With the additions of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike this summer, Arne Slot is clearly looking to transform his attacking dynamics in his second Premier League campaign.
Last season, Liverpool generated the highest xG in the Premier League with 92.59, scoring 85 goals and therefore underperforming their xG by -7.59.
Slot’s side also averaged 17.1 shots per 90, the highest in the Premier League, holding 57.9% of the ball on average, which was second highest only behind Manchester City in this metric.
However, with the competition strengthening around them, Liverpool have spent £252.6m already on reinforcements, with even more still to come.
So how will the new additions change Slot’s attacking dynamics next season and what does the Dutch manager have in mind in an attempt to retain Liverpool’s crown?
Whilst Mohamed Salah was the star of the show last season, their new look attack is likely to be centered around their new record signing, which could in fact ease the burden on Salah.
Wirtz mainly operates as an attacking midfielder, but has often been dedicated to the left pocket, having wingbacks to overlap him and forwards making runs ahead of him.
The 22-year-old German averaged 0.65 big chances created per 90 last season, creating 2.18 chances in total per 90 and completing 3.13 take-ons per 90.
Wirtz also made 2.37 key passes per 90, more than any Liverpool player last season with Salah averaging 2.23 per 90 as the highest.
His ability to operate in tight spaces, pick passes for his teammates and create something out of nothing makes him the perfect creator for this Liverpool team, which is riddled with runners.
Ekitike is one of those willing runners, with a relentless capacity to run the channels, receiving direct balls from his teammates and stretching the pitch.
The 23-year-old averaged 3.76 shots per 90 last season, generating an xG of 0.66 per 90 and scoring 0.55 goals per 90.
He also averaged 6.72 touches in the opposition penalty area, winning 2.00 aerial duels per 90. His 6ft 4 frame allows him to latch onto difficult passes, causing chaos and unrest for the opposition defensive unit.
Ekitike tends to gravitate more towards the left channel, which will allow for close interchanges between him, Wirtz and Cody Gakpo, along with Milos Kerkez who can join with third man runs from deep.
By having so many bodies tilt towards this left side of the pitch, it will drag the oppositions defensive block over, creating space on the opposite side of the pitch…
Which brings us back to the star man, as Salah will be operating out on the right with his new partner in crime, Jeremie Frimpong.
Between the pair, Salah and Frimpong received 23.3 progressive passes per 90 last season, with the former averaging 13.1 whilst the latter averaged 10.2.
Wirtz already has experience playing in a similar dynamic with Frimpong at Leverkusen, operating on the left and constantly providing switches of play to find Frimpong in isolated wide areas.
At Liverpool, this would be Salah and Frimpong operating as the outlets, with the opportunity for one to attack closer to the box and one to attack from wider.
With all of these changes to the attacking unit, Salah will be less relied upon, making it much harder for teams to pin them down.
At times last season, especially towards the back end, whenever Salah was struggling, Liverpool would struggle too, as all roads often led to Salah, making it easier for teams to cut him out of the game and effect Liverpool’s overall game.
Now with plenty of options on the left side, Liverpool will be less predictable, with a variety of avenues which now only sometimes lead to their Egyptian star.