If Liverpool are to complete an unprecedented quadruple this season, it will be a testament to their completeness as a team. At times, Jurgen Klopp’s side have tried to ape Manchester City’s patient passing style and in their previous Premier League clash against Pep Guardiola’s side, they determinedly threaded passes through to players between the lines.
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But this was old-school Liverpool, reminiscent of the football they played against Manchester City in Klopp’s early days. It was intense, high-tempo, and based around pressing from the front. In keeping with some of the older clashes between these two managers, Klopp’s side tired and were struggling to hang on at the end, but their early burst of energy put them out of sight.
Clearly, a key factor in Liverpool’s intensity was the freshness of their key players. Klopp’s decision to rest Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson, Fabinho, Thiago, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah for the Champions League quarter-final second leg against Benfica in midweek proved crucial.
Guardiola didn’t have that luxury, away at Atletico Madrid with a slender one-goal advantage. In that respect, Liverpool getting a simpler draw for the Champions League quarter-final has helped them progress from the FA Cup semi-final.
But Klopp still took a risk when resting players midweek and it was his decision to play with more aggression than in the Premier League game last weekend. Liverpool repeatedly pressed high and forced turnovers in the first half, which allowed them to dominate the game inside City’s half and directly forced their second goal.
Liverpool pressed intensely from the outset, with Sadio Mane starting through the middle and repeatedly trying to put Zack Steffen under pressure.
Here, with City playing out from the back, Mane starts the press and forces Steffen into a quick decision, playing the ball sideways to John Stones.
Both Mane and Luis Diaz pressure Stones, and he plays an aimless ball downfield…
…which falls to Fabinho, and puts Liverpool on the attack again.
Here’s a similar case: Mane pressing Steffen, who sweeps the ball out to Oleksandr Zinchenko…
…and when he passes backwards to Nathan Ake, three Liverpool players are in a position to push up and box City into the corner. Mane is still in a position to dissuade Ake from going back to Steffen, so he passes forward to Bernardo Silva…
…but Naby Keita gets a foot in. The ball rolls out for a City goal kick but Liverpool are refusing to let City play forward easily.
But maybe this next example of pressing was the most telling.
With Zinchenko on the ball again, Liverpool have five players ready to push up and get tight to a City player down that side. The most interesting movement, though, is that of Mane — who doesn’t press sideways to close down Ake but instead anticipates that Zinchenko might want to go back to his goalkeeper, so charges towards Steffen…
…and he was right. Zincheko did want to play that pass, and turned backwards, then realises the danger with Mane there…
…so then attempts to turn the other way again, allowing Keita to nip in and take possession.
And while it’s hardly unusual for sides to press high when the opposition are playing out from the back, it’s worth pointing out that Liverpool actually forced that situation for Steffen’s crucial error by pushing City back from the edge of their own third.
This is the situation 80 seconds before Liverpool’s second goal. Phil Foden is on the ball. Keita and Mohamed Salah are trying to constrict the space for him and Zinchenko, forcing them to play backwards…
Salah then pushes up and shuts down Bernardo, forcing another backwards pass..
…and then Salah continues pressing, now shutting down Ake, forcing him to go all the way back to Steffen.
Then, Liverpool can press high up as a unit. Diaz, Mane and Salah prevent Stones playing forward quickly, so again, City go back to Steffen,
Then, City try playing out through Fernandinho and Liverpool’s front three are even higher to prevent an easy forward pass.
And then, when the ball comes to Stones again, Liverpool are still trying to force the issue — forcing yet another backwards pass to Steffen.
And that final backwards pass — and Steffen’s dallying — proves fatal. City’s keeper takes too long on the ball and Mane essentially tackles it into the goal.
That was, of course, a somewhat blatant demonstration of the benefits of pressing. Klopp can hardly have imagined his centre-forward would dispossess the opposition goalkeeper in the six-yard box.
But it was merely an exaggeration of Liverpool’s pressing dominance, rather than a complete outlier. Liverpool put themselves in control because of their proactive approach high up the pitch, epitomised by Mane repeatedly leading the press and shutting down Steffen.
There’s a lot more to Liverpool these days than aggressive pressing but it remains Klopp’s favourite weapon.
