Saturday, November 25, will present another edition of one of the biggest derbies in England in recent seasons, Manchester City v Liverpool. Two sides that have constantly pushed each other to new heights under the helm of their brilliant managers. Manchester City have had the upper hand in league titles, winning 5 in the last six seasons. Liverpool have come second-best in the title race with 97 and 93 points, respectively, a testament to the tug-of-war between the two clubs. Last season, Liverpool was well below-par and underwhelming – despite this, they defeated Manchester City at Anfield – and gave last year’s Champions League winners a scare by taking the lead at the Etihad. The Reds bring their A-game against Manchester City, and having regained their mojo, this clash promises to be enthralling.
Liverpool’s Tactical Keys to Beat Manchester City
Transitional Moments
One of the scariest elements of this Liverpool side is their versatility in attack. They aren’t bound to a game state where they must control possession to break down the opposition. Their transitional game is as good as anyone’s. The frightening pace of Darwin Nunez, Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz – accompanied by their one-on-one ability – bolstered by the pinpoint passing of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominik Szoboszlai is a recipe for transitional success.
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The issue that the Reds are facing is their final ball in transition. It hurt them dearly in the Luton Town and Brentford games, where they would successfully surge into the final third of a transitional situation – but the last ball wouldn’t be accurate enough to convert the attack into a clear chance or goal. Despite this, the Anfield side has the most goals off counter-attacks this season out of any side in the Premier League. Against, Guardiola’s men it is a salient part of their recipe to success – Jurgen Klopp won’t be under any delusions and will expect to have less of the ball compared to the Manchester side who are relentless in possession. As such, transitional moments off-set pieces and counter-pressing situations where Liverpool wins the ball while Manchester City are disorganised will be a great game plan for them.
Diogo Jota will be another player who can significantly impact this strategy. His dribbling and ability to drive the ball forward this season has been splendid and will be incredibly useful at the Etihad.
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Build-Up Play
City’s pressing structure against Chelsea was heavily ineffective. Reece James inverting into central midfield drew attention towards the centre of the field, to which Chelsea were effective at switching play out wide. The major issue was that the Spanish manager’s side could not suffocate the build-up in the centre, which enabled Chelsea to get the ball from the centre to their wingers.
In this mammoth clash on Sunday, if last year’s Premier League champions cannot read and find a solution to the six-time Champions League winners’ fluid rotations in the build-up, Liverpool can thrive in settled possession. Their build-up play against Brentford was great to watch, against a side that has a heavy man-to-man press, the German manager’s side constantly was able to find a spare player due to their rotations in the build-up. Alisson would be heavily involved, giving them numerical superiority, but the success arose from the versatility of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Wataru Endo and Szoboszlai.
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It is a common narrative that the England international inverts from right-back into a double-pivot in midfield. However, that is not completely accurate. The right-back’s role is layered, and at times, he will play outside the block, meaning he is sitting at the edge of the double-pivot to avoid the opposition’s marking schemes. On other occasions, the Liverpool vice-captain will be a third centre-back in the build-up. Dominik Szoboszlai is highly intelligent in his tactical awareness, as he understands that when his double-pivot is in deeper positions, he should drop deeper into midfield to shorten the passing distances and allow for more coherent ball progression.
If Liverpool are to have success in settled possession, they must execute their first phase to a high standard. It would be disastrous if they resort to impatience and hyper-directness – evident in their display against Chelsea in the Premier League opener.
This is one of the most fascinating tactical match-ups in English football, with much coming down to intangibles, such as freshness after the international break. Both teams had players who travelled back from South America in the last 24-48 hours.
