Arne Slot must bring back old Liverpool tactic after what happened in yesterday's internationals - opinion

03/21/2025 03:00 PM

Liverpool players had a very mixed time of things during the first games of the March international break on Thursday.

Having had such a tough week back home with the Reds, plenty were probably keen to see the back of Merseyside for a little while at least.

In the meantime, as many as 20 members of the first-team Liverpool squad have jetted off to represent their countries, many of which are with their senior national sides.

With 10 players in action on Thursday and the early hours of Friday, Arne Slot will have been keeping across all of the action as he searches for answers in turning Liverpool’s mini-slump around.

Happily, Slot will have seen two Liverpool players get on the scoresheet, with both Cody Gakpo and then Luis Diaz finding the net for Netherlands and Colombia respectively.

Gakpo has been struggling for fitness of late while Diaz has seen goals dry up at Liverpool. But with both players hitting their straps away from Anfield, Slot has now been left with a clear solution of what to do with both players.

Arne Slot must make left-wing decision

There’s little question that Liverpool have missed Gakpo ever since he picked up an ankle problem against Everton in February.

Having been in good goal scoring form at the time, the Dutchman would likely have started against both PSG and Newcastle United.

Instead, Diaz went from the left with Diogo Jota up front. And while Jota was arguably the bigger problem of the two, there’s no question the Colombian struggled as well.

What Diaz badly needed was a goal. Having scored just once in his last 18 appearances for Liverpool, he had become something of a black hole from the left wing.

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In that respect, with Gakpo back to fitness and scoring, his goal against Spain looked like it had put him in the driving seat to end the season as Slot’s preferred left winger.

But Diaz clearly saw this as a challenge, and fired home a similarly well-taken finish – past Alisson Becker no less – to make things less clear again for the Liverpool head coach.

Slot should return to previous formula

Gakpo and Diaz going bar for bar with each other throws up memories of earlier in the campaign, when the two players seemed to be spurring each other on to be the very best they could.

Gakpo’s recent problem and the fact that Diaz has had to spend large swathes of the season as a centre-forward have somewhat tempered that feeling.

And although the pair look to be bringing out the best in each other once again, we actually think it makes it easier for Slot to revert to a system that was working across the winter.

Without Jota and with Darwin Nunez blowing hot and cold, the Dutch coach was forced to play Gakpo from the left and put Diaz centrally.

With the No.7 perhaps finding his goal scoring form after losing his touch for a little while – and Cody picking up where he left off – it’s time for Slot to come back to his most effective front three at Liverpool. That means dropping Jota and Nunez and going with Mohamed Salah, Diaz and Gakpo.