The Reds have been extremely disappointing this season, winning three of their last eleven games and sitting in the bottom half of the Premier League.
The expectations for Liverpool going into this season could not have been higher.
In year one under Arne Slot, the Reds competed for (nearly) every trophy. Slot immediately matched Jürgen Klopp’s Premier League trophy count, finishing ten points clear of Arsenal. Liverpool took eventual Champions League winners PSG to penalties, and while the Reds lost in the Carabao Cup Final and crashed out early in the FA Cup, it was a great season.
The summer only heightened expectations. While there were many sales — including former Trent Alexander-Arnold’s controversial Madrid move — the arrivals were exciting. Before this season, Liverpool’s record signing was Darwin Núñez, who joined for €85 million. This summer, the Reds spent more on three players each — Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, and Hugo Ekitiké.
These, combined with two high-profile full-back signings and one of Europe’s most promising center-backs, were supposed to take an already lethal team to the next level. Instead, the season has been a disaster.
Liverpool have won three of their last eleven games and sit 12th in the Premier League as of writing. They are coming off consecutive 3-0 losses, including to Sean Dyche’s Nottingham Forest. None of the high-profile signings have panned out quite as expected.
Right now, Liverpool are in free-fall, and frankly, even some of their better results have been a little flattering. The Reds desperately need to turn things around — and maybe a change of formation could do the trick.
While the Reds’ attackers — mainly new signings Wirtz and Isak — have been the scapegoats for an overall poor season, the root of the problems lies in the defense. Only four Premier League teams have conceded more than Liverpool’s 20 goals, while only Wolves have conceded as many from set-pieces as Liverpool’s nine.
In general, there’s very little balance in this Liverpool squad. Miloš Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong are both very attacking-minded full-backs. Frimpong has rarely played as a right-back in a back four, hence why Slot has hesitated to use him there. The midfield is loaded with playmakers like Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch, but it has fallen short defensively.
This, combined with Alisson’s injury — which meant Giorgi Mamardashvili had to step in between the sticks — and Ibrahima Konaté’s seeming lack of interest in defending, has led to massive problems at the back. A more defensive approach might fit the Reds much better than the current tactics, which have left Konaté and Van Dijk isolated on the counter all too often.
After disappearing in the wave of possession-based play, three center-back formations are having something of a moment. Internazionale reached the Champions League Final last year with Inzaghi’s men utilizing a back three and lethal wing-backs. PSG ultimately humbled them in the final, but wins over Barcelona and Bayern Munich showed Inter could compete.
It’s taking over the Premier League, too, slowly but surely. Manchester United and Crystal Palace both use back threes, albeit with different play styles. Both are now challenging for Europe, with Ruben Amorim’s United finally looking somewhat threatening, while Oliver Glasner has seemingly single-handedly changed Crystal Palace’s fortunes.
Régis Le Bris’s high-flying Sunderland side have occasionally used three center-backs, helping the newly-promoted Black Cats get results against Arsenal and Chelsea. Sunderland could plausibly qualify for Europe this season. Teams like Tottenham and Newcastle have also used three center-backs at times, albeit with somewhat less success so far.
Liverpool’s squad is almost perfectly created for a 3-4-1-2 formation. They just don’t realize it, at least not yet.
On paper, a two-striker formation leaves Arne Slot with limited options. After all, the only natural strikers in the squad are Hugo Ekitiké and Alexander Isak. However, wingers Federico Chiesa and Cody Gakpo both have experience playing up top, both at club level and for their national teams, both as one of two strikers, and have had reasonable success there.
More importantly, Liverpool’s first choices have experience alongside another number nine. Ekitiké earned his Premier League move after a season and a half with Eintracht Frankfurt, where he played next to another striker, often Omar Marmoush, who now plays for Manchester City. Isak played in a two-striker system with Real Sociedad prior to his Newcastle move and now plays next to Viktor Gyökeres for Sweden.
Considering Isak and Ekitiké were two of Liverpool’s biggest signings of the summer, it’s a big disappointment that they have only been on the pitch together for a combined 75 minutes. Arne Slot has two quick, tall strikers — Ekitike is 6’3”, and Isak is 6’4” — who have thrived next to another nine in the past, so why not use them together?
Having both on the pitch at the same time would enable Liverpool to take more advantage of the aerial threat they each possess. This would help set-pieces, as the Reds have the joint-fewest Premier League goals scored from set-pieces this season, with only one, per OptaAnalyst. They are tied with Wolverhampton, who have two points and are already on their second manager.
This Liverpool has looked dangerous on the counter and with more direct play at times, and Ekitiké and Isak could form a deadly duo up top. In the absence of wingers, both also have more license to drift out wide and find space, something they both did so well before their Liverpool moves. This does bring up an important issue: the absence of Mohamed Salah.
The Egyptian international has regressed in a big way this season, and just doesn’t feel like the best fit in this current Liverpool team, which still includes wingers. In a 3-4-1-2 formation, there’s not really a position for Salah, unless he can feature as a right-sided center-forward — something he’s not done since his Roma days.
A potential big winner in the attack is Florian Wirtz. It’s no secret that the German attacking midfielder has struggled to make his mark, as he still has yet to record his first goal contribution in the Premier League. Sticking him as the lone ten behind two strikers would mean adding a lot more responsibility, but also more freedom for the German.
Wirtz would take on a bigger role, leading quick breaks and creating chances for both Ekitiké and Isak. He’d have more room to dribble and freedom to move toward the wings, or, if Ekitiké and Isak drifted wide, to make his own runs into the middle. In general, he’d be more of the main man, as he was in Leverkusen.
After all, a big reason for Wirtz’s struggles in England is that he’s just not getting as involved. Wirtz is taking far fewer shots (2.83 per 90 last year in the Bundesliga compared to 1.57 this year in the Premier League), touches (80.3 compared to 57.7), and passes (67 compared to 46.5). The way Liverpool play asks far more defensively out of the German than he did in Leverkusen, as well.
So, in the absence of Salah and other wingers, having Wirtz be more of a key piece and relying on him more creatively — and having others behind him do the dirty work — could reawaken his Leverkusen form, especially as he’s coming off a productive international break with Germany.
Behind Wirtz in midfield, there are many options. Using three center-backs takes some pressure off, which is good as they lack a real defensive presence like a Moisés Caicedo or João Palhinha. Last year, Alexis Mac Allister stepped up, but the Argentine midfielder has been far from his best.
A midfield pivot of Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch would be a perfect fit for the formation. Szoboszlai has been fantastic this season, bailing the Reds out with some individual brilliance like his free kick vs Arsenal and his dummy, which led to the last-minute winner against Newcastle. He adds the energy in midfield and can score from anywhere, similarly to how Hakan Çalhanoğlu or Piotr Zieliński add threats from distance when Inter’s strikers go quiet.
Ryan Gravenberch adds a deeper-lying playmaking threat. The Dutch midfielder endured a rough first season at Anfield, but became one of the best passers in the league last year under Arne Slot. He’s already shown he can thrive picking players out on the counter, and with Wirtz, Ekitiké, and Isak in attack and wing-backs flying forward on both flanks, he’d have a chance to become even more threatening.
Mac Allister, Trey Nyoni, Curtis Jones, and a healthy Stefan Bajčetić are all solid options for depth and rotation. None of them is quite the destroyer profile the midfield in its current set-up seems to be missing, but they are all creative options that would work well with a solid defensive set-up.
The wing-backs would be, of course, Kerkez and Frimpong. Frimpong was never really a proper right-back for Bayer Leverkusen, operating as a wing-back or often even higher up the pitch. Between injuries and tactics, the Dutch international has not yet carved out a big role in Liverpool, but his speed and surprising knack for goals make him an ideal option on the right.
Kerkez is a more well-rounded player, at least defensively, which is why he has featured regularly as the starting left-back. Despite the slow start to the season, Kerkez is clearly an immensely talented player, and he regularly features as a wing-back for Hungary and developed as a wing-back as a young Milan player.
Kerkez and Frimpong add width, and their crossing combined with two aerially strong strikers in Isak and Ekitiké means that, despite the lack of wingers, the Reds’ attack would still be threatening. Arne Slot’s men love to hit on the counter, and having one of the fastest players in the world in Frimpong, as well as Kerkez, flying forward on the break would cause problems for the rest of the league.
Having three center-backs, rather than two, would mean the wing-backs could push forward without being caught out of position and hit on the counter, which is a big problem for Liverpool’s defense right now. Both Kerkez and Frimpong have the pace and defensive ability to get back and defend when needed, but the extra center-back provides the extra security and numbers advantage that doesn’t exist when it’s just Van Dijk and Konaté defending on the break.
In terms of depth, left-back Andy Robertson and right-back Conor Bradley have regularly played as wing-backs for Scotland and Northern Ireland, respectively. Both offer slightly more defensive profiles, making them ideal options against teams with bigger wing threats.
Now, the most important part of a back three is the center-backs. And here’s the problem: Liverpool lack center-back depth.
The ideal back three is quick, comfortable on the ball, and good at defending one vs one. In theory, Liverpool has three defenders who fit the bill in Konaté, Van Dijk, and Joe Gomez. However, injuries have significantly limited Gomez’s availability in recent years, while neither Konaté nor Van Dijk has been particularly brilliant this season.
Young Italian Giovanni Leoni — who, being Italian, has of course played in a back three — showed promise early on before an injury ruled him out for the rest of the season. The other central options are Rhys Williams, who, after a bright start to his Liverpool career several years ago, has faded completely from the first team picture and has yet to play this season, and Wataru Endō, who got his start as a center-back but now operates mainly as a midfielder.
Now, it looks like Liverpool will target a center-back in January either way, because they desperately need one. Crystal Palace defender Marc Guéhi — who plays in, you guessed it, a back three — has repeatedly come up as a potential target, especially if Konaté goes.
Until that happens, the options in defense would be limited. If the Konaté and Van Dijk pairing was as good as it was last season, there would be little point in switching — but it isn’t. The backline needs all the help that it can get, and adding another center-back into the mix, like Gomez, Endō, or even a young academy player, would significantly lower both the odds of getting hit on the break and of conceding as much on set-pieces.
What makes a back three like this so dangerous is the flexibility. Liverpool could play like recent Inter teams, pressing high up the pitch to win the ball quickly and then attack, or they could sit back and absorb pressure before springing quick counters. If the opponent is pressing high, a long ball over the top can find Isak or Ekitiké; if the opponent is sitting back, Kerkez and Frimpong can attack the flanks, and Szoboszlai can make runs forward from midfield.
Liverpool, in their current form, are not causing problems for anyone, nor are they getting the best out of their new signings. These signings were not like-for-like; Frimpong is not designed to play like Trent, Ekitiké and Isak are both too good to be on the bench, nobody has adequately replaced Luis Díaz, who is thriving in Munich. A big formation change could be just what they need to become one of the most feared teams in Europe again.
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Image via liverpoolfc.com.
