Why Liverpool May Be a Force to Be Reckoned with Again
Liverpool's first 15 minutes vs. AC Milan in the Champions League were a terrifying reminder of the heights Klopp's men reached not so long ago.
Liverpool became a sort of forgotten team this summer. While Manchester City chased Jack Grealish for obscene money, Manchester United swooped in to pick up Raphaël Varane, Jadon Sancho, and Cristiano Ronaldo, and Chelsea broke the bank for Romelu Lukaku, Liverpool’s one big splash was Ibrahima Konaté — a 22-year-old central defender from RB Leipzig.
A quality purchase for sure, but nowhere near the type of profile to consistently put Liverpool in the headlines.
Although news mentions are inconsequential to determining the quality of a football team, it appears that the hype their rivals have generated have placed Liverpool outside the title contender discussion among many a fan. Even if the Reds are highlighted, it’s likely not done so with the certainty that they’re clearly ahead of United (they are) or possibly level with or above Chelsea.
On the face of it, this seems reasonable; Liverpool finished third in both the real table and xG table last season behind both Manchester clubs. When accounting for Chelsea’s upgrade in attack and their Champions League victory (and adjusting for a “Lampard tax”) in comparison to Liverpool’s relative lack of squad improvement, basic logic says that Chelsea should move into the top three conversation.
Not so fast. I think we forget just how good Liverpool were in 2020 at full health. Wait, forget “full health.” They were still damn good even at “reasonable” health.
In fact, Jürgen Klopp’s men were top on Christmas Day after losing Virgil van Dijk in October and Joe Gomez in November — their two starting center-backs.
It wasn’t until Joël Matip went down in late January that Liverpool really started to fall off and they ended up with only the sixth best defensive xG in the league, holding back an offense that was barely behind City on underlying numbers (Liverpool also had finishing woes).
It seems ridiculously simple, but with all three defenders having returned along with the Konaté signing, Liverpool have technically solved the primary issues that plagued them in the prior campaign, which might just make them the second best team — or even the best — in the league.
That analysis is perhaps a bit shallow. Liverpool also encountered other issues in their fall from grace in 2021.
Liverpool began to show us how good football would look in an alternative universe, if the goalposts at either end of the field had been removed from the basic makeup of a football pitch. The team would dominate their opponents as normal by governing the possession and squeezing the space, but while losing all practicality in both penalty boxes. As a result, Liverpool started to place too much emphasis on finding the perfect opening to shoot and, even when those emerged, Sadio Mané in particular would still hesitate. The same match was on replay for over a month until the dominance began to fade, allowing opponents to begin stealing goals and inflicting losses.
- Josh Williams — Liverpool tactics expert and journalist for Reach PLC
I recently likened Klopp’s Liverpool to an “upgraded version” of Mourinho’s best teams. You can debate how accurate that is, but what motivated me to make this connection was the speed with which prime Liverpool moved the ball back-to-front both in transition and in regular possession. It reminded me so much of 2010-2013 Real Madrid, as did the offensive results both teams generated without implementing the dominant positional play models that have have been adopted by most of the elite coaches of today.
The “upgrades” happened on the defensive side. Riskier, force-the-issue-type vertical play against blocks that are more organized than ever makes it both harder to establish control over proceedings and maintain defensive stability. Klopp’s Liverpool countered this by embracing the chaos (think a workhorse midfield and shifting the progression burden to the fullbacks) but also by better being able to manage it. Their counterpress was the safety valve that enabled a barrage of passes into the front three without patiently disorganizing defenses, and their refined pressing traps further allowed them to dominate the ball.
However, as Josh mentioned, Liverpool started to stray from that style at some point last season. The decisiveness of the execution, speed of circulation, and efficiency gave way to more plodding possession play for a side not steeped in the philosophy of gradually pulling structures apart. Maybe it was due to confidence or trying to accommodate Thiago — only Klopp and the team really know — but it looks like Liverpool have shaken that off.
The defensive line is slowly beginning to piece itself back together and some of Liverpool’s offensive performances to start the season are heavily reminiscent of the high-octane days of 2018-2020 — none more so than their 3-2 win over AC Milan in the Champions League.
The first 15 minutes were an exhibition of what can be achieved on a footballing pitch even if you reject the Cruyffian foundations that seem to be enveloping the game. Within that span of time, Liverpool exploded for 11 shots (4 on target) and 1 goal scored via whoscored. On air, the TUDN producers put up a graphic claiming that the Reds had 13 shots and 6 attempts on target.
It was fast-paced, pressure-cooker football right from the off. Liverpool looked to find their front three as quickly as possible against a rather shaky Milan block, often firing balls into Dioga Jota as he dropped or received near the touchline. Instead of playing wall passes or deliberating on what to do, he went straight towards goal on the half-turn, loathing to waste a millisecond of the momentum created by the line-breaking action.
Nothing symbolized Liverpool’s offensive frame of mind better than how they reacted to an offside call in the 7th minute. The referee had barely put the whistle to his lips before Trent Alexander-Arnold restarted play and Mohamed Salah spun past his man to launch what was essentially a counter-attack off of a dead ball.
And here’s what happened after Salah misplaced that pass:
The counterpressing was textbook: instant, primed to triggers, quickly solidified by support, and focused on chopping off relevant angles in order to box the opposition in and force them into turnovers.
Liverpool were similarly masterful in their high press.
All the elements of their approach — semi-transition offense, pressing, and counterpressing — came together on their opening goal of the night:
It’s incredible to watch how this team can completely bend stretches of a match to their will without a patient, controlling style. Their defense consistently puts the ball back in their hands (or feet) and allows them to launch wave after wave of attack — all at a relatively relentless pace.
None of this is new to them. The fundamentals against and with the ball that led them to a Premier League and Champions League title were all established years ago under Klopp. What’s changed is that Liverpool are slowly beginning to remember their identity, and key pieces — whose absences derailed them in the first place — have returned.
Sure, it wasn’t all smooth sailing vs. Milan.
There was an inexplicable collapse to end the first half — an eery reminder of last season. TAA was particularly culpable, jogging back lackadaisically when he needed to be tracking his man with extreme diligence on both goals.
That needs some shaking off and will take some time to do so, as evidenced by the 1.4 xG they gave up vs. Norwich to start the season. But the way Liverpool roared back in the second half is a positive sign that the Klopp engine is beginning to build up some steam.
Liverpool are already second in open play and set-piece xG to start the Premier League via Opta’s in-house model and rank top in total xG based on Statsbomb-provided data on fbref. Their team sequence numbers hint at a return to their ball-dominant yet rapid mode of offense, racking up 16 build up-attacks (below only Chelsea and City), sixty-two 10+ open play pass sequences (below only City and Brighton), and 10 direct attacks (only below United and Wolves), while accumulating sequence time and direct speed figures that slot them in the middle of the pack and a passes per sequence stat that has them fifth in the league [source].
Again: lots of possessions and passes but with quicker execution than you’d normally see from a related profile.
On defense, they have the most turnovers in the EPL and are tied for dispossessions that turn into shots [source].
If all we’re talking about is cleaning up some errors, working some center-backs into form, and expecting (hehe, get it) some better finishing variance compared to last season, then all evidence points to Liverpool once again being one of the very best teams in Europe.
People have just yet to realize it.