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Liverpool manager Arne Slot says Bayer Leverkusen threw som unusual tactical tweaks at his Reds that took a half to figure out before they could earn a dominant 4-0 victory.
By the time the final whistle blew, it was a blowout, Liverpool beating Bayer Leverkusen by four goals to nil with the scoreline hardly flattering the host Reds. The first half of Tuesday night’s Champions League tie, though, could best have been described as cagey.
According to Liverpool manager Arne Slot, a lot of that was down to Leverkusen’s tactics, with Xabi Alonso’s defending German champions unveiling a number of tweaks meant to blunt Liverpool’s play on the ball and that marked a significant shift from that side’s more typically approach.
“Like many times now, managers change their game plan when they come to Anfield or when they play us,” Slot noted following the victory that takes his Liverpool side top of the Champions League league phase table. “That’s also what we saw today.
“I’ve seen a lot of games from Leverkusen but I’ve never seen [Victor] Boniface playing from the left. So, they played without a nine, they overloaded midfield, it was difficult to press them high. But the good thing was we hardly conceded anything in the first half—if there were chances they were for us.
“Then second half we could adjust the game plan, we took a bit more risks, and we were better with the ball as well. Normally they defend more in a 5-2-3 shape, here they defended in a 4-4-2, so they changed quite a lot and we had to adjust to that at half-time.”
That tendency for opponents to take what are for them a non-standard approach in an effort to shut down Liverpool is simple reality—especially at Anfield. It’s also something Slot will have had little experience with at his last club, Feyenoord. All signs, though, point to a head coach adjusting quickly and capably.
As he noted, Tuesday wasn’t the first time it’s happened—it was also the case as recently as last weekend against Brighton at Anfield in the league. It certainly won’t be the last time, either. So far, though, Slot and his side have passed every test with flying colours.
