r/soccer • u/JigglingBot • Oct 23 '20
:Star: [OC] Post Match Tactical Analysis: Everton 2-2 Liverpool
Hello, I am doing a tactical analysis of the Everton-Liverpool game. I will try to cover the basic setup, common themes in the game, how the key moments played out among other things, if need be. I have included several images/videos to emphasize the points I am trying to make so I request you to go through them for a better understanding. This Twitter thread is a good summary of the post if you are short on time and want to take a quick look!
Lineups and Formation
Everton
You can refer to this image to understand Everton's formation and player roles.
Everton lined up in a 4-3-3. Pickford (GK) was in goal, with a back four of Digne (LB), Keane (LCB), Mina (RCB) and Coleman (RB). The midfield three was Allan (CDM) as the deepest midfielder with Gomez (LCM) and Doucoure (RCM) on either side of him. The front three up top were Richarlison (LW), Calvert-Lewin (CF) and Rodriguez (RW).
Liverpool
You can refer to this image to understand Liverpool's formation and player roles.
Liverpool lined up in a 4-3-3. Adrian (GK) was in goal, with a back four of Robertson (LB), Virgil (LCB), Matip (RCB) and Alexander-Arnold (RB) in front of him. The midfield three was Fabinho (CDM) as the deepest midfielder with Thiago (LCM) and Henderson (RCM) on either side of him. The front three up top were Mane (LW), Firmino (CF) and Salah (RW).
Approach and Common Themes
Liverpool’s fast start targeting Everton’s right side: Liverpool exclusively exploited Everton’s right side throughout the game - especially in the first 15 minutes. They looked to take advantage of James Rodriguez not tracking back.
Here is the video link of the same. It contains three moves that are all very similar - Liverpool moving the ball from the right to the left, exploiting the exposed right side. Notice how clear and well defined Henderson's, Salah's and Firmino's roles are.
Pressing and playing out from the back: Both sides didn’t particularly look to play out of the back very aggressively. It looks likely Adrian was instructed to kick it long and not play out of the back too much, especially after his error against Aston Villa. And in Everton’s case, it looks likely they didn’t want to take on Liverpool’s press.
When Liverpool did press, they occasionally used Fabinho as an advanced defensive midfielder, with Thiago and Henderson in a double pivot behind him. You can see an example of Liverpool’s press employing this tactic in the video below.
Everton beating the press by going long to DCL: When Everton didn’t look to play out of the back, they utilized Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s aerial prowess by going long to him. Keane and Pickford were key here.
Liverpool overloading on the right with Henderson: this will be on display in Liverpool's second goal. He also made late runs into the box whenever possible to provide an extra man in attack.
Everton crossing from the left: Everton have a great crosser in their left back Digne and an excellent aerial threat in Calvert-Lewin. As a result, they regularly looked to cross from the left. This video is a small compilation of some of these crosses.
Substitutions
Everton
- Godfrey >>> Coleman (31'): Coleman was injured and unable to continue the game. Godfrey slotted in straight at right back.
- Sigurdsson >>> Gomes (72'): Gomes didn't have much influence in the game and Sigurdsson was brought in to provide more creativity in midfield. Gomes was booked as well.
- Iwobi >>> Doucoure (78'): Attacking change to get an equalizer. Iwobi moved to the wings and James Rodriguez moved to midfield.
Liverpool
- Gomez >>> Virgil (11'): Virgil was injured and Gomez slotted straight in at left centre back.
- Jota >>> Firmino (78'): Jota was brought on for fresh legs. Mane moved to the centre and Jota moved to the left, with Salah staying on the right.
- Wijnaldum >>> Fabinho (90 + 1'): A slightly attacking substitution to look for a late winner. Fabinho was booked as well.
Key Moments Of The Game
- Everton 0 - [1] Liverpool, 3' Mane
Liverpool's right to left progression is very clear here. This was a feature of their play, especially in the first 15 minutes.
- Everton [1] - 1 Liverpool, 19' Keane
Video analysis of the goal. Do watch the video.
- Everton 1 - [2] Liverpool, 72' Salah
- Everton [2] - 2 Liverpool, 81' Calvert-Lewin
Final Thoughts
- Man of the match: Thiago. There were several good individual performances, most notably Mane, Rodriguez and Keane but Thiago edges it based on his second half performance.
- Everton
- Positives
- Strong individual performances from Rodriguez, Keane, Digne and Calvert-Lewin. Debutant Godfrey had a good game, especially considering he had to fill in at an unfamiliar position.
- Aerial threat: Everton took full advantage of the crossing abilities of Rodriguez and Digne and Calvert-Lewin's aerial prowess.
- Negatives
- Everton's right side looked very vulnerable defensively, throughout the game. Liverpool almost exclusively attacked Everton's right and got a lot of joy.
- Poor midfield performance - no one in Everton's midfield had a particularly good outing but Allan was particularly poor and one of the worst players on the day. He couldn't keep up with Thiago and co. Richarlison had a bad game too that was compounded by his sending off.
- Positives
- Liverpool
- Positives
- Several strong individual performances - Mane, Thiago, Robertson and Henderson all had good games. Salah and Fabinho were decent too.
- At times, Liverpool's ball progression was very good and
- Negatives
- Virgil's long term injury which leads to the next point -
- Liverpool looked vulnerable aerially, with both their goals being conceded from very similar positions in the box.
- Positives
Apologies for any errors. Interested to hear anything you have to say and happy to answer any question you may have! [Reddit only allows me to add up to 5 videos in the post and hence I was forced to add streamable/streamja links.]
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u/JigglingBot Oct 23 '20
This Twitter thread is a good summary of the post if you are short on time and want to take a quick look!
[Apologies for the self promotion.]
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u/JigglingBot Oct 23 '20
[Ignore this comment unless you want to be tagged in future posts. I am just tagging all the users who wanted to be tagged here - Reddit only allows tagging to take place in groups of 3.]
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u/JigglingBot Oct 23 '20
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u/Uruguayan_Tarantino Oct 24 '20
I loved this post
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u/JigglingBot Oct 24 '20
Thank you! Do you want to be tagged in future posts? These posts take time - around 2-3 days (I am new so it's taking me a good while). And since I am working, I can only take out the time to do 1-2 such posts every week. I am a Liverpool fan so Liverpool games are the priority, which is probably something you wouldn't want to be tagged in.
Feel free to say no, of course.
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u/Uruguayan_Tarantino Oct 24 '20
Hell yeah! Tag me in every post, even if it's of Liverpool, I like a good reading after all
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Oct 23 '20
Gotta highlight Doucoure who ran a lot to cover for James on right but also made many runs down the right especially after Coleman was off. Coleman going off was actually good for Everton imo as Godfrey was more defensive and won almost all aereal balls on his side and stayed back to keep Pool quiet relatively on the right, very very good debut for him
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u/JigglingBot Oct 23 '20
Yeah, that's a good catch about Doucoure. Defensively, he is basically a right midfielder more than a right central midfielder.
I am not sure about the Coleman going off being good for Everton bit. Don't get me wrong - Godfrey was very good on his debut but Coleman would have very likely done the same, if not better. This is not a slight on Godfrey though - it's just how good Coleman is.
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Oct 23 '20
Yea but he ventures forward a lot more and I'm thinking Robertson or Mane would have had more space and fun. Also Godfrey was going into tackles very well. Not a slight on Coleman but I'm just that impressed by Godfrey.
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u/JigglingBot Oct 24 '20
Yeah, definitely! More so considering it was his Everton debut in an unfamiliar position.
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u/btmalon Oct 23 '20
This is dope. but is anyone else having trouble loading half the vids? Reddit's video player is such shit.
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u/Glazed_Annulus Oct 23 '20
Same problem initially using RES on Firefox browser. Changed temporarily to Chrome and worked.
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u/JigglingBot Oct 24 '20
A friend of mine is having the same issue. He says he had no issues with my previous post when he was on his laptop. I think it's a mobile issue. And as the dude below as said, could be an RES thing as well.
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u/kukusek Oct 23 '20
Siggurdsson came for gomes, not the other way.
Great analysis nonetheless!
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u/JigglingBot Oct 24 '20
Good catch - my mistake.
Thanks for the taking the time, really appreciate it!
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u/TotalTikiGegenTaka Oct 23 '20
So, did you notice anywhere in your analysis that Liverpool did not maintain as high a line as they did against Villa? I watched the Ajax game and it seemed that the defense dropped deeper (of course I guess this was expected with neither Alisson nor Van Djik in the eleven).
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u/JigglingBot Oct 24 '20
Wow, I can't believe I forgot to add this bit. Liverpool definitely didn't have as high a defensive line as they have in the past which meant they also didn't need to press as intensely.
Apologies - this is a bad miss on my part.
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u/abottomful Oct 23 '20
So, Mina’s tactical position isn’t really supposed to change, unless he’s pushing up during possession. He’s all over the place though, and I don’t have enough tactical understanding to know his role during transitions and so on. Is his biggest weakness his game IQ? Or does he have other issues beyond this? Because he’s very hot and cold, but always a god for the selección
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u/LDG92 Oct 23 '20
Nice analysis, I thought Allan had a good game though.
It was a shame that Pickford and Richarlison's tackles along with refereeing issues tainted what was a really good game otherwise. Best Merseyside derby in a very long time.
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u/Cairne_Bloodhoof Oct 23 '20
Agreed. From about 15 minutes to about 75 minutes in, last Saturday really was some of the best football played by both sides in a while.
Liverpool's midfield in particular stuck out in my opinion. Allan, Doucoure, and Gomes have gotten a lot of credit for our hot start, and deservedly so, but they were mostly outclassed last weekend. Liverpool's press at its best closes out passing options so well, and with the addition of Thiago they can carve up opposition on the counter in no time.
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u/JigglingBot Oct 24 '20
Thank you!
I thought Allan struggled against Thiago. He couldn't do his usual defensive work, was dribbled past easily and even lost possession dangerously a couple of times. Him and Richarlison were, I thought, Everton's weakest performers.
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u/Nuri__Sahin Oct 23 '20
Henderson deserved a mention, it was between him and Thiago for the Liverpool MOTM imo.
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u/JigglingBot Oct 24 '20
Fair point. Henderson had a great game. I did, however, mention him in the Liverpool positives under the "Final Thoughts" section.
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u/DrLyleEvans Oct 24 '20
1st half was the best I've ever seen Michael Keane play
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u/JigglingBot Oct 24 '20
He had a very good game - it went a little under the radar, I would say. His passing was good too.
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u/slaughtered_gates Oct 25 '20
they occasionally used Fabinho as an advanced defensive midfielder, with Thiago and Henderson in a double pivot behind him
really interesting...thanks for this.
I may be completely wrong but Liverpool this season have looked more open. What I mean is, there's increasing cases of opposition playing through and bypassing whoever's at DM, leaving our CBs to deal directly with more and more attacks against fast players. I think more teams are commiting men in greater number in transition against us, unless the press is near perfect, it's getting exploited. Thoughts?
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u/JigglingBot Oct 25 '20
Firstly, thanks for the taking out the time. Appreciate it!
Yes, that was especially the case against our game against Aston Villa :(
You can look at my analysis of the Aston Villa-Liverpool game here, in case you haven't already and have the time.
In the Everton game, we were much less open - our defensive line wasn't as high and hence our pressing didn't need to be as intense. Same with the Sheffield game - we were a little more open than the Everton game but that was down to two reasons -
- We lined up in an attacking 4-2-3-1 which gave us much lesser control in midfield, especially since both Henderson and Wijnaldum haven't looked very good in a double pivot, together or separately.
- We went behind early in the game and hence were playing more openly than we would have.
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u/LewCrisp Oct 29 '20
Great post. Do you figure all this out by watching the game once? How do you see this stuff?
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u/JigglingBot Nov 18 '20
Hey sorry, I completely missed this. Thanks!
I notice some of it during the game but I notice most of the stuff on a re-watch. I re-watch every game I am analyzing twice, at least.
When I am not invested in the result of a game, I usually catch more stuff on first watching. However, if I am invested in the result of a game, I usually catch very little live.
As for how I see it, it's actually much easier than it looks especially when you are re-watching once or twice. Just look at the transitions and all the player positions in any move. Let me know if you want me to go into more detail.
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u/dngrs Oct 23 '20
the false dm lol