Join the Miguel Delaney Inside Football Join the Miguel Delaney Inside newsletter to get exclusive access and unparalleled insight. Football NewsletterJoin the Miguel Delaney inside Football NewsletterVirgil van dijk has another opponent in mind. He will no longer face Kylian Mbappe but Erling Haaland. Standing on the Anfield pitch after beating Real Madrid with a similar seismic match against Manchester City The captain of Liverpool then brought up the issue of title rivals. “You can see at the moment Arsenal are flying, and it is down to clean sheets and not conceding chances,” he said. Which didn’t seem to be Liverpool’s ethos when they were hurtling their way through action-packed games, relying on late goals and brinkmanship, taking and losing leads until they found themselves losing matchesIn a six-game spell, there were four when Liverpool did not even have a clean sheet after a quarter of an hour, let alone an hour and a half. open image in galleryLiverpool’s defence, with Virgil van Dijk at the helm, is suddenly solid again (Action Images via Reuters)Much can change in a week and Arne Slot could reflect with satisfaction on how both Mbappe and Vinicius Junior were unable to illuminate Anfield. “It is difficult to control them completely but I think we did almost the maximum you can do against these two individuals,” he said. And if the most memorable moment of Mbappe’s night was a shot skied into the Anfield Road Stand, to derisory cheers from the Liverpool faithful, Vinicius fought a titanic battle with Conor Bradley. The Northern Irishman took it.Right back, which was a troublesome position for Liverpool in the past, looked like a strength once again. Andy Robertson’s recall was also a major factor in the team’s transformation. Their manager had admitted that their previous results were unforgivable. If Bradley’s name was sung most by the Kop – and if that was a none-too-veiled rebuke to the returning Trent Alexander-Arnold – the next most was Robertson’s. The old warrior was fantastic.open image in galleryAndy Robson was serenaded and has consistently been excellent since his recall. (Action Images via Reuters).But for all of his individual attributes success had to come from the unit. “We showed we were good as a team defensively,” He said. Real’s xG was 0.45, the lowest in more than a year. Slot outlined the twin strands to Liverpool’s defensive gameplan. “I said to the players that the only thing I did not want was a mid block, so we either press them really high or sit in a low block,” He said. “So never give them space.”He thought a midblock would be a boon to Vinicius, Mbappe and the speedsters, as it would allow them room to run. Dominik Szoboszlai, the unstoppable Dominik who set the tone in the final third of the game with his high press, was a perfect example. “The energy he brings on the pitch is incredible,” said Van Dijk. The Hungarian showed why he is Liverpool’s best defensive No 10; Slot’s side defended from the front as they did last season, which indicated that Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz had an impact off the ball.Szoboszlai had a further impact. Alexis Mac Allister scored the only goal from his free kick. “A positive set-piece balance is the minimum you need to get a result nine out of 10 times,” Slot. Slot’s mantra is to always be on the ball. But, even though Arsenal are known as set-piece specialists their only defeat came this season from a Szoboszlai corner kick. open image in galleryDominik Szoboszlai is Liverpool’s best defensive No 10 and impressed once more (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)If 1-0 is a scoreline with an indelible association with Arsenal, both past and perhaps present, Liverpool have beaten both Mikel Arteta’s team and Xabi Alonso’s by that scoreline. And yet, for the first couple of months of the season, it felt that champions and challengers were pursuing wildly different theories of how to win the title: Arsenal were aiming for 1-0 and 2-0 victories, Liverpool for 3-2 and 4-2s.Subsequent setbacks would suggest that method, unlike Arsenal’s, was not sustainable. Liverpool is always able to score, but when they are not in need of more goals it makes them even better. “We have the quality to hurt anyone on the break; it starts with the defending,” said Van Dijk.Now there is an oddity to Liverpool’s defensive statistics. This season, they have only managed four clean sheets. One of those clean sheets was against a team that had 100 points last season in the Championship. Three of those came against quarter-finalists in 2025 Champions League, including two teams currently at the top of English and Spanish leagues. Van Dijk may argue that this was always the situation. “In a world of chaos you have to stay calm and see perspective of things,” He said. And while it seemed chaotic at the back of Liverpool for most of this season, a sense order has now been restored.
2025-11-05 12:03:07
The unsustainable problem Liverpool fixed to spark revival
