Dominant 1-0 wins over lower opposition where they let the opposition get back into games needlessly: the pattern of Liverpools opening matches against Stoke and Aston Villa were very similar. Its fair to say that Liverpool are likely to use the same approach throughout the season or at least against weaker teams. One of the most obvious patterns was that both Philippe Coutinho and Jordan Hendersons starting positions were fairly narrow, creating more of a 4-2-2-2 shape. This made it easy to get the ball forward and generally keep possession, with Villa and Stoke unable to close Steven Gerrard and Lucas Leiva down without leaving space between the lines for Henderson and especially Coutinho to take advantage of. Rodgers’ reasoning for this may be because Liverpool have sometimes looked poor when pressed high up the pitch, but the box formation makes it difficult for the opposition to keep compact and easier for Liverpool to move the ball from zone to zone. It also alleviates the need to use split centre backs, hopefully putting an end to how ludicrously easy Liverpool were to play on the counter against last season. Iago Aspas role in both matches was a bit uncertain. Defensively […]
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