It wasn’t exactly a happy return to Anfield for Brendan Rodgers, with his Leicester City side struggling this season.
Rodgers made five changes to the side that was embarrassingly dumped out of the FA Cup by Nottingham Forest, replacing Danny Ward, Caglar Söyüncü, Youri Tielemans, Harvey Barnes and Kelechi Iheanacho with Kasper Schmeichel, Boubakary Soumaré, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Marc Albrighton and Patson Daka. Leicester lined up in a 4-2-3-1 shape.
Jürgen Klopp made six changes to the team that beat Cardiff City in the cup. Out went Caoimhin Kelleher, Ibrahima Konaté, Kostas Tsimikas, Jordan Henderson, Naby Keïta and Takumi Minamino; in came Alisson Becker, Joël Matip, Andy Robertson, Fabinho, Thiago Alcântara and new signing Luis Diaz. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Leicester being in bad form and their players lacking confidence showed early on. They just generally appeared disjointed: the attacking players wouldn’t show for the ball, making it hard for Leicester to play out as the deeper players lacked options, while defensively they failed to move as a block – certain players would shift to pick up a player but those next to them would fail to move with them – leaving gaps for Liverpool to exploit. This was aggravated by Liverpool starting at a high tempo – Leicester’s defenders and holding midfielders would lack forward passing options, then be hurried into making one anyway by a crowd of Liverpool players sprinting at them, generally either losing possession in their own half or handing it back to Liverpool by hitting a direct ball forward.
Although they initially appeared as if they didn’t want to be there, Leicester’s players settled more and more the longer they went without conceding a goal, however Liverpool remained on top.
Unlike Leicester, Liverpool were finding it very easy to play out from the back. Leicester lined up in a 4-4-1-1 shape out of possession, with James Maddison behind Daka, where the Zambian would push up onto one of the centre-backs, often curving his run to block the pass across to the other, while Maddison stuck to Fabinho. This failed to work on multiple levels. Firstly, Liverpool had Curtis Jones or Thiago drop in next to Fabinho, leaving Maddison outnumbered in this area – if he left Fabinho then the Brazilian was left open, but if he didn’t then whoever was dropping in could receive the ball and play out.
If Daka dropped back to help him out, forming a 4-4-2 shape, then this simply emboldened Matip to stride forward on the ball because of the space ahead of him, while even Virgil van Dijk, usually preferring to stay as cover, pushed forward a few times.
It didn’t help that Leicester were quite simply bad at pressing. They would push forward in an attempt to swarm Liverpool but would regularly fail to block passing lanes, meaning Liverpool could simply pick out a pass and catch Leicester’s players high up the pitch. Leicester’s press was failing because of Liverpool’s strategy outsmarting them, but even when they looked like matching Liverpool their technique would let them down.
It also didn’t help that Rodgers chose a young defensive midfield pairing behind them. Dewsbury-Hall kept getting drawn forward into higher positions, while Soumaré was doing a bad job of anticipating danger. Both men looked as if they could have done with a more experienced guiding hand next to them, but instead found a partner in the exact same predicament.
Diogo Jota’s positioning also created space for Trent Alexander-Arnold out wide by occupying Luke Thomas, making the left-back wary of stepping out to meet the Scouser by threatening to exploit the gap he would leave by doing so.
A Liverpool goal looked inevitable from the off but it took longer than their superiority suggested it should have. Leicester were saved by two factors. Firstly, they were easy to cut through, but they did at least get men back quickly once they did, so Liverpool would get the ball into attack then have to break down a solid block protecting the box. Secondly, Ademola Lookman and Albrighton tucking inside generally encouraged Liverpool to play out to the wings, where Leicester found it easier to corner them out wide, rather than funnelling them through the centre where Liverpool could have got easy shooting opportunities.
When the goal finally did come, it was from a corner. Much as they did against Crystal Palace, Liverpool exploited Leicester’s man-marking. Wilfried Ndidi was meant to be marking Van Dijk, but he was unable to track the Dutchman as he made a run because he was blocked off by Fabinho and his teammates. This meant Van Dijk was free to meet Alexander-Arnold’s cross, which was saved by Schmeichel, but the rebound fell to Jota to tap in, left free due to James Justin deserting him in an attempt to cover for Ndidi and go up for a header against Van Dijk, which he obviously failed at.
In the second half, Leicester sat back more. This allowed them to stay tighter and thus limited Liverpool’s ability to cut through them, yet it also meant Liverpool could simply hold onto the ball, which did nothing to actually get Leicester back into the game.
Towards the end of a largely uneventful second half, Liverpool secured their win following another corner. Leicester kept managing to repel Liverpool’s attacks only to have the Reds snatch it back on the edge of the area, and they finally converted it into a goal when Fabinho robbed Barnes, allowing Harvey Elliott to slide the ball in behind as Albrighton tried to push forward in transition. The ball was poked inside to Matip, who in turn poked it through to Jota to get his brace.
It wasn’t a sparkling performance from Liverpool, but it didn’t need to be to get an easy win against a poor Leicester side.
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.
One response
Great post. I wish you had a video of the run VVD made to avoid Leicester’s man marking. Everything else is great. Thank you.