As Arne Slot‘s preparations for his first season as Liverpool head coach step up in the United States, the Dutchman is still missing a key piece of his puzzle.
Liverpool have arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the start of their first tour of the US since 2019, and the survivors from that three-stop jaunt around Indiana, Boston and New York could be forgiven for feeling things aren’t quite the same.
Sure, Jurgen Klopp’s travelling squad five years ago was bulked out with youthful faces, but the manager could still work with the majority of his key players.
Alisson, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane all missed out, but Virgil Van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Gini Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Joel Matip, Jordan Henderson and James Milner were among those to make the trip.
This time around, Salah will be the marquee name that draws in casual audiences in the US, but there are few genuine first-choice starters in Slot’s initial group.
Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai should fit into that category, while Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Wataru Endo and Jarell Quansah can present a convincing case for a starting spot, but there are few others beyond that.
Slot will undoubtedly see it as an opportunity, and perhaps even more valuable as he can work closely with those fringe players who he may not have been able to track in his analysis of Liverpool’s games in seasons gone by.
But the uniquely challenging summer facing a club overhauled will have its impact on the fine-tuning Liverpool’s new head coach will hope to undertake Stateside.
Assessing the options available to the Dutchman and it is abundantly clear that he is lacking in one key area.
Short up top
While six attackers made the trip in Salah, Ben Doak, Kaide Gordon, Lewis Koumas, Harvey Blair and Fabio Carvalho, ultimately those are five wingers and a No. 10.
Koumas is closest to a typical striker, but he has more often found himself stationed on the left wing due to his ability to cut onto his right foot.
Slot is expected to set his Liverpool side up in the same fluid 4-3-3 system that brought him success at Feyenoord, but the friendlies against Real Betis, Arsenal and Man United will be missing one key cog: a centre-forward.
The new head coach’s tactics have typically relied upon the striker to score the goals, with his side’s attacking play designed to provide chances for the man up front, whether via passing lanes or crosses from out wide and deep.
Mexican striker Santiago Gimenez has comfortably scored more than any other player during Slot’s coaching career so far, with 49 goals in 85 appearances, and it stands to reason that the centre-forward will be a focus in his setup at Liverpool.
But Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo are still absent following their exploits at Copa America and the Euros, while even Jayden Danns has been ruled out with a back injury.
The same situation saw Slot start the Reds’ unofficial pre-season opener – a 1-0 loss to Preston at the AXA Training Centre – with Carvalho as a nominal No. 9.
It is a role that Klopp suggested Carvalho could play upon his arrival from Fulham, but there won’t be many expecting him to fulfil the role in perhaps the way Slot will hope.
While Carvalho’s tendency is to drop and link play, as a natural playmaker, Slot’s systems are built around a more orthodox striker.
Salah, Gordon and Koumas could all feasibly step in up front, but none would play the position in the way Liverpool can expect to see as the season unfolds.
One opportunity missed, another gained?
It is through no fault of Slot’s, but until Nunez and, to a lesser extent, Jota return, the Reds will not be able to fully realise their new tactical brief.
The passes played to the striker will be different; the spaces his runs would open up may not be there to exploit.
This makes it particularly frustrating that Danns, the 18-year-old throwback-type striker who stepped up last season when Klopp needed him, was unable to make the trip across the Atlantic.
Like Bobby Clark, who also stayed on Merseyside to continue treatment, the time in the US would have been a big chance for Danns to imprint on his new coach.
Instead, the default option will likely remain Carvalho, with Jota perhaps available to step in after he links up with the squad midway through the tour.
It is certainly an opportunity for Carvalho to prove himself – not only as a player, but as a character, selflessly stepping up in a role he would prefer not to settle in.
That scenario can be related to a number of positions and players who landed in the US, but when Slot’s system is likely to rely so heavily on a centre-forward, opportunity is only so useful when the right personnel is not available to grasp it.
When it could all come together
Of course, Slot is not a dogmatic coach, and he can use this time in the States to work on other solutions, perhaps including the likes of Salah and Blair rotating up top.
But Liverpool fans may only see the first real shoots of his attacking system in full flow when the Reds return to Merseyside in August.
By then, Nunez, Jota, Gakpo and hopefully Danns will have returned to the fold and, all being well, the exercises worked on in training can be put into action against Sevilla at Anfield.
While it is far from the ideal start for a new head coach, without the majority of his key names for most of pre-season, no doubt Slot will still see double sessions and warmup friendlies in the US as a chance to kick on.
