Liverpool midfielder makes a claim to be Arne Slot's star man

Harvey Elliot started against Arsenal in Liverpool’s second friendly of the USA tour and he was the best player on the pitch.

He was given the highest match rating on SofaScore but fans didn’t need that to know that he was one step above the rest.

Many players performed well in what was an impressive showing considering it is only Arne Slot’s third game in charge, if you are counting the behind-closed-doors friendly against Preston.

Mohamed Salah showed that he isn’t letting up any time soon, Szoboszlai excelled in a different role and Jarell Quansah was a rock at the back showing why Liverpool's gamble on him seems to be working.

However, it was Elliott who caught the eye more than anyone else as he put a marker down to be a regular under Slot.

ELLIOTT COULD BE SLOT’S GO-TO MAN

The system change that was expected from going from Jurgen Klopp to Slot has come to light in pre-season so far.

Slot wants to see much more patient build-up through his midfielders so he goes for a double pivot which allows another midfielder to be higher up the pitch.

Liverpool haven’t used a number 10 in many years due to Klopp going for a 4-3-3 system utilising his full-backs as the key creators.

Elliott unfortunately had to cope in a false nine role against Real Betis due to Slot having no strikers at his disposal. He was put in midfield against Arsenal though and excelled.

He managed to get both assists for the goals and it’s a debate in itself to say one was better than the other.

The first was a lovely through ball which he timed perfectly to put Salah through. His second was an audacious little clip on the edge of the box to fool the Arsenal defence.

As well as that he had 89% pass completion rate with two of those accurate long balls. He made another big chance and completed four key passes.

Elliott has always threatened to be a natural attacking midfielder after it took some time to figure out whether he is best on the wing or in the middle.

The midfield role under Klopp is more focused on hard work and moving the ball quickly to start attacks. Whereas under Slot players can have time to show some magic.

That is certainly what Elliott did against Arsenal; the type of magic Liverpool haven’t seen in that midfield role since Philippe Coutinho left the club in 2018.

It was expected that Elliott was going to have a lot of competition for that number 10 role which seems to be a dying art in football. Fabio Carvalho and Dominik Szoboszlai were also tipped to play there.

Having said that, Slot managed to get them both in the side with Elliott flourishing in the role behind the forward. So it could be early signs of Liverpool's new head coach building the side around the 21-year-old.