The Genius Change Liverpool Made To Beat Arsenal
Despite taking a battering in the first half, Liverpool eventually eliminated Arsenal 2-0 in the FA Cup 3rd Round. But while Mikel Arteta will rightly lament his side's poor finishing, it was actually an inspired tactical change from Jurgen Klopp that turned the tide in the second half.
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00:00 Hello everybody, Adam Cleary from 442 here and depending on which team you support, the
00:07 big news today is either that Arsenal are out of the FA Cup or that Liverpool are through
00:13 to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
00:14 The first, and undoubtedly the most pertinent if you are an Arsenal fan, is that they were
00:18 unable to take any of the innumerable chances that they created.
00:22 But the other reason, and what we are here to talk about today with all of this, is Jurgen
00:27 Klopp and his frankly peerless levels of in-game management.
00:32 That man, in my opinion, is better on the fly than Jeff Goldblum, which is a joke that
00:38 almost works.
00:39 Alright, so we have got both teams set up for you here.
00:44 We have got Arsenal in the white because even though they were at home and they were allowed
00:47 to wear the red, they decided to wear the white because of that campaign they are doing.
00:50 And we have got Liverpool in the red, who even though they could wear the red because
00:54 Arsenal weren't wearing the red and they were allowed to do that, they decided to wear the
00:58 purple but I don't have purple so they are in red.
01:01 Does that make sense?
01:03 So and I am sure Liverpool fans won't mind me saying this, Arsenal absolutely battered
01:08 them for the majority of that first half.
01:10 Liverpool looked completely insane, they couldn't get out of their own half, Arsenal were winning
01:13 the ball back high up and should have been a good few goals up, but they weren't.
01:18 But the reason Arsenal were having so much success was because of how they were dealing
01:22 with Liverpool's build-up shape.
01:23 We have got Liverpool in the 4-3-3 shape that they started the game with.
01:26 Gakpo is in the midfield, Nunes is up front, Harvielli has replaced Mo Salah on the right,
01:31 but obviously this is not what they do when they get the ball from back.
01:35 What happens is that Trent Alexander-Arnold comes across into the midfield, the defence
01:38 shuffles over like this and they get this like 5-player 3-2 shape, right?
01:44 And the advantage this in theory gives you is while you can say they are matched up man
01:48 for man here, they all of a sudden have an overload here.
01:51 So as soon as the midfield comes into play, they have got 4 players in this area and Arsenal
01:55 would only have 3.
01:56 But what Arsenal did was very clever and very effective.
01:59 Basically Rhys Nelson, who was on the left, was constantly tracking Alexander-Arnold's
02:03 run into the middle, while Odegaard, who was in the midfield, was pushing up to the other
02:06 centre-back.
02:07 This meant that Arsenal were really aggressively man for man in the very centre of the pitch,
02:12 but crucially were not having Bakayo Saka do that with Joe Gomez.
02:16 If either of these two central midfielders, it was usually Curtis Jones, was trying to
02:19 drop in to help, then Declan Rice would really aggressively push onto him.
02:23 And then the entire back line as one would squeeze right the way up to the halfway line,
02:28 forcing both the wide players back so that they were all squashed up as well.
02:31 Saliva had a handle on Nunes and that meant that Gabriel was free to push up onto the
02:35 other central midfielder.
02:36 They gave them no out ball whatsoever except Joe Gomez.
02:42 And what then happened time and time again was the ball would keep going out into that
02:45 left space to either Gomez or if Kwanzaa had wandered out to there, he would get it as
02:49 well.
02:50 And because both of these players are right footed, they found it very difficult to control
02:54 it and play the ball forward.
02:56 They were forced to turn back towards their own goal.
02:59 And that is when Arsenal were pouncing.
03:00 And that would either force one of them to hit a hopeful ball into the midfield on their
03:04 left foot, which Arsenal were quite gleefully mopping up, as you can see here.
03:08 Or it meant they could force a turnover, which is where their best chance came from.
03:12 They steal the ball here, they get in on goal and they absolutely should score that.
03:16 Liverpool just had no answer to this whatsoever in the first half.
03:19 Like Trent Alexander-Arnold kept dropping between the two centre backs to try and get
03:23 himself a bit of space, which did work quite well.
03:25 They were getting him on the ball.
03:27 But from here, there was virtually no pass he could make.
03:30 The only thing that was on was trying to hit the ball over the top in behind for Nunes
03:34 to run onto, which, you know, might work, but that's an incredibly difficult thing to
03:38 do.
03:39 And if I'm not wrong, Alexander-Arnold more than has the ability to hit that kind of space
03:42 with an accurate ball and Nunes has the pace to get onto it.
03:46 But A) Saliba's an excellent defender and is no slouch, was beating him in a foot race
03:50 every time.
03:51 And B) Ramsdale just sweeps up really well.
03:54 So that was never really on.
03:55 So brilliant by Arteta.
03:57 He's got that all figured out.
03:58 It's created loads of chances.
04:00 Arsenal are dominating the game and they should be three up.
04:02 But as Arsenal fans will tell you, they just can't finish anything at the minute.
04:08 And they went in at nil-nil.
04:09 And if you've just somehow not been watching the Premier League this season, allow me to
04:12 tell you, if you have Liverpool figured out tactically, if you have the upper hand, the
04:18 worst thing you can do is not kill them off.
04:22 Because so many times this season we have seen Jurgen Klopp correctly read the game
04:27 and make the absolute perfect changes in order to not just nullify what's happening, but
04:33 to completely flip it on its head.
04:34 Like, I'm sure I'll be even more gushing by the end of this video, but I genuinely think
04:38 what he does in the second half probably proves he's the best in-game manager in the world
04:44 right now.
04:45 He made two just incredibly smart changes.
04:48 So when what you're doing is not working, the temptation becomes to completely change
04:53 what it is you're doing.
04:54 But Klopp doesn't want to do that because what Liverpool do is normally very effective.
04:58 So the trick is to adapt it to what's happening.
05:01 So the most important thing was without making a substitution, he changed the personnel around.
05:06 Javier Elliott moved into midfield, Cody Gakpo went up front, Nunes went across to the left
05:10 wing and Diaz came across to the right wing.
05:13 What that means is you've now got your two most direct threats in Diaz and Nunes, two
05:17 players who will get on the ball and they will run at people and they will get in the
05:20 space in the wide areas, which is where Arsenal were allowing them to have the ball.
05:25 So now all of a sudden when you get into this buildup shape and Arsenal begin to aggressively
05:29 press but leave that side of the pitch free, you're quite happy to have it there because
05:34 either one or two things is going to happen.
05:36 When Jones comes short to help and drags Rice with him, Gakpo's going to drop into that
05:40 space rather than pushing up onto the defenders.
05:42 But more importantly, Nunes on that side can either receive the ball short from the left
05:47 back or get in behind.
05:49 And it was this slight tweak from playing these balls over the top into the centre of
05:53 the pitch to playing these balls over the top into the left-hand channel that really
05:57 started to sort of unsettle Arsenal psychologically because all of a sudden that wasn't the ball
06:02 getting returned to them and them sweeping it up, that was Liverpool moving up the pitch
06:06 and keeping possession.
06:08 Like quite early into the second half, I think it's like the 52nd or the 53rd minute or
06:11 something, Alexander-Arnold again drops between the centre-backs.
06:14 Arsenal are a little bit more wary, they're not pressing as aggressively, they let him
06:18 have the time on the ball and he hits a perfect pass cross-field in behind Ben White, which
06:24 Nunes collects.
06:25 And what's always so advantageous about those balls in terms of forcing your opponent back,
06:29 right, is just look here, right, where is the offside line?
06:33 It's there, right?
06:34 Well, if we hit something in behind and Darwin Nunes here runs all the way up to get it,
06:38 takes Ben White with him, where's your offside line now?
06:42 Hey, would you look at that?
06:43 It allows every single Liverpool player to run in behind, unless of course the entire
06:47 Arsenal defence go with them.
06:48 And if the entire Arsenal defence go with them, the entire rest of the team has to move
06:53 back as well.
06:54 And if you don't make those recovery runs or the other team are just faster than you,
06:58 then this can happen.
07:00 Liverpool should have gone ahead from this chance against Harvey Elliott this time, knocking
07:04 the ball into the left-hand channel behind Ben White, Nunes is onto it and if his pass
07:09 is just a little bit better, Diaz puts them one up about 10 minutes before they got the
07:14 goal.
07:15 And the thing is, this isn't necessarily what won Liverpool the game, but it is certainly
07:18 what swung the momentum back from it being all Arsenal to being a far more even game.
07:24 And in a far more even game, Liverpool were probably always more likely to win.
07:28 Actually, I don't know why I'm saying it's not what won them the game.
07:30 It absolutely is.
07:31 Like the first goal comes from a free kick.
07:33 Yes, but Liverpool get that free kick because when they play it out to Gomez on the left-hand
07:37 side, Arsenal are now too scared to do that high press.
07:41 Ben White sticks to Nunes, who goes up the channel, leaves all this space here for Gomez
07:46 to run into and he drags the ball up the pitch and they get it in that corner and Arsenal
07:51 concede the foul.
07:52 And even the second goal, like it's a bit of a stretch to say it was directly caused
07:56 by this, but it is a ball out to the left-hand side and it is a pass in behind Ben White
08:01 and it is Diaz who's been moved onto that right-hand side to get up with the play, who
08:06 scores it.
08:07 So yeah, it kind of was that entire change, but weirdly that was only one of two really
08:14 good, why can I never do numbers on my fingers, of two really good changes that Klopp made.
08:18 Jota coming on was a brilliant move.
08:20 I'm a massive fan of Jota, but I actually think it was the change he made it right back
08:24 that stopped the momentum swinging back towards Arsenal.
08:27 Gabriel Martinelli arrives on the pitch in the second half and his first two contributions
08:32 are to skin Trent Alexander-Arnold alive.
08:36 Liverpool have been having so much joy from getting him into the middle of the pitch and
08:39 allowing him to hit those passes into the areas where there is space, but all of a sudden
08:43 with Martinelli's introduction, he can't really do that.
08:46 He has to stay in the right back position because that's where the threat is.
08:50 Arsenal again should have gotten a goal from this.
08:52 He just breezes past Alexander-Arnold like he's not there.
08:55 He gets into the box and it's just bad decision making and bad execution that stops that being
09:00 a goal.
09:01 I was watching this at the time and I was like, "Oh, that's such a good substitution
09:05 by Arteta.
09:06 You imagine Arsenal are going to go on and win this now."
09:09 But Klopp had an answer and that answer was the introduction of Connor Bradley.
09:13 Now, if you're not familiar, he is 20 years old.
09:16 He's from Northern Ireland.
09:17 He's come through Liverpool's youth system.
09:18 He was on loan at Bolton Wanderers last year where he was their player of the season and
09:22 they really, really do rate him as a right back.
09:25 And indeed his first contribution after coming onto the pitch was to take up that right back
09:29 role, allowed Alexander-Arnold to move just full time into the midfield.
09:33 And when Martinelli gets the ball on that side and tries to take him on, he could not
09:39 get past him.
09:40 He takes up a brilliant starting position here, just shows him all the way down the
09:44 left hand side.
09:45 And then when Martinelli tries to sort of get past him and get into the middle, he just
09:48 shepherds that towards the byline, then bounces it off him for a goal kick.
09:53 That's genuinely such composed, excellent defending.
09:56 And it's not something you ever normally see from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
10:00 That's not a criticism.
10:02 We're not doing a Trent can't defend video.
10:03 I think Trent is excellent.
10:05 But you can see after an hour of that game, he did not have the legs to keep up with Martinelli.
10:10 And Bradley didn't just have the legs.
10:13 He had the mind legs as well.
10:15 And lo and behold, the next time the ball comes out to Martinelli on that side, he thinks
10:19 about it.
10:20 He wants to try and go past him, but he thinks better of it and plays it back into a congested
10:24 middle of the pitch.
10:25 Klopp successfully shut down Liverpool's best route to goal.
10:30 I mean, I'm saying Klopp did that.
10:32 It's not like he came on with his boots and his little shorts and just put a reducer on
10:36 Martinelli within the first couple of minutes.
10:38 Conor Bradley did that.
10:39 That was all Conor Bradley's doing.
10:41 But Klopp told him to.
10:43 So up to you.
10:44 So, yeah, I thought that was genuinely one of the most fascinating tactical battles I've
10:48 seen, certainly in an FA Cup third round for a very, very long time.
10:52 Like Arteta absolutely had Liverpool figured out from the first whistle.
10:56 But as we said, Jurgen Klopp might well be the best in-game manager in the Premier League.
11:02 Like Christ, I'm in your Castle United fan.
11:04 He did it to us when they went down to 10 men.
11:06 He just figured something out and then we lost that game.
11:09 You have to, you simply have to hand it to him.
11:13 And technically Arsenal did hand it to him because that first one was an own goal, wasn't
11:19 it?
11:20 I can't actually do jokes, by the way.
11:23 I'm just really tired today.
11:24 Anyway, Liverpool fans and absolutely anybody else watching, if you have enjoyed this breakdown,
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11:50 you care to as well.
11:51 I'm probably there also.
11:52 442, that is all in the corner of the video for you.
11:54 The latest issue of the mag.
11:56 Can I pick that up without breaking your gaze?
11:58 Yes, I can.
11:59 That is still in all good retailers and the bad ones too.
12:01 It's the 2024 awards issue and comes with a free calendar, which you will need because
12:07 I bet you don't definitely know what the date is today.
12:11 You think it might be the 7th, but it's actually the 8th.
12:15 You see, so that'll come in really useful.
12:17 That's it.
12:18 That was the outro.
12:19 It could have been better.
12:20 Yes, I'll take that feedback, but it's done now.
12:23 So there you go.
12:24 Bye.
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