Arne Slot may have inadvertently added insult to injury following Liverpool’s 3-0 victory over Manchester United on Sunday. Talking to Sky Sports in the aftermath of the game, the Liverpool manager was asked about his tactical approach to Erik ten Hag’s pressing system. His answer was articulate and illuminating.
It also set off alarm bells among sections of the United fanbase.
After two defeats in his opening three games, has Ten Hag been “figured out” by opposition managers?
Here’s what Slot said…
How Arne Slot masterminded Liverpool’s win at Manchester United 👨🏫 pic.twitter.com/vFblmfvtzJ
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 2, 2024
“Last season, they were man-marking in the midfield and they had a press with the No 7 and No 11, so with the striker and one of the wingers jumped with him,” said Slot when asked what he identified about United. “This season, they are more with a No 9 and No 10 press, so they’re more in a 4-4-2. So that’s different, of course.”
“I see them, in my opinion, working harder if the ball is played through them. So they run more. That’s at least what I saw in the first games.”
Roy Keane then asked the Liverpool manager if he thought his team’s high press allowed them to be “straight at” United if they won the ball.
“Their full-backs, nine out of 10 times, are really high and then Casemiro comes in between. So if you pick the ball and keep Luis Diaz and Mo Salah high, then you are constantly in a one-to-one situation.”
“And then you need midfielders that can run. We had three of them today that kept on running and if they arrive in the duel, they are aggressive enough to win it. That was one of the main reasons why we could win today.”
Explain that to me like I’m five years old…
In Ten Hag’s first two seasons in charge, United pressed with a front three, looking to disrupt opponents from building out from the back.
However, opponents found it easy to play around United’s often inconsistent press.
Last season, several managers including Ange Postecoglou and Roberto De Zerbi realised they could stretch United’s front press to breaking point if they got their centre-backs to stand further apart during build-up. (You could see the then-Brighton manager explain this to Lewis Dunk when the two sides met at Old Trafford last season.)
Following the 4-0 defeat away to Crystal Palace in May, Ten Hag changed his approach, playing with two false nines and asking his wingers to pinch in. By adding an extra player to the front press, United can now go player-for-player to disrupt an opponent’s build-up patterns.
Opposition teams now find it more challenging to play the ball out to the full-backs. As a result, they attempt more passes into central midfield, where United players are supposed to be waiting to snap into tackles and regain possession.
But United came undone against Liverpool because…
1) When Liverpool were in possession, several players were comfortable passing and receiving the ball under pressure, rendering Ten Hag’s scheme toothless.
2) When Liverpool were out of possession, they pressed high up the field to take advantage of United’s 3-1-6 shape in the build-up.
For example, look at how few United players are behind the ball and ready to defend after Casemiro loses possession in the build up to the first goal.
When Ryan Gravenberch plays the pass to Salah on the outside, United’s three remaining defenders have all been sucked over towards the near post, leaving plenty of space for Diaz and Dominic Szoboszlai to attack the opposite side.
Salah duly crosses to the back post, and Diaz heads it in.
For Liverpool’s third, note how four of Slot’s players are ready to flood into United’s defensive third after Alexis Mac Allister wins the ball off Kobbie Mainoo.
They quickly gain a four-v-two advantage over United. It leads to Salah, the Liverpool attacker closest to the bottom of the screen, putting away their third.
Liverpool beat United because they were aggressive in their press and forced their opponents to turn the ball over regularly. From there, they attacked the spaces behind United’s fullbacks.
Why has this set off alarm bells?
Slot’s explanation focused on a persistent issue for United since Ten Hag’s arrival: rest defence.
To describe the concept in basic terms, rest defence refers to a team’s positioning, orientation, and responsibilities when they are attacking and how prepared they are to defend if the ball is lost.
For much of his managerial career at Ajax, Ten Hag would send both full-backs to join the wingers and centre-forward in attack. The idea was to overload the last line of an opposition’s defence and sustain pressure in the final third. If Eredivisie teams managed to repel an attack and break on Ajax, responsibility would fall on a defensive midfielder to mop things up with a tackle around the halfway line or for one of his two remaining centre-backs to marshal a large area of space in their half.
It’s an approach that saw success in Amsterdam because…
1) Ten Hag communicated his tactical ideas very well during his time at Ajax, with players such as Dusan Tadic praising his attention to detail and knowledge of various pressing schemes.
2) Ajax’s financial advantage over other Eredivisie sides allowed Ten Hag to acquire a higher proportion of the league’s best players, meaning his attackers were more likely to dominate opposition defenders, and his defenders were more than capable of bullying opposition attackers if they ever broke through.
Ten Hag’s Ajax had a bigger advantage over their opponents than United enjoy in England (ANP via Getty Images)
Since arriving at United, the Dutchman has attempted to replicate a similar approach and enjoyed some success using it — especially when Casemiro found form during the 2022-23 season. However, be it at Ajax or United, Ten Hag’s approach has depended on his team keeping the ball in the final third for sustained periods and his defenders dominating most of their duels and mopping things up quickly if the ball is lost.
United’s rest defence looked shaky in the early sections of 2022-23 until Casemiro settled into the team and plugged many gaps in central midfield with his counter-pressing and aggressive tackling. The team suffered last season, with issues “in the front and the back” (Ten Hag’s words) leading to a massive gap in midfield. That seems to have hastened Casemiro’s decline, something that was evident against Liverpool.
Aggressive tacklers such as Lisandro Martinez are required to win crucial tackles in Ten Hag’s system (Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
United’s rest defence has been an issue throughout Ten Hag’s time at the club, because it often falls upon aggressive tacklers Casemiro or Lisandro Martinez to win crucial duels — repeatedly — to halt any momentum the opposition team builds. If those key players aren’t up to the task on any given day, the team will suffer as they have to defend at a numerical disadvantage.
Or, to put it simply: Slot’s answer was concerning because it didn’t focus on a single United player having an off-day but explained the structural issue that is likely to remain even if Ten Hag fielded different players in his starting lineups.
In a press conference before the Community Shield, The Athletic asked the United manager how he would improve the side’s rest defence for the upcoming season.
“Rest defence can be an issue in one particular game, but in principle, I have to say our rest defence wasn’t that bad, but our reactions after we lose the ball can be better. Our decision-making after we lose the ball can be better,” said Ten Hag.
“We worked on this issue in pre-season but it’s only in the last two days when we’ve had the whole squad. I addressed it but it will take time to fit this in. We worked this in with 50 per cent of the group and now key players are returning, we have to work them too.”
Understandably, Ten Hag believes United’s rest defence problems will resolve over time as players improve match fitness and get more familiar with his tactical requirements.
And, interestingly, Ten Hag sees the situation as one that can be resolved by improving United’s reaction after losing the ball rather than changing his players’ positioning during different phases of possession.
So, is Slot’s analysis a cheat code for beating United?
Slot’s approach — like any tactical method — comes with risks and rewards. During the same interview, the Liverpool manager was asked whether keeping both wingers so high up the field was a gamble.
“It’s only a gamble if they play through or over and (our wingers) stay where they are,” answered Slot. “But if they then sprint back, it’s not a gamble.
“I think today we saw a lot of moments where our forwards — the whole team but especially our forwards — tracked back so aggressively.”
There were multiple moments on Sunday when Liverpool’s out-of-possession shape mirrored United’s 4-2-4/4-4-2 set-up. Yet Slot’s side prospered, and Ten Hag’s team wilted due to a difference in physical capacity and technical execution. Mac Allister, Szoboszlai, and Gravenberch overran Bruno Fernandes, Casemiro, and Mainoo. At the same time, Diaz and Salah were more decisive in their actions in the final third.
Ten Hag’s approach to games depends on his collection of players being the biggest, fastest and strongest on the pitch. Against Liverpool, they were second best.
Not every Premier League team will be able to win the ball back as effectively and often as Liverpool did on Sunday. Nor will they be able to break at the speed or quality of Slot’s side.
Does this mean Ten Hag is doomed?
Not quite.
Long-term readers may remember that we wrote a similar article following the 4-0 defeat to Brentford in 2022-23. Ten Hag remedied some of the issues raised by his defeat to Thomas Frank by recruiting Casemiro, swapping Harry Maguire for Raphael Varane in his back four, and asking David de Gea to go long from goal kicks. The United manager can again make personnel changes to address some of the more glaring issues that arose on Sunday; Manuel Ugarte’s aggression in midfield should make it harder for teams to repeat Slot’s approach once the Uruguayan international is properly acclimated to the Premier League.
Ten Hag has been open about his team needing additional time to come together. To his mind, a summer where some players attended international tournaments while others went on a U.S. pre-season tour and an additional group spent time in Carrington had a knock-on effect on player fitness and adaptation to his tactical demands.
The hope is that the team will grow stronger over the autumn months as players return from injury and develop match sharpness and a greater affinity for the challenges ahead. The worry is even when the necessary time has passed for all of these essential ingredients to bake in, Ten Hag might have cooked up something that leaves a sour taste.
Three games into a Premier League season is way too early to claim a campaign is doomed or that a manager has been “figured out”. Ten Hag and United know the road to a successful season is long. They just need to figure out the best path to take.
(Header photo: Michael Regan/Getty Images)
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