How Liverpool’s passes in-behind, off-ball movement and Slot’s tweaks unlocked Ipswich

Generally speaking, there are three ways to play against a high press: you go over it, through it or around it.

The first option focuses on going direct towards your attackers but risks losing the ball in aerial duels.

The second is about quick passing combinations through the opponent’s block, but one wrong pass might be fatal.

The last one revolves around directing the opposition’s press towards one side of the pitch, before quickly shifting the ball over to the free side. The drawback there is you are in danger of getting boxed-in towards the touchline by their pressing.

The right answer to the question depends on the opposing team’s pressing scheme and the characteristics of your players, but without the correct execution, these ideas are just theoretical text on a screen.

Which is what Liverpool found out in the first half of their opening Premier League match of the season away against promoted Ipswich Town on Saturday.

Facing an effective high press, Liverpool mixed up their solutions but Ipswich’s aggression made it harder for their visitors to progress the ball up the pitch. Their most fruitful answer seemed to be, ‘Go direct towards Mohamed Salah‘, with the movements of Dominik Szoboszlai and Diogo Jota manipulating Ipswich’s man-to-man marking.

In this next example, Jota’s positioning is drawing Ipswich’s right-sided centre-back, Luke Woolfenden, slightly higher than the rest of the home team’s back line, with Salah and Luis Diaz ready to attack the space created. After Virgil van Dijk slips the ball to Ryan Gravenberch…

… Jota maintains his position to disorganise Ipswich’s defensive line by keeping Woolfenden higher up the pitch. Meanwhile, Salah and Diaz dart inside to attack the space behind the defence, which can’t coordinate their offside line easily because they don’t know who Gravenberch will target with his pass: if the left side of Ipswich’s defence stops and Diaz pushes Axel Tuanzebe deeper, then Salah stays onside — and vice versa.

Gravenberch chooses to find the Egyptian, but Salah’s first touch fails him.

Poor execution and a lack of clarity regarding the right approach against Ipswich’s pressing limited Liverpool in the first half.

“They were all on top of us and very aggressive,” Liverpool head coach Arne Slot told TNT Sports, the game’s UK broadcaster, after the final whistle. “We couldn’t find the rhythm or the balls in behind.”

This prompted a message in the changing room at half-time.

During the break, Slot told his players to focus on winning duels and playing balls in behind, because of Ipswich’s man-to-man approach. “There was also the moment we showed them during half-time that if a team plays all over the pitch one-versus-one, don’t play the ball short constantly,” said Slot. “If you have those kinds of attackers, play them and then fight for it.”

This wasn’t only about finding Salah and Diaz though, because the movement of Szoboszlai and Jota was just as important.

In the build-up to Liverpool’s first goal, on 60 minutes, Salah and Szoboszlai are tightly marked by Leif Davis and Jacob Greaves.

Here, Gravenberch plays a ball to Salah…

…who sets it back to the advancing Trent Alexander-Arnold. Meanwhile, Greaves is keeping tabs on Szoboszlai’s movement. The Hungary midfielder initially makes a forward dash…

…but then halts his run. This keeps Greaves higher than the rest of his defensive line, prevents him from supporting left-back Davis against Salah and creates a bigger space through which Alexander-Arnold can play a pass.

Liverpool’s England international right-back finds Salah’s run behind the defence and Davis tries to play him offside, but Jota’s movement brings Ipswich’s other centre-back, Woolfenden, deeper.

Salah then plays the ball into the path of Jota, who scores.

The movement of Szoboszlai and Jota continued to influence Ipswich’s centre-backs, keeping them away from their full-backs and making it harder for the home side to play a coherent offside line. That was complemented by Diaz and Salah making well-timed runs behind the defence.

In another example, Van Dijk finds Salah’s ghosting run behind the defence, and the other members of it aren’t in a position to support their left-back, Davis.

Salah then combines with Szoboszlai to score the second goal, with Davis’ interception putting him closer to goal.

A couple of minutes later, Salah was close to making it 3-0 with another pass behind Ipswich’s defence. Here, Jota and Szoboszlai are deeper than Salah and Diaz, dragging Greaves and Woolfenden, the centre-backs, higher up the pitch.

As Liverpool build their attack down the left wing, Greaves leaves Szoboszlai and drops to protect the central space, with his partner moving up the pitch with Jota. Meanwhile, Salah adjusts his position to make a diagonal run in the space behind the centre-backs and Alexis Mac Allister also attacks that central area.

Diaz sets the ball back to Gravenberch, and the positioning of Mac Allister pins Greaves and allows Salah to attack the space behind him. The pass behind the defence doesn’t come at first, with Gravenberch going to Mac Allister, who finds Szoboszlai with a one-touch pass.

Salah’s initial movement positions him behind the Ipswich back four. Szoboszlai then plays him in, leaving Salah in front of goal, but his shot is saved by Christian Walton.

“The way the other team defends, there we have to find our answer,” said Slot. “Today, Ipswich took the risk to play one-versus-one all over the pitch. Their centre-back always stepped in towards Szoboszlai. That means you leave three defenders against three of our attackers.

“We need to recognise those moments and then make sure we bring those three players into dangerous situations. We have to find them with direct passes or passes in behind. That’s what we did really well in the second half.”

Liverpool’s passes behind their defence proved to be too much for this Ipswich side, with Diaz and Salah making well-timed runs complemented by the movement of Jota and Szoboszlai.

Regardless of the approach, the common factor in all the solutions against the press is that you have to have the right movement off the ball.

(Top photos: Getty Images)