How Tuchel’s build-up structure orchestrated a win over Liverpool’s poor pressing

In what seems like a now daily occurence, the Premier League offered up another mouth-watering clash between two top sides managed by two of the best coaches in world football. The matchup was not an unfamiliar one, with Thomas Tuchel getting another opportunity to face off against his fellow countryman Jürgen Klopp, with Tuchel hoping to pick up his first away win against Klopp in his career. The systems and philosophies of both teams were fairly predictable before the game, however it was Tuchels adjustments and concepts in the build-up that saw his side gain a deserved three points. Liverpool were uncharacteristically poor out of possession and struggled to manage Chelseas build-up effectively, and not for the first time this season, it would be fair to say Liverpool lost the game having been largely outplayed.

This tactical analysis will focus on that dynamic of Chelseas build-up against Liverpools pressing, with this facet of the game being one of the major contributors towards Chelseas three points. Ill review the build-up tactics used by Chelsea in the game, as well as highlighting the subtle problems which caused Liverpool problems in their own pressing.

Lineups

As mentioned there were no real shocks in terms of systems from either side, with Liverpool using their 4-3-3 while Chelsea used their 3-4-3. Liverpool welcomed back Fabinho into central defence alongside Ozan Kabak, while they went with a midfield three of Curtis Jones, Gini Wijnaldum and Thiago. The biggest talking point for Chelsea was probably their front three, with Hakim Ziyech and Mason Mount on either side accompanying Timo Werner in the centre.

General structure

The general structures of both sides in the game is illustrated below with Chelsea looking to build through Liverpools press and then over when possible. Liverpools press followed the usual ideas, with inside forwards pressing from outside to in and cutting off the lanes to wing-backs using their cover shadow, while Roberto Firmino looked to press a centre back while cutting access to a Chelsea pivot. Due to Chelseas use of the back three, Firmino had to focus more often on pressing the middle centre back in order to maintain pressure on the ball, while the natural width across the back line provided by the back three posed some challenges to Liverpools diagonal pressing, as Ill discuss in detail later.

On paper Liverpool matched up 3v2 in midfield, however the dro