The EFL Cup semifinal first leg between Liverpool and Arsenal was far from an entertaining game to watch and definitely far from both teams’ best displays so far. The goalless draw puts all the pressure on the second leg performance as their Wembley chances will be decided in that one game.
Liverpool were the dominant team and had all the chances to win after Cedric Soares got injured early on and Granit Xhaka saw red, which forced Mikel Arteta into changing his strategy. But a combination of the Reds’ lack of good finishing and Arsenal’s defensive re-organisation resulted in a disappointment for Jürgen Klopp’s side and a sigh of relief for Arteta.
While the game wasn’t full of innovative tactical decisions and lacked goals, it underlined a few important aspects of their performance that might turn crucial in the long term.
In this tactical analysis, we explain the three things that we learned from that game and how it brought up some questions about the teams’ versatility and their future ventures.
Lineups
Klopp tried to compensate for some of his key players’ absence by opting for many of his regular starters, something he doesn’t usually do in cup games. Alisson covered the goal with Andrew Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Joël Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold in defence. Their only issue seemed the lack of speed in certain positions which could’ve been exploited by Arsenal’s Gabriel Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah.
James Milner, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson covered the midfield, while Takumi Minamino and Diogo Jota supported Roberto Firmino in attack in the absence of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.
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