Liverpool Tactical Analysis

Huddersfield 0-1 Liverpool: A Tactical Breakdown

After the international break, it’s never quite as easy as you would expect for a team to pick up where they left off. Jürgen Klopp alluded to this in his post-match presser, as he cited the return of both Firmino, Fabinho and Alisson as late as Thursday. For all this disruption though, Huddersfield were...

Explaining Liverpool’s Pressing Against Manchester City

In Liverpool’s most recent contest, The Reds achieved a 0-0 draw at home to title rivals, Manchester City. The match was cagey, conservative and respectful, and despite Liverpool restricting City to just two shots on target, some viewers weren’t happy with the home side's work without the ball. The main viewer that I’m referencing...

Liverpool’s Midfield Imbalance

So far this season, Liverpool have accumulated 12 points after winning their first four matches of the campaign, even despite the Reds barely moving into second gear. Klopp's title challengers have thus far won 4-0, 2-0, 1-0 and 2-1, but in one of those contests, Liverpool struggled considerably to regain control more so than...

Leicester 1-2 Liverpool: A Tactical Breakdown

After a series of games in which one team opened themselves up to be spatially exploited, and two decided to sit tight and deep, Leicester offered a new and different challenge to those Liverpool have already faced this season. Leicester were far more aggressive than previous opponents, but the game was largely characterised by...

Liverpool 1-0 Brighton: A Tactical Breakdown

On the final game of the 2017/18 season, Liverpool romped to a 4-0 victory against Brighton, but this time around, Chris Hughton was determined for the type of game and result to be completely different to the preceding meeting between the two sides. Brighton set up in a 4-5-1 off ball formation. In recent games,...

Crystal Palace 0 – 2 Liverpool: A Tactical Breakdown

Liverpool's 2-0 victory at Selhurst Park was a perfect result. The performance itself though was a great deal detached from perfect. LFC's attacking brilliance is regularly lauded and rightfully praised, however, the response to the victory against Palace does not accurately reflect the performance itself, nor the underwhelming work of the forwards and midfield...

Tactical Analysis: All Shots Conceded in Game 1 vs West Ham

If you haven't got the memo yet, Liverpool won't be conceding any goals this season thanks to Virgil simply swearing at anybody who lets the ball come into the box and Alisson dealing with whatever small amount that Virgil's swearing fails to deter. https://twitter.com/babuyagu/status/1028711576071753729 This is great obviously for us Liverpool fans but sucks for me...

Liverpool 4-0 West Ham: A Tactical Breakdown

Liverpool picking up where they left off at the end of the 2017/18 season would have been the perfect way to kick start a league season, and Liverpool did just that. There were 92 days between Liverpool's last home league game against Brighton and the opening fixture against West Ham, but the results were...

Liverpool 2018/19: A Tactical Preview

How do Liverpool play? It's a simple question, but with the arrival of both Naby Keïta, Fabinho and Alisson, as well as the progression of Liverpool's tactics under Jürgen Klopp since he joined in 2016, the answer requires a more detailed response than the question initially indicates. There are three main tactical phases in football:...

Injecting Forward Passing Into Liverpool’s Midfield

In his first ever press conference as Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp was asked about the style of play we should expect to see the team play during his tenure, ‘Umschaltspiel’, he replied. This is a German footballing term but it roughly translates to ‘shift game’, which essentially means ‘transition game’ in England. Two full...