In the match-up versus Manchester United, Liverpool struggled to effectively access the centre of the pitch when building up from the back in the way they would’ve liked, much of the ball progression came from direct balls into the last line (Trent, Van Djik) or via the occasional carry from the centre-backs (VVD, Konate), in fact Liverpool’s lack of effective progression is made even more obvious when you realise Mo Salah, was just behind Konate, Van Djik & Trent for ball progression. When looking at ball-progression stats at the end of games the expectation is to see your goalkeeper, defenders and midfielders in and around the top, not your winger, especially in Liverpool’s case, Mohammed Salah should be on the receiving end of ball progression actions.
In this piece of writing I’ll be attempting to analyse a sequence of play in which Liverpool were able to successfully build play through the centre, the sequence displays a range of techno-tactical details that helped Liverpool to successfully manipulate Manchester United’s block in order to reach the final third, the details I’ll be highlighting are as follows: torso deception, dribbling, rotation of movement between players and decoy runs.
Here’s the sequence of play I'll be analysing in this piece:
Szoboszlai’s ball carry into the centre of the pitch from the right flank attracts 3 United players to him, the implications of this is huge because it means United’s players momentarily become far too close to each other when trying to retrieve the ball which creates space within United overall block, space that can then be exploited.
Szoboszlai releases the ball to Trent at the very last second (this ensures maximum space is created within United’s overall block) who subsequently passes the ball back to Alisson. Important to note here that Liverpool now have a numerical advantage in this phase of play, 4 players against Manchester United’s 3, the question then becomes can Alisson successfully manipulate a United players movement to help escape United’s first line of pressure? Yes. Mctominay now must make a choice, he must pick between Trent or Konate, Alisson’s use of torso deception here is a crucial detail here, he uses his upper body to feint a pass to Konate before passing it Trent and this confuses Mctominay who momentarily goes to press Konate, this gives Trent extra time to receive and turn and make his next pass before Mctominay can get to the scene.
Trent has now received the ball back from Alisson, the extra seconds he’s been afforded due to Alisson’s deception gives him the time and space to momentarily turn and face before passing to the free man (Endo), Amrabat is focused on Szoboszlai in this sequence & Mainoo who is meant to be marking Gravernberch is at a loss because Gravernberch has roamed all the way to the right flank and rotated positions with Salah who takes up a more central position (he’s situated nicely in between United’s 2nd line of pressure and backline) exaggerated movements and rotations such as these are very potent when trying to solve player orientated pressing systems as it increases the distances between the opposition’s lines of pressure (decompaction), this also means more space for the players to run into thus allowing for more ‘transitional moments’ to be created.
Endo now receives the ball, which prompts Mainoo to jump to prevent United’s second line of pressure from being exposed but however he is a little too late to the scene and subsequently United’s press has now been broken, Endo is now able to play forward to Gravernberch who as mentioned above has ended up on the right hand side.
Liverpool have now generated an dynamic situation here, 4v4 (potential 5v4, Tsimikas overlap incoming), it’s the perfect situation: Liverpool have 4 attackers running at full speed towards the goal whilst United’s players are backpedalling whilst trying to defend the movements of Liverpool’s attackers. Salah’s positioning is interesting, he is positioned centrally rather than wider, what benefits is he afforded here in the event that he gets the ball? Well, he is closer to his team-mates (Diaz & Nunez) which allows for being cooperative superiority and he is closer to the goal which means he has a higher chance of scoring, also the shooting angles is much more optimal as he would have the whole goal to aim for. Diaz and Nunez with their movement are able to occupy United’s entire backline which opens up the possibility to involve Tsimikas, who is able to arrive on the overlap.
Salah receives the ball in a central position, Salah shoots and Onana saves:
After reading above, watch the sequence of play again?
Deductions:
The use of technical details such as torso deception, rotations, movement & dribbling were the key individual tactics that helped Liverpool to manipulate United’s block. Upon reaching the final third, intelligent & dynamic movement ahead of the ball served as a way to introduce an overload (Diaz decoy run to occupy Dalot to allow Tsimikas to arrive into space on the overlap).
Excessive and overexaggerated movements are key in creating solutions against a M2M press, completely vacating like zones to appear in other zones to allow another more dangerous player to position themselves in more dangerous zones can completely confuse the opponent quickness to these sequences as these players are better positioned to make decisions when on the ball (Salah central rather than Gravernberch).
These movements also give Liverpool’s players separation from their markers, which affords them more time and space.
Dribbling to attract opposition players to the ball helps to break the oppositions structure as they leave their respective zones in an attempt to win the ball which means space is left behind, this allows the team in possession to now have the opportunity to find the free man/exploit vacated space if the ball can be retained. Psychologically the oppositions block goes into ‘reactive’ mode after being goaded by a good dribble, United players without considering the teams defensive structure try to press for the ball without considering the need for staying compact.
Deception of the pass is important in this sequence with regards to manipulating United’s block, and it comes from Alisson, the feint using his torso open his body in the direction of Konate before quickly closing his body and passing it to Trent creates doubt in Mctominay’s mind which gives the right back more time on the ball to turn and face.
Trent’s inverted position is another key factor to consider, allowing him to pop in different zones of the pitch completely opens up different possibilities for him and the team it makes central progression a much more potent option as Liverpool, as seen many times Trent given time and space to face forwards on the ball in any area of the pitch is terrifying.
