Liverpool have their very own Jacob Murphy after he arrived without anyone noticing what his role could become. Arne Slot recently lamented in his press conference ahead of the Reds trip to Leeds Unit...
Liverpool have their very own Jacob Murphy after he arrived without anyone noticing what his role could become.
Arne Slot recently lamented in his press conference ahead of the Reds trip to Leeds United earlier this month that the club doesn't possess a profile similar to the Newcastle United winger.
It was an extraordinary and bizarre comment but it was actually one that the Dutchman was right about.
Speaking in his press conference, Slot said the following when explaining why Alexander Isak is struggling to find form at Liverpool:
“But the main difference for him is that we are facing a low block many times. It is not that it never happened at Newcastle but not as much, I think. This season the league has changed, we see so many more low blocks than last season.
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"But I see this not only against us, I see this in many games. It makes it harder for him compared to his time at Newcastle but I think it is also him adjusting to his teammates and his teammates adjusting to him. But it is obvious and clear that we have not the profile of [Newcastle’s] Jacob Murphy, for example, available at this moment at this time."
Slot was right about this, and it's important to focus on the last three words: 'at this time.'
Because the Liverpool head-coach must have known that there is a similar profile to Murphy at Liverpool, he just wasn't available for a long period of the season.
But against Tottenham we saw who that player could be.
When the Reds signed Jeremie Frimpong, everyone though he was going to be a replacement for Trent Alexander-Arnold.
You'd be amiss to think otherwise considering the former left Anfield around the same time and Frimpong has played as a right-back a lot throughout his career.
But actually, it's becoming quite clear now that Slot's and Liverpool's plans with Frimpong were completely different to the expectations.
Slot's decision to play Frimpong as a right-winger and put Szoboszlai in at right-back against Tottenham was very telling. It's obvious that he sees Frimpong as a more advanced player rather than someone who can play that right-back role.
Someone like a Jacob Murphy.
Let's zoom in on that Slot comment for a second. What did Murphy do last season that helped Isak thrive at Newcastle. The answer is that he's one of the best volume crossers of the ball in the Premier League.
In the last calendar year, Murphy ranked second for crosses per 90 minutes in Europe's top five leagues (5.82).
Frimpong ranked sixth, not far behind Murphy averaging 5.41 crosses per 90 minutes.
And we saw how effective he can be against Tottenham in this area of his game. Liverpool's second and ultimately decisive goal came about because of Frimpong's cross.
Category: General Sports
