Having opened up a lead at the top of the league only to throw it away, Liverpool find themselves behind rivals Manchester United at the top of the Premier League, making this a more important North West derby than it has been recently.
After dispatching Aston Villa’s youth team in the FA Cup with a weakened team, Jürgen Klopp returned to the side that lost to Southampton, making one change in midfield as Xherdan Shaqiri replaced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer set up his side in their usual 4-2-3-1 shape, making three changes from the team that beat Burnley. Victor Lindelöf replaced Eric Bailly, while Scott McTominay and Fred were brought into the midfield, pushing Paul Pogba forward and dropping Nemanja Matic and Edinson Cavani to the bench.
United tried to press at times however this frequently meant one of their full-backs getting drawn up the pitch, leaving their backline three-against-three. Liverpool’s frontline were likely to beat the defenders in a foot race so it unsurprising United didn’t want to leave their defence exposed like this often.
This problem was largely thanks to Liverpool’s forming of a back three to play around Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes. Either Trent Alexander-Arnold would hold back while Andy Robertson pushed forward on the left, leaving space for Jordan Henderson to pull wide, or the centre-backs would split as Thiago Alcântara dropped in between them.
The attacking pair unable to cover all three men, United usually didn’t bother with pressing, preferring to instead drop off into a mid-block 4-4-2.
Having struggled to break down packed defences recently, Klopp went with a very attacking line-up, having Thiago at the base of the midfield, Shaqiri pushing forward between the lines in the right inside channel and Georginio Wijnaldum often pushing forward into attack.
Thiago and Shaqiri were the two most involved as Liverpool looked to progress down the right. Thiago was capable of passing forward through the midfield, forcing Fred forward to stop him, while Shaqiri would position himself in the gap behind the Brazilian. With Alexander-Arnold and Fabinho back and Mohamed Salah either pushing the full-back back into defence or pulling wide, Liverpool could work the ball into Shaqiri with little passes down the right side. Shaqiri could then cut inside and run at the defence, either exchanging passes with the forwards or trying to pick out a through ball.
The main problem with this was Salah, who likes to make runs through that same inside channel as Shaqiri. This left him either stuck wide, away from goal where you want him, or congesting the middle. Mid-way through the first half, he and Sadio Mané swapped sides. Mané made more sense on the right as he could happily join in with the passing or go down the outside and cross, however it still didn’t help Salah, who would have to cut inside onto his weaker right foot to get a shot at goal.
This strategy made it easier for Liverpool to get into attack, yet they still found it difficult to create clear-cut chances. Much of this was due to the excellent defending of United. They congested the centre, getting eight men forming a tight defensive block whenever Liverpool tried to attack through the middle.
When Liverpool played wide, the full-back would move wide and the near-side’s holding midfielder would shift across to fill the gap that opened up. This not only ensured Liverpool couldn’t isolate the full-back or get someone running through that gap, but also allowed the rest of the defenders to stay in the centre and defend any potential cross rather than getting dragged wide, while the other holding midfielder sat protecting the space in front of them.
As a result, even if Liverpool could squeeze past two men and work the ball into the box, there was no space to actually get a shot away.
The weakness of this strategy was of course that the holding midfielders were pulled over to one side of the pitch and so a switch of play out to the opposite flank would have left them rushing across the width of the pitch to cover. Liverpool rarely took advantage of this though.
Given their build-up was predominantly down the right, the logical utilisation of this would have seen them switching the play out to Robertson on the left. With Pogba tucking inside to help defend the midfield, he had space down the outside, while Mané and Wijnaldum both made runs in support of him that would have left Wan-Bissaka exposed while McTominay came across.
When the option was there, it often wasn’t taken though.
When Alexander-Arnold did switch the play out to Robertson, it was typically when United were already central rather than having been dragged across to one side, meaning it wasn’t too difficult for them to get across and defend against him.
This defending frustrated Liverpool but it also meant United offered little going forward. They mainly looked to go long to Rashford, and, while some of these counters looked dangerous – Thiago looking a bit leggy when asked to recover as he regains his fitness – many of them would have been ruled out for offside in the event of a VAR check.
With a three point lead, the result suited United, however it made for a dull, uneventful match.
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