How Liverpool's movement can break down Brentford

Adrian Clarke looks at key tactical points and players who can be decisive in Matchweek 2.

Match analysis: Liverpool v Brentford

Arne Slot’s new-look Liverpool gave us a taste of their attacking promise with a scintillating second-half performance at Ipswich Town last weekend.

The Reds showed their true potential with a controlled 45 minutes of fluid and incisive football after brushing off a below-par start, where Ipswich unsettled them with hostile pressing.

Brentford, who have lost on all three of their Premier League visits to Anfield without scoring, know the robustness of their defensive shape will be given a major examination on Sunday afternoon.

LIV

2-0

BRE

Highlights Available

close

TV Info - Broadcasters

Slot’s successful switch

Once the match settled down at Portman Road in Matchweek 1, Liverpool’s intelligent movement began to help them penetrate a tiring home side.

We saw Trent Alexander-Arnold make a series of telling runs infield, Dominik Szoboszlai dropped off the front with intelligence to draw defenders out of position, and the man on the ball always had a willing runner.

Liverpool’s first goal, scored by Diogo Jota, featured these traits.

See in the image below how Szoboszlai took up a high position that allowed himself to be marked by Ipswich's centre-back Jacob Greaves.

By dropping back a touch, Szoboszlai (circled) dragged Greaves into midfield, allowing Alexander-Arnold to thread a pass into the hole that had been created.

Last season Szoboszlai’s starting position as a No 8 would have been deeper, and consequently Greaves would not have had to mark him in this situation.

Slot’s tweak to Liverpool’s formation, moving from 4-3-3 to 4-2-3-1, was a definite factor in the way they carved Ipswich open here.

When Thomas Frank analyses this change it may influence his decision on which formation to start with at Anfield.

Closing spaces for Liverpool runners will be of vital importance and that might mean the Brentford head coach switches to a 5-3-2.

It does not matter which shape you use if you fail to perform with desire and intensity.

After weathering the early storm Liverpool showed they had the requisite urgency to claim all three points.

Slot’s side attempted a total of 57 runs into the opposition box, compared to Ipswich’s seven as they made more than twice as many off-the-ball runs and sprints at Portman Road.

Ipswich v Liverpool off-the-ball runs compared

With so much quality on the ball, Slot must have been delighted with the way his players pushed themselves to support a team-mate.

Penetrating the box

The most important by-product of Liverpool’s thirst to physically overpower their opponents was a huge increase in touches around the penalty area.

Early on, Ipswich’s excellent work ethic kept Slot’s players at arm’s length with Liverpool producing only three shots, and an Expected Goals (xG) of 0.09.

Their front three of Luis Diaz, Mohamed Salah and Jota mustered five touches combined inside the penalty area, as reflected below. 

Liverpool stepped up a gear after the break, won most of their duels - and of course, pushing themselves to make more dynamic forward runs - as their second-half xG rose to 2.56, courtesy of 15 shots.

Those three forward players combined to enjoy a total of 28 touches inside the box in the second half.

Finding a way to keep Liverpool outside their penalty area will be Frank’s biggest headache at Anfield.

Underlapping full-backs

Slot handed game time to four Liverpool full-backs at Portman Road, and noticeably all of them tried to make clever supporting runs on the inside.

We witnessed several runs like these highlighted below from Alexander-Arnold and Kostas Tsimikas, aimed at exposing gaps the hosts had left infield as they tested Ipswich wingers’ desire to track them.

Both men played a forward pass before following it with a diagonal run angled towards the centre of the pitch. From the return pass, they drove towards goal at speed.

Slot likes his teams to have plenty of numbers down the spine of the pitch.

He does this to protect the side better from transitional counter-attacks, where too many players can be left stranded out wide.

The Liverpool head coach also likes to offer his wingers extra room to isolate their markers in 1v1s, and Diaz enjoyed this at Portman Road, being successful in all five of his take-ons.

Brentford’s use of a three-man central midfield, coupled with a likely back three, may make this tactic less appealing for Liverpool on Sunday - as they will run into a more congested area - but keep a look out for this pattern developing in the weeks to come.