Tactical Analysis

Liverpool 1-1 Leicester City: A Tactical Breakdown

With a number of injuries and a suspension to deal with, even after the team sheets were announced, it was unclear exactly how Liverpool would set up. Initial reports indicated Gini Wijnaldum would fill in at right-back, in Alexander-Arnold's absence, but instead, it was club captain, Jordan Henderson who would feature there, and Naby Keïta...

Liverpool 5-1 Arsenal: A Tactical Breakdown

The Times’ David Walsh called Liverpool’s 5-1 deconstruction of Arsenal “their best performance of the season”. Liverpool barely pushed themselves. This was a clinical, ruthless and efficient dismembering of Arsenal, and precisely why Pep Guardiola said Liverpool are "the best team in the world right now". To thoroughly outplay Arsenal, score five goals, and...

Liverpool 4-0 Red Star Belgrade: A Tactical Breakdown

After a drab affair against Huddersfield, Liverpool fans were craving for an impressive performance. Yet, for the opening 20 minutes, Liverpool looked a far cry from their fluid, incisive best. But this was no typical Liverpool lineup. Klopp has employed the 4-3-3 system to good effect in his three seasons at Liverpool, after initially starting...

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:...

Manchester United 2-1 Liverpool: A Tactical Breakdown

There's no game that manages to make me as uneasy as the Manchester United tie at Old Trafford: genuinely, I can't eat on matchdays. Maybe it's the trauma of defeats and the subsequent stick that every young fan gets at school that's caused it - who knows, but in all seriousness, after Liverpool won...

Huddersfield 0-3 Liverpool: A Tactical Breakdown

If I were asked to sum up the Liverpool victory over Huddersfield, there's one term which would immediately spring to mind: game management. Quite often, football games aren't decided by tactics, errors, luck and the like all come into play from time to time, and usually, it's Liverpool making errors where they should not...