It was a little surprising that two giants of European football, with ten European Cups between them, hadn’t played each other since 1966, back before either club had established themselves as such.
A meeting in 2020 wouldn’t be quite the same though. Ajax may have managed a run to the semi-finals when Liverpool won the Champions League in 2019, but economic inequality between the Dutch and English leagues makes them very much the underdogs.
This gulf was neatly summarised in this match where the two teams played basically the exact same strategy yet Liverpool came out on top.
Both Jurgen Klopp and Erik ten Hag set up their teams in 4-3-3 formations, with a focus on pressing from the front. The wingers would press the centre-backs while curving their runs to block the passes out to the full-backs, the central forwards would support the pressing of the centre-backs while cutting off the pass into midfield, and behind them the midfielders would push up to get tight to their opposite number.
Ajax appeared to tailor their build-up more specifically to exploiting Liverpool’s pressing. Davy Klaassen would drop in alongside Daley Blind, which ensured Roberto Firmino couldn’t cover both of them, encouraging Liverpool’s midfielders to step up and get tight to them so Ajax didn’t have a free pass into midfield.
In theory, this would pull Liverpool’s outside midfielders inside close to Klaassen and Blind and away from the wings, enabling Ajax to dink passes out to the full-backs in space.
While Klaassen dropped back, Ryan Gravenberch would push forward to support the attack, getting four players up against Liverpool’s back four. With Mohammed Kudus – then Dusan Tadic after the Champions League debutant was injured just minutes into the match – playing as a false nine, there were two Ajax players in this space where only Georginio Wijnaldum was defending for Liverpool.
The main problem for Ajax was that Liverpool didn’t really take the bait. Rather than James Milner and Curtis Jones sticking very tight to Klaassen and Blind, the pair were reasonably happy to maintain some distance most of the time – Milner in particular taking up positions where he could press both Klaassen centrally and Noussair Mazraoui out wide. It helped that they could trust Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane ahead to cover them from quite narrow positions.
Liverpool’s build up was much easier. Fabinho and Joe Gomez’s willingness to push forward with the ball ensured David Neres and early substitute Quincy Promes would be pulled inside to press the centre-backs while Klaassen and Gravenberch would stay tight to Milner and Jones. This left little space in the centre but acres of space for Andy Robertson out wide, so time and again Liverpool would knock it out to the left and get the Scot running down the line. Mazraoui would be forced out to close him down, leaving three Ajax defenders against three Liverpool attackers.
Despite being left without cover, both defences did very good jobs, ensuring there were few real chances in the match. Young Perr Schurrs mostly dealt well with the twists and turns of Mane, however the Senegalese managed to escape him at a throw-in and got a shot away in the box. The shot deflected off of Blind towards Nicolas Tagliafico, whose mishit attempt at clearing the ball went into his own net. This was the sole moment that separated the teams.
Klopp secured his midfield at half-time with the addition of Jordan Henderson for Jones, who had put in a good solid performance in a rare start. Now with the lead, Liverpool were dropping off rather than pressing, which made it much harder for Ajax to play through them: Milner and Wijnaldum didn’t have any reason to get tight to Klaassen and Blind when the attacking trio ahead of them were already dropping off close to them, ensuring Liverpool’s midfielders couldn’t be pulled far away from the Ajax full-backs.
Substitute Diogo Jota was particularly impressive defensively. The Portuguese was quickly getting back in line with the midfielders when needed, so that the Reds at time resembled a 4-4-2, providing good defensive width.
It didn’t make for the most entertaining of games, but Ajax looked completely devoid of ideas, enabling Liverpool start their European campaign with three points in a potentially tricky group.
If you enjoy these posts, please consider subscribing to our Patreon or making a one-off donation. For just $2.99, you can get access to premium videos and training sessions.
No responses yet