Marco Van Basten often spoke about an invisible cord that connected players within a formation, that one player’s movements would directly affect another. The possession-based philosophical approach to football thinks about football in terms of space; how can a team control the game both with or without the ball?
What was particularly interesting about the Anji match was that Rodgers’ Liverpool tactical approach moved away from the 1-4-3-3 that Rodgers has relied on since becoming the Liverpool manager. The Europa League has acted as the platform for more experimental options (some have gone on to be successful: Sterling, Wisdom, Suso and now hopefully Coady. But we are yet to see any Rodgers formational experimentation, until now that is.
Liverpool’s most used formation under Rodgers to date 2012/13
Taken from the Tiki-Taka Handbook (where a further explanation is offered into the lines of play and rationale behind this particular arrangement. Note – midfield arrangement here is 2-1 rather than the preferred 1-2, resulting in a more lateral passing approach)
Liverpool’s approach against Anji was largely dictated by a lack of players in the more advanced roles of the field with Borini, Assaidi, Sterling and Suso not selected in the first XI. Therefore, Rodgers opted for a new twist in his approach, but still one that rested on the same philosophical approach as Liverpool have become accustomed to.
Liverpool’s out of possession set up that consisted on a half-press approach to pressing for the majority of the game
*Note – spelling error throughout diagrams – Flanagan not Flanaghan
The out of possession ‘formation’ was the most striking feature of this game; it really was a case of two main lines of defence and a tactical analyser in between (Coady). We would often see the front four venture forward to press and then come back into place. Out and back in, out and back in.
Liverpool’s in-possession set up for the majority of the game.
*Note – spelling error throughout diagrams – Flanagan not Flanaghan
What appeared to have been a dramatic shift in formation has instead become a simplistic formation of two instructions: that of a rigid ‘Y’ core (white) and a fluid support (blue) to the formational system. It is a frequent characteristic of possession based teams to find a balance between a rigid structure and fluid system around that centralised core (see Ajax 90′s), Barcelona et al. Against Anji (as per normal) Liverpool’s formation is simply one of increasing the lines of play and making the pitch as big as possible when in possession and the opposite when out of possession.
Both Anji’s goal and Traore’s one-on-one opportunity late on in the game highlighted the dangers of leaving Coates as a man-marking last man and this ‘new’ approach still presented the team with the same problem of not having enough forward thinking options in dangerous zones (within the opposition’s 18 yard box!). Without a doubt, the biggest criticism however, is that Liverpool have struggled to create ‘obvious and clear goal scoring opportunities’ and when they do, they lack the players to finish (Henderson in the first half!).
Liverpool did not perform as Rodgers would have liked in this makeshift system of play and instead highlighted the further need for attacking options that are inevitable in the January transfer window.
Conclusions
The biggest problems facing Liverpool are increasingly obvious: a lack of clear cut opportunities created and a lack of cohesiveness between the more advanced lines of play. Both of these, are problems that will be solved through time and a few more quality options going forward – more like Sterling and Suarez. Simply examine the successes of Swansea, Barcelona, Ajax (1990’s) and all the other successful possessional based teams (Swansea’s is of course relative success given their pool of players) and you will notice that those teams are rich in players who can win a game through dynamic dribbling or their off-ball movement attributes: Pedro, Affellay, Cuenca, A.Sanchez, Overmars, Sinclair, Routledge, Dyer. These players are without a doubt key to the system of play that Rodgers believes in.
As Sterling is the only player that fits this mould playing in a attacking-support role, Liverpool’s count of players like this stands at one. (Suarez is playing the central ‘Messi role’ in that he is create space for others through his own selfishness – the “moths towards a light” effect as well as creating chances from very little…)
The lack of cohesiveness is an issue that points towards a lack of a holding midfield player: a player who tactically understands the game more than any other. Busquets, Riijkard, Britton – a player who perhaps doesn’t exist in abundance. While Allen is doing a terrific job in this role, it has been stated by Rodgers that it is his intention to play Allen further forward and the current approach reflects Allen’s ability to get forward – this isn’t the case so much for Britton/Busquets/Riijkard etc whereby they play a much deeper role and often dip in and out of the space between two centre backs as they spread wide.
Lucas Leiva however, is a player who has the potential to fulfil this role extremely well and a player who (as many of us forget) doesn’t actually have a long history of injuries and is extremely unlucky to be in the situation he is in. My point is that we shouldn’t put Lucas Leiva in ‘that category’ of injury prone players, not just yet anyway.
In stating the obvious – Rodgers desperately needs new players, but perhaps he doesn’t need as many as some think. But who could be on Rodgers’ shortlist?
Here’s a few names just to throw in the mix for the sake of conversation: Nathan Dyer, Wilfried Zaha, Thomas Ince, Andriy Yarmolenko, Patrick Herrmann, Isaac Cuenca, Cristian Tello, Mathieu Valbuena.
Needless to say, we’re in for many weeks of speculation – but I for one, will argue that Liverpool need at least two more first team challengers (more than just covering players) and at least one key player to boost the attacking trio. But let’s not go as far as blocking the development of Suso, Shelvey and others.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TO www.thepathismadebywalking.com’s free newsletter to be informed about the Tiki-Taka Handbook release date.
- Excellent
- Informative
- Awesome
- Good Read
- ok
About the Author
Categories: EPL Index Featured Article, EPLIndex Tactical Report, Liverpool
Tags: 2012, ajax, anji, Barcelona, Brendan Rodgers Tactics, Brendon Rodgers Tactical Approach, Carragher, coady, Coates, Cole, davies, Downing, eto'o, europa, flanaghan, formation, Henderson, jed, Jones, Lacina, Liverpool, Liverpool Tactics, morgan, Philosophy, rodgers, Shelvey, sterling, Suarez, tactical approach, tactics, thepathismadebywalking, Tiki Taka, Troare, Uefa, v, wisdom
This article has had 2,813 Views
I think this is a fantastic article worthy of reading in the Guardian …
Were Swansea that good under Rodgers and is the way Rodgers wants Liverpool to play going to work in the long term?
At the moment it is being said that he does not have the players. If he does not have the players then why play the system from his black book ? Surely he must adapt to the players he has got to fit a system. What happens if he buys a set of players to fit his system and it does not work. We would conclude that the system is not that great.
I think a key point is that we are giving Rodgers too much credit for his role at Swansea, They were as good as we think.
How much time will Rodgers be given to turn this around?
Where will Liverpool finish this season? I think 10th at best.
Jed how long will Liverpool give Rodgers?
Just looking At Liverpool V Stoke this season. Liverpool 18 shots and 2 on target so Stoke accuracy prevention in terms of allowing shots on target is 18/20 which is a massive 90%. Liverpool had 62.9% possession and this means very little. Just ask Barca when they played at Celtic. Looking at my app it says 198/135 final third passes/completed. This is a massive amount and the result was NO goal.
Key is where are the final third passes going? How many Stoke players were in the box to defend that pass?
Data does not always tell the story which is certainly true of Liverpool which is why they get backed nearly every week.
Just noticed that Liverpool attempted 136 backward passes and 96 square passes. Rodgers made a clanger of a mistake by letting Carroll go. You cannnot play the same style against Stoke as you do against Man City.
Rodgers did not add that to his black book.
Liverpool have Plan A which is not working and no plan B
Jonny, why don’t you just get to the point and tell us all how long you will give Rodgers (not long by the sounds of it) and what Plan B should be (doubt you have any idea tbh)?
Seriously though, you don’t throw your tactics and formations out the window because Lucas was injured and you don’t quite have all the players you need (no team is ever complete). The players we have need to develop the tactics of a certain formation and any gaps will be filled in time with signings but, more importantly, with continuity.
Other than Suarez, we’re short up front, so I don’t know what other formation would change that, Jonny.
My view on these questions (therefore not necessarily the correct view!) – Definitely read the article at the end though.
Subjectively – I believe that with the ability level of players at Swansea Brendan maximised their potential playing ability and universally won fans in their ability as the underdog to control games against much bigger teams. You must remember though that what we were looking at was a team of players who had developed that playing style over four or five years (through Martinez, Sousa etc). So Brendan didn’t actually have to do manage the transition stage which he is doing at Liverpool right now, he walked into a club where the foundations were already set. So perhaps many of us overlooked that and didn’t acknowledge that Brendan would have to, in many ways, experiment to get to where he wants to be with Liverpool – of which he absolutely is not there yet. Passing isn’t everything – it is simply one of the ‘pillars’ of playing the way he wants to and we must all acknowledge that passing is a tool for a few things under this way of playing: “a tool to reduce the number of clear cut chances for the opposition and create more for yourself.” – that being the overarching principle – it is fair to say that Liverpool have not succeeded in a passing sense as of yet. In fact as I flick through the rest of the principles it is clear that Liverpool haven’t really achieved any of them – not even to the same ability Swansea were able to – 1. Pressing, 2. Ball Circulation, 3. Offensive attitudes (variations of), 4. transitional formations etc… however, they have began to show us they have ‘got’ the positional system and they have started to show us that they are given individual basic tasks to fit within the framework.
But all in all – they are probably at a (subjectively again) 3 or 4/10 in terms of how far they have gone to meet Brendan’s ideas. So we cannot yet sit and judge his overall idea or analyse the stats in a way that you have done so as they haven’t (in real terms) achieved what Rodgers wants…
So the only thing we can really judge is Brendan’s ability to create his system from scratch – which he hasn’t had to do before, except at Chelsea youth – which I haven’t any information on. But Rodgers’ has a track record of being a slow starter I guess – just look at Swansea’s start to premier league life last season – how long did it take for them to become ‘good’?
J.Henry appointed Rodgers (I believe) on a similar grounding to the way he approached Billy Beane to general manage his baseball team. Rodgers is different and has clear ideas that certainly have the potential to control games against any opponent – BUT I STRESS HERE – this does not literally mean control possession but controlling the number of goal scoring chances the opponents get as a result of and increasing your own. So having said that, Henry will probably understand that it isn’t ‘all about possession stats’ and therefore understand that Liverpool aren’t at the level Rodgers wants just yet. I believe Henry will give Rodgers two seasons at a minimum. Everyone understands this season is a transitional season and it almost doesn’t matter (to a certain extent) where we finish up – what does matter is that by the end of the season the team is starting to play somewhere closer to 8/10 of Rodgers’ ideas and starting to resemble a great side. I would expect Liverpool to finish this season in the top 8 at least – very pessimistic to look at what Liverpool have done so far and assume that they will continue at that rate – only someone who doesn’t understand that it is a transitional phase they are in will conclude this. While 7th might appear to be disappointing, it is the performance on the pitch in view of a longer sustainable approach that is imperative.
As frustrating as it is watching Liverpool “play better and not win” week in, week out – we must understand that they still aren’t playing well enough – they aren’t creating chances as players aren’t patient enough in their move around the 18 yard box and therefore haven’t really got inside the central area of the 18 yard box to get a clear shot away — I haven’t checked but I’m sure the majority of Liverpool’s goals haven’t even come from this area so far!
So do not, in any way, measure Liverpool’s current state against the ‘tiki taka’ of Barcelona 2009-12. Even the new Barcelona plays a little differently to the old one – with more width and check out the differences a small change to width can make in a system of possession-build up play in this excellent article about how Villarreal qualified for the CL one season and were relegated the next! details matter:
http://onfooty.com/2012/08/villarreal-2011-12-breaking-down-a-failed-season.html
Well written article.Is there any links to Ajax 90′s ?
mmp_lfc – I dont have many online resources for Ajax 90′s. But research Cruyff, Van Gaal and you’ll get a basis. The best information however is found in literature – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coaching-Philosophies-Louis-Gaal-Coaches/dp/1890946036 – that’s probably the most direct one. But it depends what you are looking for – training techniques, tactical approaches, youth development etc etc. Different books tackle different issues but it arguably one of the most widely covered eras of football.
Rinus Michels (I know he wasn’t the 90s) – Johan Cruyff (was Barcelona in 90s but had a pre-impact on the Ajax team) – Van Gaal was the mastermind of the great side you are probably thinking about.
But in short – look through my posts on here and there is one on systems play about positions – that refers to Ajax’s system on play.
In response to Nik. What I do not understand is why not build the model around the players ability. If they are not good enough to play the system then be adaptable and change it or buy players that will fit into the system.
My simple point is what happens if players are purchased and still cannnot moulde then do we blame the players or the system or both?
In terms of plan B the head of Lehmans asked his right hand man as they were about to go under. Plan A has failed “what is plan B?” Sir ” we do not have plan B”
For what it is worth I would play 2 up front with MR Suarez on the wing or behind the front 2 or behind 1 front man.
Should you play Tika-taka V Stoke or have a Carroll type player to get stuck in. The data is showing Liverpool are poor.
8th? I predict 10th.
Next season ? around 8th with the same conversation as this year.
Teams will counter the style of play, not that they have to at the moment.
We forget Liverpool have only Won 5/20.
They are not Liverpool of the yesterday era.
Liverpool this season thus far, 1194 completed final third passes and 13 goals.
That is one goal every 91.8 completed passes.
Gerrard has contributed the most final third passes.
The data is saying that Liverpool are not accurate. In simple terms they have not got to grips with the style that they have been asked to play.
Can we learn anything from Fulham > They top the goal to FTPC charts and today scored 1 goal for every 20 Final third passes completed.
If Liverpool were in that ratio they would have scored around 29 goals
Food for thought?