Having rested players last week and lost only to then still draw on the weekend against Brighton, Jurgen Klopp’s frustrations at having to deal with a frankly irresponsible fixture schedule boiled over.
Klopp’s rotation allowed him to put out a strong side for this fixture though. He made five changes from the early kick-off on Saturday, with Sadio Mané, Joel Matip and Jordan Henderson all returning to the starting eleven, while injuries to James Milner and Alisson Becker gave starts to youngsters Curtis Jones and Caoimhin Kelleher – the latter jumping ahead of Adrian in the pecking order.
Ajax matched Liverpool’s 4-3-3 formation, making just two changes from the team that started their last clash. Edson Alvarez and Antony replaced Lisandro Martinez and Mohammed Kudus, who was injured in the early stages of that first match, seeing Daley Blind moving back into defence and Dusan Tadic moving inside.
It wasn’t a particularly entertaining game. Ajax dominated possession of the ball, however a lot of it was pointless and slow. The defenders would pass amongst themselves, and pass amongst themselves, and pass amongst themselves, continuing until Liverpool finally gave in and began to press.
Erik ten Hag identified that Liverpool “leave spaces behind their last line, which we have to try to use” so Ajax would try to draw Liverpool up the pitch, then hit a long ball forward into the space they left. This never really threatened Liverpool though, with the defence dropping off quickly and Matip and Fabinho dominating in the air.
Ajax looked better when they were willing to be more patient. Ryan Gravenberch would drop in alongside Alvarez to help play around Liverpool’s frontline, with both men frequently dropping to the left or right side of the centre-backs respectively. They would look to spread the ball wide, where the Ajax full-backs would push forward, doubling up on Liverpool’s full-backs with the wingers.
There were two problems with this. Firstly, Andy Robertson and Neco Williams would pretty much always defend the depth, so, while Antony or David Neres might drag them forward, the second Noussair Mazraoui or Nicolas Tagliafico started to overlap, they would follow the run, stopping them from attacking the space in behind. Secondly, Liverpool mainly wanted to drop off rather than pressing high, so rather than being pulled forward to press, Liverpool’s midfielders were generally in positions were they could easily shift across to help out their full-back. Tadic dropping off between the lines helped Ajax work the ball forward, but they struggled to create chances.
Ajax pushing their full-backs so far forward left them short defensively though. Liverpool would reclaim the ball and immediately break forward, catching Ajax’s attacking players ahead of the ball. The speed of Liverpool’s attackers would test any defensive line, but one including Daley Blind was always going to struggle.
In the second half, Klopp switched around Georginio Wijnaldum and Henderson, so Liverpool’s captain could get more involved in attack. Liverpool took the lead when Henderson burst forward, playing a one-two with Williams. This pulled Gravenberch deep, opening up space for Williams to cross when Henderson played the ball back to him. The Welshman swung a ball in with his weaker left foot and Jones touched it in with the outside of his right foot from a difficult angle, refusing to give up on the cross unlike André Onana.
Neither side could have really complained with a goalless draw, but Liverpool’s two youth team products combined to win the game for them, while Kelleher impressed in goal. The victory ensured Liverpool’s place at the top of the group, giving them a much-needed opportunity to rest players against Midtjylland next week.
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