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Swansea 2 Liverpool 2 | Stats & Tactical Analysis

Swansea and Liverpool fought out a hotly contested but well played-out 2-2 draw at the Liberty Stadium on Monday night to take Liverpool back to the top of the Premier League with what goalkeeper Simon Mignolet referred to as ‘a point gained’ for the Reds. They made several changes to the side due to injury and some new faces in the squad, which led to debuts for Mamadou Sakho in place of Daniel Agger, and Victor Moses started on the left to push Iago Aspas out of the starting XI. Philippe Coutinho was able to move into his preferred central role as a result of this. Another interesting factor was Martin Skrtel retaining his place in the side, which was due to the partial fitness of Kolo Toure but also due to a solid performance against Manchester United before the international break.

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Though presented with this new opportunity, the reality for Skrtel is that with Agger, Toure and Sakho all fit he faces huge challenges at the club. Despite completing 100% of his passes against Swansea, there still remains this almost unchangeable aspect of his game which makes him less suited to Liverpool’s playing style. He is a ‘reactive’ defender, and by that the implication is that he struggles with some crucial tactical necessities for the team, like positional intelligence and technical functionality (his mobility is neither bad or particularly good). Sakho meanwhile put in a solid performance – he was confident and composed on the ball, read the play and timed his tackles well, while he also made 10 out of 10 successful headed clearances, and 15 out of 15 successful clearances.

Video Via @MostarLFC

Shelvey and Swansea

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For Swansea, Jonjo Shelvey was always going to play his part in this game, as he demonstrated in his days at Liverpool he is not the type of player to shy away from controversy in games which mean a lot to him, and he managed to show the good, bad and the ugly in this game. Enough can be read about his part in all four goals, but overall he put in a strong performance for Swansea in both a defensive midfield role, and an attacking midfield role after the introduction of Jonathan De Guzman. Only Leon Britton made more passes than Shelvey’s 79, while he also attempted the most passes in the attacking half (53) and the most accurate passes in the attacking half (40). Swansea dominated possession by the end of the game with 58.9% and their pressure probably deserved a winner, however Liverpool have been more resolute in tough situations this season. But why?

Liverpool Preservation

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There is a common trend developing in Liverpool’s play this season under Brendan Rodgers which we have witnessed in all four of this seasons opening games. All of these games have seen Liverpool going into half-time in front after solid and attacking first half performances, with the upper hand in possession. All of these games have then gone on to see a more protective strategy employed in the second half, with something in the game to be decidedly protected rather than risked.

Liverpool were dominant for the first 15 minutes of the game, with 60% possession, which all changed between minutes 25-35 where Swansea took over with 72% possession in this spell, however this period of dominance was ended by Shelvey’s second glaring error which saw Victor Moses stride forward to smash home an impressive debut finish. Liverpool’s first half defensive block was relatively high, around the entry to the middle third, however this changed dramatically in the second half as you can see in the image below.

Liverpool Shape

The second half saw them begin countering into the spaces left by Swansea rather than building through the thirds themselves, and this led to Liverpool eventually giving up the possession battle and simply looking to control important zones of pitch. Kolo Toure was introduced to provide an experienced head and solidarity at right back in place of Andre Wisdom, while the unfortunate shoulder injury to Philippe Coutinho stripped Liverpool of much of their creative edge. A knock-on effect of this was the introduction of Iago Aspas, which took away the ‘third midfielder’ in Coutinho (for having the ball) and gave more of a ‘second striker’ (for winning the ball). His purpose was more to help disrupt the defence, Swansea’s general rhythm, provide some support for Sturridge and prevent his isolation as the banks of four dropped deeper as the half wore on.

Has it Worked?

The protective strategy from winning positions has arguably shown to be a successful means of Liverpool picking up crucial points when they are struggling to find the extra creativity or spark required for a goal to put a game to bed. Fans may even be comforted that Liverpool arguably haven’t even got out of third gear yet when compared to some of the performances witnessed over the last 9 months. With Coutinho yet to burst into life, the summer transfers still unpacking their bags, and a ‘hungry’ Luis Suarez returning to the side in one games time, Liverpool are yet to go on a ruthless scoring streak.

Is the type of game plan we are witnessing a product of Brendan Rodgers waiting for partnerships to form? Is he developing solidarity in the side before taking bolder steps to kill off a game from winning positions rather than grind it out? Bear in mind he hasn’t even established a centre-back pairing yet, on top of the previous limitations mentioned, so will we continue to see this for a few more games or will Rodgers now attempt to produce a sparkling performance against Southampton and see what happens?!

Gabriel Jones
Gabriel Joneshttp://glactive.weebly.com
Liverpool fan and passionate football coach!
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