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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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.Â
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...
Liverpool met Sheffield Utd at Anfield for their first game of 2020, hoping to pick up where they left off in 2019. In securing a comfortable 2-0 victory, they did just that. Liverpool's tactical approach was an intelligent one given the challenges presented by their opponent's system & Christmas scheduling.
They were able to simultaneously...
"This was a marvellous tactical battle, but for Nuno Espirito Santo, despite his best efforts, couldn’t quite deliver a surprise in morphing into Nuno Espirito Santa(!!!), but with Liverpool, rather unexpectedly, now four points clear of Manchester City, it seems Christmas may just have come early…" - Wolverhampton 0-2 Liverpool: A Tactical Breakdown, 23/12/2018
It's...
The fixtures seem to flash past in a blur. It's hard to imagine how it feels for Jürgen Klopp, given his side barely have time to rest, let alone develop match specific tactics between recovery days and fitness top-up sessions. Rotation is a necessity for Liverpool if they are to get through this utterly...
