Liverpool FC News: Arne Slot teases 'promising' change

Going into the October international break, it's clear that Liverpool have to make some changes.

Of course, a lot of squad changes were made over the summer, and Arne Slot has been trying to give the team balance, while getting his best players involved in the starting XI. Until last week, you felt as though things were getting there. Seven wins with a few late goals mixed in to add a little tension.

However, the 'unsustainable' claims about the Reds' performances seem to have been more accurate than a lot of those connected to Liverpool might have initially wanted to admit. Team cohesion isn't anywhere near as good as it could be and our recent form has reflected that.

Three losses in a row - something that Slot is experiencing for the first time in his managerial career - are what will linger in the background while the players are off playing for their international sides.

Following the most recent defeat to Chelsea, the Dutch head coach teased that he might have found a long-term solution to fixing one of the team's main flaws. The impact of such a call will be massive.

Gravenberch to play at centre-back?

Throughout last season, Ryan Gravenberch was the rock that held Liverpool's midfield together, playing as a makeshift defensive midfielder and excelling under the upmost pressure. The 23-year-old came on leaps and bounds from his first season with the Reds under Jurgen Klopp in 2023/24.

His impact was so big that Liverpool didn't consider bringing in a No. 6 this summer, even though £440m ended up being spent on transfer across the off-season. The club trusts him imperatively.

In pre-season, it was teased how Gravenberch could drop slightly deeper form his role in midfield to split the centre-backs and turn the Reds into a back-three. Tactically, it meant that there was an extra layer of security when the team was defending as a group and he was free to move from that role.

Across the first few games of this campaign, however, we've also heard from the player about his intention to get a few more goals and assists. He already has two goal contributions for us in eight games played. As such, there's been introspection that he might excel more if played as a No. 8.

Having said that, Slot teased something entirely different against Chelsea on Saturday night and his comments in the media after the game suggest that Slot might see this new change as being key to getting the team playing with balance once again. Technically speaking, it's a brand new role for him.

After 56 minutes, Curtis Jones was substituted on for Ibrahima Konate and as such, the Dutchman dropped deep to sit alongside Virgil Van Dijk as a centre-back. This is not to make up a back-three, but to feature in a back-two of sorts, with the full-backs pushing up to try and win the game.

Joe Gomez was left on the bench for the entire match, so it's not that Slot didn't have any other options, this was a tactical call. And in his mind, Gravenberch at centre-back worked quite well.

In his post-match comments to the media, via The Athletic, he said: "It was already a substitution I had in mind for a little bit later because the right centre-back had a lot of the ball possession. We needed to create from that position and we all know that Ryan is quite good there.

"When Ryan started to play in that position, we were able to get our attackers into much more promising situations. We had to do better in the build up and we did that in the second half."

Given how a lot of the criticism sent Liverpool's way has been in regard to the disconnect with the forwards, playing Gravenberch in the defence could be one way to rejig things, although the impact on the midfield is going to be quite significant if this move is seen as a long-term fix.

Furthermore, we might still have midfield issues to solve, even if he's no longer in that position.

New signing Florian Wirtz doesn't get enough touches on the ball as the No. 10 and the team as a whole seems more likely to pass sideways or backwards, rather than forwards. That's a general issue which Gravenberch moving around is unlikely to solve. Generally, the team needs a rethink.

But what's clear is that Slot isn't afraid to be bold and he's thinking on his feet. In time, he will ideally be able to crack the puzzle that is Liverpool's squad right now, putting all the right pieces in place.

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