For the first time, Steven Gerrard came to Anfield leading the opposition.
The Scouser made just one change to the team that beat Leicester City, with Matt Targett coming in at left-back as Ashley Young moved into attack, replacing Emiliano Buendia. Aston Villa set up in a 4-3-2-1 shape.
Jürgen Klopp put out a weakened side in mid-week against AC Milan, yet he made just one change to the eleven that started the late victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain replaced Diogo Jota in attack. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Villa’s 4-3-2-1 shape allowed them to flood the centre with players. With their number nine dropping off, Liverpool have often been able to outnumber the opposition in midfield, pulling two men deep and two between the lines to split the opposition midfield. This wasn’t an issue for Villa, who had five men in this area. Jacob Ramsey and Young would remain central, blocking the passes into Thiago Alcântara and Fabinho so that John McGinn, Marvelous Nakamba and Douglas Luiz weren’t pulled forward to cover. Unable to pass through the congested centre, Liverpool were forced wide, where Young and Ramsey would then shift across and try to trap the full-back against the touchline, supported by the outside centre midfielder and the Villa full-back stepping up to block the pass down the line. Villa were guiding Liverpool into a smaller area of the pitch and then surrounding them there when they took the bait.
With Sadio Mané often tucking inside into the centre, Andy Robertson was left isolated on the left, ensuring that flank was pretty much useless to Liverpool’s build-up, however they did manage to create some confusion on the right by swapping some roles around. At the start of the match, Trent Alexander-Arnold would pull out to the touchline, but eventually it was Jordan Henderson who went down the outside, while Alexander-Arnold made runs through the centre.
Villa couldn’t work out quite how to deal with this: when Alexander-Arnold was wide, it was obvious that Young would move out to close him down, but when it was Henderson, things were less clear. Liverpool’s captain was positioned higher up the pitch, meaning he was further away from Young, but if Luiz moved out to deal with Henderson instead then he left a gap through the centre for a Liverpool runner that Young would need to track into deep areas anyway. Alexander-Arnold would also position himself deeper in the centre than Henderson had, meaning that even if Young did drop back to defend against Henderson, a backwards pass to Alexander-Arnold would need Luiz to step out to close him down, again leaving a gap in midfield to be exploited.
It seemed a small change but it blurred the lines of who was meant to be marking who to create problems for Villa. This only got worse when Joël Matip started pushing forward on the ball. Do they just let him come forward freely? Do they close him down? Who closes him down? If they close him down, who picks up whichever one of Alexander-Arnold or Henderson they had to leave free to do so?
Despite this headache, Villa were able to remain solid in defence. The dual defensive roles of Young and Ramsey meant that the midfield were able to hold their positions in front of the defence, so there were seven men in and around the box to repel Liverpool attacks. Not only did Villa have men willing to put their bodies on the line and fling themselves in front of Liverpool shots, they stayed compact enough so that they were actually in effective positions to do so.
Villa’s ability to get seven men back into defence quickly had a lot to do with their build-up. Villa’s midfield would remain deep and split wide, allowing them to help the centre-backs play out and keeping them in position to defend should they lose the ball. This should have given Matty Cash and Targett the cover to push forward and join the attack, however they generally seemed reluctant to do so, meaning they were never too far from the defence for Liverpool to exploit on the counter.
Early on Villa showed the comfort in possession to attempt to play out under pressure from Liverpool, however they rarely actually managed to play around the press. Instead their attacks were mostly direct balls towards the forwards, with Ollie Watkins making runs down the left, and they only really caught Liverpool out when the home side made defensive mistakes. The deeper into the match they went, the more the game became solely about defending for Villa.
When Liverpool finally took the lead it was from Mohamed Salah winning a penalty. Thiago switched play with a long pass out to Henderson on the right, who moved back inside exchanging passes with Alexander-Arnold. Tyrone Mings had moved across to pick up Salah, but as Targett was seemingly dropping back into defence, Mings decided to leave him and wander back into the centre, preparing to defend any potential cross with Targett keeping an eye on the Egyptian. Targett hadn’t actually dropped back into defence though, only dropping deeper to back up McGinn then stepping forward to close down Henderson again. Salah had been watched closely throughout but suddenly this misunderstanding between Mings and Targett left him with a little space and Henderson seized the opportunity, slipping the ball through to him. Mings quickly realised his error and got out to him, but he was left isolated in a fairly wide area against Salah, who took the opportunity to knock the ball past and nip ahead of the slower man. Salah got his body between Mings and the ball, so the defender was left flapping at the back of the attacker’s legs then hooking his arm around as he stumbled over, handing Liverpool a penalty.
Villa made attacking like-for-like changes, bringing on Morgan Sanson, Danny Ings and Buendia for Nakamba, Young and Ramsey but keeping with the same structure. Now with the lead, Liverpool were happier to simply hold onto the ball and defend in a 4-5-1.
It was an impressive defensive showing for Gerrard’s men on his return to Anfield, however Liverpool pounced ruthlessly on their minor error and claimed the three points.
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