Arnold s key figure in the innovation of OR s sidelines? What can Flynnon bring to Liverpool

Not long after Real Madrid officially announced Arnold's joining, Liverpool also officially announced the arrival of Flynnon. So, can this right-back who has outstanding performance under Xavi Alonso, continue his outstanding performance in the Bundesliga after returning to the British arena? In addition, will he, whose game style is similar to Arnold, become a "Arnold tieback" or a key step in Slot's transformation of Liverpool?

What kind of right back Slot needs? As the first choice for Liverpool's right-back position, Arnold's role has been changing constantly under the leadership of former coach Klopp. He first was a wingback, making full use of his excellent crossing skills to create threats for the team, and then he became a side and midfielder, participating in the team's offensive organization and scheduling, and gaining greater freedom.

Slott has taken over Liverpool, the team's game style and tactical system have undergone some obvious changes. Arnold's role has also been significantly adjusted. He no longer needs to move to the middle area or actively seek the ball. He became a more typical right-back, but was slightly ahead of other defensive players - Liverpool's defense is a bit like an "L" shape.

This season, Arnold showed more discipline in this position - his on-field position heat map can also confirm this from the side, and his time to swim to the middle has dropped significantly. In other words, Arnold has paid more attention to organizing offenses through his midfield teammates this season.

Compared with the 2023/2024 season, Arnold's activity time in the middle of last season decreased significantly

As for long passes, although it is still an important "weapon" of Arnold, his number of passes has also decreased significantly. The average 90-minute crosses was 5.8, a significant decline compared to the seven last season. His peak data five years ago was 10.8 times averaged 90 minutes.

replace Arnold? The perfect replacement for youth status

Although Bradley is a right-back who meets Slott's needs, the 24-year-old Flynnon is undoubtedly the more attractive option.

As one of the hottest right-backs in Europe, he made 47 appearances in various competitions in Leverkusen in the 2023/2024 season, scored 14 goals and sent 12 assists, ultimately helping the team win the championship unbeaten.

At the same time, Flynn Poon's joining does meet many conditions for Liverpool's typical transfer standards. First of all, although 24-year-old Flynnon seems to have reached his peak, he actually still has room for growth and progress. Secondly, Flynnon also has enough game experience. He is not only an important contributor to Leverkusen's championship, but also has rich European experience.

price is also a key factor. As a deal similar to signing McAllister from Brighton for £35 million. Flynnon's transfer fee is not high. On the one hand, there is no need to put Liverpool in financial pressure, and on the other hand, there is no need to put players under pressure from "high-price label".

In addition, as a Premier League "local player" who has spent nearly 10 years of youth training at Manchester City, Flynnon's arrival can also effectively replace Arnold's "youth training identity". A player who has registered for England or Wales for three seasons before his 21st birthday is a youth training player. A team's 25-man Premier League roster requires 8 youth training players.

Last season, Liverpool registered seven youth training players, namely Kellech, Vetteslav Yaros, Joe Gomez, Arnold, Curtis Jones, Morton and Tom Hill. With Tom Hill leaving the team, and Kelleh and Morton may leave this summer (Kelleh has left the team), Flynnon's support from "Premier Youth Training" players will not disrupt Liverpool's signing plan in other positions - after all, when Nunes has not left the team, Liverpool currently only has one non-youth training player vacancies.

One-stop right? What changes can Flynnon bring to Liverpool?

In October 2022, after Xavi Alonso became the new coach of Leverkusen, Flynnon, who had been wasting his time with the team for more than a year, immediately became the backbone of the team. In a more flexible position, his offensive attributes shine. Over the past three seasons, Flynnon has scored 30 goals in various competitions and has also contributed 35 assists.

At the same time, as an excellent player who can adapt to multiple positions, Flynnon can not only play the role of a wingback with a high position, but also play as a right winger and even an attacking midfielder.

The 2024/2025 season Flynn Poon's appearance position at Leverkusen was distributed & games. In November last year, in Liverpool's 4-0 home victory over Leverkusen, Flynn Poon showed his skills in this area - his diverse performance on the field allowed him to perform well on the right and eventually broke through Liverpool's goal. Although this goal was ultimately invalid due to handball, it was enough to show Flynnon's speed and offensive instinct.

Chiesa, who joined Liverpool last summer, originally existed as Salah's substitute, but since Salah rarely had any injury moments this season, Chiesa did not get any real chance (of course, there are other reasons too). But considering the issue of the African Cup next season, Salah will inevitably miss Liverpool's game for a long time. So, we have reason to think that with Salah absent and Chiesa's future uncertain, Flynnon may also be another option in this position.

Although Flynnon's offensive attributes are eye-catching, his arrival does not mean that Slot will adjust his strategy and transform his defensive right-back into an offensive right-back.

Flynnon is a dynamic player. He does everything with speed and determination, which makes it difficult for a defensive player to deal with him, especially in one-on-one situations. Moreover, he is not only an excellent breakthrough player, but during his time at the pharmaceutical factory, he can always appear in the right place at the right time. Flynnon is not an offensive organizer like Arnold, he won't transfer passes on the court and hit the ball in the same super-skilled way.

His skill characteristics mean he does not need to be involved in the team's offensive organization - this is clearly seen from the off-ball run he makes while the team is in possession. His running tends to move more longitudinally, stretching his opponent's defense with a lot of forward or towards the penalty area.

Although Arnold plays more of the role of a traditional right-back this season, and the more natural successor of this role should be Bradley, to be honest, there is another common theme in Slott's tactical system this season: letting the full-back cut in front of the winger who often cuts in the runway.

When in these positions, Flynnpool's last pass will make Liverpool's profitable and create higher quality opportunities - he was prone to haste or panic in passing or shooting positions, but now his calmness in these positions has developed.

The following three examples show his decision-making and execution ability when assisting his teammates.

In the game against Stuttgart, Flynnon broke through the defensive player one-on-one, using his speed to gain a little advantage, and passed a close post to Patrick Hick, who headed the ball into the ball.

In the game against Augsburg, he showed speed and consciousness, using the gap created by Nathan Tranece to find Martin Trier who rushed forward with a low tie.

Speed is not a common trait in Liverpool. They have athleticism, strength and short-range acceleration, but speed players like Flynnon aren't available in the existing roster. As Flynnon talked about in the previous article, he can also use his speed to create goals opportunities for himself, such as against Hoffenheim.

Flynnon has also made significant progress in defense.

Xavi Alonso's tactical system usually uses three defenders, which allows full-backs to have a lot of space to cover on both ends of the offense and defense. To a certain extent, Leverkusen relies on Flynnon's speed to fill the gap that has emerged. At the same time, his tackle and defense have become more sensible. He is by no means the kind of winger who relies solely on the speed of the return, which sometimes makes people feel frustrated when defending. In addition, in order to improve his abilities in this area, he also conducted a lot of research and training.

Some tactical thinking

Liverpool will make the full-back position more back in the early stage of the offensive organization stage, which is obviously different from Flynnon's situation in Leverkusen. At the same time, we also need to pay attention to one issue: we can see in the previous case that Flynn Ponte has a large space to use on the right side of Leverkusen, but in Liverpool, this area is more controlled by Salah.

At present, Liverpool is more a team built around Salah, and given his outstanding performance in the 2024/2025 season, it may easily change this or put Liverpool at huge risks. If Flynnon is allowed to move at a higher position, it may have allowed Salah to move more toward the middle and bring him closer to the goal, and perhaps it is not a bad thing.

Konat has become accustomed to covering large areas on Liverpool's right to make up for the gap left by the right back's forward. Heraffenberg can also be in the back midfielder to provide more protection to the team's right side. All of this also requires a slight adjustment in position awareness and discipline - this may not be a difficult task for Flynn, and he is not unfamiliar with the right-back position.

However, Slot also needs to consider how to balance the issue of freedom between the full-back and the midfield.

Of course, Slott has proven himself in the 2024/2025 season to manage and solve defensive problems. In his first season at Liverpool, he already gave the team a more compact way, and at the same time, he also allowed Arnold, a player who was always targeted by his opponents, to output stably on the defensive end. So there is no reason not to believe that Flynnon will be better under Slot.

(Armour)