Jack Hallows discusses the tactical evolution that Liverpool’s midfield has undergone at the start of the 2018/19 campaign.
It was a major talking point following last season.
Liverpool had a deadly attack, an on-the-mend and improving defence that with the introduction of a new goal-keeper, could become one of the best in the league but their midfield was simply too one dimensional.
The departure of Philippe Coutinho, alongside the continued absences of Emre Can and Adam Lallana had meant Klopp spent much of the back end of last season with four fully-fit midfielders.
Following Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s untimely injury against Roma, that then became just three: Jordan Henderson in the ‘6’ and James Milner partnering Georginio Wijnaldum in the ‘advanced 8’ roles.
To be fair to the trio, they did what was asked of them and while some more creativity and goal threat would’ve been a nice bonus, their solidity and willingness to just get the job done helped Liverpool to the Champions League final and a top four spot in the Premier League.
Jürgen Klopp evidently identified the one-dimensional nature of his midfield in the summer, adding to the already incoming Naby Keïta by shelling out £40m+ on Fabinho and attempting to sign Nabil Fekir from Lyon for similar money.
However, with Fekir falling through and Fabinho still adapting to his new surroundings, Klopp has been forced to continue fielding a midfield predominantly made up of what he already had. With Naby Keïta’s arrival however, the German has found a creative way to change things up and where once there was weakness, now there is strength.
Stretching the pitch
An interesting feature of Klopp’s new-look/old-guard midfield, is the way in which they are dividing the pitch into thirds.
Rather than the often-heard ‘defensive third,’ ‘midfield third’ and ‘attacking third’ however, the pitch is split width-ways.
With Robertson and Alexander-Arnold pushing high up the field to provide the width, Milner and Keïta play in the half spaces, drawing opposition midfield players out to the byline and creating space for the front three to exploit.
It’s a similar tactic to that used frequently last season by Pep Guardiola and his forwards, whereby the wingers would play on the side corresponding to their strong foot – Sterling on the right, Sane on the left – allowing them to hit the by-line and stretch opposition defences.
This would then allow the City midfielders such as Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva to push on into the box as the full-backs came inside to act almost as midfield players in support of Fernandinho.
For Liverpool however, it’s Alexander-Arnold and Robertson stretching the opposition defences, allowing the inverted wingers – Salah and Mané – to take up positions more akin to strikers.
While this is happening, Milner and Keïta cover the full-backs and help to provide overload in the wide areas and the centre halves spread slightly wider, Gini Wijnaldum dropping in between them and Firmino doing the same between the wingers.
What starts as a 4-3-3 on paper soon becomes almost more of a 4-4-2 diamond or even a 2-1-4-1-2 when the Reds are allowed to play high up the field as we saw against West Ham on the opening day.
It’s not as rigid as those who obsess over team sheets would like but you can clearly make out the loose diamond shape that Liverpool employed against the Hammers to overload the wide areas and stretch their opposition.
This wouldn’t be at all possible without the midfielders covering the full-backs.
Just take a look at a couple of James Milner’s pitch maps from the three Premier League fixtures that the Reds’ have played so far (courtesy of WhoScored.com).
First up, West Ham.
Milner (running left to right) spent most of his time almost playing as a pseudo right wing-back rather than your standard number 8, covering Trent Alexander-Arnold and only dipping back inside when needed.
While there is evidence of the rotation between the players in the touches taken in the centre circle – positioning akin to your standard number 6 – the game plan in the midfield is clear.
Get high, get wide and support your full back.
A quick look at his passing map supports this, showing a large percentage of his 110 completed passes coming down the right flank.
The same can be seen from the Crystal Palace game – this time showing the combined heat maps of Milner and Keïta.
This time with the Reds running right to left, you can see that Milner once again had a large percentage of his touches in a very wide position on the right hand side as Liverpool looked to pull van Aanholt and the Palace midfielders out of position.
While Keïta on the left is in a slightly more central position, the majority of his touches are still very left-hand side oriented and paint a picture of a player whose instructions are very much to stay wide rather than roam around and pick up space.
Addressing creative impotence
Let’s face it, aside from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Liverpool’s midfield really lacked anyone with the ability to drive at defences and play a killer ball in behind once Coutinho had left.
For the Reds, it was a fortunate thing that Liverpool’s front three are not only good at putting the ball in the net themselves but also finding ways to help others do so as well.
Firmino, in particular, was handed a real license to create last season, dropping off as the other two looked to make those beautiful diagonal runs in between defenders and while the Brazilian still had his best goalscoring season, he also registered 17 assists in all competitions.
It seems fitting then that it’s Firmino who Klopp has looked towards to address the lack of creativity in the Reds’ midfield.
The Brazilian has been noticeably playing in a much deeper-lying role than he did last season – something I’ve touched on in a previous article if you want the specifics.
To put the long story short, however, rather than playing as an out-and-out number nine, Firmino has been dropping far deeper and playing almost as a ’10 and a half’ with Salah and Mané taking up positions expected more from a striker than wingers… even more so than usual anyway.
The Brazilian has registered a pair of assists already this season – one for each of his attacking counterparts – and has played a total of 5 key passes over the three games.
Not outstanding play-maker numbers by any stretch of the imagination but when averaged over the course of a 38 game season, it equates to a total of 65.
Good numbers for a striker who also doesn’t take any set pieces and with Liverpool’s conversion rates last season, numbers that would average out to roughly 8-12 assists.
Notably, Klopp has also looked to his defenders to provide that extra creative spark.
With the midfielders covering for the fullbacks and the wingers operating more as inside forwards, the full-backs have extra responsibility when getting forward to play that killer final ball.
Andrew Robertson – who contributed 5 assists in 22 starts last campaign – has been a real creative force for the Reds down their left hand-side, the Scotsman benefitting heavily from the attention that opposition defences are forced to pay to the movement of Sadio Mané.
The former Celtic and Hull full-back has created nine chances for the Reds so far this season – all coming from open play and with five coming from inside the opposition penalty area – registering one assist and only Mohamed Salah has managed more (10 from open play, 12 in total).
The importance of the full-back’s creative streaks was highlighted best against Crystal Palace when Liverpool created 14 chances, with eight coming between the front three.
Klopp bemoaned how deep his fullbacks had been sitting after the game and with Alexander-Arnold not providing a single key pass and Robertson providing a total of three but all from deep crossing positions, you can see why.
Against Brighton on Saturday, both were seen making a much more conscious effort to get forward on the overlap and support their attackers. The Reds only managed to score once sure but really, if Firmino’s header from Robertson’s cross finds the back of the net and Mané finishes one of his chances, it’s a very different game.
Personally, I believe the addition of Naby Keïta will also contribute to the Reds becoming more creative.
The Guinean was brilliant at playing through balls in behind for RB Leipzig and was one of their top assisters during his time at the club. As he’s still bedding in though, it would be harsh to force the burden onto him immediately – hence the extra responsibility for Firmino in particular.
Integration of Henderson & Fabinho
The exciting part is that the final piece of the puzzle is still to come for the Reds.
While Georginio Wijnaldum has been superb in the ‘6’ for Liverpool so far this season, it’s likely that he won’t remain there in the long-term.
Klopp has both Fabinho and Jordan Henderson waiting in the wings and chomping at the bit to get involved.
When Henderson is up to full fitness and Fabinho has finished his squad integration/adaptation stage, Klopp will have six options for three positions, allowing him to fully unleash his midfield.
Where both Fabinho and Henderson will add to the midfield is in their passing ranges.
Henderson gets a lot of stick for moving the ball sideways but he equally doesn’t receive anywhere near enough credit for his ability to land incredible long-range passes on a coin and spread the play.
Fabinho is equally adept on the ball with an extra string to his bow – his defensive intelligence.
Having started his career as a full-back, Fabinho is brilliant at seeing the game in front of him and sniffing out danger before it happens – something Henderson still isn’t quite up to speed with.
The Brazilian is also a brilliant one-on-one defender and his positioning, coupled with his willingness to wait until the last second to commit to challenges makes him an incredibly tough holding midfielder to get past.
Defensive solidity, fluid movement, the ability to create if needed and truly self-less work rate throughout: Even without signing Nabil Fekir over the summer, Klopp has certainly fixed Liverpool’s midfield problems.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
