Liverpool returned to winning ways on Wednesday evening, racking up a 5-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League.
Arne Slot made five changes to his starting XI following the loss to Manchester United. An injury to Ryan Gravenberch forced his hand there but the Dutch tactician decided to also bring Jeremie Frimpong, Florian Wirtz, Andrew Robertson, Hugo Ekitike and Curtis Jones into the team for the game in Germany.
The former Feyenoord boss also tweaked the system. Instead of a 4-2-3-1 shape he went with a more pronounced 4-4-2. Ekitike was paired with Alexander Isak in attack while Wirtz was deployed on the right side of midfield when the Reds didn’t have possession. With the ball, the German maestro drifted into more of an attacking midfield role and the right-back was tasked with keeping the width on that flank.
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In the first half, it did look as though this team had never played together. They fell behind to an incisive Eintracht Frankfurt breakaway. In truth, it was far too easy for the hosts. But it comes with the territory of playing a new system with players in roles they aren’t particularly used to. The Reds grew into the game though and romped to a comfortable win.
Ekitike, once again, showed his class with a ruthless breakaway goal of his own. Wirtz finally got off the mark with two assists.
But it was the midfield pairing of Dominik Szoboszlai and Jones that really caught the eye.
Jones the difference-maker
A lot of the plaudits are going the way of Szoboszlai and it’s easy to understand why. He scored, created the joint-most chances (four) and generally put his stamp on the game. But Jones might’ve been the difference-maker on the night for Liverpool.
The 24-year-old is, and always has been since breaking into the first-team, a facilitator. His inclusion always allows others to thrive. Cast your minds back to the 2022-23 campaign and Jones was used as the counterweight in the Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment.
He kept the ball in the middle third and this allowed Alexander-Arnold to be expressive in that area of the pitch. If you had another progressive player in the three alongside Fabinho and Alexander-Arnold, there would’ve been turnovers galore.
Against Eintracht Frankfurt, it was the same sort of idea. With Szoboszlai looking to be aggressive in possession and the plan being to get Wirtz a lot more involved than he has been since the move to Anfield, Slot needed someone to balance things out in there.
Jones was the balance.
It isn’t the first time his inclusion has allowed Wirtz to thrive. The second half against Arsenal showed glimpses of what might be with the German maestro in red. A turning point against the Gunners was the introduction of Jones.
Unlocking Florian Wirtz
While Mac Allister struggled in that game, Jones retained possession. With the ball sticking, Wirtz was able to grow into the game. He wasn’t having to drop into the Liverpool half to get on the ball. He wasn’t having to act as a third midfielder but was instead able to stay higher up the pitch and play as an attacker.
Basically, Wirtz was able to do the job he was signed for. And Jones was vital to that. It was the same story against Eintracht Frankfurt. Wirtz could focus on final third actions.
Obviously, the standard of opposition needs to be factored in. Dino Toppmoller even acknowledged ahead of the game that he didn’t expect his side to see much of the ball. And he tweaked his team in preparation for that, benching Can Uzun and Jonathan Burkhardt. But Liverpool have struggled against defensive sides all season. They’ve struggled to get key players involved in the right areas.
There’s been a lot of sterile possession over the last few weeks. Liverpool have had a lot of the ball but there’s been no real purpose in their approach. It’s why the attacking players have struggled to impose themselves.
Against Eintracht Frankfurt, they managed to get Wirtz involved in areas he could hurt the opposition. And that’s what he did, with two assists and four chances created.
Faultless on the ball
Jones deserves the plaudits for the role he carried out against the Bundesliga side. He kept things simple but it gave Liverpool a platform to build from. He attempted a match-high 127 passes and found a teammate with 96% of them.
As you can see from his pass map, he wasn’t just playing side to side either. He was progressing play down the Liverpool left, getting Cody Gakpo involved. The Reds have had issues this season getting their attackers involved. There was no such issue last night, with Jones keeping things moving. He wasn’t just funnelling play to the left-winger though.
