Despite being written off at the start of the season, Arne Slot has delivered Liverpool's 20th Premier League title with relative ease. Wrapping the trophy up with 4 games to spare, and a 5-1 demolition of Tottenham is a huge achievement, but there are still those who'd paint their season as "lucky". Mo Salah and Virgil Van Dijk not succumbing to the sorts of injuries that ruined the chances of some of their rivals.
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00:00Obi-Trice, real name, no gimmicks, welcome to the Adam Cleary Football Channel.
00:05And Liverpool, they are your Premier League champions, which is nice.
00:10They've done it with four games to spare, they've blown every other team away,
00:13and yet, and yet, you've seen on the internet, people trying to somehow diminish what they have done here.
00:20Oh, it was dead boring, they were really lucky, I am somehow underwhelmed by it all,
00:26and no, no, no, no, no, this was a monumental achievement, and I will now tell you both why, and also how.
00:37And just, like, right quick, before we start, okay, this background, it's a placeholder,
00:42we're getting nice, slick, sexy, like, overproduced, amazing motion graphics made for the channel,
00:47and this is just there until we've got that, but I have now read so many comments about the background,
00:52that just for this video, as a special treat, we'll change it from this, to this.
01:00Yeah, it's probably a bit much, probably a bit much, that one, we'll just, we'll go with this.
01:03That's nice, isn't it?
01:04Anyway, though, yes, the football, Liverpool's system this system,
01:08system this season is remarkably easy to explain, ironically, because it is a 4-2-3-1,
01:15it's not really a 4-2-3-1, it's actually a 4-move-3-3.
01:19And the reason for that is because Jurgen Klopp spent, like, two whole years trying to turn his 4-3-3,
01:26the heavy metal, gag-impressing Bloods and Come and Thunder side,
01:30and make them a more controlled, possession-based team that could better dictate the tempo in matches,
01:36which they had some success with, but at their heart, the true song that their soul sang
01:42was one of direct, counter-attacking, vertical, high-paced football.
01:45Now, I could talk genuinely for, like, an hour about all this, but it's all best summarised
01:49by the last few years of Trent Alexander-Arnold's career.
01:52You remember the original Klopp ball system, you had these two getting quite narrow near the centre-forward,
01:58and all the width came from the full-backs, it was Robertson on that side, but Alexander-Arnold on this side.
02:03But then, what Klopp tried to do instead was he had Alexander-Arnold move into the middle here
02:09to get your better, sort of, technical possession base, because he's really good with the ball.
02:13And the problem with that was that it meant that Mo Salah and the other wide forward
02:17tended to get stuck more out on the flank.
02:20But this is Liverpool history.
02:22You've no doubt heard it a million times by now, half of which were probably from me.
02:27Arna Slott came in, and he looked, basically, at this team and thought,
02:32You know what? This is actually quite a good idea for helping us to control games of football.
02:37But also, and I'll just do a quick magic trick here,
02:41this is a good idea for helping us to kick teams in the dick.
02:46So why don't we see if we can't blend the two?
02:49And the way he did that, almost overnight, was just painfully, painfully simple.
02:55And already at the club when he got there, right?
02:57And it was all Ryan Gravenberch.
03:00And don't get me wrong, I do think Jurgen Klopp really liked him for his athleticism
03:04and sort of his obvious traits.
03:06But he did want a more technical base in front of the defence,
03:10hence Alexander-Arnold and McAllister as that sort of inverted double pivot,
03:14because he wanted to be able to progress the ball forward.
03:18But it turns out, if you just trust him at the base of your midfield,
03:22not only is he a defensive monster in a way that neither Alexander-Arnold nor Alexis McAllister are,
03:28but he is also a press-resistant, teams really struggle to get the ball off him,
03:33ball progression machine.
03:36He just does it not by passing forward quite neatly or quite incisively,
03:40but by getting it on the half turn, a genuinely difficult skill to master,
03:45and then just running with it.
03:46And what I find, honestly, really interesting and unique about him as a footballer
03:51is there are virtually no other teams anymore that are happy to have one player at the base
03:55of the midfield, but then still give them the ball.
03:59Normally, if you're in there on your own, you get bypassed in the build-up.
04:03You're a metronomic bully boy.
04:05You just break up attacks and you move it left to right when you do get it.
04:08But here's a massive part of how Liverpool actually play.
04:12He's playing a genuinely unique role in the Premier League this season,
04:16and it meant that almost overnight, Liverpool ceased to need two players in this area
04:21to make sure they didn't lose the ball.
04:22So instead, they could flip it round, see if I can do that right,
04:26and push both the full-backs on to be both higher and wider.
04:31So now, these two do still offer you solutions in the build-up.
04:35They can go a bit narrower, they can go a bit deeper, they can help you play around,
04:38but they're also much better positioned to then push up the pitch
04:42and allow the two forwards to play nearer to the goal.
04:46But you see here in the Spurs game, right, Salah comes short,
04:49and Alexander-Arnold does something that we did not see at all last season.
04:53He looks to break in behind him.
04:55And because with Graven Burch here, you've got this other way of adding width to the side,
04:59it's really changed how Mo Salah has been able to play this season.
05:03He's not longer constantly stuck out on the right-hand side,
05:06having to do everything outside to him,
05:09but it means large parts of the game he now spends in this sort of space
05:13between the centre and the touchline, the half space, as it's called.
05:17And he's the best player in the world in that half space.
05:20And also, very conveniently, it puts Trent Alexander-Arnold more frequently
05:24back in this Beckham zone, in which he is one of the best players in the world
05:28in that position.
05:29And if we look at his numbers, I'll just go back to that seasonal heat map,
05:33so you can enjoy a more multimedia experience.
05:35While I explain this, his passes into the penalty area, which are very good,
05:39they're up.
05:40His assists per 90 minutes, they're up.
05:43And Kalou Kalay, one of the best things he does in world football,
05:48his crosses into the penalty area, they are way up.
05:51Because you can't fucking cross it into the penalty area
05:54from a holding number six role, can you?
05:57You have to be around here, which is where he should always be.
06:00But the thing is, and this is something else you've got to give Arna Slott
06:02an enormous amount of praise for, it's really, really flexible.
06:06Mo Salah is still allowed to go out onto that right-hand side
06:10if he wants to go out there, and he wants to go out to in
06:14to attack the penalty area.
06:15And Alexander-Arnold is likewise completely free to wander in
06:19to the centre of midfield if he feels like he needs to get on the ball
06:22and help dictate the play from there.
06:25He entrusts this team with way more freedom
06:28than a Guardiola or an Arteta does.
06:31But again, go back to the Spurs game.
06:33For the equaliser, Salah picks the ball up wide
06:36and allows Sobberzlai to make the inside-out run on the defender here.
06:40And Salah, because he's excellent at creating chances,
06:42isn't just a goal-scoring machine, he makes stuff really well,
06:45he slips them in.
06:46For the second goal, same position, and this time they use it
06:49to drag a doge miles away from the back line
06:53to try and exploit this place here.
06:54Sploit, sploit the splice.
06:58I could do a retake of that, but I just think it's really funny.
07:01Anyway, they mess this up and they lose the ball,
07:02but oh no, who's that monster truck in a pair of Adidas F50 Elites?
07:08Why, it's only ball-winning machine Ryan Gravenberge.
07:11But then you look at the counter-attack goal,
07:13he wants it through the centre of the pitch.
07:15The fifth goal, he is the central centre-forward
07:18getting in the box to force the mistake from a doge.
07:20And you rewind all of those goals back
07:23and look at where Trent Alexander-Arnold is.
07:25He's in that wide position when they need him to be,
07:28but he's also taking up central positions
07:30when that's an option.
07:32Like, because he hasn't really been able to buy any players
07:35or put his stamp on Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool,
07:38Arna Slocke's Liverpool is just all the best bits
07:41of Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool, but combined in-game.
07:45Like, sometimes they'll set up one way,
07:46sometimes they'll set up the other,
07:47sometimes they'll change in between matches.
07:49They're dynamic, they're flexible, they're adaptable.
07:52It's legitimately one of the single best
07:56debut Premier League season coaching accomplishments
08:00I think I've ever seen.
08:03And Salah, in particular, has thrived
08:05with this additional freedom that he's being offered.
08:08Like, just pulling some random stats out
08:10from last season to this,
08:11he carries the ball into the penalty area more,
08:14he's getting more assists,
08:15and he's scoring more goals from less shots.
08:20Which might sound like a bit weird,
08:22like, oh, Salah's actually getting less chances
08:24in this system.
08:24But last year, it felt to me
08:27like he could have frustrated Figer,
08:29like he was trying to force everything himself.
08:31Like, he didn't trust the system
08:33or the players around him,
08:34and he was just trying to make it all happen.
08:36But now, though, he feels like he's in a team
08:38where he trusts those around him
08:40and he trusts the system a bit more,
08:42and that's enabled him to make better decisions.
08:45So he shoots less,
08:47but the times when he chooses to shoot
08:48are better opportunities to shoot.
08:50Hence, why his goals have shot right up
08:52and his chance creation has shot right up.
08:54He's making better decisions
08:56because he is enabled and entrusted to do so.
08:59And just speaking of trust really quickly,
09:01it would be remiss of me
09:02not to point out a key reason for that trust.
09:06Cody Gakpo.
09:08Because you've got Gravebert here,
09:09which enables the fullbacks to get higher up,
09:11that allows both the forwards
09:12to come in off the wing
09:14and attack central areas.
09:15And now Gakpo,
09:17one of the best finishers Liverpool has,
09:19is getting on the end
09:20of either, like, slide passes from Salah
09:22as he gets into this area,
09:24or Alexander-Arnold's delivery from wider.
09:27Like, he has very quietly, I think,
09:29had an excellent season coming off that flank
09:32to be a natural sort of target
09:34for both the ways that Salah
09:35and Alexander-Arnold like to create.
09:38He's got 17 goals in all competitions this season,
09:41which is more than he got last season,
09:43despite the fact he's played, like,
09:4410 or 12 less games so far.
09:46And it is a gross oversimplification,
09:48and I am at pains to just dig a random player out, right?
09:51But the stat that people love
09:53to show how reliable you are in front of goal,
09:55which is goals minus XG,
09:58and I know, I know XG,
09:59but it's like,
10:00how many are you getting
10:01versus what does the data say
10:02you should be getting, right?
10:04You want a positive number there.
10:05Gakpo this season is one of the league's
10:07biggest over-performers.
10:08Not only is he taking the chances he should,
10:10but he's also managing to get goals
10:12that maybe are incredibly hard as well.
10:14And last season,
10:16Nunes was one of the league's
10:17biggest under-performers.
10:19So not only was he not getting the harder goals,
10:22he wasn't really getting any.
10:24Now, yes, again,
10:25massive oversimplification and stats
10:26could often be incredibly misleading,
10:28but tell me that does not directly correspond
10:30with what you already thought with your eyes.
10:35And there are just, like,
10:36a million other things you could point out
10:38about what makes this team tick.
10:39Like, Canate's been fantastic.
10:41Sabah's work off the ball
10:42has been, like,
10:43absolutely game-changing.
10:44Like, Gakpo is one of the league's
10:46most frequent receivers
10:47of a progressive pass,
10:49which is like a forward ball running
10:50that goes into the box.
10:52And that's because
10:53having Gravenberch here
10:54alleviates McAllister
10:56of being in that area
10:57and allows him to play
10:59in this favoured left-hand space
11:01that he likes to be in.
11:02So he's directly feeding Gakpo
11:04when he comes in off the wing.
11:05Now, look,
11:06here's his passes
11:07from the Tottenham game.
11:08I've just thought
11:09that's maybe...
11:10I haven't actually checked
11:10to see if these correspond
11:11with what I think,
11:12but I bet they do, right?
11:13I can't...
11:14I haven't looked at these.
11:15I bet there's way more here
11:16from McAllister
11:17than there is here.
11:18I bet he was barely needed
11:19in the build-up at all
11:20and he could just focus
11:21on this area.
11:22That, again,
11:23that's from the Gravenberch thing.
11:25He has been a one-man solution
11:27to a two-man problem
11:28and because this has worked
11:29so well,
11:30it's allowed all these
11:31other elements of the squad
11:33to thrive
11:34and ultimately
11:35dominate the Premier League.
11:37I'm blown away
11:38by Liverpool this year.
11:39I think they were
11:39absolutely fantastic
11:40and yet,
11:41people are trying
11:43to talk it down.
11:45And just,
11:46if you'd be so kind, right,
11:47let me tell you
11:48why that
11:50is bollocks.
11:53567 players
11:54have appeared
11:54in the Premier League
11:55this season
11:56if we rank them all
11:57by the total number
11:59of minutes they played
12:00and then
12:01remove all the goalkeepers,
12:03which I'm allowed to do,
12:04by the way,
12:04remember,
12:05I am a goalkeeper.
12:06You see, look,
12:06that's me over there
12:07and you're right,
12:08absolutely incredible,
12:08but let's not get distracted.
12:10If we take away
12:10the goalkeepers,
12:12rank all these players
12:13in the league by minutes
12:14are Mo Salah
12:15and Virgil van Dijk.
12:17In spite of the expanded
12:19Champions League format
12:20going all the way
12:21to the Carabao Cup final,
12:22Liverpool somehow
12:23got more minutes
12:25out of two
12:26Premier League
12:27all-time greats
12:29than virtually
12:29any other
12:30outfield players
12:31this season.
12:33That's astonishing.
12:34Like, what it says
12:35about their physical
12:35conditioning
12:36speaks for itself.
12:37At the age as they are,
12:38they should be enduring
12:39a physical decline,
12:39but they've both been
12:40absolutely amazing
12:42this season.
12:42But what it means
12:43deep down
12:44is that virtually
12:45every single minute
12:46any team was playing
12:48Liverpool this season,
12:49you had one player
12:50on the pitch
12:51who could potentially
12:51win it for them
12:52out of absolutely nothing,
12:54and one player
12:55on the pitch
12:56who could probably
12:56do anything
12:57to stop you
12:58winning it.
13:00So, obviously,
13:01if you have that,
13:03you'd probably win
13:04the league.
13:04So, I mean,
13:05that's really fortunate,
13:06isn't it?
13:07What a stroke
13:08of a look
13:09having your two
13:10most important players
13:11available for every
13:12single minute this season
13:13while your nearest rivals,
13:15they lose
13:15Rodri and Haaland,
13:16so that really scuppered
13:17Manchester City's season.
13:18Arsenal would have done
13:20something,
13:20but they were without
13:21Saka and Havert
13:22and Odegaard
13:23for large part
13:23Gabriel now as well.
13:26How lucky,
13:27you might say?
13:28Well, I mean,
13:28you might,
13:29but me being a dreadful
13:30nerd who gets on the
13:30internet and talks about
13:31data and stats
13:32and whatnot,
13:33I personally,
13:34I would not.
13:36I would say instead
13:37that this is probably
13:38the most impressive
13:39thing about Liverpool's
13:40title win.
13:41This,
13:42this was the plan.
13:44Loads was made
13:44in the summer
13:45about Liverpool
13:45not making any signings,
13:47and if I may riff
13:48very heavily
13:48on the wonderful piece
13:49on theindependent.com
13:51by friend of the channel
13:53slash man who sits
13:54about 15 feet away
13:55from me,
13:56Miguel Delaney,
13:57they did get one signing
13:58absolutely bang on
14:00this summer.
14:02On a slot.
14:03In the wake of Klopp's
14:04departure,
14:05right,
14:05Michael Edwards
14:06wanted to massively
14:07push the club
14:08towards being led
14:09by data.
14:10Now, it's obviously
14:10not fair to say
14:11that Klopp was stopping
14:12this happening
14:13or he was resistant
14:14to this kind of change,
14:15but he was
14:16the central figure
14:17at the club
14:18and he was way more
14:19of a Vides guy,
14:19so this was never
14:20going to happen
14:21to this extent
14:22while he was there.
14:23So to replace him,
14:24Liverpool knew
14:25they wanted someone
14:25who was adaptable,
14:27yes,
14:27tactically flexible,
14:28experienced in doing
14:29a rebuild,
14:30all of that,
14:30but who would also
14:31buy into this idea
14:34of going full in
14:35on the data
14:36big time.
14:37And slot was just
14:38all of those things
14:39big time.
14:40Like, I'm just
14:41lifting this again
14:42straight from Miguel's
14:42article,
14:43so you should
14:43go and read that
14:45on the website,
14:46so I feel less like
14:47I'm just doing
14:47intellectual property
14:49theft,
14:49but Liverpool
14:50basically took
14:51advantage of slot's
14:52lack of ego
14:53by handing enormous
14:55influence to
14:56Jonathan Power,
14:57the director of medicine,
14:57and Conal Murtaugh,
14:59the head of physical
15:00performance.
15:01And those two,
15:01amongst others that
15:02slot brought with him
15:03as well,
15:03are at the very sort
15:04of advanced cutting edge
15:06of like player data.
15:08They use every single
15:09tool you can imagine,
15:10and probably some you
15:11can't,
15:12to stay on top
15:13of the data,
15:14to know every single
15:15metric about every
15:16single player.
15:17So you take that
15:17and you combine it
15:18with slot's
15:19adaptable approach
15:20that means Liverpool
15:21can be really high
15:22tempo and aggressive
15:24and in your face
15:25when they want to be,
15:26but also equally
15:27comfortable being
15:28controlled,
15:29being possession-based,
15:30conserving their energy
15:31and taking their foot
15:32off the gas,
15:33and that means that
15:33all of a sudden
15:34you've got the
15:35potential to have
15:36the best managed
15:37squad in terms of
15:39fitness and injuries
15:40in the league.
15:41And like,
15:42yes,
15:42fair enough,
15:42you might be a little
15:43bit sceptical about this,
15:44but just go and look
15:45at the results.
15:47Like,
15:47after Salah and Van Dijk,
15:48who's the next most
15:49important Liverpool player
15:50in terms of keeping
15:51them on the pitch
15:52for as long as possible
15:53this season?
15:54You scroll slightly
15:55further down,
15:56there's Ryan Gravenberg.
15:58They managed to get
15:58almost the entire season
16:00out of him as well.
16:02Like,
16:02don't get me wrong,
16:03they have hard injuries,
16:04accidents can happen,
16:06but out of all the top
16:07clubs,
16:08when the one who was
16:08putting the most time
16:10and effort and money
16:10and resources
16:11into mitigating
16:13against injuries
16:14has by some distance
16:15the fewest sort of
16:17season impacting injuries,
16:19I think we can draw
16:21a line there.
16:22I think we can say
16:22that's been a success.
16:23To take all of that
16:24with how flexible
16:26Slott has been
16:27and how he's got more
16:28out of the players
16:28who were there
16:29rather than having to dip
16:30into the transfer market
16:31and then the individual
16:33performances of so many
16:34of these players
16:35and that,
16:36from the very top
16:37of the club,
16:38right down to what
16:39happens on the pitch
16:40is an absolutely
16:41incredible achievement
16:43and if you are trying
16:44to belittle this,
16:46I don't know why
16:47you watch football.
16:48If you can't be
16:49impressed by this,
16:50there's no point
16:50in any of it
16:51and do you know what?
16:52I try not and say
16:53stuff like this
16:53but if you do come
16:54across on the internet
16:55or the radio
16:56or television
16:56somebody saying
16:58that this is just luck
16:59and they're not
16:59very impressed,
17:00just have more respect
17:01for yourself.
17:02Don't watch it.
17:03Oh, but then
17:04what should I watch?
17:05Adam, I've got all
17:06this time to fill.
17:06Great question.
17:07ACFC, me, right here.
17:10So please do subscribe
17:10to the channel.
17:12The button is somewhere
17:12around.
17:13I'm feeling it.
17:15I am feeling
17:15100,000 subs
17:17before the end
17:17of the season.
17:18I want that.
17:19I want that more
17:20than slot wanted
17:21this Premier League title.
17:23Maybe.
17:23You can get me
17:24across all the social
17:24medias at
17:25Adam Cleary,
17:25C-L-E-R-Y.
17:27Gentle reminder,
17:28I'm doing the
17:28Hackney Half Marathon
17:29in like two weeks.
17:31Still haven't got
17:31a watch for Calm,
17:33the campaign
17:33against Living Miserably,
17:34a suicide prevention
17:35charity here in the UK.
17:36That's their logo.
17:38Look, it's really nice.
17:39The link is in the description
17:40if you've got a spare
17:41five or a spare tenner
17:42kicking around.
17:43It does go really,
17:44really far
17:44and I'm very proud
17:45to be running for them
17:46even though
17:47it's going to be really hot
17:48and I'm going to collapse.
17:49And that's it.
17:50Just congratulations
17:51to Liverpool,
17:52the best team
17:53in the Premier League
17:54by a mile.
17:55I will wait
17:56with a bated breath
17:56to see what they do
17:58with this team
17:59next season.
18:00I think
18:01I think
18:02that's going to be
18:02a really exciting summer
18:03for them
18:03one way or another.
18:06Goodbye.
18:08Oh,
18:09hit me.
18:10Get that looked at.
18:12See you later.