Football News: Liverpool v Manchester United

Liverpool v Manchester United

Yet another poor performance, in a string of poor performances. This time it started out promisingly, with the team showing great intensity, attacking verve and using the width really well to pull United out of position and get the ball into dangerous areas. Then, after a few minutes of putting Man Utd under the cosh and looking like they were going to put them to the sword once again, Alexander-Arnold starts drifting inside in his inverted full-back role, the intensity and pace of the attacks vanished, along with the width. The game turned into a borefest of Liverpool passing it around slowly and cumbersomely, putting very little pressure on the United backline and either losing possession cheaply or hitting and hoping from distance. It did mean Liverpool ended up with a large amount of shots, but very few of them were actually good chances. In fact the best chances, for Liverpool, were from corners and fell to the centre-backs. Overall the best chances ended up being Man Utd chances, as Liverpool saw their chance to win slipping away and threw more and more bodies forward.

It is worrying how long this has been going on now, with the lack of width and intensity producing repeated poor performances. Sometimes they are rescued by introducing width in the second half, but it is an accident waiting to happen. What is even more worrying is some of the ridiculous, and frankly idiotic, justifications for the tactics being employed. Though I think the very worst was the one that stated it allows the team to change when it is not working. So why not start with something that works at least some of the time, then change if that is not working? You can change any system very easily mid-game, so justifying a failing tactical approach by saying you can change it is just bizarre. You need to move the opposition around to tire them out during the match, playing with no width allows them to play the way every defence wants to – narrow and compact. They are not being moved about, they are not getting tired and so are not as likely to be forced into sloppy errors. The better way would be to attack with width, force them out of their shape and then flood the centre, when they have left gaps. Not flood the centre where they are waiting for you.

To be honest, I am fed up and bored of talking about this terrible tactical approach that Klopp and Lijnders have foisted on the club. Almost as bored as I am having to watch the limp, lifeless…