As Liverpool went within a whisker of achieving an unprecedented quadruple earlier this year, there were few better performers than those on the Reds’ right-hand side; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson and Mohamed Salah.
Their success dates back to the summer of 2021, when Jurgen Klopp and assistant manager Pep Lijnders meticulously detailed plans on how they could reinvent the Liverpool team, during a month-long stay at their Saalfelden off-season training base.
Part of those discussions and plans from Klopp and Lijnders centred around redeveloping full-back duo Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold - who had cemented themselves as the continent's finest pairing following their outstanding output in recent Champions League and Premier League-winning seasons.
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Having previously operated in an overlapping manner, making advancing runs on the left and right flanks and allowing Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah to take more central positions inside the opposition's 18-yard box, Alexander-Arnold and Robertson were gifted the space and width to operate close to the touchline and claim an impressive tally of 79 assists collectively from 2017 to May 2021.
During that time, much of the full-backs' output was down to the roles of midfielders Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum on the right and left side of Fabinho, respectively. In these two, Klopp had dependable, intelligent individuals who were selfless enough to slot in for Robertson and Alexander-Arnold during their frequent ventures upfield.
However, the signing of Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich in the summer of 2020 signalled a shift in approach for Liverpool, as Klopp has since looked to sport a more possession-based attacking approach in the seasons since.
Which has meant from last August onwards, when Lijnders and Klopp made their respective tactical tweak, Alexander-Arnold and Robertson have been tasked with an increase in underlapping those in attacking areas - with Salah, Henderson and the West-derby star forming a stellar relationship last term. It was a tactical shift which later led to Alexander-Arnold and Salah enjoying arguably the finest spell of their careers to date, as they mustered up a grand tally of 37-goal contributions from August 14 to January 2.
However, that relationship seems to have encountered an impasse in recent weeks as the duo have both endured their worst starts to a season as Liverpool first-teamers. The same can be said for most of the squad, in fact, as the past four weeks have statistically been the club’s worst start to a Premier League season since 2012/13.
Given the ever-growing additions to the injury index at the AXA Training Centre - with Henderson the latest to join the likes of Curtis Jones, Fabio Carvalho, Calvin Ramsay, Ibrahima Konate and Joel Matip - it’s perhaps unfair to judge a team based on its impeccable previous standards when they are missing so many key components.
And there is evidence to suggest Henderson’s absence has been particularly damaging for Klopp and Liverpool at the moment, which is certainly backed up by Wednesday evening’s trip to Naples.
Lining up alongside Fabinho and Harvey Elliott, James Milner endured a night to forget in Naples as the Reds’ Group A campaign got off to the worst possible start with a 4-1 drubbing to the Serie A outfit. Individual mistakes, miscommunication and a lack of endeavour, which was capitalised on by Piotr Zielinski, Andre-Frank Anguissa and Giovanni, saw Liverpool deservedly thrashed.
Joe Gomez and Alexander-Arnold, who were both behind Elliott, on the right-hand side of defence both endured a night to forget as Simeone’s strike moments before half-time encapsulated the lack of desire, fatigue, and the dropping of standards within the ranks so far this term.
It is no coincidence either that the right-back has continued to struggle for form during the opening month of the new season as a result of his captain yet to start consecutive games on the right-hand side of midfield. Following the hamstring injury Thiago sustained at Fulham last month, Henderson - prior to his own injury issues - had been forced to uptake a role on the left which subsequently handed Elliott his midfield birth on the right.
But Elliott's addition, despite his superb attacking ability, has greatly impacted Klopp's midfield cohesion as Alexander-Arnold has since been left without defensive support. The defender has subsequently found himself the target of opposition wingers during the first seven games of the season.
For all of the 19-year-old's fine performances so far, Wednesday evening's encounter at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples highlighted, for perhaps the first time during his senior Liverpool career, his lack of tactical experience at the game's elite level. Over the course of his 77-minute outing, the former Fulham scholar completed zero tackles and won just 60 per cent of his ground duels.
With Henderson trained to slot in behind Alexander-Arnold whenever the full-back ventured forward, the 23-year-old has been left isolated as a result of his absence and the consequential holes that have since appeared in the midfield. Something that Napoli were able to excellently exploit last week, leaving the England defender frequently in an undesirable one-on-one with attacker Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
During his post-match interview, Robertson was quick to highlight the flaws with his side's pressing. "When we’re a team that presses and you miss one challenge you need somebody to follow it up and back his mate up," the left-back told BT Sport. "Too many times we got turned and they had big open spaces to run at. We have to get back to basics, we have to be compact."
He added: "We deserve this result. The way we were wide open they found so many spaces, it felt like they had an extra man and that’s not like us. I don’t think we were close enough to our mate when they went to press the ball.”
It wasn't until the introduction of Thiago, for the first time since he limped off during the draw with Fulham in early August, that Liverpool's midfield resembled anything close to a compact department, with the Spaniard completing more tackles (4/6) than any of his team-mates despite only playing 28 minutes.
His return will no doubt be a welcome boost to Klopp in the coming weeks and months, as the Liverpool manager is able to rebalance a midfield unit that has lacked defensive stability and attacking impetus so far this term. But so will the return of Henderson, which is expected to come after the international break, and Alexander-Arnold too should be able to benefit from the return of his skipper as he looks to replicate the unbelievable heights he achieved so regularly last campaign.
After being made to deputise for the Spaniard on the left of midfield this term, Henderson could potentially be reinstated in his favoured position on the right upon his return to fitness. Which, judging by the games in his absence, may be a timely boost Liverpool and Klopp so desperately need.
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