The genius change Liverpool made to beat Arsenal in the FA cup 3rd round.
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00:00 Hello everybody, Adam Cleary from 442 here and depending on which team you support, the
00:07 big news today is either that Arsenal are out of the FA Cup or that Liverpool are through
00:13 to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
00:14 The first, and undoubtedly the most pertinent if you are an Arsenal fan, is that they were
00:18 unable to take any of the innumerable chances that they created.
00:22 But the other reason, and what we are here to talk about today with all of this, is Jurgen
00:27 Klopp and his frankly peerless levels of in-game management.
00:32 That man, in my opinion, is better on the fly than Jeff Goldblum, which is a joke that
00:38 almost works.
00:39 Alright, so we have got both teams set up for you here.
00:44 We have got Arsenal in the white because even though they were at home and they were allowed
00:47 to wear the red, they decided to wear the white because of that campaign they are doing.
00:50 And we have got Liverpool in the red, who even though they could wear the red because
00:54 Arsenal weren't wearing the red and they were allowed to do that, they decided to wear the
00:58 purple but I don't have purple so they are in red.
01:01 Does that make sense?
01:03 So and I am sure Liverpool fans won't mind me saying this, Arsenal absolutely battered
01:08 them for the majority of that first half.
01:10 Liverpool looked completely insane, they couldn't get out of their own half, Arsenal were winning
01:13 the ball back high up and should have been a good few goals up, but they weren't.
01:18 But the reason Arsenal were having so much success was because of how they were dealing
01:22 with Liverpool's build-up shape.
01:23 We have got Liverpool in the 4-3-3 shape that they started the game with.
01:26 Gakpo is in the midfield, Nunes is up front, Harvielli has replaced Mo Salah on the right,
01:31 but obviously this is not what they do when they get the ball from back.
01:35 What happens is that Trent Alexander-Arnold comes across into the midfield, the defence
01:38 shuffles over like this and they get this like 5-player 3-2 shape, right?
01:44 And the advantage this in theory gives you is while you can say they are matched up man
01:48 for man here, they all of a sudden have an overload here.
01:51 So as soon as the midfield comes into play, they have got 4 players in this area and Arsenal
01:55 would only have 3.
01:56 But what Arsenal did was very clever and very effective.
01:59 Basically Rhys Nelson, who was on the left, was constantly tracking Alexander-Arnold's
02:03 run into the middle, while Odegaard, who was in the midfield, was pushing up to the other
02:06 centre-back.
02:07 This meant that Arsenal were really aggressively man for man in the very centre of the pitch,
02:12 but crucially were not having Bakayo Saka do that with Joe Gomez.
02:16 If either of these two central midfielders, it was usually Curtis Jones, was trying to
02:19 drop in to help, then Declan Rice would really aggressively push onto him.
02:23 And then the entire back line as one would squeeze right the way up to the halfway line,
02:28 forcing both the wide players back so that they were all squashed up as well.
02:31 Saliva had a handle on Nunes and that meant that Gabriel was free to push up onto the
02:35 other central midfielder.
02:36 They gave them no out ball whatsoever except Joe Gomez.
02:42 And what then happened time and time again was the ball would keep going out into that
02:45 left space to either Gomez or if Kwanzaa had wandered out to there, he would get it as
02:49 well.
02:50 And because both of these players are right footed, they found it very difficult to control
02:54 it and play the ball forward.
02:56 They were forced to turn back towards their own goal.
02:59 And that is when Arsenal were pouncing.
03:00 And that would either force one of them to hit a hopeful ball into the midfield on their
03:04 left foot, which Arsenal were quite gleefully mopping up, as you can see here.
03:08 Or it meant they could force a turnover, which is where their best chance came from.
03:12 They steal the ball here, they get in on goal and they absolutely should score that.
03:16 Liverpool just had no answer to this whatsoever in the first half.
03:19 Like Trent Alexander-Arnold kept dropping between the two centre backs to try and get
03:23 himself a bit of space, which did work quite well.
03:25 They were getting him on the ball.
03:27 But from here, there was virtually no pass he could make.
03:30 The only thing that was on was trying to hit the ball over the top in behind for Nunes
03:34 to run onto, which, you know, might work, but that's an incredibly difficult thing to
03:38 do.
03:39 And if I'm not wrong, Alexander-Arnold more than has the ability to hit that kind of space
03:42 with an accurate ball and Nunes has the pace to get onto it.
03:46 But A) Saliba's an excellent defender and is no slouch, was beating him in a foot race
03:50 every time.
03:51 And B) Ramsdale just sweeps up really well.
03:54 So that was never really on.
03:55 So brilliant by Arteta.
03:57 He's got that all figured out.
03:58 It's created loads of chances.
04:00 Arsenal are dominating the game and they should be three up.
04:02 But as Arsenal fans will tell you, they just can't finish anything at the minute.
04:08 And they went in at nil-nil.
04:09 And if you've just somehow not been watching the Premier League this season, allow me to
04:12 tell you, if you have Liverpool figured out tactically, if you have the upper hand, the
04:18 worst thing you can do is not kill them off.
04:22 Because so many times this season we have seen Jurgen Klopp correctly read the game
04:27 and make the absolute perfect changes in order to not just nullify what's happening, but
04:33 to completely flip it on its head.
04:34 Like, I'm sure I'll be even more gushing by the end of this video, but I genuinely think
04:38 what he does in the second half probably proves he's the best in-game manager in the world
04:44 right now.
04:45 He made two just incredibly smart changes.
04:48 So when what you're doing is not working, the temptation becomes to completely change
04:53 what it is you're doing.
04:54 But Klopp doesn't want to do that because what Liverpool do is normally very effective.
04:58 So the trick is to adapt it to what's happening.
05:01 So the most important thing was without making a substitution, he changed the personnel around.
05:06 Javier Elliott moved into midfield, Cody Gakpo went up front, Nunes went across to the left
05:10 wing and Diaz came across to the right wing.
05:13 What that means is you've now got your two most direct threats in Diaz and Nunes, two
05:17 players who will get on the ball and they will run at people and they will get in the
05:20 space in the wide areas, which is where Arsenal were allowing them to have the ball.
05:25 So now all of a sudden when you get into this buildup shape and Arsenal begin to aggressively
05:29 press but leave that side of the pitch free, you're quite happy to have it there because
05:34 either one or two things is going to happen.
05:36 When Jones comes short to help and drags Rice with him, Gakpo's going to drop into that
05:40 space rather than pushing up onto the defenders.
05:42 But more importantly, Nunes on that side can either receive the ball short from the left
05:47 back or get in behind.
05:49 And it was this slight tweak from playing these balls over the top into the centre of
05:53 the pitch to playing these balls over the top into the left-hand channel that really
05:57 started to sort of unsettle Arsenal psychologically because all of a sudden that wasn't the ball
06:02 getting returned to them and them sweeping it up, that was Liverpool moving up the pitch
06:06 and keeping possession.
06:08 Like quite early into the second half, I think it's like the 52nd or the 53rd minute or
06:11 something, Alexander-Arnold again drops between the centre-backs.
06:14 Arsenal are a little bit more wary, they're not pressing as aggressively, they let him
06:18 have the time on the ball and he hits a perfect pass cross-field in behind Ben White, which
06:24 Nunes collects.
06:25 And what's always so advantageous about those balls in terms of forcing your opponent back,
06:29 right, is just look here, right, where is the offside line?
06:33 It's there, right?
06:34 Well, if we hit something in behind and Darwin Nunes here runs all the way up to get it,
06:38 takes Ben White with him, where's your offside line now?
06:42 Hey, would you look at that?
06:43 It allows every single Liverpool player to run in behind, unless of course the entire
06:47 Arsenal defence go with them.
06:48 And if the entire Arsenal defence go with them, the entire rest of the team has to move
06:53 back as well.
06:54 And if you don't make those recovery runs or the other team are just faster than you,
06:58 then this can happen.
07:00 Liverpool should have gone ahead from this chance against Harvey Elliott this time, knocking
07:04 the ball into the left-hand channel behind Ben White, Nunes is onto it and if his pass
07:09 is just a little bit better, Diaz puts them one up about 10 minutes before they got the
07:14 goal.
07:15 And the thing is, this isn't necessarily what won Liverpool the game, but it is certainly
07:18 what swung the momentum back from it being all Arsenal to being a far more even game.
07:24 And in a far more even game, Liverpool were probably always more likely to win.
07:28 Actually, I don't know why I'm saying it's not what won them the game.
07:30 It absolutely is.
07:31 Like the first goal comes from a free kick.
07:33 Yes, but Liverpool get that free kick because when they play it out to Gomez on the left-hand
07:37 side, Arsenal are now too scared to do that high press.
07:41 Ben White sticks to Nunes, who goes up the channel, leaves all this space here for Gomez
07:46 to run into and he drags the ball up the pitch and they get it in that corner and Arsenal
07:51 concede the foul.
07:52 And even the second goal, like it's a bit of a stretch to say it was directly caused
07:56 by this, but it is a ball out to the left-hand side and it is a pass in behind Ben White
08:01 and it is Diaz who's been moved onto that right-hand side to get up with the play, who
08:06 scores it.
08:07 So yeah, it kind of was that entire change, but weirdly that was only one of two really
08:14 good, why can I never do numbers on my fingers, of two really good changes that Klopp made.
08:18 Jota coming on was a brilliant move.
08:20 I'm a massive fan of Jota, but I actually think it was the change he made it right back
08:24 that stopped the momentum swinging back towards Arsenal.
08:27 Gabriel Martinelli arrives on the pitch in the second half and his first two contributions
08:32 are to skin Trent Alexander-Arnold alive.
08:36 Liverpool have been having so much joy from getting him into the middle of the pitch and
08:39 allowing him to hit those passes into the areas where there is space, but all of a sudden
08:43 with Martinelli's introduction, he can't really do that.
08:46 He has to stay in the right back position because that's where the threat is.
08:50 Arsenal again should have gotten a goal from this.
08:52 He just breezes past Alexander-Arnold like he's not there.
08:55 He gets into the box and it's just bad decision making and bad execution that stops that being
09:00 a goal.
09:01 I was watching this at the time and I was like, "Oh, that's such a good substitution
09:05 by Arteta.
09:06 You imagine Arsenal are going to go on and win this now."
09:09 But Klopp had an answer and that answer was the introduction of Connor Bradley.
09:13 Now, if you're not familiar, he is 20 years old.
09:16 He's from Northern Ireland.
09:17 He's come through Liverpool's youth system.
09:18 He was on loan at Bolton Wanderers last year where he was their player of the season and
09:22 they really, really do rate him as a right back.
09:25 And indeed his first contribution after coming onto the pitch was to take up that right back
09:29 role, allowed Alexander-Arnold to move just full time into the midfield.
09:33 And when Martinelli gets the ball on that side and tries to take him on, he could not
09:39 get past him.
09:40 He takes up a brilliant starting position here, just shows him all the way down the
09:44 left hand side.
09:45 And then when Martinelli tries to sort of get past him and get into the middle, he just
09:48 shepherds that towards the byline, then bounces it off him for a goal kick.
09:53 That's genuinely such composed, excellent defending.
09:56 And it's not something you ever normally see from Trent Alexander-Arnold.
10:00 That's not a criticism.
10:02 We're not doing a Trent can't defend video.
10:03 I think Trent is excellent.
10:05 But you can see after an hour of that game, he did not have the legs to keep up with Martinelli.
10:10 And Bradley didn't just have the legs.
10:13 He had the mind legs as well.
10:15 And lo and behold, the next time the ball comes out to Martinelli on that side, he thinks
10:19 about it.
10:20 He wants to try and go past him, but he thinks better of it and plays it back into a congested
10:24 middle of the pitch.
10:25 Klopp successfully shut down Liverpool's best route to goal.
10:30 I mean, I'm saying Klopp did that.
10:32 It's not like he came on with his boots and his little shorts and just put a reducer on
10:36 Martinelli within the first couple of minutes.
10:38 Conor Bradley did that.
10:39 That was all Conor Bradley's doing.
10:41 But Klopp told him to.
10:43 So up to you.
10:44 So, yeah, I thought that was genuinely one of the most fascinating tactical battles I've
10:48 seen, certainly in an FA Cup third round for a very, very long time.
10:52 Like Arteta absolutely had Liverpool figured out from the first whistle.
10:56 But as we said, Jurgen Klopp might well be the best in-game manager in the Premier League.
11:02 Like Christ, I'm in your Castle United fan.
11:04 He did it to us when they went down to 10 men.
11:06 He just figured something out and then we lost that game.
11:09 You have to, you simply have to hand it to him.
11:13 And technically Arsenal did hand it to him because that first one was an own goal, wasn't
11:19 it?
11:20 I can't actually do jokes, by the way.
11:23 I'm just really tired today.
11:24 Anyway, Liverpool fans and absolutely anybody else watching, if you have enjoyed this breakdown,
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11:51 I'm probably there also.
11:52 442, that is all in the corner of the video for you.
11:54 The latest issue of the mag.
11:56 Can I pick that up without breaking your gaze?
11:58 Yes, I can.
11:59 That is still in all good retailers and the bad ones too.
12:01 It's the 2024 awards issue and comes with a free calendar, which you will need because
12:07 I bet you don't definitely know what the date is today.
12:11 You think it might be the 7th, but it's actually the 8th.
12:15 You see, so that'll come in really useful.
12:17 That's it.
12:18 That was the outro.
12:19 It could have been better.
12:20 Yes, I'll take that feedback, but it's done now.
12:23 So there you go.
12:24 Bye.
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