Having already won the home clash, Liverpool simply needed to avoid a significant defeat to secure their passage to the knockout stages of the Champions League ahead of Ajax.
Jürgen Klopp made three changes to the side that lost to Nottingham Forest on Saturday. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Jordan Henderson and Darwin Nuñez returned, taking the places of James Milner, Curtis Jones and Fabio Carvalho. Liverpool switched to a 4-3-1-2 formation.
Alfred Schreuder stuck with the same team that beat RKC Waalwijk at the weekend. Ajax lined up in a 4-3-3 shape.
Liverpool’s 4-3-1-2 shape had all the problems of their 4-3-3 shape, but worse. Typically when Liverpool are in the 4-3-3, the opposition full-backs are left unmarked, but the wingers would at least curve their runs when pressing the centre-backs to cut off the passes wide to the full-backs. Here Liverpool’s strikers, playing essentially the same roles as the wingers in the 4-3-3, would stay narrow on the centre-backs, allowing Ajax to play straight out to the full-backs unopposed.
Ajax also adapted their strategy shortly into the game, having Jorge Sanchez drop back in line with the centre-backs to form a makeshift back three, outnumbering Liverpool’s front two.
When the Ajax full-backs received the ball, it was the job of Liverpool’s outside central midfielders to rush out and pressure them. Again, this is pretty much the same as the 4-3-3, where Liverpool’s midfielders are asked to cover an incredible amount of ground defensively, but worse, as the narrow positioning of the Liverpool frontmen made it much easier for the Ajax full-backs to receive the ball, and therefore harder for the midfielders to pressure them. As a result, Liverpool’s midfield was unsurprisingly left stretched, with Ajax able to play through gaps in the centre as Liverpool’s midfielders were dragged wide. Liverpool’s midfielders have always been asked to cover a large amount of ground, but, fading physically, they simply can’t match what is required of them anymore, and this formation change only piled even more demands on them.
It was the same when attacking. Jordan Henderson and Harvey Elliott were often asked to pull wide or push forward into attack, meaning that when they lost the ball they were spread out across the pitch or caught ahead of the ball, leaving the physically depleted Fabinho alone in front of defence.
Much as Liverpool’s midfield was left stretched defensively, so too was Ajax’s. In typical Dutch fashion, they would look to press man-to-man in midfield, meaning Liverpool could manipulate Ajax’s shape to create space for their teammates. Davy Klaassen or Steven Berghuis would push forward to pick up Fabinho or stick to Henderson or Elliott as they dropped back next to the Brazilian, but them getting pulled forward would leave Edson Alvarez alone in front of the defence. Alvarez would generally try to stick tight to Roberto Firmino, but this meant there was space between the lines either for Elliott or Henderson if they hadn’t dropped deep, or Mohamed Salah dropping off.
Calvin Bassey would stick very tight to Salah to stop him from having space, but the Egyptian was able to use this to his advantage, pulling Bassey away from his position to create space for his teammates.
Liverpool took the lead exploiting this aggression from Ajax. They headed a long ball forward back the other way, causing first Jurriën Timber then Sanchez to sprint forward into challenges that they both missed. Sanchez flying past Henderson allowed the Liverpool captain to turn and get in behind the Ajax backline. With Bassey forced into coming across to cover Nuñez, Salah was left free in the centre, so Henderson found him with a lovely outside-of-the-boot pass, and the Egyptian dinked it over the onrushing Remko Pasveer.
They then doubled their lead shortly after half-time from a corner. Liverpool won the home game with a Joël Matip header against an aerially weak Ajax side, so it wasn’t exactly surprising this issue popped up again. Nuñez simply muscled his way past Sanchez to attack the space and get his head on the ball, demonstrating how man-marking at set-pieces doesn’t really work if your defenders don’t win their one-on-one match-ups, and 5ft 9 Sanchez was never going to be a strong bet against 6ft 2 Nuñez.
Liverpool then added another soon after, taking advantage of Ajax’s man-marking in midfield. Elliott played a one-two with Alexander-Arnold to play around Daley Blind then ran forward, dragging Alvarez with him. As Alvarez was occupied, Salah took the opportunity to drop off into space in midfield to pick up the ball. Normally Bassey would stick tight to Salah to stop him doing this, but the defender preferred to stay back, keeping an eye on Elliott’s run. Alexander-Arnold found Salah though, so Bassey was forced forward into confronting him. Salah turned and played a through ball into the gap Bassey had left for Elliott to run onto ahead of Alvarez and finish.
The victory was enough to secure Liverpool’s place in the Champions League last sixteen.
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