Has Arne Slot Solved Liverpool’s Low Block Problem?

By the time Arne Slot left the Amex pitch on a rain-slicked Saturday evening, the conversation had already shifted. A 3-1 FA Cup win over Brighton was Liverpool’s fourth victory in five matches, the sequence punctuated by 106 shots and 15 goals. Yet the lingering question, the one Slot himself keeps raising in press conferences, remains unchanged: can this team reliably dismantle a deep-lying defence?

Slot has spoken so frequently about “the low-block problem” that supporters have begun to bristle. Steven Gerrard, working as a pundit for TNT Sports, distilled the mood.

“He needs to stop talking about low blocks,” Gerrard said. “They’ve been happening against Liverpool ever since I played, and many years before me. Teams are going to do that… the key is you have to find the solutions.”

The solutions, Slot insists, will not be rhetorical. They must be tactical, executed with greater attacking precision. Early evidence suggests incremental, if uneven, progress.

Across the recent run, Liverpool have accelerated their build-up. Passes are struck earlier into central corridors; wing-backs switch play in one touch instead of three; midfielders arrive late to create temporary overloads. Dominik Szoboszlai, nominally stationed at right-back, repeatedly drifts inside to occupy half-spaces, forcing opposition midfielders either to track him or maintain a brittle back five. The third goal at Brighton arrived when Szoboszlai ghosted through the centre after a rapid cross-field switch, a textbook third-man run that left the Seagulls’ compact block suddenly unzipped.

Florian Wirtz, signed precisely for such scenarios, has flourished when central pockets appear. Receiving on the half-turn between the lines, the German can slide angled through-balls or shoot early, punishing sides that hesitate to condense the field. His influence, however, expands in proportion to the space afforded. Against opponents willing to engage higher up the pitch, Wirtz dictates tempo; against a entrenched eight-man wall, his touches shrink.

That distinction matters. Eight of the 106 shots in this five-match stretch came against sides who pressed forward; only a handful tested a true low block. The elevated shot volume, therefore, may reflect game state as much as tactical revelation.

Still, structural tweaks have emboldened Liverpool’s risk-taking. Ibrahima Konaté’s resurgent form, coupled with refined rest-defence positioning, has blunted counter-attacks. Full-backs now step into midfield with less trepidation, while midfielders attempt vertical passes earlier, confident that a lost ball will not instantly translate into a concession.

Slot’s message in training is simple: if the gamble fails behind you, we can recover; if it succeeds ahead of you, we must score. The calculus appears to be working—at least against opponents who trade punches.

Yet the Premier League calendar is poised to supply the definitive examination. With the top-four race tighter than any in recent memory, Liverpool’s next stretch includes fixtures against clubs likely to sit deep, cede possession and force intricate probing. In those matches, patience, off-ball movement and surgical final-third actions will decide whether the recent surge amounts to genuine evolution or merely a hot streak against open combatants.

Slot, for his part, refuses to declare mission accomplished. “Improvement must come through tactical adjustments,” he reiterated after the Brighton win, a reminder that the next low block will serve as the true barometer.

The numbers are encouraging: 15 goals, a sturdier defensive scaffold, a palpable rise in tempo. Together they sketch the outline of a solution. Whether the picture is complete will be revealed when the next defence declines to step out—and Liverpool must find a way through rather than around.