What should have been a very important match for Liverpool was rendered an afterthought, and possibly completely pointless, due to their owners’ greed.
Jürgen Klopp made two changes to the team that couldn’t beat Real Madrid in mid-week, replacing Mohamed Salah and the injured Nathaniel Phillips with Diogo Jota and Thiago Alcântara as Fabinho was moved to centre-back again in Liverpool’s usual 4-3-3 formation.
Marcelo Bielsa was forced into making two changes to the side that beat Manchester City last weekend. Pascal Struijk and Jack Harrison came into Leeds’ 4-3-3 due to Liam Cooper’s red card and an injury to Raphinha.
While on paper a 4-3-3, Leeds rarely actually lined up in such a shape in reality. Defending using man-orientations, Leeds’ players were positioned wherever it was that Liverpool’s moved, which left them ripe for manipulation. Tyler Roberts picked up Georginio Wijnaldum, Kalvin Phillips had Thiago and Stuart Dallas followed James Milner, while Hélder Costa and Harrison tracked Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold and one of the centre-backs would follow Roberto Firmino up the pitch.
Knowing Leeds’ players would follow them wherever they went, Liverpool set themselves up in positions to create space for their teammates. Thiago and Wijnaldum would open up gaps for passes through to Firmino between the lines, while Milner was constantly roaming, either pulling wide or pushing forward into attack, so that Dallas was often pulled even deeper than Phillips; Firmino’s dropping off opened up a gap in Leeds’ defence for Sadio Mané or Diogo Jota to exploit, with both men taking up narrow positions; Alexander-Arnold and Robertson would use the space left out wide to push forward, dragging Leeds’ wingers deep into their own half, nullifying their attacking threat.
The one area where Leeds would mark zonally was Liverpool’s centre-backs, with only Patrick Bamford to mark two men. Unable to stick tight to both men as the rest of his teammates did with theirs, Bamford would take up a position between the two to block off any passes between them. This did nothing to disrupt Liverpool though, as both Fabinho and Ozan Kabak were happy to push forward on the ball. In order to stop them advancing, a Leeds player would have to leave his man to come across and cover, which simply opened up whoever they were marking to receive the ball and advance.
This was how Liverpool took the lead. Kabak pushed forward and found Jota, followed by Luke Ayling, dropping off into space in midfield. The Portuguese then turned and pinged a pass in behind for Alexander-Arnold, who was sprinting in behind Harrison and got to the ball first. With Ezgjan Alioski pulled forward to get tight to Firmino, there was no one covering this space behind Harrison, forcing Illan Meslier out to close the angle, which left Mané with an open goal once Alexander-Arnold squared it to him.
Part-way through the first half, Phillips tried picking up Firmino so that his centre-backs could hold their positions in defence, with Roberts picking up Thiago instead. This simply left Wijnaldum free to collect the ball and advance though.
Whereas Leeds never got near to Liverpool, the Reds completely blunted Leeds’ attack with their pressing – intensely pressuring Leeds high up the pitch so that they couldn’t play out from the back. Ayling would make movements to receive the ball behind Mané then Jota once Liverpool’s wingers switched sides, however Milner would be out to him quickly and Liverpool’s midfielders were ready to pounce on a pass inside, meaning they would soon recover the ball.
While they completely dominated the first half, Liverpool fell apart in the second. Leeds made some adjustments to help play out, with Ayling staying back alongside the centre-backs, forming a makeshift back three, and Leeds switching properly to the 4-2-3-1 shape Liverpool had been pulling them into in the first half anyway, as Dallas dropped back next to Phillips and Roberts pushed up between the lines.
It would appear the success and failure of Liverpool’s two halves were linked, as the intensity of their pressing in the first half left them exhausted in the second as they sat back to protect their lead. Even when they were pressing after half-time, it was sluggish, with Liverpool’s frontmen and midfielders often standing, walking or jogging when they needed to be running. Liverpool’s system really doesn’t leave any space for passengers, as them keeping three forwards in attacks demands more defensively of the midfielders and full-backs.
This really wasn’t simply a problem of system though, with Leeds able to cut through Liverpool even when they had men in position to defend. Leeds would continually get the ball wide then attack Liverpool’s box with crosses. Even after Klopp switched to a 4-2-3-1, bringing on Mohamed Salah and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, it made no difference and Leeds finally got their equaliser from a corner minutes from time.
It’s difficult to tell what exactly is super about a club that can’t beat any of the teams it’s trying to run away from.
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One response
“It’s difficult to tell what exactly is super about a club that can’t beat any of the teams it’s trying to run away from.”
Careful with Bielsa saudosists