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Liverpool sought to get their stuttering season back on track with a visit to Eintracht Frankfurt.
Arne Slot made five changes to the side that lost to Manchester United, bringing in Andy Robertson, Jeremie Frimpong, Curtis Jones, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitiké in place of Milos Kerkez, Conor Bradley, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Mohamed Salah. This saw Liverpool switch to a 4-4-2 formation.
Dino Toppmöller made four changes to the team that drew with Freiburg, as Michael Zetterer, Mario Götze, Jean-Mattéo Bahoya and Ansgar Knauff replaced Kauã Santos, Farès Chaïbi, Can Uzun and Jonathan Burkardt, seeing Frankfurt switch to a 3-4-3 shape.
It was Frankfurt that started the game the better side. With their three centre-backs, they outnumbered Liverpool’s frontline, so they would play down one side, drawing Liverpool’s forwards across, before switching out to the other flank.
This created a 3v2 overload on the flanks for Frankfurt, however they rarely made use of it, as the wide centre-back would usually move the ball on rather than pushing forward with it, so Liverpool’s widemen never had to make hard decisions about who they picked up.
Liverpool soon began to press in a 4-2-2-2 shape. This would see the strikers cover the centre-backs, while the wingers narrowed to pick up Hugo Larsson and Götze. This obviously left space on the flanks, encouraging Frankfurt to pass wide, and from there Liverpool would shift across to trap them against the touchline. The Liverpool striker would pressure the wide centre-back, while the winger marked the midfielder to stop a pass inside, the full-back stepped up to the wing-back, and the centre-back or centre midfielder shifted across to cover the winger. All of a sudden the man on the ball would find himself under pressure with no passing options.
Frankfurt’s opening goal came from a botched attempt at a similar kind of press. Liverpool lost the ball but quickly retreated, seeing Frankfurt play wide. Wirtz was blocking the pass into Larsson, however he failed to notice the Swede’s movement behind him, allowing him to receive the ball and face forward.
Jones had shifted across to cover behind Bradley and Dominik Szoboszlai had pushed forward to pressure Nathaniel Brown, so this left space in the middle for Ritsu Doan and Götze. Larsson passed forward and the pair exchanged passes, drawing across Jones and Szoboszlai to open up space for Bahoya. Ibrahima Konaté came across and Jones covered behind him, but Szoboszlai also came across rather than staying with the midfielders, so Götze was free to receive the ball in the middle and spread the ball out to Rasmus Kristensen on the right. Liverpool appeared to be in a good position to defend, but Kristensen managed to squeeze a shot through Robertson’s legs, deflecting in off the far post to take the lead.
This goal had come against the run of play however. Frankfurt had the better of the opening minutes, but Liverpool had soon taken control, and Frankfurt dropped back into a 5-4-1 – the same shape Liverpool faced last time out against Manchester United.
Whereas Gravenberch was left alone in midfield on Sunday, and through most of the season to be honest, here Jones and Szoboszlai both provided options at the base of the midfield, while Wirtz would come into the middle too, even drifting over to the left at times, as Frimpong, and then later Bradley provided width on the right.
Liverpool were using a back three in possession too, allowing Robertson and Konaté to stretch wide, and Robertson was even able to push forward thanks to Jones’ willingness to drop back and cover behind him. This meant Liverpool were able to keep players forward in attack as they had against United, but they were able to actually play the ball forward to them.
It didn’t take long for Liverpool to equalise, although it was on the counter rather than following the general pattern of play. Frankfurt had managed to evade Liverpool’s press but the Reds got men back to defend, with even Alexander Isak and Ekitiké dropping back close to their box.
This attack went nowhere though, with Robertson claiming the loose ball, however, with Isak and Ekitiké dropping back to defend, Frankfurt’s defensive line had pushed up high into Liverpool’s half. This left acres of space behind them to exploit, so Ekitiké sprinted forward into it as Robertson fed him the ball. The Frenchman simply outpaced the defenders and slid the ball under Zetterer to score against his former club.
Minutes later a quick exchange of passes down the left would see Liverpool win a corner, and at that corner Virgil van Dijk would easily evade Knauff’s marking to head home, giving Liverpool the lead.
Liverpool then doubled their lead through the same thing shortly after, as Konaté evaded Knauff to get his head on it.
The match continued in much the same way in the second half. Frankfurt sometimes attempted to press to little effect, but for the most part they dropped off into their 5-4-1.
Liverpool would add another on the counter. Szoboszlai intercepted a pass, and although he was surrounded by Frankfurt’s forwards, he was allowed to escape untroubled. Under no pressure, he slid a pass in behind for Wirtz, and he squared it to Cody Gakpo to finish.
They then added a fifth. Frankfurt cut out a ball over the top, but Liverpool won the second ball. With Frankfurt pulling men back into defence to cover, Gakpo passed back to Wirtz, and he squared the ball to Szoboszlai to shoot from distance.
It’s difficult to draw too many conclusions from this match. The result was obviously much better than it has been in recent weeks, and the performance was an improvement, with the extra passing options in midfield giving Liverpool greater control, however none of the goals actually came from these changes.
Slot made changes to address Liverpool’s issues, and they did appear to help, yet Frankfurt were so comically poor defensively that the tactics became practically irrelevant. The Reds will need a tougher test to make any real judgements. At the very least, the game has arrested Liverpool’s losing streak and given them a confidence boost.
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