Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Right, hello there everybody, Adam Cleary from 442 here for you and once again a super
00:09duper wooper sky Sunday has given us Liverpool vs Manchester City in a game which feels like
00:14the whole season in microcosm.
00:18My word of the day toilet paper is paying for itself.
00:21Now in recent seasons this game has decided the destination of the championship but this
00:26one is a bit of a weird one because on the one hand you've got a Liverpool side who
00:30are threatening to have a little bit of a wobble but still just coasting towards a league
00:34win in February which nobody predicted and on the other side you've got a Man City team
00:40only now picking themselves back up off their own arses and praying they've not left it
00:45so late to do so that they won't even qualify for the Champions League which again nobody
00:50predicted and yet because football is brilliant this game managed to show you why both those
00:56statements are somehow true.
00:59Alright so first up these were your teams and nothing majorly shocking or interesting
01:05about the XI's obviously for Manchester City no Erling Haaland so they were using Phil
01:09Foden as a false nine and Kevin De Bruyne returns for a big game which is bad because
01:15one of the best players in the history of the league appears to be going out sad which
01:20I don't like.
01:21Now Liverpool were pretty much exactly as you'd expect them Trent Alexander-Arnold should
01:25be starting in these big games Gakpo vs Diaz sometimes feels like a bit of a coin flip
01:29but we're just going to start very quickly with the issues Manchester City have.
01:33So first up for all the marbles can you look at these four stills now neatly arranged on
01:37your screen and tell me what they've all got in common.
01:40I'll let you have a proper look right we're not on the clock here nobody's going to rush
01:43you just take all of that in have a look and tell me what you think the common factor is.
01:49That's right one million points for you they're all Jeremy Doku having just skinned a Liverpool
01:54defender but about to create absolutely niche as a result because there's no central focal
02:00point to benefit from it sorry to benefit from it that's English that's a pretty obvious
02:05point to make right because they haven't got Erling Haaland and in these situations you'd
02:08expect him to be here and here and here and probably here so that's weird isn't it having
02:15all these moments that require a central focal point but not having a central focal point
02:20But Haaland has not vanished like aliens did not whisk him away for a quick rectal probe
02:25he didn't start because he's injured Phil Foden started instead and Pep Guardiola used
02:30him as a false nine which you can see from his heat map here there's no box presence
02:35whatsoever he's going there and he's going there that's because the objective for Man
02:39City in this game was pretty straightforward you have Foden occupy this space but drop
02:43out of it in the hope that you drag a defender with him and all of a sudden that makes space
02:47for Mammouche to run into for Docu for Savino to create a channel in behind that the quicker
02:53running players can get into and yet back to those still centre backs aren't going to
02:58get drawn out of position when a winger is constantly one-on-one that deep with a defender
03:03in those situations as you can see them doing here they mark the space instead and in those
03:09situations the onus is then on the centre forward to either physically bully a bit of
03:13room to get a shot away or just outmanoeuvre them with their running that is what centre
03:17forward play is and Phil Foden wasn't doing any of that because obviously he is Phil Foden
03:23and exhibits A, B, C and F this is what he does not that thus then that begs the question
03:29why if you've got Phil Foden doing this have you got Jeremy Docu doing this so I think
03:34in the process broke some sort of records for the number of successful take-ons because
03:38that play requires like a conventional centre forward but Foden's play requires sitting
03:43deep and getting into the space instead like I am a dweeb on the internet with zero formal
03:48qualifications talking to little plastic football men and I am watching that game of football
03:53thinking pep mate you just clearly haven't thought this through have you except he had
04:00and in the early exchanges of the game the plan man said he had was actually working
04:05really well Foden repeatedly in the first 20 minutes dragged either Canate or Van Dijk
04:11out of position look you can see him doing it here and then Man City's runners were able
04:15to break into that space behind and you can see in this bit here because Foden has dragged
04:21one of the defenders away this time when Docu gets in Liverpool are a man light they're
04:25genuinely in a bit of trouble here and if Savino's a little bit quicker than Robertson
04:29getting across this ball he probably scores but to this and thank you for sticking with
04:34me Liverpool fans is where the praise of the Reds begins because I've said a couple of
04:38times this season in other videos one of my favourite things about doing this job is
04:42when you see the hand of the manager impact the game as it's unfolding and on a slot this
04:49season has been the undisputed master of doing that he saw this happening several times in
04:55the first couple of minutes and thought nope we're going to change it he instructs his
04:59centre backs to not to go and chase Phil Foden instead makes his midfield a slightly flatter
05:04two and tells Alexis McAllister do not allow those balls into Foden in the first place
05:09thus removing the necessity for a defender to step out to cover him now this was to be
05:14fair quite a subtle change because if you look at those really really early exchanges
05:18you can see McAllister was already dropping into the back line to make sure Liverpool
05:22still had a four whenever one of the defenders was going after Foden but even though the
05:27numbers are right there that is such thin ice because if you look at the gap that's
05:32now created Marmouche must have been licking his lips at the possibilities there sooner
05:37or later that would have just collapsed but what I did think was particularly clever about
05:41this change was it was also situational because when McAllister did then drop back into the
05:46line to make sure they had five versus five Gravenberg was then taking the responsibility
05:50to sit on Foden instead and this is maybe a bit of a weird way to highlight it right
05:54but if you look at all of Phil Foden's successful passes before this change was made you'll
05:59see the sort of in the center of the pitch he was able to drop into that area get on
06:03the ball pull a defender with him and then they would get Liverpool turned but after
06:07the change and this is why it's gonna look a bit weird all of his touches are actually
06:11much closer to the goal which seems sort of counterintuitive like that's a more dangerous
06:16position to be in but now he's doing it with his back up against the defenders there's
06:20no space in behind him being created they it looks very defensive but this change that
06:25Arnaud Slot made completely killed Man City's only real viable way of opening them up like
06:32after this happened City didn't really get anything resembling a good chance the thing
06:38is this is actually quite a big gamble on Slot's part because by doing so we more or
06:42less entirely surrendered possession of the ball to Man City like I saw a stat like this
06:47is maybe Liverpool's like lowest amount of possession in a league victory ever they barely
06:52saw the ball after they did this but they were also extremely comfortable defending
06:57and also the potential problem this could create is now at the other end of the pitch
07:01City have got five players here they're back four and Gonzalez and you're not only having
07:05to sort of press them but also try and break on them with a man less that is what mathematicians
07:11would call a 4v5 but just to go back to that docu stuff from the start of the video from
07:16a defensive standpoint this was a brilliant move because now that we're getting deeper
07:20and deeper and having less and less of the ball but without a focal center forward when
07:25Docu does win his one-on-ones and breakthrough nobody in the box to take advantage of that
07:30and thus all the chances they created from that point on are pretty unexciting that there's
07:35very little incision in there there's nothing really getting into Liverpool's box so cutbacks
07:39here and little attempts here and in fact this one here from Kevin De Bruyne that looks
07:44like it's right in the middle of the goal go back and look at what that was like it's
07:48the second phase from a set piece like the guys got his back to goal Liverpool have plenty
07:52players in attendance that does not open them up at all it's speculative and speculative
07:57by the way was not on the toilet paper I already know that one so what we have here is excellent
08:02in-game management from a manager who is excellent at in-game management that stops Manchester
08:06City getting on top of you and creating chances but that's not the story of the game is it
08:10because Liverpool went and won it by scoring goals and this change actually makes that
08:15harder so how did they do that and this my dear dear chums is where conversations about
08:20tactics and set up and systems and all that will only take you so far what slot required
08:25in this game was the individual excellence and effective execution that's really hard
08:30to say of these four players against five his real gamble was that even with a man less
08:36they could still press effectively and they could still break effectively and they did
08:40and you might think oh the first goal is a clever set piece which he's not really got
08:43anything to do with all of this but if you wind it back to how they get that corner in
08:48the first place would you look at that Foden is well attended to by one of the midfielders
08:53and there's only four now putting pressure on the ball first off you've got Diaz positioning
08:59himself absolutely perfectly here cutting off the balls back to the goalkeeper and the
09:03centre back so that's one player taking out two of theirs thus offsetting the numerical
09:08advantage Curtis Jones then puts enough pressure on the ball to stop Rico Lewis turning but
09:12not so much that he himself gets turned and Salah and Subozlai are backing it up just
09:17enough that any blind passes out of the danger area are going to be roundly punished they're
09:23able to turn the ball over they come alive straight away in the attack Sydney panic all
09:28scramble back for the ball and leave Diaz totally unmarked he's then slipped in and they win
09:34the corner I've just looked at that is he offside this is the first time I've seen this
09:40from this angle is he actually offside really really hard to tell he might be oh well anyway
09:47though virtually nothing of value to add from me on the corner just a really really nicely
09:52worked routine like first off I did notice this bit watching the game why is Rico Lewis
09:58marking Van Dyck there but it doesn't ultimately matter because Van Dyck's job is to simply
10:02condense all of City's defenders into this area the pitch which again numerical advantage
10:07Liverpool managed to get what like nine City players all crowded in this area with three
10:13or four of theirs that's really clever but anyway yes the second goal count them once
10:18again the amount of Liverpool players trying to get up the pitch really quickly here one
10:23two three four and where is Phil Foden he is being neatly attended to by one of Liverpool's
10:29midfielders instead you see this stuff works to get it down the line Salah's combination
10:34play is predictably perfect and he drives the entire City back line into the box thus
10:40making this space between them and Gonzalez for the shot and again that's not necessarily
10:46like really high-end clever tactical stuff it's just the gamble slot took that if it's
10:50the four of these up against the five of these they're good enough that they can mean those
10:55numbers don't matter that much and when you have to double up on Salah it works but also
11:00I would like to point out credit here please to Curtis Jones before the shot comes in because
11:05I would argue this defender is probably pretty well equipped to step out to block that shot
11:10you can let you see as a look to see whether Lewis is attending to Diaz that is what he
11:14should do there but he cannot because the run Curtis Jones makes probably not really
11:19expecting to get on the ball given how condensed everything is absolutely pins him in that
11:25spot none of them can really jump out from that line because of the run he's made and
11:29that goal is just what it looks like when a big managerial gamble pays off because the
11:33changes slot made as a completely restricted man City they were going to make sure that
11:36Liverpool had a real foundation to go on and win the game but what he was asking really
11:41was for these four players just to figure out how they would then go and do that and
11:45you can see in the winning of the corner and the second goal that they do manage to do
11:49that they're just better at making this stuff happen than City's defenders were at stopping
11:53it and football genuinely sometimes can just be that simple it's fun to watch and also
12:00just Mo Salah like what do you even say about him at this point like I'm just gonna pull
12:06and move all this I'm just gonna pull all these stats wholesale off that squawker tree
12:10because it made my head completely fall off right he's sitting down first player in Premier
12:14League history to register 40 goal involvements in two different seasons first player in Europe's
12:17top five leagues to be directly involved in 50 goals across all competitions this season
12:21has now scored and assisted in 11 Premier League games this season the most by a player
12:26in a single season in Europe's leagues since Messi did it like 10 years ago provided more
12:31assists this season than any other Liverpool player has in a single Premier League season
12:35first player in Premier League history to score and assist in both games against the
12:39reigning champions first player to score 25 goals and register 15 assists in a single
12:45season he should be slowing down the age he is but a combination of just his refusal
12:52to die as a top level athlete and also the way Slott uses him now by just restricting
12:57what he's asked him to do and letting him do better stuff that he's better at it's just
13:01wow and it is a bit weird to try and highlight that I have to move this again by using the
13:07contributions of another player but City are so reliant on Vardial's movement down that
13:12left hand side like even when they've got five in the attacking line his runs enable
13:16him to get a six and to still overload the opposition and this was him today and it might
13:21still look pretty good but that is missing enormous chunks of contribution where you
13:26would usually expect to see them despite the amount of the ball that Manchester City had
13:31he could not do anything in the areas he was supposed to because Salah had him almost permanently
13:36pinned far deeper than that and his holder play I think is probably the one part of Salah's
13:40game that gets slightly overlooked but there's so many instances in this match of Salah holding
13:45his position staying high forcing Vardial to stay with him Liverpool releasing the ball
13:49early out to him and then the strength is there the decision-making is there you would
13:54hold the ball up like this wait for Liverpool to get up the pitch and take all of the pressure
13:59off like you can do everything Mo Salah including apparently be a target man he's just an unreal
14:05footballer Mo Salah is a genuine pleasure regardless of what club you support to be
14:10able to watch him at the minute and who knows where he's going to be after this so I would
14:14honestly if you'd like the game of football just watch Liverpool now if only for Mo Salah
14:20he's just I know he's had a bit of a sort of lull the last couple of weeks but when
14:23he's on it it's nobody better nobody better in Europe or anywhere I don't know why I just
14:28said in Europe there's nobody better anywhere I don't think at the minute I've never seen
14:34the Neptunian League or things outside of our galaxy maybe they have football and maybe
14:38they've got someone better than Mo Salah but I'd be shocked I'd be really shocked so
14:43yes all told that's just a very long-winded way of saying that A Arnaslott is an unbelievably
14:48good manager from the touchline and you can see his hand influence things across the course
14:53of the game but also that in Mo Salah, Sobhaz Lai, Curtis Jones, Diaz whoever the hell else
14:59Liverpool want to throw on they're just really really really good at football and both those
15:04things combined can win you matches.
15:06Now yes if you have enjoyed that and you've enjoyed me you can get me across all the social
15:11medias at Adam Cleary C L E R Y Twitter I still call it that Instagram anything else
15:16you can think to imagine I'm probably there you should subscribe to 442 the greatest football
15:22channel in the whole world in my opinion by clicking the little button.
15:25The brand socials are in the corner of the video because that's where they always are
15:28and the latest issue of the magazine is in all good retailers because that's where it
15:31always is.
15:32But Liverpool fans if I still have your attention please let me know in the comments below what
15:37you made of this game.
15:38I've seen some people being like oh I say you did kind of dominate that Liverpool don't
15:42look as good as they normally do is that how you feel like I know the results have been
15:47a couple of draws here and there but you're not getting beat and you're not playing badly
15:50do you think it's all all over and done with are you going to be okay with losing the Carabao
15:54Cup final to my beloved Newcastle I don't really believe that next month all of it all
16:00of it's really good I like reading it all I love you but yes until next time this was
16:04Liverpool and this was Manchester City and this is on a slot just cruising towards the
16:10most unlikely easily Premier League title anyone's ever seen and do you know what fair
16:18play to him is what I say goodbye.