On paper, it was the type of performance that should prompt phrases like “tactical masterclass”, the type of victory that demonstrates Thomas Tuchel has truly arrived as a Premier League manager. His Chelsea side went away to the defending champions, didn’t concede a single notable chance, and scored a breakaway winner in exactly the manner he had planned.
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In reality, the situation feels very different. Anfield is no longer a fortress — this was Liverpool’s fifth straight home defeat, an unwelcome club record that has, remarkably, arrived eight months after they lifted the Premier League trophy. Even in the dreadful Roy Hodgson half-season, Liverpool didn’t string together two consecutive home league defeats, let alone five.
It simply felt too easy for Chelsea. Usually, when quizzed by a Sky Sports reporter beforehand about their tactics, managers dodge the question. Tuchel, though, was happy to outline his strategy. “Speed. Speed. Speed. Speed against the high line,” he said. “It’s clear, we expect we need it at this level, high speed, Timo Werner has the speed, and this is why he’s in. If (their defence) becomes deeper, and we have more crosses and set pieces, we have Olivier Giroud.”
Speed times four. Anyone could have guessed it, but the fact that Tuchel was so unashamedly identifying his opponents’ major weakness made it an unusual pre-match interview. Chelsea carried out the plan highly effectively.
We know that Liverpool have been decimated by injuries at the back — Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Jordan Henderson are all unavailable. But with the exception of Henderson, that has often been the case this season. Something has changed, this is a radically different situation from the end of 2020, when the absence of first-choice centre-backs affected Liverpool’s build-up play more than their actual defending.
In fact, Liverpool’s defensive record late last year was actually very good. From the Everton game in mid-October, when Van Dijk departed through injury, Liverpool went 17 league matches without conceding more than once. In fact, they conceded only 12 goals in those 17 matches. They had conceded 13 in just five matches up to and including the Everton game.
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But now the defence looks shambolic: 10 conceded in the last five matches, the only clean sheet coming against Sheffield United, the league’s bottom side. It probably owes to Henderson’s absence, the unfamiliar partnerships at the back and a lack of pressure on the ball. But Liverpool are in a dreadful state, and although it was understandable to look for a short-term option that might prove a useful try-before-you-buy loan signing, it’s incredible that Ozan Kabak, picked up from the bottom-placed Bundesliga side, has been charged with rescuing the Premier League champions.
The high line has become Liverpool’s major weakness. It was sometimes considered a risky strategy last season, but Klopp always defended its use based upon Liverpool’s cohesion at the back, their speed in key positions, and their good defensive record. Klopp hasn’t always played this way, though. Liverpool used to take a much deeper starting position, and it’s only the additions of Van Dijk, Gomez and Alisson — plus, probably, the introduction of VAR and the safety net of retrospective offside decisions — that pushed them higher up the pitch. But Van Dijk and Gomez are both absent. Alisson’s recent tragic family news means much criticism would be unwarranted, but even beforehand, his decision to charge out of goal, colliding into Kabak, cost Liverpool the crucial goal away at Leicester. That sort of thing simply didn’t happen last season.
And Liverpool are now regularly getting caught out by passes in behind. The opening concession in their first home Merseyside derby loss this century came from a neat James Rodriguez through ball and a well-timed Richarlison run…
…and then the second half was about Everton counter-attacking in behind, with the penalty won when Dominic Calvert-Lewin ran onto Richarlison’s pass.
Last night, Chelsea’s intentions were clear from the first minute, when Reece James had 20 yards of space to him and curled the ball around the defence for the run of Werner, who had started his run a couple of seconds too early.
And this was Chelsea’s plan all night. Here’s Jorginho looking for Werner, again in the right channel, with Fabinho — who played Werner excellently in the reverse fixture — dropped 10 yards behind his fellow defenders to cope with the German’s speed.
Ben Chilwell hit a similar ball for Werner from his left-wing-back zone…
…which Werner brought down to attempt a decent drive from the edge of the box. Had he shown more awareness, he might have played in Hakim Ziyech, who is in so much space between the lines that you can’t actually tell where Liverpool’s midfield line is.
Werner’s “goal” that was disallowed because of offside was perhaps the best example of Liverpool’s issues — not just the high defensive line, but the lack of pressure upon the man in possession, Jorginho. Usually renowned for keeping his distribution simple, here he couldn’t refuse the opportunity to create good chances relatively easily.
Then came the goal — the only surprise being that it was scored by Mount rather than Werner. Notably, Martin Tyler’s commentary describes the tactical situation in the build-up — “here’s the ball over the top again, that certainly, Chelsea have worked on…”
Take a bow, Mason Mount 👏pic.twitter.com/o36yvUeKls
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) March 4, 2021
In the second half, as Liverpool chased the game, the situation changed slightly, and it was about Chelsea repeatedly nearly getting in behind on the break. Werner couldn’t quite find Mount with this cross…
…and then Ziyech cut inside from the right to launch the ball over the head of Fabinho…
…which Werner nearly turned in.
Just as Tuchel explained the tactical situation before the game, Mount analysed it well afterwards. “Most of the time, their defensive line is quite high, so the run in between is on, we tried to exploit that, and that’s where the goal came from,” he said. “Credit to the midfield boys and at the back. Whenever they won the ball, they were looking for it, and me, Hakim and Timo gave that threat in behind, and it paid off in behind.”
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All this must be prompting Klopp to reconsider his defensive strategy and his emphasis upon a high line, which owed much to the presence and dependability of key individuals. It’s also worth remembering, too, that Liverpool’s key attacking players are naturally suited to playing in a team that sits deeper and then launches counter-attacks through speed — it’s not like this is an attacking unit that desperately requires a front-foot approach.
Throughout his great successes with Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool, Klopp has generally found the right balance between having a defined philosophy and adapting his approach to the players at his disposal. At the moment, he seems to be veering towards being a pure philosopher, and that philosophy isn’t working.
(Images via Sky Sports)
