Two tactical tweaks from West Ham versus Liverpool

Slot answered his critics with a convincing win over West Ham on Sunday, lifting Liverpool into eighth place in the Premier League. Here's what the gaffer changed up to secure the three points...

Pushing Kerkez further forward

When Liverpool signed Milos Kerkez in the summer, many fans expected a carbon copy of Andy Robertson, who bombed up and down the left-hand side of the pitch during Klopp's glory days.

Despite his track record as a quick, attacking player who thrives on counter-attacking football, however, Kerkez has largely been kept as part of a back three while Bradley or Frimpong were tasked with contributing to the attack on the other side.

The result has been, at times, a complete breakdown of possession on the left-hand side of the pitch. For all his talents, Kerkez does not look comfortable recycling the ball endlessly, and his relationship on the pitch with Mac Allister and Gakpo still seems very patchy.

On Sunday, however, Slot chose to keep Mac Allister in a more defensive position, while deploying the Hungarian further up the field. If we compare his heatmaps against West Ham and Nottingham Forest, we can see that he stuck to the touchline more and was actually more involved in build-up play.

Because of this tweak, Kerkez had more touches, more passes into the final third and more defensive contributions on Sunday, indicating that there was no trade-off on the defensive part of his game.

There is no doubt that the 22 year-old has had a slow start to life at Anfield, but he clearly has huge potential, and it bodes well that Slot is starting to adjust the system to get the best out of him.

Wirtz unleashed

Since the German superstar moved to Anfield in July, it seemed a question of when, not if, he would take the Premier League by storm. After three months and twelve appearances in the league, he starting to do just that.

So, how comes Slot managed to get the best out of him yesterday? Because he didn't confine him to one position or role. This map of passes made by Wirtz showed how fluidly he moved across Liverpool's midfield and front three to find pockets of space:

The gaffer has shoehorned Wirtz into the No. 10 position, then to the left-wing, and now back to attacking midfield, with stints on the bench and the sidelines in-between.

As a No. 10, Wirtz struggled to find pockets in between the lines, and would often move towards his own goal to collect the ball from deep. It also didn't help that when Szoboszlai was not there to provide legs and energy in midfield, the trio of Wirtz, Mac Allister and Gravenberch were physically overrun by the opposition.

When the 22 year-old was deployed on the wing, it brought him closer to the position in which he dominated the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen. He was impressive against Real Madrid, and would have had an assist (ironically from the right-hand side during a transition) if it weren't for a superb save by Courtois.

In a 'positionless' No. 10 role, however, the German was fantastic. He found spaces between West Ham's defence and midfield, proving very hard to track and drawing opposition players to him, thereby freeing up space for his team-mates.

Once in possession, he showed glimpses of his creativity, playing an early ball into Isak in the first half, which the Swede should've anticipated. Ten minutes later, his low cross from the right almost found Gakpo. Later on in the half, Wirtz fizzed another strong pass into the Dutchman, who was unable to get it out of his feet.

As good as Wirtz was, his contribution to the team was made possible by the system he played in, namely Szoboszlai's industry down the right-hand side of midfield and Gomez's defensive stability.

Whether Slot continues to set his team up around the German superstar remains to be seen, but this is certainly a peek into a post-Salah future.