This weekend’s big six clash has come at a crucial moment for both Liverpool and Tottenham.
The hosts might be six points clear at top of the Premier League table, but a stuttering performance against Manchester United was enough to raise doubts about the long-term viability of a tactical system that opponents have begun to suss out.
For Tottenham, the crisis is deepening by the week. Mauricio Pochettino’s team are obviously struggling to motivate themselves following last season’s overachievement, and yet their issues are as much tactical as psychological; Spurs were lucky not to lose to a Watford team who outwitted them all over the pitch.
Ahead of a potentially decisive match in the respective seasons of both Liverpool and Spurs, we take a look at the tactical problems developing at the two clubs – and what they need to do on Sunday to fix them.
Tottenham
- The tactical problems
No matter what formation Mauricio Pochettino picks - 4-2-3-1, diamond 4-4-2, or 3-4-2-1 (the latter attempted in the 1-1 draw with Watford) - the result is the same: central midfield drifting through matches, forwards disconnected from the creative players, and a sense that everyone is just too disjointed and low energy to pull defensive blocks out of shape.
Their meandering football is the knock-on effect of poor recruitment. With several key players thinking of their next move as contracts run down, others aware the manager wanted them gone last summer, and the vast majority of the squad potentially immune to Pochettino’s methods after too many years at the club, the energy has gone.
More specifically, Pochettino teams have always pressed high and hard, bunching in narrow attacking lines to hit on the counter or, via quick short passes in the central column, to suck the opponent inwards for marauding full-backs to excel. Danny Rose and Serge Aurier just aren’t good enough to be key players, and without penetration out wide it is easy to defend against Spurs. Dele Alli’s poor form has heaped creative pressure on want-away Christian Eriksen, leaving a flat and faltering attacking midfield.
- How to solve it against Liverpool
Liverpool’s openness ought to significantly help Spurs, who will be relieved to play against relative equals after Watford, Brighton, and Southampton all restricted space in the final third.
Bayern Munich’s 7-2 win in London is evidence this isn’t solely a case of opposition shape, however, and yet the success both Manchester United and Sheffield United have had against Liverpool offers Spurs a template for Sunday.
In a 3-5-2, Liverpool can be stopped. Using a system with wing-backs will allow Spurs to get tight to Jurgen Klopp’s playmakers (the full-backs) while a back three can shepherd Liverpool’s forwards man for man. What’s more, two fast strikers can split like Marcus Rashford and Daniel James did, getting behind the Liverpool full-backs and punishing them on the counter. Son Heung-Min, the only in-form Spurs player, will be crucial in the spaces behind Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Liverpool
- The tactical problems
They might be six points clear at the top of the table but no Premier League side has outperformed their xG as much as Liverpool’s 6.78 extra points, a statistic that highlights how lucky they have been in recent matches. Liverpool have been oddly hesitant in possession and lack creativity in midfield, with a growing chasm between the midfielders and forwards so nearly leading to three straight league draws after fortunate winners against Leicester and Sheff Utd.
Opponents are learning how to stop them. Wing-backs can be deployed to tightly mark Andrew Robertson and Alexander-Arnold, pushing them back to force crosses from weaker positions, while sitting at least two midfielders just in front of the back four prevents Roberto Firmino from dropping off and feeding Sadio Mane or Mohamed Salah.
Klopp urgently needs to find a solution to these problems, because until they can bring in a line-breaking playmaker in January – Jack Grealish would be ideal - their midfield will continue to look too workmanlike and results will gradually get worse. Salah’s absence against Man Utd was seemingly enough to throw them off, too, and so a dramatic change of formation could be needed whenever one of their forwards is absent.
- How they can solve it against Spurs
Against Sheff Utd and Man Utd, Liverpool went to a 4-2-3-1 for the closing minutes, with the number ten so far forward as to make the system closer to a 4-2-4; on both occasions it worked, suggesting Klopp should go to this formation sooner. The reason it works is because using wingers adds natural width, preventing the opposition wing-backs from being able to close down the full-backs so quickly. By doubling up, Liverpool force the other team into a retreat that, in turn, allows Robertson and Alexander-Arnold to cross from better areas.
However, it would be naïve to start in a 4-2-4 this weekend, and indeed with Spurs lacking energy of late Liverpool, welcoming Salah back, should be OK to continue in their usual 4-3-3 – albeit with one important change. This will be a much more open, end-to-end game than the Man Utd match, which naturally favours Salah, Firmino and Mane.
All three will anticipate joy around the badly under-performing duo Aurier and Rose, especially if Naby Keita gets a first league start of the season. Keita has an ability to weave through the lines, dribbling directly at the midfield in order to create space for those around him. This is the energy they need to disrupt an opponent’s rhythm, particularly with such an elongated pitch. Keita deserves a chance to inject life back into Liverpool.
