These were our average positions on the day – much better shape than against United, even though Henderson had to sacrifice his game somewhat by playing in a less comfortable position. When Thiago returns, the double-pivot should look more convincing. Overall, this shape cannot be described as a 4-2-3-1 (because there is no "1," unless you count Salah staying high up the pitch on the right); more like a 4-2-4-0 with Firmino dropping deep, Diaz coming inside and Elliott, Salah and Trent forming a potent attacking triangle on the right.
Firmino produced a stellar MOTM performance – 2 goals and 3 assists (even if only of those was a "true" assist), much better games from Van Dijk, Fabinho and Gomez, Elliott and Diaz once again were moving non-stop. Bajcetic came on the right of the midfield 3, playing in a more attacking position, but by that time tactics mattered little – congrats to him and Bobby Clark on their first-team competitive debuts. Trent's shot was Gerrard-esque, but personally I found the headed goals most pleasing – there is something so satisfying about planting an unstoppable header in the corner and we did it thrice.
All in all, John Henry chose a pretty good game to visit Anfield. Let’s hope he listened to this fan:
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