Football News: Liverpool v Bayern Munich - Quick Match Review

Liverpool v Leicester City

It is difficult not to just turn this review into a rant against a tactical system I am growing to hate, not because the team lost 4-3 either, as I was getting anooyed almost from the beginning with the way Bayern just opened it up by overloading down the flanks. Bayern are not a good side, in fact under Tuchel they look a complete mess of a team who only won the Bundesliga because Dortmund bottled it when Bellingham went out injured. What they do have is the key to beating this new tactical approach from Liverpool - excellent width. Liverpool's approach is idiotically narrow, in my opinion, leaving the wide areas open to be exploited. One thing Bayern are good at is attacking down the flanks. In this game it showed how Liverpool are not just weak against runs from midfield and a ball over the top, but also to anyone who attacks down wide areas. Bayern's success came from overloading the wide areas, which is easy to do as Liverpool pretty much vacate them.

I have seen people complain about it being just down Liverpool's right flank that they get caught, but it was exactly the same down the left. It is not the fault of one player and the nonsense about it being down to Trent's inability to defend is just pure ignorance. He can defend and has shown that many times. If that was the issue, then why were Bayern destroying Liverpool down the opposite flank just as easily? Even though there the full-back, in the shape of Robertson, was in place? It is the shape. The defence being so narrow means they are getting to the attacker too late and it is easy for them to just double up or beat their man by simply knocking it past them as the defender comes to them.

If this was not enough to make Klopp realise that this hybrid approach is deeply flawed and failing, then Liverpool are in real trouble going into the season. The team and squad are good enough to challenge at the top, but the tactics are bad enough to potentially put them in relegation problems. The only real hope of success with this system is that the quality of players is enough to cancel out the huge deficiencies in the tactics and make the team competitive. But that is unlikely to work when you consider that the opposition in the Premier League also has quality players. It is incredibly worrying and it is difficult to see how any amount of transfers can fix things.

One thing that can be worked on though is the midfield. Right now it is a mess when the team has possession deep in their own half. No one is looking to receive a pass from the defence, they are too busy looking to just get forward. It is reminiscent of the days of Brendan Rodgers right now, with a lack of positional discipline and everyone just looking to get forward immediately and then standing up top creating a static line across the front at times. Timing of runs can be key and they need to figure out the rotation of runs between themselves. It was much better with Szoboszlai and Mac Allister in midfield than towards the end with Clark, McConnell and Elliott. Elliott ended up dropping off because the other two had no sense of positional play and just ran up as high as they could get the moment they could. It is unlikely that those three will end up playing as a midfield set up at any point next season, but it was heartening to see that Elliott did spot the problem and begin to hold off on his movement to give a different option. It was worrying that the other two, who have come through the academy so should have had no end of education on this kind of thing, showed no signs of recognising or responding to the issues.

Quick notes on the players:

Gakpo - started off in the centre of the attack before dropping back into midfield after the first set of changes. He opened the scoring with a nice finish in the 3rd minute. Looked good up front but in midfield he was not showing for the ball when it was at the back, leaving no options to play out from the back.

Jones - played the deeper role again and showcased a range of nice footwork but it was all in dangerous areas for his own team rather than the opposition. With the way the team was set up, he did not really have much choice but to try to beat players until someone offered him an option. There was often no easy out ball in the way Mane and Salah used to always offer. It is difficult to judge him defensively as Bayern played mostly down the wings, completely bypassing the midfield. However, it does feel like it is not the best position for him unless he has a more solid defensive midfielder sitting alongside him. He has the stamina to play a more box-to-box role, the quality of touch and technique to be a danger in the final third. Defensively he is not the worst, but he is not at his best breaking up play, he is not aggressive enough to get stuck in properly. Though he did show that responsibility when Davies was getting away from him early by bringing him down rather than exposing the defence.

Jota - back to the normal Jota. Constantly wasting good possession by giving it away when there was an easy pass to make. And he once again made no attempt to help out defensively from a corner aimed to his area. He is a great option to come off the bench, but not good enough to start regularly. Certainly nowhere near good enough to be considered as an option over Diaz.

Salah - against a blisteringly quick Davies, his pace running in behind was completely negated. He was often left isolated on the right, with no full-back backing him up or midfielder making a run outside him, it left him struggling at times. He did work hard, showed a good understanding of press with Mac Allister, which was pleasing. The one chance he really had to score he was too unselfish. But his best work came when he drifted inside, despite a lack of space, and linked up with runners, particularly Diaz for the third. If there is one thing to take from this with regard to Salah, even he needs help at times in wide areas and that he is at his best when he is more narrow.

Alexander-Arnold - I really do not understand what he is meant to do in this system. The moment Liverpool have the ball he is wandering all over the midfield, drifting over to the left a fair bit, but then there is no chance of him even getting close to returning to the right-back area when the ball is turned over. Either play him at right-back and let him get down the flanks to help out Salah or, my preference, put him into a deep-lying playmaker role and let him dictate the game.

Matip - he simply cannot play this system at all. He is not good enough defensively nor quick enough to make up for his deficiencies in reading the game. The amount of times he is caught ball watching or just too far away to get across because he has not noticed a run, is simply astonishing for a player at this level of the game. The first goal for Bayern was very much an example of him being caught too far over to the left and not noticing a run and so unable to get across to Gnabry. Actually so was their second, where he was ball watching in the centre.

Van Dijk - I have to say that, much as I did not think there was any chance of it happening, this preseason Virgil is beginning to look like the Virgil of old. At times he was the only one doing any defending and was taking responsibility for winning balls at corners whenever possible. Added to that he also scored a towering header. The problem is that he is the only one showing up defensively of the backline and even at his best he can only do so much. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come from him this season.

Robertson - he did deliver an excellent corner for van Dijk to score and another excellent deadball delivery Nunez should have scored from but he was absolutely awful defensively. They were overloading down his flank and he was just selling himself constantly allowing them to go past him like he was not there. Part of the problem was he was too narrow, due to the system, but even so it was not a good performance. He was not even holding up their attacks, just almost lying down and letting them past. If this system is going to work, he has to stand up to an attacker and not go to ground. He has to think like a centre-back rather than a full-back now. It does feel like a waste of his ability to raid down the flanks though.

Szoboszlai - he just looks to be trying too hard. Nothing is coming fluidly from him, it is all tense and he is making silly needless challenges that will lead to regular bookings in competitive matches. Hopefully he will relax and just begin to play his game soon.

Mac Allister - struggled to really get going with his passing, though worked hard and showed some good signs in the press. Limped off at half-time and never came back out for the second half.

Alisson - not even a keeper as good as him could keep the score down. He was coming out and dealing with corners when possible and made some good saves but there was nothing he could do about the winner.

Konate - replaced Matip at half-time. There was little sign of him being any better in the role than the man he replaced. All at sea.

Nunez - came on for Mac Allister also at half-time. Probably should have scored with his head and from a chance Diaz created for him. Did link up well with Diaz at times.

Diaz - took the place of Jota at half-time. He made an immediate difference and his skill, pace and direct running added to his workrate should make him certain to start the season on the left. The third Liverpool goal was almost entirely his. He played a beautiful crossfield pass from near the halfway line to Salah, then burst a gut to get on the end of a return pass from the Egyptian and score. Does have a tendency to try to do too much and his tricks do not always come off, but he is a delight to watch.

Gomez - on in the 61st minute in place of Alexander-Arnold. Actually provided some width down the right flank but did not do well defensively. Seemed to have no understanding with Konate and they were not sure who was to do what.

Elliott - replaced Gakpo on the left of midfield in the 61st minute. Finally someone got out there to help Salah with him and Gomez there. Played some nice balls too and tracked back to help out. It was good to see his maturity when he was the senior member of midfield and took responsibility for dropping deep when the other two drifted forward.

Tsimikas - took Robertson's place on 61 minutes and looked more solid defensively but his deadball delivery was poor. Still does not look like he quite understands his role in this current system.

McConnell - was brought on in the 75th minute to replace Jones. Made one good challenge but mostly was just wandering around allowing himself to drift too far forward and leaving the defence exposed. Needs to learn to read the game if he is to play the holding role. That does seem to be a problem in general with the players coming out of the academy right now - lots of technique but no innate understanding of the game.

Quansah - though he is desperate for a chance to play alongside the captain, Quansah was brought on in his place on the 75th minute. It was not the best of performances, he was caught napping and did not look up to speed at all.

Doak - came on for Salah in the 75th minute. Showed great strength, pace and skill in the limited time he had and he is very exciting the way he runs at, past and through opponents almost at will but, and it is a very big but, his end product is abysmal. Even the one ball across that did reach a Liverpool player it was clear he was not actually aiming it for him. He desperately needs to work on that end product. No point having all the skill, strength and speed in the world if you create nothing with it, just ask Adama Traore.

Clark - surprisingly Szoboszlai lasted until the 75th minute before coming off for Clark. Clark is excellent technically but, to my mind, he is all show and no substance. He is a long way off being ready for first team action. His silly pullback near the edge of his own box led to Bayern's third goal and he was non-existent when the team needed his help at the back. There is no positional sense or responsibility to his play. It is a worry that he is at this point of his time at the academy and still playing the game like a schoolboy rather than looking like a player who is looking to make the break into adult football. Hopefully he will learn quickly as he has plenty of ability, just not the mental attributes right now.

Written by Tris Burke August 04 2023 07:36:45