While Leicester City were expected to do well this season in Brendan Rodgers’ first full campaign, the Foxes had exceeded expectations coming into their game against Liverpool at Anfield. Leicester were flying high in fourth place, having put five goals past Newcastle United in their previous Premier League game, and this game had unexpectedly become a must-watch, with many observers tipping the Foxes to end Liverpool’s 16-game winning streak in the league.
This tactical analysis piece will look at how Liverpool’s tactics managed to blunt Leicester and take home all three points.
Lineups:
Jürgen Klopp brought in Dejan Lovren instead of Joe Gomez to partner Virgil van Dijk at the back in the injury-enforced absence of Joël Matip, while James Milner came into midfield in place of Jordan Henderson.
Rodgers had James Maddison available again, and the Englishman came into the team in place of Ayoze Pérez. The rest of the side was the same as the one that beat Newcastle 5-0 the previous weekend.
Direct passing to start things off
Both sides have played some extremely attractive football this season, but Klopp’s attacking setup showed that he was going to try out a different tactic against the Foxes. Leicester have played with a high line this season, much like Liverpool, and Klopp’s selection of Mohamed Salah at centre-forward, with Roberto Firmino shifted out to the left flank, was to potentially take advantage of this with the Egyptian’s pace in behind. Firmino also offered more in terms of work-rate, which would be helpful to keep tabs on Ricardo Pereira, Leicester’s marauding right-back.
To read the full tactical analysis of this match – click here
Artwork by @chapulana
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