Jurgen Klopp will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, and Xabi Alonso is already odds-on to replace him. But would the Bayer Leverkusen boss be able to bring his incredible brand of attacking football to Anfield, or would the change simply be too much for him at this very early stage of his managerial career? Adam Clery takes a bumper look at both sides of the argument.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Okay, so maybe you've not watched a lot of Das Bundesliga this season, which is understandable.
00:07 You're a busy guy, you've got other things to do.
00:09 So let me tell you how Leverkusen play.
00:12 Theoretically, it's a 3-4-2-1, but it's also so much more fun than that.
00:17 The easiest way to describe it, okay, is it's a system based around three centre-backs who
00:22 really do actually want you to press them, then two wing-backs who operate as a second
00:27 centre-forward and a number 10, then two actual number 10s who just do whatever the f*** they
00:33 want.
00:34 So we'll start at the back, right.
00:35 Alonso tries to pick the same 11 wherever possible.
00:36 He really values that consistency and that sort of team blend it gives him.
00:40 So we've normally got Tosoba, Tarr and Kosa now, which I am, I would say 75% sure I've
00:47 pronounced correctly.
00:48 And all three of them fit a very similar profile.
00:51 They're all very strong on the ball.
00:53 They do not get bullied.
00:54 They're excellent at defending set pieces, but they're also really, really comfortable
00:58 in possession.
00:59 They're very difficult to press.
01:00 They make good angles.
01:01 They receive the ball in tight spaces.
01:03 They're pretty much the perfect modern centre-back.
01:05 And then ahead of them, we have Ezequiel Palacios and Granachaka.
01:08 Yes, that Granachaka.
01:10 And between the five of them in the build-up phase, they just try and find angles.
01:15 When they get pressed, you get these two scuttling around horizontally like little crabs who
01:19 want to receive the ball while they find angles between the goalkeeper, the defenders and
01:24 these two midfielders.
01:25 And if you are stupid enough to commit lots of players forward, this is how they get through
01:29 you.
01:30 And they are so effective at doing this that it sort of lures the opposition into committing
01:34 more and more players forward to try and stop them.
01:37 Like if you only press them with one attacker, then they're very good at just making that
01:40 triangle around them, moving the ball side to side until some space frees up down the
01:44 flanks.
01:45 If you press them with two and then even sort of mark the wing-backs and the central midfielders
01:48 with your next line of players, then what they'll do is that really clever like Brighton
01:53 style bounce pass where one of the centre-backs will inevitably get free.
01:57 It'll come into the central midfielder who even with a player in his back can then straight
02:01 away knock a ball into the free centre-back and they're really happy to just push up the
02:05 pitch themselves.
02:06 And then all of a sudden, what's this guy doing other than filling his kecks?
02:10 And then what are you going to do?
02:11 Go man to man?
02:12 So commit seven players to the press to try and stop these ones from getting on the ball?
02:16 Okay, great.
02:17 Say, Leverkusen, you've effectively left us three on three in your own half.
02:21 Now that's how they build up.
02:22 But the really, really, really fun part of this side is in these two wing-backs.
02:27 Alex Grimaldo and Jeremy Frimpong might be the two most fun players in all of European
02:34 football right now because yes, okay, they're defenders and they can drop back and form
02:39 a back four for Leverkusen if they really need to, if they're trying to be solid and
02:43 they're trying to be compact.
02:44 But as we know, as we've discussed on this channel a hundred times, defending is for
02:49 nerds.
02:50 So, and yes, it is heat map time.
02:52 What have they really been doing this season?
02:55 Well, this is Jeremy Frimpong's heat map of this season.
02:58 And I'm just going to give that a little second to really sit with you.
03:01 And this is Alex Grimaldo's.
03:04 Two defenders there who could not be doing less defending if they were deathly allergic
03:09 to their own 18-yard box.
03:11 What's made this work really well for Leverkusen though is that it's easy to look at that and
03:14 just go, oh, they've got really attacking wing-backs, but they both do very, very different
03:18 jobs on either side of the pitch.
03:19 If we just focus on Frimpong's heat map, first of all, you can see that he ends up in and
03:23 around the box quite a lot.
03:25 And as a result, if we go and look at the numbers, no defender in all of European football
03:30 has touched the ball in the opponent's box more times this season.
03:35 And I love it when you get a stat where someone is at the very top of it, because it's not
03:38 just that he's doing this a lot, it's that no one else in the game is doing it like he
03:43 is.
03:44 And as a result, at the time of me recording this, which is ahead of them playing Bayern,
03:47 he's got like five goals in the league this season, six assists, no defenders had more
03:52 shots on goal, none of them have got a higher XG.
03:54 The numbers he's posting in this system, extraordinary.
03:58 And you can understand that as well, because if he's getting so close to the other centre
04:01 forward, occupying those same central goal scoring zones, he's effectively the responsibility
04:07 of the opposition centre-backs.
04:09 And how on earth are they meant to mark a player whose starting position is at wing-back?
04:14 As for Grimaldo though, he is slightly different.
04:16 If we look at his heat map, yeah, it's just as attacking, but you'll see he doesn't get
04:20 into the box and do the same kind of thing Frimpong does.
04:23 He kind of operates in this sort of half space right here.
04:26 We'll talk about how he's able to operate in this sort of space when you've literally
04:29 got Florian Wurz right there in just a second, but where Frimpong's numbers sort of make
04:33 him look like this live wire penalty box striker, Grimaldo's posting the same kind of numbers
04:39 as like an elite chance creator.
04:41 In terms of defenders in this league, nobody has more assists than he does, like 10 already.
04:46 Or something.
04:47 Nobody puts the ball into the penalty area more than he does.
04:50 And he's right at the very top of the statistics for things like key passes and all the other
04:54 chance creation metrics you would want to see a number 10 thriving in.
04:58 But yes, to rewind slightly, why would you want your left wing-back in this position
05:01 if you've got Florian Wurz, who's brilliant in that position?
05:04 And I don't know if you recall me saying this, but those two number 10s basically do whatever
05:09 they like.
05:10 And this, you see, is Florian Wurz's heat map from across the Bundesliga this season.
05:15 And you will note, yes, he is primarily playing on that left-hand side in the number 10 role,
05:19 but also he's playing wherever he wants.
05:23 It is similar for Hoffman on this side.
05:25 He is sort of expected to go where he's needed, but because Frimpong will always be making
05:30 that outside run, never looking to get into this space and looking for service as he gets
05:34 into the box, it's kind of more important that he is more static.
05:38 So when the ball does come to him, they know exactly where it can go.
05:41 But because Grimaldo is also excellent in this position, it means Wurz is free to just
05:45 read the game and decide himself where he's needed.
05:48 So he will come across to Hoffman to create overloads and double up.
05:51 He will get up next to the centre forward to be on the end of chances.
05:55 He will go out wide to allow Grimaldo to, and they said come inside him there, to underlap
06:00 him, that's the word.
06:01 And also he'll drop back into the midfield in case they need an extra body there.
06:05 Now you could make this statement about more or less any of them, but I personally think
06:08 Wurz is the most important player in this system because Leverkusen have a very set
06:13 style, a set system.
06:15 They know what they're going to do.
06:16 You know where a lot of their players are going to try and be.
06:19 The freedom afforded to him means that they can effectively problem solve on the fly.
06:24 There was a really good example of this the other day in the DFP Pokal, which I'm never
06:28 sure if I say right, cup quarterfinal against Stuttgart.
06:31 Leverkusen were behind, they were losing.
06:33 Stuttgart weren't exactly in control of the game, but it certainly did feel like they
06:38 had a lot of answers to this side.
06:40 So Wurz went and changed the questions.
06:43 You can see here Leverkusen are trying to build out in that back five we discussed and
06:46 Stuttgart are being really disciplined.
06:49 All the players who they want to get the ball into, they've got well marked, they're pushing
06:53 out at the right times, but they're not getting lured in to press the centre backs and leave
06:57 any space.
06:58 So no matter where the wing backs or the 10s go sort of horizontally, they're being tracked
07:02 by their markers.
07:03 So what Wurz decides to do is test how far he's willing to go on the other axis instead.
07:08 And he doesn't just drop a little bit deeper, he goes all the way into the double pivot
07:12 with Chaka and Palacios and allows them to form the sort of two triangles.
07:17 I know that's a shape where it's one on, it's not a rhombus is it?
07:20 It's got a weird name.
07:22 What's that called?
07:23 This is called a Lakota symbol and there's something to do with like Native Americans,
07:27 Wiccans and spirituality.
07:29 So rabbit hole, I'm not going down.
07:31 Anyway, Wurz forms the accursed symbol and you can even see his marker here pointing
07:35 at him, telling the rest of his team, I can't really go there with him.
07:40 You guys are going to have to sort that out.
07:41 But of course, before they can think about how they will sort that out, he gets on the
07:44 ball, he gets turned and all of a sudden, the space that had been denied every other
07:48 player in that area, he's just got.
07:50 And this is where you just need that little extra bit of quality because they've made
07:53 the substitution, they've taken Hoffman off for Adley, who's more of a direct runner rather
07:57 than a static presence in that position.
07:59 He gets his head up, he sees him and he plays the most perfect way to pass in behind that
08:04 really high stupefied line.
08:06 Now, of course, this is all really good in theory, and it's a really clever system that
08:10 undoubtedly should have seen Leverkusen having a good year.
08:13 But there's a really subtle moment in this, which I think tells you why they're not just
08:17 having a good year, but possibly just an unbelievable one.
08:20 The centre forward here, who I think at this point is Schick, knows what Wurz is going
08:25 to do.
08:26 He knows this pass isn't going to be for him.
08:28 There is not a lot of space for this ball to go through, and it's very conceivable this
08:32 defender could leave his man to cut that out.
08:35 So Schick holds him there, physically stops him closing off that passing lane.
08:41 This is not somebody who's played every minute in this side.
08:44 He's only started four games for them in the league this season, and yet he's so well drilled
08:48 by Alonso, he sort of instinctively knows what's coming here and what his role in that
08:53 should be.
08:54 And I really do think that's quite important because this is still Chabby Alonso's first
08:58 proper job in management.
08:59 This is still technically his first full season as a senior coach at a club, so it'd be very
09:05 easy to look at what's going on and say, "Ah, it's just circumstances.
09:09 Some of the players are having great seasons.
09:11 Things have just clicked," irrespective of what he's doing.
09:13 But I think when you look at the overall coaching, how well drilled they are, how everybody seems
09:18 to know these jobs, it says a lot about what he's done with them.
09:22 Now, I am aware the point of this video is to assess his suitability for Liverpool, and
09:26 you might have heard all of that and thought, "It doesn't really sound very Liverpool to
09:30 me."
09:31 Well, what about this?
09:32 Yes, Leverkusen are disciplined and they do build out from the back.
09:36 And if we look at this lovely graph from Opta that I like to pretend I understand, they
09:39 have a more slow and intricate play style than even Bayern Munich.
09:44 But they do also lead the entire Bundesliga, that's starting to feel problematic, in the
09:50 number of shots they get from high turnovers.
09:53 They are very patient, yes, but they also got that dog in them.
09:57 One of the advantages they have of being able to build the ball through the lines the way
10:01 they do is that by the time they do normally fashion a chance, the entire team has moved
10:05 quite high up the pitch.
10:07 So when it does break down or they lose the ball or it just gets turned over, they're
10:10 in a really good position to then effectively crash the opposition to try and win it back
10:15 as quickly as possible.
10:16 Now, if that sounds like Jurgen Klopp's gag impressing style to you, that's because it
10:21 is.
10:22 They are trying to play the entire game of football as close to the opposition's goal
10:27 as they can, be that attacking or defending.
10:29 And as a result, in terms of the number of touches teams have in either their own box
10:33 or the defensive third, Leverkusen are bottom.
10:36 But in terms of the number of touches they have in the attacking third, Leverkusen are
10:40 top.
10:41 In terms of the number of tackles teams make in their own defensive third, Leverkusen are
10:46 bottom.
10:47 But in terms of the number of tackles made in the attacking third, Leverkusen are top.
10:51 For them, the pitch pretty much just starts here.
10:54 Gonna really blow your mind here because you're smart and intelligent.
10:58 You're probably thinking, probably requires a really high line that Adam, you're really
11:02 committing a lot of players forward.
11:04 Bet they're shipping a lot of goals on the counter-attack this season.
11:07 None, zero, only team in the entire Bundesliga to not concede a single goal on the counter-attack
11:13 because yes, while they do push really high up, they've got five really good, just sort
11:18 of strong, steely defenders in this part of the pitch and they just shut that s*** down.
11:24 Alright, so that is Leverkusen 1-0-1 for you.
11:28 But would this work at Liverpool?
11:31 Well, let's just do a quick stock take of the XI and the system and just see if it's
11:35 a decent fit.
11:36 I would say Alisson, absolutely perfect for this role.
11:39 You want a goalkeeper who can play out from the back and can sweep up in behind.
11:42 Perfect.
11:43 Then at centre-back, you want three players all with a similar profile.
11:45 Quick, strong, excellent on the ball, can pick a pass here and there and don't mind
11:49 carrying it forward themselves.
11:51 Karnate, Van Dijk, absolutely perfect.
11:54 Kwanzaa could maybe do that on the left, maybe a little bit unproven.
11:58 You'd want to go buy a third one there, I think.
12:00 Or Joe Gomez could play there.
12:01 I forgot about Joe Gomez, sorry.
12:03 And then in the double pivot, again, you want a bit of physicality.
12:06 You can't be getting bullied during the press, but your control has to be excellent because
12:10 you're going to be receiving that ball under pressure a lot.
12:12 You need to be able to face your own goal.
12:13 You need to be able to get turned in tight spaces and play it forward.
12:17 And Endo, Gravenberg, McAllister in particular.
12:21 Liverpool pretty well stocked in that department.
12:23 Now wing-back is tricky because you do want two players who function really well as conventional
12:27 full-backs and can do defending all the way down that side, but also possess an incredible
12:32 engine to get all the way up the pitch when needed.
12:35 Now, if we just sort of flip over the way they're doing this, I actually think Andy
12:38 Robertson could do that frimpong job really, really well.
12:42 He could bomb up all the way that side.
12:43 He loves to get in the box.
12:44 He would chase things down.
12:46 He's a goal threat.
12:47 If needed to be, he probably works there.
12:49 But in the chance creation role, though, Alexander-Arnold's not a particularly good fit.
12:53 Like, don't get me wrong, purely in that 10 position, he'd be fantastic.
12:57 Obviously, the passes he could pick out would be second to none, but half the job is being
13:01 able to sprint back and get into position and not get caught out.
13:06 And that might be something he really struggled at.
13:08 You would see teams desperately targeting the space in behind him.
13:12 So we'll just hang a little question mark here for the time being.
13:14 The two number 10s.
13:16 Well, Liverpool don't play with any number 10s.
13:19 However, they do have an absolute embarrassment of riches in their attacking number eight
13:25 roles.
13:26 And Liverpool are so on the front foot and they expect so much work in and around the
13:29 box from these players, they convert very easily.
13:32 I would say Dominic Soboslai was possibly even born to play one of those roles.
13:36 Given you're going to want one, you can be a little bit more static and pick out a teammate
13:39 and one who can just do absolutely everything, everywhere.
13:42 I don't think Liverpool would have any problems at all picking those players out of their
13:46 current squad.
13:47 Like we've already said, Soboslai, but Jones, Elia, I could see Jotter even doing that to
13:52 an extent.
13:53 They'd be fine there.
13:54 And then up front, you just want a classic centre forward who likes to stay between the
13:58 goalposts, has good link of play and can finish.
14:01 And in every regard, but the finishing, and he will get there, that's Darwin Nunes.
14:06 So that's actually, across the pitch, a really good fit.
14:10 But also, no, it isn't.
14:13 Neither of these number 10s is really tasked with being much of a box presence at all.
14:17 In fact, Wirtz and Hoffman both work exceptionally because they know not to go in that area,
14:21 which would be a complete waste of Mo Salah.
14:24 And likewise, Trent Alexander-Arnold is somebody Liverpool should be looking to build the feature
14:29 of their side around.
14:30 And he's not a particularly good fit in the double pivot role because he's a little bit
14:33 sort of lightweight.
14:34 You could see him getting targeted.
14:36 He would leave too much space behind playing as one of the wing backs.
14:39 And even if you just stuck him as one of the 10s, again, he's maybe not quite got the mobility
14:43 horizontally across the pitch.
14:44 Don't get me wrong, you could do a lot worse than putting him in one of these positions,
14:48 but you could also have a much better fit.
14:51 And part of the reason this Leverkusen side have done so well is because Alonso was very
14:55 big on identifying the right profile of player for the positions.
15:00 Trent isn't that.
15:01 So it's a really, really great fit for a lot of this Liverpool side, but also it's not
15:05 a particularly good one for two of the most important players, both on the field and off
15:10 it.
15:11 So that's less than ideal.
15:12 But then again, at the same time, if we look at the sort of philosophies Alonso appears
15:16 to have, he wants a high pressing side who works really hard off the ball.
15:20 Big tick for that current Liverpool squad.
15:22 But he also wants him to be really, really good in possession, which is what Klopp has
15:26 been building towards over the last two years.
15:29 He's less about the getting impress, more about controlled possession.
15:33 And this Leverkusen side are a really good balance of the two.
15:36 So is Xabi Alonso a good fit for Liverpool?
15:39 Well, yes, he really, really, really is in the long term.
15:44 However, in the short term, he would face a fairly major challenge for making this system
15:48 work for a number of its biggest players.
15:50 Like we mentioned Alexander-Arnold and we mentioned Salah, but also I don't know where
15:54 Diaz goes in this.
15:55 I said Jota could potentially be one of those tens, but it's not a good use of him.
15:59 The problem with that is that the competition for Champions League places and for trophies
16:03 is as intense as it has ever been.
16:06 And no top side can really afford to have a sluggish start to a new managerial reign
16:12 because they've got the speed bump of short term problems.
16:15 And if you don't believe that, look at Manchester United.
16:19 But if you're looking for a personal opinion on this, I would say, yeah, God, absolutely.
16:23 He looks amazing.
16:24 Go and get him in tomorrow if you can.
16:26 Like it's way too soon to know whether or not Xabi Alonso was cut out to manage at the
16:30 really, really top end of European football consistently.
16:34 But when do you ever know for definite that's going to work?
16:37 And as for some members of the Liverpool squad not being a natural fit for this system he's
16:41 playing, he's only been playing it for like eight or nine months.
16:46 Systems always adapt.
16:47 The challenge is not how could Xabi Alonso make the Liverpool side play this brand of
16:51 football.
16:52 The challenge is how could he bring in this brand of football with that Liverpool side?
16:57 Like think about it, that 4-3-3 that Jurgen Klopp won the European Cup and the Premier
17:01 League with.
17:02 He didn't use that at Dortmund.
17:04 He had the Gegenpress, but he had it in a 4-2-3-1 because that worked better for that
17:08 group of players.
17:09 Like the guy got there and was like, nah, I'm not going to bother with a double pivot.
17:12 I've got Fabinho.
17:13 I don't need it.
17:14 I'll just stick another man up front.
17:15 And he did and they went and won absolutely everything.
17:18 So Xabi Alonso's Liverpool might not look anything like Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen, but
17:23 that's why you get those top, top jobs.
17:26 The ability to go from one to the other and still be a baller.
17:30 Anyway, I am almost certain that is the longest video we've ever done and I am desperate for
17:34 a way, so I'm going to sign off right there.
17:36 If you're still with us at this point in the video, thank you so much.
17:39 And if you haven't yet already subscribed, please do consider it.
17:41 If you're a Liverpool fan, we've got something absolutely massive coming up that you won't
17:47 want to miss, so please do hit that little button.
17:48 It helps us out a whole bunch and I'm very, very grateful when you do.
17:51 In the meantime, I am on all the socials because of course I am @AdamClearyCLERY and the 442
17:56 handles there in the corner of the video.
17:58 Should check those out as well.
18:00 And yes, thank you so much for watching.
18:02 I did so much research for this.
18:04 So if you'd like to share it around with your friends, that would mean a whole heap and
18:08 bunch to me.
18:09 Plus I'm now obsessed with Leverkusen, so that's almost certainly the kiss of death
18:13 on them winning the league.
18:14 Very sorry.
18:15 Auf Wiedersehen.