Liverpool deservedly returned to winning form on Saturday with a 2-0 win over Aston Villa that saw Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch key to exploiting a weakness.
After six defeats in their last seven games, the Reds looked more like champions as they grinded out a 2-0 victory over Villa at Anfield.
They were aided by a shocker from Emi Martinez to gift Mohamed Salah the opening goal but were certainly worthy of the win as Gravenberch made it 2-0 with a deflected effort from range.
With help from FotMob, we’ve taken a look at how Villa’s approach – and the performances of Gravenberch and Szoboszlai in particular – helped the Reds restore form.
Villa’s approach played into Liverpool’s hands
Full credit to Liverpool, as it was their hard-pressing play which forced Villa back and into trouble, but their visitors arrived with a game plan which entirely suited them.
After Slot repeatedly stressed his side’s issues with facing physical long-ball sides, Unai Emery set Villa up to play out from the back and attempt to lure the champions into trouble on the counter.
The issue there came largely down to personnel: Emery will not have legislated for Martinez’s clumsy error, nor the sheer presence of Szoboszlai.
Liverpool struggled throughout their 3-2 defeat to Brentford a week previous and the stats show why it was a different story on Saturday.
While Brentford attempted 65 long passes from 288 overall (23 percent), Villa’s long balls were down to 48 attempts from 398 passes (12 percent).
Similarly, Villa played significantly more passes in their own half – completing 205, or 61 percent of their total accurate passes – than Brentford (98; 49 percent).
Brentford‘s direct approach – which also saw them focus on their delivery from throw-ins, with 23 compared to Villa’s 12 at Anfield – translated to 34 touches in Liverpool’s box as opposed to Villa’s 22.
In short, Villa’s tendency to sit back and look to play through the Liverpool press was considerably less effective than Brentford going long and taking the fight to them.
Szoboszlai and Gravenberch were key
Of course, to take advantage of Villa’s more timid approach Liverpool still needed to be sharper and more aggressive than they had been throughout their run of six domestic defeats.
Essential to that was the relentless pressing of Szoboszlai as Slot’s natural No. 10 and the return of Gravenberch to the side as a more orthodox No. 6.
Only Ibrahima Konate (12) made more defensive contributions for Liverpool than Gravenberch (eight) and Szoboszlai (seven), whose efficiency was clearly defined.
For Gravenberch, that came with three tackles (the joint-most of any player) and four interceptions (the most of any player) – as a suffocating presence at the base of midfield – along with the goal that made it 2-0.
Meanwhile Szoboszlai made two tackles but more importantly also made five recoveries (the joint-most of any outfield player) – his duty was to lead the press in a role similar to that of Adam Lallana in Jurgen Klopp‘s early years.
The Hungarian, who has been Liverpool’s standout player so far this season, had the third-most touches of any player (72) and created the joint-most chances (three, tied with Alexis Mac Allister).
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Slot enthused: “I think the team performance is what made the difference today.
“Everyone was really fighting to get that win over the line: throwing themselves in front of shots, sprinting back when needed, being ready for a high press.”
It was that desire that fuelled Liverpool’s win, but the real challenge could come when they try to execute that against the next side that adopts the Brentford blueprint.
Whether that will be either Real Madrid or Man City in the week to come remains to be seen, but Slot certainly built a platform for those two games with victory over Villa at Anfield.
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