Liverpool expert David Lynch tells Sports Mole that Arne Slot wants his side to be more “Man City-esque” in their control of games compared to Jurgen Klopp’s approach.
Liverpool expert David Lynch has told Sports Mole that manager Arne Slot is looking to make his side more “Man City-esque” when it comes to controlling games.
The Merseyside outfit have regularly been challenging at the top end of the table in recent years, finishing outside of the top three just once in the last six seasons, while they currently sit at the summit of the Premier League standings after seven games of the 2024-25 campaign.
However, they have only won one league title in that time, usually having to play second fiddle to Pep Guardiola‘s all-conquering Manchester City side.
While Liverpool and Man City produced some classic matches as the two sides thrashed it out toe to toe in their heavyweight tussles, in other matches against weaker opposition, it was Guardiola’s men who tended to command the greater control over games.
That was largely down to their stifling possession, passing it amongst their highly-skilled, technical players as they probed for a way through the defensive banks that they so often came up against.
While Jurgen Klopp‘s Liverpool faced similar problems, at times they took a more direct approach, leading to some thrilling “rock and roll” football, but also at times opening the door to the opposition to hit them on the break and nick goals against the run of play more often than they would when facing Man City.
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Indeed, Klopp’s final two seasons in charge saw the Reds ship 88 goals – 21 more than Man City over the same period – and in 2023-24 alone, Liverpool conceded the first goal in 23 of their matches – almost 40%.
This season, however, Liverpool boast the best defensive record in England with only two goals conceded so far.
Many of their matches have seen Slot’s men weather temporary storms despite generally controlling most of the game, which may be a particular concern heading into a more difficult run of fixtures which see Liverpool facing every other member of the current top nine within their next 10 league games.
However, speaking to Sports Mole editor Barney Corkhill, David Lynch believes that Slot is attempting to turn matches from the “basketball game” approach under Klopp to “non-events” a la Man City.
Hit play on the video above to hear the discussion.