Liverpool's High-Risk/High-Reward Chaos-ball
Fast, Frantic and Fun, and Brutally Effective
The following is about half of my post-match thoughts for TTT subscribers from last night after the game, with Andrew Beasley having also added his thoughts and the data roundup.
Excerpt
This (below) was the xG created by the Reds this season in the league before this game. Liverpool almost need a quadrant of their own in terms of attacking, and aren’t too far off the pace in defending. (Liverpool added another 3.0 on attacking xG against the Saints.)
(Viz created by Daniel Rhodes for TTT, using FbRef.com data. An interactive version is attached to the match thread for subscribers.)
That said, it feels like we’re being a bit short-changed right now. After all, Liverpool are only playing 60 minutes per game, then walking the rest, to save energy for the next pasting they’ll hand out.
…
During the game I started thinking that Liverpool must play 30-40 really loose passes in matches like this, but the way they’re set up right now it’s a case of constant fast probing, where the high-risk/high-reward passes are sought almost continually.
It means lots of promising moves break down, but it’s not about taking the time to be extra-careful, but to maximise the opening with the fastest response, before teams can regroup. Taking extra touches, getting the head up, being extra sure with passes, can all lead to a slower, more accurate but less-cutting style. (I imagine: Louis van Gaal’s Man United.)
It’s not just through-balls but the constant zipping of lay-offs and all kinds of searching passes. Each match I’m frustrated more, in total, than in the past, but the quantity of deadly passes is greater, too. I sigh a lot, and gnash my teeth in frustration; then, 30 seconds later, the Reds are back in on goal.
It seems to be a defined change in the way the Reds play, as I pointed out during preseason: this utter directness, albeit with pace and skill, preferably through the middle. The width is still there, but the first thrusts at the opposition seem to be central, in numbers; then, if necessary, the space opens up out wide as the opposition cluster infield, and either full-back sprints into the space.
There have been fewer full-back to full-back switches, though we saw that today; fewer van Dijk rangefinders out to the wings; and Mané no longer seems to score the right-footed curlers into the far corner as the ball comes across low to him in the inside-left position. It feels more varied, more chaotic, and for the most part, a really good form of chaotic.
For the rest of the post-match roundup and all the subscriber comments, see the full TTT site.