressing high posts unlike Klopp: Slot's tactics are aggressive

a. Crazy rush after conceding a goal: It's not the same as Klopp

The data agency used a pie chart to reflect the offensive and defensive characteristics of the team, and came to the conclusion that Feyenoord is the team that is most similar to Liverpool!

However, it should be noted that Klopp's high pressing is to pursue the acceleration of the transition between attack and defence, while reducing the creative requirements of the midfield. His choice of midfielders is quite different from that of Slot.

The latter requires that after conceding the ball in front, the opponent is pressed to recover the ball within 3 seconds. However, Feyenoord's midfield, although very focused on running, also requires a high level of creativity and passing, which in itself is a fundamental difference between the Dutch coach's philosophy and that of Germany.

Feyenoord's most impressive win of the season was, of course, a 6-0 thrashing of Ajax. Three of the six goals scored in that game came on the spot-on-the-spot counter-attack.

Feyenoord often counter-attack on the spot as soon as they lose possession of the ball in attack. At the same time, after snatching the ball back, you can send some good passes and bring points on the spot to counter-attack.

Jurgen Klopp's team will be much less demanding in terms of creativity. In particular, Klopp's high pressing does not bring an inverted triangle pass after the full-back's quick forward penetration.

Slot's style of play may be more demanding than Klopp's running, and at the same time, it also requires more creativity from the players, and the resulting picture will be more beautiful. In a way, he is closer to some of Guardiola's philosophy than Jurgen Klopp.

However, this style of play is not very useful when encountering teams with a higher overall level. In fact, Klopp will also appropriately abandon his aggressive style of play in some games.

But Slot's Feyenoord also insisted on the concept of pressing and recovering the ball within 3 seconds after conceding the ball in the Champions League. At the same time, Weifel in the back did not retreat at the first time, but observed it, not giving the opponent a chance to pass short and dribble forward.

In the ensuing development, Feyenoord even had nine men pressing before coming to the opponent's centre circle.

However, Morata is because the defender Weifer did not retreat at the first time, which led to the opponent completing the transition of a little ball.

It is clear from the camera that Feyenoord, who launched the attack, turned on their most accustomed high pressing after conceding the ball in front. However, Alvaro Morata headed back and Griezmann's clever pass completely tore apart Slot's defence.

Morata stepped forward, Weifell couldn't keep up, and at the same time, Feyenoord's central defenders were pushed out, and the backfield was open. Fortunately, the other party was Morata, and this time he didn't grasp the single knife.

b. The low post defense is still high-intensity: the forwards are deep and retreating

Slot, who likes to use the 4231 formation, will become 424 when the attack and defense are converted, so when pressing in the high position, the double back forward is very strong, and the fullbacks will also quickly move forward, and the overall formation is very forward.

However, once it needs to fall low, it will still become 442 with 11 people coming back. It is particularly noteworthy that even with all 11 men coming back, Feyenoord's defence is still extremely aggressive, and their forwards will be pushed out at any time, and the formation can be pulled apart at once.

As a Liverpool fan, you need to be particularly worried about whether the execution of the players can be in place under Slote's philosophy. After all, under Klopp's high-pressure play, players will be very tired, both physically and mentally.

After the change of manager, many players may be planning to "take a breather", but in fact, Slot will put more pressure on the players than his predecessor.

Slot's style of play is even more demanding than Klopp's running, and the training intensity is greater.

In particular, the pressing and confrontation on the wings, as well as the forwards' coverage and forward strength, are uncertain whether they can be supported by Liverpool's big-name players.

03. On the offensive end, pay attention to rib response and off-ball intersperse: high completion rate is required

a. Running is the foundation: the passing is fine

As you can see from the pie chart, Slote's team pays a lot of attention to the quality of short passes, as well as the intensity of the defensive pressing.

While Feyenoord will also take some long balls from the back, it is also about strengthening the pressing and moving forward in the overall formation. Once up front, their attack was heavy on short balls and didn't have too many crosses from Klopp's time at Liverpool.

From this attack, it can be seen that Feyenoord has become a 424 position when attacking. Their double back has a lot of power in front of them, you can't even call it a double back back, but 2 BTBs.

Weifel is more defensive, while Timber is a playmaker who excels at passing and technique.

This time, it was Feyenoord's long pass from the back that was held by Atletico Madrid, and then through a counter-attack on the spot, the opponent made a mistake, and Slot's side regained possession.

Weifell passed to Timber, and the four men on the front line moved together, and finally Timber's clever pass gave Mint the opportunity to shoot in the box, but unfortunately he couldn't take it.

Let's take a look at this attack, it is still through the control of the landing point of the outside line, Feyenoord gets a second chance to attack.

The back Weifell passed to another midfielder, Timber, followed by the signature inverted triangle cross, but unfortunately the striker Gimenez flew away.

b. With a new manager, Salah has less hope of staying?

As you can see from the statistics, Salah has reached the lowest point of his Liverpool career.

He missed too many scoring chances and the actual goal was significantly lower than expected, which is one of the reasons why Klopp considered using him as a substitute.

The problem is that under Slote's tactics, the depth of the strikers, especially the wingers, is amazing, and it is really difficult for Salah to do it at this time.

While it may seem like Slote's short-passing style will give Salah more chances to score, his current running intensity and stamina may not fit into that style of play.

If the summer window is good to gather and disperse, it may be the best outcome. Otherwise, it is not ruled out that between Slot and Salah, a copy of the scene between Ronaldo and Ten Hag will be replicated.

Conclusion:

Liverpool's invitation to Slote should be the handiwork of Edwards' Magic Ball management. The Dutch coach will have a lot of trust in the scouting system and a strong focus on developing Academy players, which Fenway would like to see.

But leaving the Netherlands for the first time in the Premier League, will Slote be able to stand his ground? Whether it is facing Mourinho or Simeone in European competition, he is actually a bit immature, and Liverpool management and fans will need more patience in the short term.

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