Jurgen Klopp's new Liverpool system helping to fix the Reds' problems
Liverpool are in limbo right now without a real identity for the first time under Jurgen Klopp.
- Published before Rangers 1-7 Liverpool
The Reds have won just two of their eight Premier League matches this term and the 3-2 loss to Arsenal on Sunday now means they are 14 points off the leaders and six away from a place in the top four. Without the 9-0 win over Bournemouth, Klopp’s side would have a negative goal difference.
The German tactician knows there are problems with his team and he has spoken openly about it over recent weeks, but he is yet to figure out a way to get things back on track.
Following the 4-1 loss away to Napoli in the Champions League, Klopp claimed his team needed to “reinvent” themselves.
"There are a lot of things lacking, not in all games but the fun thing is we have to do it in the middle of the Premier League season and a Champions League campaign.
"We need a set-up to be better in pretty much everything."
Conceding early a major problem
A stop-start September presented Klopp with an opportunity to switch things up, even though a number of players were away on international duty.
However, it was more of the same in the first game back, a 3-3 draw with Brighton at Anfield. The Reds conceded after five minutes in Naples while Brighton needed just four minutes to break the deadlock at Anfield.
It has been a bit of a theme for Liverpool over recent months.
This season, they are conceding, on average, after 20 minutes. Looking back beyond this campaign, the Reds have been conceding early on since April.
Kevin De Bruyne struck inside five minutes in the 2-2 draw at the Etihad. Wolves scored after three minutes on the final day, Southampton took the lead after 13 minutes, Aston Villa needed just three minutes to break the deadlock and Villarreal took a 1-0 lead with 2:51 on the clock.
Following the draw against the Seagulls, Klopp acknowledged that his team has serious defensive issues.
'We need to go back to basics'
"Had we won the Brighton game it would have been a different feeling but with similar problems. We have to do pretty much everything better," said Klopp.
"It was only two years ago we were in a similar situation when we lost all our centre halves, but we found a way out by working on it. That's what we will do this time.
"We have conceded similar goals with teams going through the same gaps. The problem we have is a brave way of defending. We need intensity and if we don't do that then it's a problem.
"We have to be more compact. Defending is an art, and it worked for us really well for a long time. But with it not working you realise you have to go back to the basics."
New formation should restore some balance
Against Rangers, Liverpool switched it up. They discarded their new shape, one that was leaving the deepest midfielder with a lot of ground to cover, and went with a 4-4-2.
In possession, it was more of a 3-2-5 shape with Trent Alexander-Arnold, a player criticised for his defensive performances recently, playing a much more reserved role almost as a right-sided centre-back.
As seen above, Joel Matip anchored the defensive three with Virgil van Dijk on the left. Ahead of them, Thiago and Jordan Henderson were deployed as a double pivot.
In their shape earlier on in the season, Liverpool defended with three and attacked with seven. This one looked to restore some balance to that, with five players helping with the build-up and five players attacking.
On paper, Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota were paired in attack but it was a fluid front four made up of those two, Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah. In fact, the only one with a set position was Kostas Tsimikas. The left-back played more as a left-winger and allowed Diaz to pop up elsewhere.
There was a balance to the team and a control that had previously been lacking. Granted, the opposition weren’t the sternest of tests, the system showed promising signs.
For example, Nunez had six shots against Rangers and Salah had a season-high five efforts.
Alexander-Arnold also enjoyed himself in a new role. This season, he has attempted 62 passes per 90 and has a pass success rate of 77% across all competitions. Against Rangers, he attempted 74 passes - more than any player on the pitch - and found a team-mate 82% of the time.
So, more passes and a better success rate. Perhaps this was a byproduct of not always looking to play the killer pass. Instead, he was looking to play the pass before the killer pass.
A system built around their best players
Perhaps that is what Klopp meant when he talked about going back to basics. He ensured his most potent players had more shots, he deployed a system that allowed his best playmaker to have more of the ball, and he switched up the system to add more numbers to defensive transitions.
When executed properly, it would give Liverpool a solid base to build from. It was something the Reds needed against Arsenal and it was exactly what they didn’t have as the hosts took the lead inside of a minute.
The 4-4-2/4-2-4 has a lot of advantages but there are some negatives to it. Namely, the team is light in midfield.
Liverpool thought they had a counter-pressing situation early on and Thiago pushed up in a bid to close down the man on the ball. This forced Jordan Henderson into more of a central area to cover and immediately there was an imbalance to the shape.
It can be seen above.
Liverpool’s two-man midfield have been dragged over to the left and there is nobody on the right-hand side for the Reds. It is an area that Arsenal have three players in with Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka and Gabriel Martinelli all able to attack the space ahead of Alexander-Arnold.
As the attack progresses, the area ahead of the Liverpool right-back remains vacant and eventually, Martin Odegaard manages to thread a pass into the path of Martinelli and the Gunners take the lead.
Liverpool reinvented themselves and went back to basics, yet still conceded an early goal.
Injury crisis leaves Klopp with conundrum
They are now without Joel Matip and Alexander-Arnold for at least a fortnight while Diaz is out for a minimum of 10 matches.
These injuries will force Klopp into yet another shuffle as he doesn’t have the personnel to stick with the new system. It couldn’t have come at a worse time with a rampant Manchester City heading to Anfield this weekend.
Klopp has faced this sort of dilemma in the past though. During the 2017/18 season, his team were conceding goals and chances at an alarming rate and it culminated in a 4-1 loss to Spurs. After that, he made subtle changes to the system. One of which was the use of Joe Gomez.
Up until that point, he had been utilised as a right-back and he shared the role with an inexperienced Alexander-Arnold.
Following the heavy defeat, Gomez was used as a defensive full-back, playing almost in a back three. It was more of a 3-4-3 in practice and it shored things up defensively until the arrival of Van Dijk in January.
'Best form of defence is attack - not if you can't stop conceding'
A similar sort of tweak could be made to this team. Instead of going with four attackers, revert to a front three and add another body in midfield. They say the best form of defence is to attack but it is not possible to win games when you are conceding goals at an alarming rate.
Liverpool have conceded two or more in five of their 11 outings this season. The new system was demanding that the players covered more ground than ever before under Klopp during defensive transitions. Maybe the solution is to have them cover less ground and become really difficult to beat once again.
Control the space and you, more often than not, control the game, regardless of whether you have the ball. At their very best, that is what this Liverpool side did. Get close to that again and the climb up the table will be rapid.