New Liverpool head coach Arne Slot has already proven he is a man of his word, keeping to his striker promise.
Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino made a deadly trio but the system also made them flourish.
Firmino was the false nine who helped the team as he dropped deep, linking the majority of attacks up.
When Luis Diaz was signed Mane moved into that role and performed well – showing that the way Klopp set his sides up allowed players to excel.
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That all changed though when Darwin Nunez signed as he was more of a classic number nine so the team moved away from the false nine set-up.
So Slot had a decision to make whether he should go all in with Nunez as his out-and-out striker or whether he may still look to use a false nine system in which Diogo Jota and Cody Gakpo have been used.
FANS SHOULD EXPECT ‘REAL’ STRIKERS
Against Real Betis Slot used Dominik Szoboszlai and Harvey Elliott as two false nines which led to fans thinking that there could be some similarities to the original Klopp set-up
However in an interview with Sky Sports after the Real Betis friendly Slot said: “I think during the season we will play with a real striker.”
That is what everyone saw against Arsenal as Jota started the game and he was through the middle with all the support behind him.
His main focus was to be in the box and score, which he came so close to doing when he struck the post in the first half.
After the game Slot was full of praise for Jota as he said: “It helps to have someone who naturally plays in that position. It helps to have a striker who is smart and intelligent. Who knows when to make the deeper runs.”
As much as this is heavy praise for Jota it is also proof that the former Feyenoord manager loves to see a natural number nine.
It will be interesting to see how he works with Darwin Nunez when he returns back after extended time off due to the Copa America.
Nunez has the raw quality which hasn’t been fine tuned quite enough yet as a lot of his imperfections have been on show in his first two seasons at Anfield.
With Jota, Slot may already be hinting at his preferred choice up top due to how much Nunez gets caught offside.
One thing that is for certain though is that he wants to see a proper striker which could make a big difference to the pair.
So there should be some excitement about how he works with Nunez and how Slot could even go on to improve Jota as a ‘real’ striker as he is already sticking to his promise.
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