How We’re Going to Beat Liverpool
Preface:
Jack and I are now the head coaches of an imaginary Premier League team that is playing against Liverpool in 4 days. The aim of this project is to present the most dangerous threats Liverpool possess and how we, as coaches, are going to prepare for them and overcome them.
We chose to use Liverpool for this project because neither of us have watched Liverpool much this season, so we’d be coming into this blind with no biases. Another reason for choosing Liverpool was that they are a team we know, over the past few years, is very principle heavy. Pressing, high action, rock and roll football is what Klopp is known for and is now what Liverpool is known for.
Playing against a team with a set of philosophies and ideas make it somewhat easier to prepare for them because we can narrow down what is done out of principle and what is done based on the opponent.
We used a sample size of five games within a month for this project:
Liverpool v. AC Milan
Liverpool v. C. Palace
Brentford v. Liverpool
Porto v. Liverpool
Liverpool v. Man. City
We chose these five games because they offer a variety of different play styles; no team plays the exact same way. This allows us to see which patterns, defensive or offensive, are recurring, rather than ones planned for a certain type of opponent.
After watching these games, we have identified three threats that are worth preparing for:
- Liverpool’s shape and rotations in the middle and final thirds
- Liverpool’s press
- Liverpool’s rest defense
After identifying these threats, Jack and I have created three training ground games that we plan on using in the days leading up to our inevitable victory against Liverpool.
Note:
The number of players used in each game may change. This was done to make our lives easier instead of planning a training session around a fixed number of players. We are a Premier League club with an academy. We can use as few/many players as we want. This isn’t your grassroots club where you don’t know if you’ll even get eight players at training.
Another note:
Jack and I did this project together. He wrote his own version on his blog which will be linked at the bottom of this article. I REALLY recommend reading both pieces as Jack and I have very distinct writing styles and methods of presentation. I think this project is best experienced reading both versions, not just one.
Threat 1: Liverpool in the Middle & Final Thirds
Stopping Liverpool from scoring is hard. Fortunately, we have a solution. We have identified two attacking ideas used by Liverpool that we want to train our team to defend against.
The first one is underlaps and overlaps from the “wide three”: Salah, Henderson and Trent Alexander-Arnold (or Milner in some games). These three players rotate between the RW, RCM and RB positions often, so it’s best to adopt a zonal-marking approach instead of a man-marking one or else the defending team risk being pulled out of position.
The graphic below shows that the ball carrier has an inside passing option, a forward passing option or the ability to cross. The supporting players will either underlap or overlap for the ball carrier, or the ball carrier will cross into the box. We have Salah, Henderson and TAA/Milner making these rotations most often.
The second attacking idea we want to prepare for will look at the use of diagonal passes from the Liverpool center-backs, notably van Dijk and Matip, to players out wide close to the touchline. They have excellent ball playing defenders who will often find their targets out wide, as seen in the graphic below. There is a preference for the Liverpool defenders to target the right side. TAA and Salah need no introduction.
Solution 1: Training Our Shape in the Middle & Final Thirds
Our solution to the Liverpool attack is a 6v6+2 game. The neutrals play a crucial role for both sides. For the players in red, the neutrals represent wide attackers from Liverpool — players that are seemingly always available. For the players in gray, the neutrals represent wingbacks that we use in possession.
The mini-goals placed on the half-way line represent areas we want to target because they are left vulnerable by the Liverpool fullbacks. We don’t intend to have players placed in these areas during transitions, but we want our players to turn and face these directions as soon as they win the ball. Our players will carry the ball forward in game and counter.
The mini-goals turned inwards inside the penalty area are placed this way for a few reasons. We want to encourage the red team to play crosses into the box towards the back post. We also want to encourage the red team to make underlaps into the penalty area via the half-space and cross to the opposite half-space. Additionally, the neutrals would act as wide players that the Liverpool center-backs would make diagonal passes to. We believe that turning the goals inwards rewards the attackers to do this, thus replicating the Liverpool attack.
Threat 2: The Liverpool Press vs. Our Build Up
Liverpool press in a narrow 4–1–2–3 structure. The two furthest forward central midfielders will mark or press the pivots of the team in possession. The front three will angle their runs according to the direction the attacking team moves. So, if the ball is played to the RCB from the GK, the LW will press them while the ST angles their run to screen a player behind them while pressing the GK, as seen below. Liverpool will also use the ball sided full-back in their press if the first line of the press is beaten. The Liverpool full-back will press the winger on the attacking team to prevent them from receiving the ball easily.
Liverpool do leave themselves somewhat vulnerable against teams with a narrow double-pivot. Liverpool will have their central midfielders mark or press the double-pivots aggressively. Doing this allows the forwards on the attacking team to sit in the half-spaces to receive long passes from the goalkeeper. So, we will be playing out from defense with a double-pivot. Our shape will resemble a 4–2–4.
Solution 2: Training Our Shape in Build Up
Our solution to the Liverpool press is a 7v6+2 game in which we will practice our build up by targeting our wingbacks who can pass inwards to the double-pivot, or pass forward to where our winger might be. This game allows for us to practice our build up shape and help us develop a response to how we will react in transition to defense if we lose possession.
We are using mini-goals for the team in gray in combination with a larger, central goal. This allows the gray team (us) to target the wide areas while also allowing the goalkeeper on the red team to restart play through a goal kick build up of their own.
The red team will be allowed a +2 advantage whenever the team gets the ball so that the defending gray team can practice getting into their shape out of possession and defending against an overloaded counter-attack.
Threat 3: The Liverpool Rest Defense
Liverpool use a variety of shapes when in the middle and final third, most notably 3–2–5,-3–1–6 or a 2–3–5. The one constant is the rotations between the RB, RCM and RW which somewhat muddle our ideas of their shape in possession. Below is a graphic that shows an idea of player positions and rotations.
Liverpool have defenders who are excellent at playing long, diagonal passes into the path of wingers, but the defenders are also used for maintaining possession and moving the ball from one side of midfield to the other.
Solution 3: Training Against the Rest Defense
The training game we have designed to help defend against this issue is a 7v4+4 game. The gray team will focus on maintaining their defensive structure that looks to prevent dangerous passes in behind and into the half-spaces. The gray team will also be tasked with having the widest, outside defender, step forward and into the midfield line when pressing the wide neutral. We want our wing-backs to step forward and press the receiving player to force a backwards pass and this outside defender will represent that player.
Liverpool take advantage of underlaps very often when attacking, so this game aims to reward the red team for playing passes into areas of the pitch where underlaps occur most often by placing goals in the half-spaces, as well as one central mini-goal.
The gray team will score on goals placed where our forwards might be, or in areas we ask our players to carry the ball to when they win possession. When out of possession, the central midfielders and central defenders on the gray team will press less because, in game, the defending wing-backs will be encouraged to press when play is in the middle and final third to stop or defend against Liverpool’s wide rotations.
Every three minutes the players with black bibs, the neutrals, will switch with the red team so that the defending gray team is always playing against fresh attackers. Time in the game allows the attackers to run around while time outside the game allows the attackers to catch their breath while still acting as neutrals. We want the gray team to be under constant pressure.
Final Thoughts
These training games aim to reward our players for doing what we want them to do. No team can attack like Liverpool, but we try our best to create environments that reward our players for trying to. This is how we can best prepare ourselves for Liverpool while playing within the constraints of our imaginary team and our imaginary game model.
You’ll notice that every game has a mini-goal placed in the space TAA leaves behind him, or that the gray team is always under constant pressure with very little time to take a break. There are overloads everywhere that the defending team must focus on, while also maintaining focus on the key areas we want to work on more exclusively like underlaps, passes into the half-space, and long diagonal passes.
Not every team will play in a back five like we do. We chose a back five because we think it’s easier to train if your imaginary team and imaginary game model is built for it. Not every team is built like our team, so this isn’t a one size fits all solution.
This was a fun thought experiment to do because our coaching experience in results driven environments is minimal. Coaching in a development driven environment has its own challenges, but the difference between results and development driven environments is stark. Coaching becomes different. We are no longer focused on fixing our midfielders poor passing range, we simply have to accept that they are poor passers because we are playing Liverpool, Man City or Burnley next week. There is no time to fix these inadequacies.
Coaches like Pep and Klopp are the best in the world because they win games while simultaneously making players better. Striking that balance is very difficult — most coaches never find it. I haven’t even started trying to find it, but this experiment was a nice start.
Jack and I have two very distinct writing styles. I encourage you to read Jack’s version of this project as it will give you a second perspective on the same ideas. To my understanding, this project is the first of its kind. It would be a shame if you only enjoyed half of it.
Jack’s project: My better half
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