Tactical Breakdown: Southampton 1-0 Liverpool
On Monday night the Champions travelled down to St Mary's to face a depleted Southampton side, who were without a number of key players, such as Alex McCarthy, Oriol Romeu and Ché Adams.
The Saints lined up in a 4-4-2, in which they looked to press Liverpool's backline. Ralph Hassenhutl's team were also instructed to form a box around the deepest midfielder, Thiago, who would be pressed from all four players whenever he received the ball. As he passed the …
Tactical Breakdown: Fulham 1-1 Liverpool
"Before looking at tactics I think it’s important to preface any tactical discussion within the unique circumstances players, managers and clubs find themselves in, especially Liverpool FC. Jürgen Klopp’s team is currently in the midst of a season in which their pre-season was disrupted, their transfer plans unexpectedly affected and in which games are being played at a faster rate than I can write them up. The nature of this campaign has resulted in a number of decisions being …
Tactical Breakdown: Midtjylland 1-1 Liverpool
With Liverpool's qualification from the group stage of the Champions League settled prior to MatchDay 6, most fans were looking forward to a game with no significant consequences, in which they could put their feet up and enjoy the reigning Premier League champions' second team play against Danish champions, FC Midtjylland.
Liverpool set out in their usual 4-3-3. Kelleher retained the gloves, with Alisson still injured. Ahead of him was a back four of Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Williams and Tsmikas. The …
Tactical Breakdown: Liverpool 4-0 Wolves
It's December, and that means I can get my Nuno Espirito Santa joke out once more. But the greatest present at Anfield on Sunday night was the presence of fans in the stadium. The Premier League champions, shorn of home support since March, finally had the adulation they deserved. Despite only 2000 fans being allowed back into Anfield, this was more than enough of a crowd to spur Jürgen Klopp's men into producing a display worthy of a crowd, and …
Tactical Breakdown: Brighton 1-1 Liverpool
Before looking at tactics I think it's important to preface any tactical discussion within the unique circumstances players, managers and clubs find themselves in, especially Liverpool FC.
Jürgen Klopp's team is currently in the midst of a season in which their pre-season was disrupted, their transfer plans unexpectedly affected and in which games are being played at a faster rate than I can write them up. The nature of this campaign has resulted in a number of decisions being made …
Tactical Breakdown: Liverpool 0-2 Atalanta
Gian Piero Gasperini's Atalanta is a fascinating side. In their 0-5 loss to Liverpool at the Bergamo Stadium they displayed a number of interesting tactical concepts that in themselves were reasonable, astute and innovative, but were ruthlessly dismembered by a Klopp side at its cutting edge best. Central to that performance was the ability of the forwards and midfielders to synchronise their movements to drag the Italian side's players out of key areas, and use direct passing, dribbling and excellent …
Tactical Breakdown: Manchester City 1-1 Liverpool
As I have grown up, I have witnessed titanic clashes between footballing behemoths. Games for which the world would stand still for 90 minutes in order to witness the spectacle. In the early noughties, it was Arsenal and Manchester United; then Chelsea and United; Liverpool and Ferguson's side followed briefly, before the rise of Pep Guardiola's Barcelona precipitated a new dimension to El Clasico, now a monumental clash between the world's two finest teams. Matches between Klopp's Borussia Dortmund and …
Tactical Breakdown: Liverpool 2-1 West Ham United
With minimal rest between games and an extremely unfortunate recent injury record, Liverpool are battling, hard, each week. Late on Saturday evening, West Ham United went to Anfield without their in-form striker Michail Antonio, but still with a clear, disruptive game plan in mind.
David Moyes' West Ham were structured in a 5-4-1 system, with a deep low block designed for defenders to double up on Mo Salah and Sadio Mané, and minimise the spaces between defenders for those players …
Tactical Breakdown: Liverpool 2-0 Midtjylland
Time is precious, especially time on the training pitches. Since the start of the season, Jürgen Klopp has found very little time between games to work tactically with his team, with match preparation, recovery and rest requirements taking up the majority of time between fixtures. The fixture schedule is so intense that rotation across the squad is not just frequent, but necessarily incessant. When dealing with such an intricate system such as the one Liverpool play though, changes to the …
Tactical analysis: The impossible task of stopping Alexander-Arnold
Liverpool’s march towards a highly anticipated first Premier League title seemed to take a significant step on Sunday evening when they defeated old rivals Manchester United 2-0 at Anfield.
The win saw the Reds extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to 16 points but it didn’t come as so usually seen at Anfield these days. Jurgen Klopp’s men created the best chances of the game against a depleted United side but the scoreline remained on a …