The age-old rivalry, Manchester United v Liverpool, commenced for the 200th time last Saturday as the 20-time Premier League champions displayed an adept performance when they successfully shut out one of the best front lines in not only England but the world.
Before the game, Liverpool looked all set to unleash wave after wave of attack at the United defence as everyone expected a classic Jose Mourinho performance, similar to what we saw at Anfield earlier in the season. But to the majority’s surprise, Mourinho pulled a rabbit out of his hat to tactically outsmart and hence outplay the second best attack in the league. Let’s take a look at how he did it.
How Jose Mourinho’s Tactics Outsmarted Klopp and Liverpool
The Manchester United Defensive Setup
Ahead of the 200th clash between the two titans of England, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial were ruled out of contention for the starting line-up. This further hinted to the arrival of the double-decker in front of the United goal. But in the end, the absence of United’s French stars turned out to be a blessing in disguise. That is the case because it allowed the Red Devils to line up in a 4-4-1-1 with two ball winning midfielders guarding their back four. These two ball-winning midfielders, namely Nemanja Matic, who has been one of the best pieces of business United have pulled off in the recent years, and the homegrown Scott McTominay, who is developing exponentially and seems to be growing as the perfect successor to Michael Carrick, were immense in shutting out the seemingly ‘unstoppable’ Liverpool attack.
Matic and McTominay won a combined total of eight tackles, successfully made four crucial interceptions in their defensive third, blocked four shots while also making five clearances. They also did a fantastic job of putting the pressure on Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah as the Liverpool wingers constantly tried to drop narrow into midfield in order to draw United’s fullbacks and as a result create space for their own fullbacks, who provide the majority of width to this Liverpool side. The United midfield duo was constantly biting at the heels of the Liverpool starlets and played a big part in keeping them quiet.
Speaking of fullbacks, Mourinho had them covered too. United’s two wingers were deployed with the specific task of marking Liverpool’s wide men, while Valencia and Young kept close tabs on the inside forwards, Mane and Salah respectively.
Marking
Individual displays aside, United needed to be cleverly set up at the tactical level to stop Liverpool’s deadly strike-force. In order to do so, Mourinho deployed his ten outfield players in a zonal marking system. Instead of trying to put pressure while the Merseysiders were in possession, United were happy to surrender control of the ball. They willingly sat back to cover specific channels enabling them to have as many as six red shirts guarding the United box.
Each United player was assigned a specific area to guard. Lukaku’s job was to drop deep and keep tabs in the area where Liverpool’s defensive midfielder would operate. Matic and McTominay were positioned just in front of the back four and guarded against Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner. They also helped out with Salah and Mane when they drifted inside. The whole of United’s back four played very narrow. This was because all four of United’s defenders were assigned to Liverpool’s very narrow front three.
As touched on in the previous section, Liverpool’s wingers play very narrow in order to draw opposition fullbacks and make space in wide areas for their own Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson to exploit. So, while United allowed their fullbacks to play narrow and outnumber Liverpool’s attacking trio, they also deployed Juan Mata and Rashford with the task of guarding the wide areas when the possession was controlled by Liverpool. Hence, positioning United in more of a 6-3-1 when not in possession.
Countering the Pressure
All that was left to complete Mourinho’s master-plan after handling the defensive duties was to deal with Liverpool’s pressure. Besides their front three, the biggest threat that Liverpool possess is their pressing, which has earned them possession of the ball in the opposition’s half more than any other club this calendar year.
Instead of trying complicated methods and fancy formations, Mourinho opted to go the classic route. Playing long balls into a strong striker (Lukaku) and letting him weave the magic in the final third. Whenever United won possession back, they urgently lobbed it into the head of Romelu Lukaku, hence completely eliminating any pressure from Liverpool.
Once Lukaku won his aerial duels, he had Rashford and Mata overloading the left flank, and Alexis Sanchez in a free roam role, to assist him in the final third. United perfectly demonstrated this countering tactic in their first goal. David de Gea cleared the ball upfield from his goal-kick aimed at Lukaku, who drew Dejan Lovren with him. At the same time Sanchez and Mata drew the other two defenders and Rashford snuck past Alexander-Arnold before receiving the flick on from Lukaku and scoring a goal he would never forget.
So, to sum it all up, it was Jose Mourinho’s tactical genius that emerged victorious over the much renowned ‘Heavy Metal Football‘ that Klopp endorses. While many may argue that luck favoured the Mancs or that Liverpool dug their own grave because of some lapses in attention, it was a very well planned and thought out tactical system deployed by Mourinho which was executed perfectly by the United line-up that earned Manchester United the bragging rights against the team they love to hate.
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