Thread by @PremLeaguePanel

🔎 Man City 4-0 Liverpool - a tactical analysis thread

The Approaches

•Pep's selection was intriguing as he completely changed the 4-3-3 false 9 he used vs Chelsea to a 4-2-2-2: box midfield of a Gundogan-Rodri double pivot and KDB & Foden floating as two no. 10s behind a Sterling-Jesus front 2

•Klopp went with his standard 4-3-3

• It was interesting to see that Pep had instructed Man City's front 4 not to press as high as we are used to seeing them, but they still played a very high defensive line
- out of possession, it was more of a 4-4-2 shape with KDB defending centrally and Sterling wide left

- Not pressing really high but still maintaining a high line meant that Man City were very compact from back to front which meant that LFC had very little space in which to play the ball into their midfield 3 or their full-backs when they pushed up into more advanced positions

•As a result, LFC's main build-up strategy became their CBs and even Trent dropping into deep full-back areas to play aerial balls over the top of Man City's high defensive line into their front 3 - there were five attempts at this in just the first 12 minutes !!!

•Man City's CBs gradually adapted & weren't penetrated by these balls over the top after around 20 mins
- here,Gomez attempts the same pass again- Laporte & Garcia have reduced the distance between them --> Garcia anticipates Salah out-to-in run with initial move towards Laporte

•LFC left to rue not capitalising on the initial success they had with this method in the first 20 minutes before City's defence adapted - created just 0.26 xG when in reality they should've had more goalscoring chances with better touches and final third play from their front 3

•LFC's pressing structure was also interesting - it was primarily left to Mané & Salah to press high from the front (pressed much higher than City) whilst Firmino dropped deeper to prevent a pass into Rodri or Gundogan

•However, this was where Pep's choice to play two defensive midfielders (Rodri AND Gundogan) helped City to play through LFC's press and build play - if Firmino blocked the pass to one, the other was often free to receive a pass from the CBs

• This meant LFC had to commit further bodies forward into the press to block this passing option and to stop City playing out from back
-had some success with Fabinho & Henderson twice pushing up on Rodri or Gundogan to support the press & recovering the ball in dangerous areas

•But committing another midfielder also brought it's dangers and this showed for the 2nd goal
- both Henderson & Wijnaldum have pushed onto Rodri & Gundogan (not sure why both did this when Firmino was there to cover one of them already)

--> when Wijnaldum gives away the 2nd ball --> LFC have just Fabinho protecting the counter --> Robertson should hold his position but he gets sucked into midfield as a result, leaving Foden free to assist Sterling

•Another key tactical feature was Pep selecting both Foden & KDB in between the lines as advanced 10s
- In his 4-3-3,the two 8s contribute heavily in deeper build-up, Foden & KDB were not as much- 28/59 of their touches in the final third

- this meant that City could benefit greatly if Rodri/Gundogan could pierce the LFC press with a pass as there were two targets for them to find in between the lines

- consequently,LFC's midfield were often outnumbered in between the lines,which contributed to the 3rd goal:

Foden drifts into a central position --> no LFC midfielders are free to track him --> Robertson panics & flies out him --> Foden plays a simple one-two to get round him

•We explained tactical elements (plus Robertson errors) for the 2nd & 3rd goals, but the other 2 goals simply had uncharacteristic defensive errors from an LFC defence who had only conceded 21 goals in 31 games
-1st - Gomez 1v1
-4th - poor defensive structure from own corner

Summary
•City compact front-back
•LFC successful with long balls over top & high press- both compromised by poor final third precision
•Gamble of press & Pep's selection of two DMs to bypass it & two 10s, left LFC vulnerable
•Especially with bad decision-making of LFC defence

Retweets of the original post in the thread much appreciated if you enjoyed reading it. And any feedback always welcome. Thanks 👊