Liverpool take advantage of first half tactical errors to defeat Porto

Liverpool remained unbeaten at home in the Champions League under Jürgen Klopp with a satisfactory performance in 2-0 win over Porto. Liverpool took advantage of Portos poor first half, which in the Champions League is more than enough to seal a game. In this tactical analysis, I will show you why Liverpool dominated Porto in the first half and how Porto grew back into the game.

Lineups 

As expected Liverpool remained with their usual 4-3-3, with Matip rested and Lovren brought in, while Porto opted for a 5-4-1, with the aim of switching to a 3-4-3 in attacking transitions. Jordan Henderson picked up where he left off against Southampton, playing in a more advanced role in front of Fabinho, who also played an important role in the game.

Portos high line

Porto remained compact both horizontally and vertically to limit the spaces between their lines and to prevent Liverpool from playing through them. However, when a team plays in such a compact shape with a high line, you would expect them to press aggressively with their compact shape as more people could contribute to the press.

Porto in the first half instead played a high line and were vertically compact without any press, which made it too easy to play long passes over the top of their back line. Below we can see an example of Portos vertical compactness, with the distance between the first and last man very short.