Arne Slot's clever move confirms GENIUS Richard Hughes plan | OneFootball

Liverpool's sporting director Richard Hughes and head coach Arne Slot work in pretty close contact with each other, looking at ways they can improve the team by signing new players.

In the summer of 2024, the pair had very little time to adjust to their new roles at the club and subsequently, the decision was made to only sign Federico Chiesa, giving the squad a chance to prove itself to Slot before any drastic financial calls were made.

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However, following the Premier League title win, knowing that a lot of the squad would be moved on in some capacity - for their own good or to enforce a stylistic change - a lot of transfer spending was arranged and it was pivotal that the right players were brought in given the finances involved.

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Now five games into the season, all the signs are suggesting that Liverpool now have a 'world class' outfit that is going to be delivering a remarkable standard of football throughout this season.

Slot move puts Hughes' plan into action

In last night's 3-2 win over Atletico Madrid, we saw the Reds deliver a masterclass at Anfield, and while the contest was decided by a late winner - for the fifth Liverpool match in a row - the performance should have eliminated all doubt for the onlooking fans, partisan or affiliated elsewhere.

Diego Simeone's outfit have struggled so far this season, securing one win, two draws and now two losses in their opening five games, compared to the flawless record of Slot's team and in spite of the result, the gulf between the two sides was enormous across the 90 minutes.

Possession was marginally in Liverpool's favour, but 2.72xg was created to 0.61xg from the visitors. That was represented by the seven big chances and 17 chances overall that the Reds managed to create against a team with a reputation for having a low block that's normally impenetrable.

Why might this have come about then? Well, a debut was handed to £125m signing Alexander Isak, which simultaneously helped bring the best out of £100m signing Florian Wirtz, and Mohamed Salah was able to shake off his 'underwhelming' start to the season after getting more attacking freedom.

The German midfielder had created five chances on his own and the link up play he had with Isak was a sight to behold. Even though the Swede only managed to spend 58 minutes on the pitch, he more than made his mark. The partnership between the two of them could be extraordinary.

Isak's first opportunity to show the Anfield crowd what he can do in a Red shirt was something he would have been desperately waiting for. In addition to creating a key pass and getting a shot on target, he made a successful dribble, won three duels and put in two tackles - a respectable effort.

But it was the reintroduction of Jeremie Frimpong into the set-up that made the biggest difference.

Slot decided to start the full-back and his overlapping runs down the by-line were monumental in helping Salah to become more involved in the game. The Egyptian was not forced to stay on the touchline and within six minutes of the contest, he had a goal and an assist to his name.

It's these moves of bringing these three new signings into the team that has helped the team to its most convincing performance of the season. In his press conference, Slot was suitably impressed.

He said: "Maybe I'm even a bit disappointed that we scored in the last minute. I know it's going to be a great headline and it's going to be great to talk about late game winners. But I would have liked it more if we had spoken about the few attacks we had.

"Before half-time when Florian [Wirtz] and Alex [Isak] combined together which led to almost Jeremie [Frimpong] scoring, in the second half a great attack that started with Dominik [Szoboszlai], with Flo [Wirtz], with Mo [Salah] that ended up on the post.

"I can come up with so many great attacks we had today, but probably no one is talking about it. Everybody will talk again about the late game winner, which I understand because that's the story of this game and the story of the last five games, but for me it was a different game than the ones we have played before."

This team would have won 3-1 if an offside call had been upheld during Atletico's first goal, when Antoine Griezmann was blocking Alisson's eyeline which represents an interfering with play offence.

Furthermore, Marcos Llorente's second goal was an extraordinary finish, so it's difficult to find fault with Liverpool defensively there either. It's for these reasons, alongside the attacking threat, that claims from CBS Sports' Ian Paul Joy that Liverpool are 'overrated' and 'disappointing' are difficult to fully comprehend. It's almost mind-boggling to hear such a take after an almost faultless win.