7 hours ago
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Liverpool has been tipped to enjoy a fantastic season as long as it keeps the balance between defense and attack right throughout the campaign.
The Reds' tactics have changed slightly from last term, with Arne Slot moving back toward a similar style of play to the one seen under Jurgen Klopp. Liverpool switched from the heavy-metal soccer Klopp employed to a more pragmatic approach under Slot last season, and it's probably fair to say that the style on show this season is a mix between the two.
Liverpool has won three from three in the Premier League so far, scoring eight goals in the process.
But the increasingly offensive approach has left the team more vulnerable defensively, with four goals conceded in those games, while the Reds also shipped a lot of goals in preseason.
Despite the defensive issues that need to be ironed out, Jim Boardman from The Anfield Index told BBC Radio Merseyside that he is excited for what the season might hold.
"I am loving the way Liverpool are playing so far. It is a step up from last season," Boardman said. "Under Jurgen Klopp, it was 'we will just score more than you' and it might end up 5-4, compared with Slot's very tight and disciplined [approach].
"We seem to have a hybrid of that at the moment.
"We have conceded a couple, but we are bringing back the excitement we had under Klopp as well as the careful way of playing. If we can get the balance right, it is going to be such a good season for us."
Liverpool's defense improved in its final game before the international break as the Reds kept a clean sheet against Arsenal, and Slot was asked after that game what has impressed him most about his team's start to the season.
"Mentality," he responded. "Having to bring quite a lot of new players in because quite a few left and then if you have to start the season against Bournemouth – who were last season already really good and this season again are already on six points – playing Newcastle away, which is for every single team in the league one of the most difficult away games, and then playing Arsenal at home, which is definitely one of the three or four most difficult games of the season.
"Then already doing what we are doing – we are not perfect, and we were not perfect last season, by the way, as well.
"But still what you can see is a great mentality and everybody wants to work so hard to get a result over the line and then you need a little bit of luck, which we had at Newcastle [and] today.
"But, I’ve said this so many times, I think it was Michael Jordan [who said], ‘The harder we work, the more luck we get,’ and that is something I think you can say about this team.
"They work incredibly hard, and there will be moments in the season where we work just as hard and we don’t find the luck of scoring a goal, but we always give ourselves a chance because we work so hard."
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