Premier League: Arsenal vs Liverpool! Set-piece nightmare — when the weakest in the Premier League meets a historic powerhouse

Let's start today withPremier League: Arsenal vs Liverpool!

A match like this, between the top title contender and the reigning champion, should be as thrilling as a cosmic collision.

But at present, Liverpool is suffering from serious problems across tactics, strategy, and coaching.This could potentially take away the suspense from the game.

On the tactical side, I am particularly concerned about Liverpool’s defending on set-pieces.

Liverpool’s set-piece defense is the worst in the entire Premier League,conceding the most goals from set-pieces in the league.

And they happen to face Arsenal, who are global leaders in set-piece attacking and have scored the most set-piece goals in the Premier League. Their set-piece tactics are even considered by many experts to be the best in football history.

The worst meets the strongest — how can Liverpool possibly defend against that? So, I am quite worried. After all, even Wolves, who score the fewest set-piece goals in the Premier League, have managed to score against Liverpool from set-pieces.

At the club’s development strategy level, the problems are even greater, with management making a series of mistakes.

For example, why is Liverpool’s set-piece defense so poor?

A key reason is that the management does not take it seriously enough,failing to hire a professional set-piece coach and instead assigning the inexperienced Briggs to fill in.

Before joining Liverpool, Briggs worked as a match analyst at FIFA, UEFA, Monaco, and other places.

What does a match analyst do?

They collect opponent match footage before games, analyze the opponent’s tactical system, and then create a 10 to 15-minute presentation for the coaching staff and players.

During matches, they wear headphones to monitor the situation and report findings and suggestions to the assistant coaches.

After the match, they submit a review report.

This role is useful but very different from what a set-piece coach does.

In a league where set-pieces are highly valued, it’s a major oversight by Liverpool’s management not to hire a specialized coach for this area.

There are also big problems in player recruitment.

We all know Liverpool’s owners were very generous in the summer transfer window,allowing the club to spend €483 million on new signings.

What does that mean?

It’s the largest single-window spending in football history.

But despite spending so much, the value for money has been poor.

For example, the only two signings over €100 million in club history, Isak and Wirtz, have been rather average.

Meanwhile, Flanagan, bought for €40 million, has started only 3 games, and Leoni, costing €31 million, hasn’t played a single minute.

With executives making such poor decisions, coach Slot has very limited options.

For instance, in the last match against Fulham,he started with five midfielders but only one forward, Jota,which is a very odd setup and obviously didn’t work well.

Such a strange lineup naturally drew heavy criticism.

But Slot explained thatit was out of necessity,he personally prefers wingers, attacking football, and using more offensive players, but due to personnel issues, he was forced to choose that starting eleven.

Coaches like Slot, who lack extensive experience at top clubs, often face many restrictions; many seemingly “incompetent” decisions have hidden reasons behind them.

For example, if Amolin hadn’t spoken out recently, many wouldn’t have known that the many questionable signings at Manchester United were not his choices.

We’ve seen that Slot often relies on a single game plan in many matches without any backup strategy.

For example, against Leeds United, even though their attacking tactics were fully figured out and they posed no threat in the second half, Slot had no solution.

This might not be because he’s incapable, but simply because there is no one else to rely on.

Today, Liverpool will inevitably face major problems with their lineup.

For example,they have six professional forwards in total, but only Jota is a regular starter available today,and he might even have to play in an unfamiliar central striker role.

This means Liverpool’s attacking options could be limited, and they will have to depend on their defense.

But given their huge weakness in set-piece defense, can they really hold firm?

In fact, many of Liverpool’s matches this season have been so chaotic that you can’t tell what style they are playing.

Passionate, attacking football is Liverpool’s DNA and proud tradition.

But now even Slot himself admits the team’s play is dull.

When even the coach doesn’t know what the team is doing, challenging a top team like Arsenal away is indeed very difficult.

So, can Arsenal satisfy their fans? What do you all think? I’m looking forward to them securing the three points!

Alright, for today’s other matches, I will still share my written insights with you all tonight. If anything is unclear, feel free to ask me. Let’s watch the game and understand it together — see you there!

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