Countera-TikiTaka: The New Liverpool Way
"The front three have pace, power, movement, and I would say Liverpool might be one of the best counter-attacking teams in Europe at the moment. "The way they suck teams in and just break on them. They run at every opportunity, so you have got to be aware of that. "I admire the football they play. Direct, counter-attacking football, with quick pace, and every opportunity the ball goes in behind. They have scored so many goals." - Ole Gunnar …
Liverpool 2 Sunderland 1 | In-Depth Tactical Analysis
Liverpool continued in the 4-3-1-2 diamond-type shape from the last three matches. Coutinho remained at the tip with Allen and Henderson playing as the shuttlers outside of Gerrard.
Possibly the best way to describe the shape Poyet played was a 5-2-1-2. Bridcutt and Cattermole played as defensive midfielders in front of the backline and Giaccherini played in front of them but often making a front three with Altidore and Wickham when attacking.
LIVERPOOL'S MAIN PROBLEMS
The main feature of this …
Liverpool 4 Everton 0 | In-depth Tactical Analysis
A fantastic result at home, matched by a superb performance that could and should have been rewarded with more goals.
Game plan
One of the main changes Rodgers made in this match was to shift his focus to an area of the pitch he has often left open this season - midfield. Rodgers, significantly in certain games, has often left this area relatively uncontrolled. Much of this is tactical; the reflex reaction of the backline is often to drop rather …
Reviewing Liverpool's imbalance & openness in the 1st half vs Villa
"It’s (the Premier League) less tactical, with more space, and more physical than in Spain. You don’t have to wait until the second half here for a game to open up and that is good for me." MichuTraditionally, people think of English football as direct, as physical, as high intensity and sometimes a battle. But there's another aspect that is traditional to English football. And that's the openness within games. Whereas abroad, teams traditionally concentrate more on …
Manchester City 2 Liverpool 1 | In-depth Match Review
Trade offs have been mentioned a number of times in this tactical column. That is largely because they are such a key part to football. Teams cannot fully control all areas of a game. If you press high, you leave space behind. If you defend deep, you leave space in front. If you play long, you get the ball forward quickly but with less chance of keeping the ball. If you change one area of your team, you might expose …
Liverpool 3-1 Cardiff City | In-depth Tactical Review
It's hard to say what position Liverpool are really in in terms of what they can challenge for at the end of the season. At the time of writing there are 2 points between 1st and 5th. Such is the compactness in points, results and general form within the current top five, it's difficult to predict which teams are genuine title contenders and which teams may fall away. After all, this is no normal league season - who would have …
Looking At The Defensive Issues Of The Shape Vs Fulham and Arsenal
Well it's international break so unfortunately there has been no club football to comment on from the weekend *groans*. Happily, what it does do is allow a bit of time to reflect on things from the last few weeks - in particular a couple of defensive issues.
Under Brendan Rodgers' management, Liverpool have used a number of different shapes. Just eleven games into the league season, at least four basic formations have been used - 4-2-3-1, 3-4-1-2, 3-1-4-2 and 4-4-2. …
Liverpool FC Tactical Analysis: Time to Test Out the Diamond?
On Saturday, Arsenal became only the 2nd team next to Southampton to beat Liverpool in the league since February 11th this year. There will be varying opinions on the biggest attribute to these improvements, especially concerning which system of play will provide the most success. Many Liverpool FC associated writers and fans have spoken in recent months about the potential gains to be had by Brendan Rodgers through the utilisation of the 4-4-2 diamond formation. Rodgers has even mentioned it …