The new UEFA Champions League format continues to provide exciting narratives and fierce tactical matchups, as Liverpool played host to Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen on Matchday 4.
On a night when fireworks illuminated the sky around Anfield, there was an equal amount of explosive play on the pitch as Arne Slot’s side fought their way to a 4-0 victory with an inspired second-half performance.
It continues to highlight Slot’s ability to inspire his side after the break, following a similar flurry of attacking prowess that we saw against Brighton.
Xabi Alonso’s fairytale return to Liverpool ended in a significant defeat, but the Spaniard will be optimistic and pleased by some of the tactical decisions that frustrated the home side for the best part of 60 minutes.
Liverpool has emerged as the team to beat in this season’s Champions League, as fans have been amazed at how Arne Slot has extracted the best out of the side without an extensive rebuild over the summer.
This tactical analysis will begin to delve into some of Arne Slot’s tactics, which allowed Liverpool to unpick a resilient Leverkusen side that had also impressed with its ability to remain progressive.
Our analysis will focus on the tactical systems of both Slot and Alonso while identifying the key tweaks that gave the home side enough offensive freedom to snatch all three points.
Liverpool Lineup
Arne Slot opted for his usual 4-3-3, with some surprise personnel and positional changes, which made all the difference for the home side.
Caoimhín Kelleher remained between the sticks, supported by a defensive line of Kostas Tsimikas and Trent Alexander-Arnold on the left and right flanks, respectively.
An interior central defensive partnership of Ibrahima Konaté and Virgil van Dijk remained combative against Victor Boniface‘s physical threat.
Liverpool’s midfield initially lined up in a more reserved shape when in possession, with Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister forming a double pivot that allowed Curtis Jones to roam between the lines.
The front three of Luis Díaz, Mohamed Salah, and Cody Gakpo have terrorised Premier League defences all season.
An interesting tactical decision saw Díaz line up as Liverpool’s central striker.
Bayer Leverkusen Lineup
Xabi Alonso’s side was shaped in the 3-5-2, with a clear emphasis on working the ball into the wider areas where the likes of Jeremie Frimpong and Álex Grimaldo could hurt Liverpool in transition.
Lukas Hradecky was in goal for Leverkusen, protected by a back-three of Piero Hincapié, Edmond Tapsoba and Jonathan Tah.
The aforementioned Álex Grimaldo and Jeremie Frimpong threatened as Leverkusen’s wing-backs, but an interior midfield trio of Aleix García, Exequiel Palacios and Granit Xhaka also allowed the visitors to threaten in central areas.
Victor Boniface and Florian Wirtz threatened within the final third as Leverkusen’s strike partnership.
Both were dynamic in their positioning, trying to exploit any weaknesses within the Liverpool defence.
Liverpool’s Early Progression Problems
It was a cagey first half at Anfield, and Liverpool, in particular, grew frustrated with their opposition’s ability to deny their build-up play from deep.
To utilise the speed and attacking flair of their wingers, Slot’s side looked to be fairly direct in their ball progression from the defensive line, aiming to pick out either flank with long balls or switches.
To negate this, we can see an example of Leverkusen’s high-pressing efforts from a Liverpool goal kick.
They deployed a variety of pressing styles to force turnovers in possession and dictate the overall play.
Leverkusen used a man-to-man pressing style when positioning two of their central midfielders right behind the Liverpool double pivot.
This tactic denied Kelleher a straight outlet pass to either Gravenberch or Mac Allister.
This left Wirtz and Boniface in a hybrid pressing role.
They would additionally shadow the Liverpool double pivot from the front, ensuring that Kelleher’s distribution would be forced wide towards the flanks.
With this in mind, it was also important for the left-sided striker at the time to curve his run inward and aim to lock off the right side of the Liverpool defence, not only because Alexander-Arnold is Liverpool’s finest ball-playing outlet but also so that they could funnel play over to the left where Frimpong was often positioned ready to pounce.
Even when Liverpool could successfully switch the ball over to the right flank in the initial phase, we see just how proactive and aggressive Leverkusen were with their pressing, with Xhaka ready to deny Jones the time and space within the central channel.
Leverkusen’s Manipulation Of Space
Having grown into the game in the early stages, Xabi Alonso’s side progressed the ball fairly successfully by pulling the Liverpool resistance out of position.
The problem for Liverpool was that the obvious threat within the left and right half-space from both Frimpong and Grimaldo often garnered significant defensive attention and created further gaps to be exploited.
We see how Grimaldo’s inverted run allowed Xhaka to bypass Liverpool’s high-pressing efforts.
Hincapié had all the freedom in the world to receive in space and drive down the left flank, with Konaté even recognising the threat and stepping out of the defensive line.
Grimaldo also excelled when operating within the central areas, and was equally as effective when moving wider to escape defensive attention and receive the pass directly from Hradecky.
From these situations, Leverkusen were dangerous in transition, but Liverpool’s saving grace was that their defensive positioning was particularly effective in nullifying the majority of the attacking threat.
Grvaenberch and Mac Allister’s double pivot was instrumental in negating attacking opportunities for Florian Wirtz between the lines.
When Frimpong finally worked the ball inside to Xhaka, the defensive third’s numerical superiority limited penetration into the penalty area.
Slot’s Midfield Tweak
The major turning point in Liverpool’s fortunes stemmed from a second-half decision to give the midfield trio more freedom in possession.
Arne Slot decided that instead of his double pivot, he would instruct Mac Allister to play more of an advanced eight position alongside Curtis Jones, allowing Gravenberch to operate as the lone pivot at the base of midfield.
This staggered the Liverpool midfield, which, in turn, allowed them to be more dynamic and pick up important pockets of space that the Leverkusen interior trio had previously overrun.
It added another element to Liverpool’s central progression as we began to see more desire to attack between the lines, even from Gravenberch.
He was able to anticipate Mac Allister’s inventive flick-on before progressing into the final third by distributing the ball over to the left flank.
From this, Liverpool seemed to grow in confidence, as we saw Gravenberch, in particular, evade the defensive pressure of the Leverkusen forward line before powerfully driving at the heart of the Leverkusen defence.
This provided excellent opportunities for Salah to receive through balls behind the defensive line, with Gravenberch taking advantage of a Leverkusen midfield that had been forced to retreat towards its own box due to the advanced positioning of Mac Allister and Jones.
It culminated in Liverpool being able to swiftly progress from defence before Curtis Jones could perform a perfectly weighted line-breaking pass through the heart of the opposition’s defence, finding Díaz in stride, who expertly lofted the ball over Hradecky to break the deadlock.
Luis Díaz’s New Role
Luis Díaz’s hat trick was probably the standout taking point on the night, but the Colombian excelled in his central position, not only when utilising his speed as a more advanced forward playing on the shoulder.
Arne Slot was honest after the match.
He explained that one key reason Díaz appeared up front was that it created a positional headache for Jonathan Tah.
The German central defender is much more comfortable when engaging in a physical battle with an opposing centre forward, so the explosive movement of Díaz dropping in to link play certainly caused some issues within the first half.
It allowed Liverpool to accentuate their most threatening attacking game plan.
Their front three consistently looked to stretch Leverkusen’s back three when their wing backs were caught higher up the pitch.
When drifting wider in the first half, we saw how Leverkusen’s combative defensive style could be undone in transition, with Díaz able to steam past Tapsoba to create a 3v2 attacking sequence.
Much like a traditional creative centre forward, Díaz looked to come deeper and quickly link with the Liverpool midfield before switching play to find Salah isolated in a favourable matchup against the stretched Piero Hincapié.
While Leverkusen were able to continue their defensive resistance for the majority of the match, a more reserved structure invited far too much pressure in the second half.
After personnel changes brought about defensive confusion and a lack of match sharpness, Liverpool were able to punish Leverkusen with Salah’s creative prowess out wide, this time finding the bursting run of Díaz at the back post, who had left Hoffman in his wake.
Conclusion
Whilst a 4-0 scoreline may seem flattering for Arne Slot’s side, they continue to excel in both domestic and European competition.
It would appear that Slot has really been able to extract the best out of some players who had become dormant towards the end of Jürgen Klopp’s reign.
Despite a body blow at the hands of his old side, Xabi Alonso will still hope that with a more favourable run of Champions League fixtures on the horizon, Leverkusen could have an opportunity for revenge should they qualify for the knockout stages.
