How Liverpool could line up with Xabi Alonso’s favoured 3-4-2-1 after Madrid sacking
The stars could align for Xabi Alonso to return to Liverpool after all.
The 44-year-old coach is out of work and available for his next challenge after his time at Real Madrid was cut short after just half a season.
Alonso struggled to implement his tactical ideas on Los Blancos’ Galactico squad, but his time at Bayer Leverkusen demonstrated he’s an elite coach who will surely have no shortage of offers in the coming months.
Arne Slot, meanwhile, has weathered the storm by leading the Reds to an 11-match unbeaten run. Still, there remain question marks over their performances and whether the Dutchman is the right man to get the most out of this new-look squad.
We’ll have to see how the coming months develop, but we wouldn’t at all be surprised to see Alonso back on Merseyside at some point in the near future.
Here’s how we think Liverpool could line up in the 3-4-2-1 formation Alonso used to great success at Leverkusen.
GK: Alisson
No changes here. No matter the shift of system in front of him, Alisson undoubtedly remains Liverpool’s No.1.
The idea might be for Giorgi Mamardashvili to one day succeed the Brazilian as the Reds’ first-choice goalkeeper between the sticks, but we’re still a few years off that yet. No matter who the coach is.
CB: Joe Gomez
The long-serving defender would likely get more gametime in the event of a change in the dugout, given he’s currently Liverpool’s only other fit and available centre-back. Gomez’s ability to start games every week is an admittedly awkward question here.
A long-term plan might be to integrate the talented Italian Giovanni Leoni once he returns from his ACL layoff. Still, the shift to a back three would also demand further defensive reinforcements in the transfer market (if that’s not already the case).
Marc Guehi, for what it’s worth, has plenty of experience playing in a back three under Oliver Glasner. But Liverpool will face lots of competition for his signature when he’s a free agent in the summer, if he doesn’t move before.
CB: Virgil Van Dijk
It hasn’t been a glittering campaign for Liverpool’s usually imperious captain, but a change in formation might help compensate for his advancing years.
Think Thiago Silva in Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea back three. Van Dijk can still be an inspirational leader at the back for years to come with sufficient cover around him.
CB: Ibrahima Konate
Van Dijk’s struggles this season have been nothing compared to his centre-back partner.
Konate was culpable with costly mistakes almost every week earlier in the season, although he has steadily improved during this unbeaten run.
“Unfortunately for him, he does a lot of things well, but he has been a bit too much at the crime scene, that is something I’ve heard people saying before in England,” admitted Arne Slot after the France international’s particularly worrying display in the 3-3 draw with Leeds in December.
You imagine he’d have been taken out of the firing line if Liverpool had more defensive cover, but needs must.
RWB: Jeremie Frimpong
And so we move on to a key area of Alonso’s favoured formation.
There are serious question marks to be asked of Liverpool’s recruitment, replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold with one of the most attacking full-backs in Europe – Frimpong looks more akin to a winger than a traditional full-back, as was the case with his wingback role for Alonso’s Leverkusen.
Indeed, Slot has actually used Frimpong as a wide attacker in the absence of other options, with Mohamed Salah away at AFCON. Getting them in the same line-up? That’s another question.
The headache of getting Frimpong and Salah to work in tandem may well resolve itself soon enough. Alonso’s system would surely have no natural place for Liverpool’s Egyptian King, but it’s proven to get the best out of Frimpong.
CM: Ryan Gravenberch
It’s strange to think now that Gravenberch only played a relatively bit-part role in his debut season with Liverpool, only starting 12 Premier League games as Jurgen Klopp struggled to find a place for him.
Now he’s among the first names on the teamsheet, Slot’s inspired decision to turn him into a defensive midfielder proving transformative in their title charge.
There’s no reason why he couldn’t be just as effective, playing the same role but with a different shape around him.
CM: Dominik Szoboszlai
Arguably Liverpool’s player of the season so far, Szoboszlai’s engine, work rate and versatility make him a dream player for any coach. Let’s not talk about the backheel against Barnsley.
Using such a dynamic, industrious player – ala Granit Xhaka in Alonso’s Bundesliga-winning midfield – seems the most natural fit.
But Szoboszlai has also demonstrated he could be just as effective in a more advanced position, as he’s recently demonstrated in Slot’s dalliance with the midfield diamond.
Playing the Hungarian further up would also give Alonso the option of deploying Curtis Jones or Alexis Mac Allister in the engine room.
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LWB: Milos Kerkez
Frimpong has raised eyebrows on one wing. And the same can certainly be said of Kerkez on the other.
The Hungarian has struggled badly in his first few months at Liverpool, looking overeager and defensively erratic. But there was a reason Liverpool signed him; at Bournemouth he proved he can thrive in the Premier League. He deserved his place in the 2024-25 Team of the Season. Don’t write him off just yet.
We won’t pretend to be the most sophisticated tacticos here at Planet Football – we’ll leave that to the experts on Twitter – but from our layman’s understanding, Kerkez’s particular bombing-forward style looks well-suited to a wingback role.
Andrew Robertson – and Conor Bradley (when back) on the opposite flank – would offer alternative, more defensively sturdy profiles.
They might be able to shut a game down as wingbacks, but you’d imagine they might struggle to offer the requisite penetration and creativity.
AMC: Florian Wirtz
Wirtz’s struggles have arguably been overstated.
Yes, his numbers leave a lot to be desired. But he’s shown more than enough flashes of quality, in an otherwise dysfunctional and underperforming team, to suggest he’ll come good. Indeed, he might well have been Liverpool’s best player during this uptick in form.
Liverpool have bet their future on the German playmaker. After six months of adapting to a more physical league, Wirtz would have no excuses if he reunites with the manager who turned him into a £100million superstar.
Like Frimpong, we have proof of exactly how good Wirtz can be under this manager, in this system. As plug-and-play as it gets.
AMC: Cody Gakpo
This is the one area of this XI that doesn’t have an obvious answer.
Nominally a right winger, Jonas Hofmann tended to play this role, in the advanced two alongside Wirtz, in Alonso’s double-winning, domestically invincible Leverkusen side. Gakpo would probably be the closest analogue to that in this Liverpool squad.
Playing in a kind of support striker role with an overlapping wingback might suit Gakpo, who is among those who have struggled the most for form under Slot this season.
The good news for Alonso if Gakpo continued failing to deliver, he’d have no shortage of alternative options. Hugo Ekitike, Federico Chiesa, Rio Ngumoha and the aforementioned Szoboszlai could all conceivably fill this spot on the teamsheet.
The elephant in the room is that it’s difficult to see Salah there, and certainly not as a wingback.
ST: Alexander Isak
Failing to get the best out of a colossal £125million investment might well be what costs Slot his job in the end.
It’s imperative that the Premier League’s all-time record signing starts showing some signs of cohesion with his new team-mates, let alone ultimately deliver the goals his price tag demands.
Isak has suffered rotten luck with injuries, currently on another long lay-off, but we’re backing him to eventually come good.
The Liverpool hierarchy evidently see Isak and Wirtz as two key pillars of the club’s future. They wouldn’t have shelled out north of £200million otherwise.
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