Arne Slot’s bizarre midfield set up goes viral

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In the aftermath of the defeat to Man United, an image of Liverpool’s midfield set up has gone viral, viewed hundreds of thousands of times, due to there being no midfielders in midfield. It left Alexander Isak and Mohamed Salah isolated and it is no surprise then that Liverpool’s build-up play is as stunted as it is, with no players presenting for the ball.

Against United, Slot ended the match with Florian Wirtz and Curtis Jones as his midfield pairing, furthering the disconnect with two players whose instinct is to be ahead of the ball. So easy to build up with all that midfield presence ?? pic.twitter.com/HSLjiwFxtM — Denis (@DenisN223) October 19, 2025 The plan appears to be that there is no plan, with Slot’s decision to load his team with offensive-minded players only resulting in defeats.

“That might also maybe not be an excuse but be the reason why the structure in defending a set-piece against [Crystal] Palace and now was not as perfect as we usually are, because normally you play with four, five, six defensive-minded players but at that moment we are on the pitch with seven or eight offensive-minded players. “That’s not an excuse because they should do better, we should do better, but maybe it’s not a coincidence that exactly in those moments of time we concede a set-piece.”