Credit Where It’s Due, Slot Nailed It
Marseille 0-3 Liverpool | Champions League
I didn’t expect comfort, but I did expect opportunity. This was always a night that suited Liverpool more than the grind of the Premier League; space instead of barricades, rhythm instead of attrition. What surprised me wasn’t the opponent being opened up, but the authority with which it happened.
This felt like a team allowed to breathe again. The ball moved with intent rather than anxiety; players trusted the next pass rather than recycling out of fear. The shape made sense. The distances made sense. Above all, the decisions made sense. Liverpool didn’t chase the game; they owned it, calmly, methodically, with an assurance that has been missing for far too long.
Full credit to Arne Slot. The set-up was intelligent and disciplined, congesting the middle without suffocating the attack, encouraging pressure without recklessness. This was a proper structure with a proper purpose. The midfield boxed the game in, strangled momentum, then released it at the right moments. Marseille never settled, never imposed themselves, never truly believed.
Jeremie Frimpong was the embodiment of freedom, pace as a weapon. Every time he ran, something happened. Ryan Gravenberch did the quiet work that makes loud football possible, disciplined, alert, selfless. Joe Gomez played like a man who has waited long enough and refuses to be ignored any longer. Dominik Szoboszlai set the tone, clever, sharp, decisive, a goal that summed up a night where thought travelled faster than panic.
Mohamed Salah looked rusty, which was inevitable, but even rust draws attention, bends defenders, creates air for others to breathe. Liverpool looked like a team playing together again, not surviving together.
This does not erase what came before, but it matters. It shows the ideas are there. It shows the players still believe. And it shows that when Liverpool stop fearing the game, they can still control it.
One night doesn’t fix a miserable season. But nights like this remind you why you keep watching.
Brillant analysis of Slot's tactical setup. The contrast between structured control and reckless pressing is spot on. What I found most impressive was how Gravenberch's positional discipline created those passing lanes that have been missin all season. When a team transitions from surviving games to controling them, it usually means the manager's system is finally clicking with the player's instincts.