Gary Neville was left bemused by one thing that he saw from Liverpool during their 2-0 win over Ipswich on Saturday.
The Reds came through an unconvincing goalless first half to take command after the interval and collect all three points, although there was still some scrutiny over the tactical setup deployed by Arne Slot.
On Sky Sports‘ Monday Night Football, the ex-Manchester United defender and Jamie Carragher were analysing a passage of play in which Virgil van Dijk had the ball on the edge of his penalty area. Rather than passing left towards Andy Robertson, the Scot ran in behind the LFC captain and received a backwards pass, even with multiple Ipswich players pressing high.
After viewing the clip, Neville said: “I marvel at what these players do in how they play out from the back. What’s the benefit you’re trying to look fo? What’s the advantage?
“You’ve got Alisson there who can do that exact same job. Why would Arne Slot coach Robertson to run behind Van Dijk into the space where Alisson can do that job? What advantage is he seeing there?”
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Slot will feel that the end result vindicated his tactical decisions on Saturday, although we can understand why some fans and pundits will never be fond of seeing players slowly work the ball out from the back and invite pressure in an area where one slight mistake could prove fatal.
Carragher pointed out how Liverpool’s full-backs appear to take up narrower in-field positions under their new head coach rather than maximising the width they can provide, an adjustment with which we’re not yet familiar but to which we might become accustomed as the season progresses.
It’ll take getting used to witnessing such intricacies, but so long as the Reds are doing the business on the pich and picking up results, we won’t complain about how it materialises.
You can view the full analysis from Neville and Carragher below, via @SkySportsPL on X: