The unsustainable problem Liverpool fixed to spark revival | OneFootball

Virgil van Dijk will go from facing Kylian Mbappe to Erling Haaland this Sunday, but he had another opponent in mind. Stood on the Anfield pitch, fresh from beating Real Madrid, with a similarly seismic clash against Manchester City next, the Liverpool captain raised the subject of title rivals.

“You can see at the moment Arsenal are flying, and it is down to clean sheets and not conceding chances,” he said. Which didn’t seem to be Liverpool’s ethos when they were hurtling their way through action-packed games, relying on late goals and brinkmanship, taking and losing leads until they found themselves losing matches.

In a six-game spell, there were four when Liverpool did not even have a clean sheet after a quarter of an hour, let alone an hour and a half.

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Liverpool’s defence, with Virgil van Dijk at the helm, is suddenly solid again (Action Images via Reuters)

Much can change in a week and Arne Slot could reflect with satisfaction on how both Mbappe and Vinicius Junior were unable to illuminate Anfield. “It is difficult to control them completely but I think we did almost the maximum you can do against these two individuals,” he said.

And if the most memorable moment of Mbappe’s night was a shot skied into the Anfield Road Stand, to derisory cheers from the Liverpool faithful, Vinicius fought a titanic battle with Conor Bradley. The Northern Irishman won it.

Right-back, which has felt a problem position for Liverpool at times this season, suddenly looked an area of strength again. So did left-back: there are various factors in rendering this a transformational week for a team whose manager admitted their previous results had been inexcusable, but near the top of any list has to be the recall of Andy Robertson. If Bradley’s name was sung most by the Kop – and if that was a none-too-veiled rebuke to the returning Trent Alexander-Arnold – the next most was Robertson’s. The old warrior was terrific.

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Andy Robertson was serenaded by the Kop and has been consistently excellent since his recall (Action Images via Reuters)

With more solidity on either side of the back four, Liverpool suddenly seemed to have a unit again; it felt less that their centre-backs were exposed, individuals trying to halt a tide. Van Dijk was authoritative when pitted against first Mbappe and then, in a post-match interview, his recent critic, Wayne Rooney. Strikers of different generations can testify that he is a formidable opponent.

But, for all his individual attributes, success had to stem from the unit. “We showed we were good as a team defensively,” he said. Real were limited to their lowest xG in over a year, just 0.45. Slot outlined the twin strands to Liverpool’s defensive gameplan. “I said to the players that the only thing I did not want was a mid-block, so we either press them really high or sit in a low block,” he said. “So never give them space.”

A mid-block, he felt, would play into the hands of Vinicius and Mbappe, giving the speedsters room to run into. That high press required running power in the final third and the indefatigable Dominik Szoboszlai set the tone. “The energy he brings on the pitch is incredible,” said Van Dijk. The Hungarian showed why he is Liverpool’s best defensive No 10; Slot’s side defended from the front as they did last season, which indicated that Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz had an impact off the ball.

Szoboszlai had a further impact. His free kick was headed in by Alexis Mac Allister for the lone goal. “A positive set-piece balance is the minimum you need to get a result nine out of 10 times,” said Slot. It is a mantra of his, but if Arsenal are famously set-piece specialists, their lone defeat this season came from a Szoboszlai free kick.

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Dominik Szoboszlai is Liverpool’s best defensive No 10 and impressed once more (Liverpool FC via Getty)

If 1-0 is a scoreline with an indelible association with Arsenal, both past and perhaps present, Liverpool have beaten both Mikel Arteta’s team and Xabi Alonso’s by that scoreline. And yet, for the first couple of months of the season, it felt that champions and challengers were pursuing wildly different theories of how to win the title: Arsenal were aiming for 1-0 and 2-0 victories, Liverpool for 3-2 and 4-2s.

Subsequent setbacks would suggest that method, unlike Arsenal’s, was not sustainable. Liverpool always have the ability to score one, but it helps when they do not need more. “We have the quality to hurt anyone on the break; it starts with the defending,” said Van Dijk.

Now there is an oddity to Liverpool’s defensive statistics. They have only kept four clean sheets this season. One was against a club who got 100 points in the Championship last season. The other three came against 2025 Champions League quarter-finalists, two of them currently top of the English and Spanish leagues.

It suggests a team with the fourth-worst expected goals against in the Premier League can still defend when they get it right. Van Dijk might argue that was always the case. “In a world of chaos you have to stay calm and see perspective of things,” he said.

And whereas it had seemed like chaos at the back for Liverpool for much of this season, now a sense of order has been restored.