Tactical analysis of the 2nd goal

[rurikbird]

A google translation (with a couple of my corrections) from a Russian website. Hope it's comprehensible enough.

How Liverpool conceded second goal from City

Liverpool attacked the left, the ball was with Sissoko, who found Henderson with a good cross. Hendo sends a poor pass to Allen intercepted Company. Defender gave the ball to Toure, Nasri ran towards him and got the ball.

On the first photo - Nasri saw Navas accelerating down the right wing attack, and was going to give him a pass. Coutinho , who would have to cover Sissoko, if he was real, not nominal left midfield, is jogging a few meters to the center and as a result can neither close Navas or intercept a pass .
In front of Nasri is Lucas in no-man's land, who was not decisive enough to cover Nasri right away, and then not have enough speed to get back into position.

The key mistake of our central defenders. Sakho, who played with Negredo, goes to intercept Navas. In the same time Skrtel also starts to run towards Navas, even though he saw Sakho's movement. Sakho turns and runs back to the speeding Negredo. In this zigzag Sakho lost critical time.
Lucas is out of the episode, he still in central circle. Coutinho hardly moved . On the right Cissokho is trying unsuccessfully to catch Navas.

Moment pass on Navas Negredo . Skrtel stopped halfway and can neither cover Negredo nor intercept a pass . Sakho has no time after his zigzag to get back anywhere . Sissoko has already overtaken Lucas.

The moment of the shot . Sako lacks couple moments to cover the kick. But the shot from Negredo was rather strange, with outside of the boot from short distance, straight at the goalkeeper. If Simon tried to parry the curve ball, and did not try to put it over the crossbar, there would be no goal.

In general, in order to concede this goal , players of Liverpool needed to make three errors. Lucas first did not come out on Nasri, instead covering an empty space. Then, two central defenders demonstrated lack of understanding each other's movements, confusing each other and couldn't deal with two players from the opponent . And when the opponent shot , our goalie played poorly .
Coutinho can also be mentioned, by position he could and should have prevented the development of an attack , but he was jogging.

 

[rurikbird]

For me, Skrtel's mistake is the most crucial – he was the only one who had a full view of the developing attack and he made a wrong decision to run towards Navas rather than taking over Negredo from Sakho. Navas very smartly passed into the space behind Skrtel, taking him out of the equation.

Sakho's decision to run towards Navas can also be questioned, but he probably thought that Skrtel would cover Negredo instead of rushing towards Navas too.

 

[Red Bird]

I think neither Sakho nor Mignolet can work out what Skrtel is going to do next.

 

[kingjulian]

Coutinho jogging is pretty much would you would expect to get from a flair player like him...


The rest are all big mistakes, and it's not the first time the players in question have made similar mistakes...i'm looking at Lucas and Skittles....

 

[gene hughes]

That sounds right

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

For me, Skrtel's mistake is the most crucial – he was the only one who had a full view of the developing attack and he made a wrong decision to run towards Navas rather than taking over Negredo from Sakho. Navas very smartly passed into the space behind Skrtel, taking him out of the equation.



Sakho's decision to run towards Navas can also be questioned, but he probably thought that Skrtel would cover Negredo instead of rushing towards Navas too.

I watched the video again and it doesn't quite come out like the report above in my opinion.
Watch the 1:12 to 1:18 marks of this clip:



Between the centrebacks, it started with Sakho being sold a good dummy by Negredo. By committing himself early and being outwitted, Sakho put Skrtel in a position where he needed to make a snap decision on either tracking Negredo or Navas. Skrtel committed to close down Navas, and gave Sakho an instruction to track Negredo. I think that decision wasn't necessarily wrong.

If you just look at the 2nd still shot in that report, you'd think that Sakho had a better chance of closing Navas than Skrtel. A look at the clip at the 1:16 and 1:17 marks will reveal otherwise. Though Navas started behind Sakho, he quickly made up the space and overtook him to reach the very well-weighted pass. At that point, Skrtel had to decide if he should stay home and guard against Negredo, or try to intercept Navas.

Had Skrtel tracked Negredo and left Sakho to track Navas instead, Navas would've had a straight path to goal himself, as Sakho was already trailing him, and we know about Navas' pace. By choosing to intercept Navas, Skrtel forced Navas to slow down, but the latter then responded with a sweet pass to Negredo which just eluded Skrtel's trailing foot and reached Negredo. Sakho's run back was essentially a straight line towards goal, instead of angling and getting closer to Negredo. That left the space for Negredo to collect the pass in acres of space and take the shot. I think Sakho's mind was on intercepting the shot rather than the player.

I think it was an excellent counter attack and Skrtel got caught between 2 poor options there.

 

[StevieM]

We're overthinking this.

2 CB's are not going too develop a telepathic understanding of each other's movements in 2-3 games - if this is the preferred CB partnership - then stick with it.

We got bitten by a good team on the counter attack - it happens. All of our players could have made different decisions and they still could have scored.

Well.. Except for one decision - and that's Mingolet's. Keepers make these sort of mistakes from time to time.

It wouldn't have mattered had we taken our chances.

 

[rurikbird]

Had Sakho seen Skrtel's instruction and stayed with Negredo all the way, he would have a chance to block the shot or intercept the pass. But by the time Skrtel started pointing with his hand, Sakho was already running full speed towards Navas and he either didn't see it or it was too late to turn around.

You're probably right though, if Skrtel chose to stay with Negredo, Navas would probably outrun Sakho with a clear path on goal.

 

[gene hughes]

I don't think anyone's blaming the CBs as such. It's the midfield that was lax.

 

[kingjulian]

Where is Johnson in all of this? We attacked down the left, and Sissoko has made an effort to get back in there..

 

[Hansern]

Lucas was in no mans land? Well duh.

Sign M'Vila or Fernando and sort that shite out

 

[i_rushie]

It's a pointless exercise assigning culpability when we were simply undone by a very good counter attack orchestrated by three very very good players.

 

[Ryan]

Lucas was in no mans land? Well duh.

Sign M'Vila or Fernando and sort that shite out

I absolutely hate this cunting moronic shit.

 

[Gary25]

Coutinho jogging is pretty much would you would expect to get from a flair player like him...


The rest are all big mistakes, and it's not the first time the players in question have made similar mistakes...i'm looking at Lucas and Skittles....

Flair players not allowed to sprint?

 

[FoxForceFive]

Flair players not allowed to sprint?

Quite.

Coutinho pissed me right off against Cardiff cos he didn't track back properly once. He just strolled about, often as the furthest player forwards cos Suarez does track back.

I don't think, in fact, I know, that this system doesn't work effectively if everyone doesn't track back.

 

[Red Bird]

It's a pointless exercise assigning culpability when we were simply undone by a very good counter attack orchestrated by three very very good players.

I think the Allen give-away, from our own corner to boot, started it all as everybody was caught out of position. Everything else after that was a reaction, bad reaction, mind, to a rapidly worsening situation.

 

[mark1975]

I think neither Sakho nor Mignolet can work out what Skrtel is going to do next.

Harsh. In two similar situations against Everton, with Lucas and Agger respectively left alongside Skrtel in a counter attack, Skrtel made the decision both times to move across and aid his team mate, and it paid off both times because the chance was minimized. It's a split second decision where if a team mate is struggling to get to their mark, you decide to either stay with your man, or go to the danger. Shit happens.

The real question should be why we were caught so many times on the break from the edge of their area. Poor delivery and passing from us, players not doing their jobs in snuffing out the danger further up the field, and leaving ourselves too isolated and short at the back (as we saw too much last season too). That leads to mistakes in any team, we've seen it throughout Rodgers tenure, regardless of personnel in defense.

 

[Red Bird]

Harsh. In two similar situations against Everton, with Lucas and Agger respectively left alongside Skrtel in a counter attack, Skrtel made the decision both times to move across and aid his team mate, and it paid off both times because the chance was minimized. It's a split second decision where if a team mate is struggling to get to their mark, you decide to either stay with your man, or go to the danger. Shit happens.

The real question should be why we were caught so many times on the break from the edge of their area. Poor delivery and passing from us, players not doing their jobs in snuffing out the danger further up the field, and leaving ourselves too isolated and short at the back (as we saw too much last season too). That leads to mistakes in any team, we've seen it throughout Rodgers tenure, regardless of personnel in defense.

Aye that be true. That is the biggest weakness in our team right now and it starts with the players in advanced positions not doing enough to hustle and close down.

 

[mark1975]

Aye that be true. That is the biggest weakness in our team right now and it starts with the players in advanced positions not doing enough to hustle and close down.

I guess we're still find the balance between playing a highline against the minnows and penning them in, and recognising that you can't always do it against good sides, or you'll get punished, as we did at City, we nearly did at Everton and we did against Arsenal last season.

 

[Hansern]

I absolutely hate this cunting moronic shit.

Yes, how moronic it is to want an upgrade in a position where we need it.

 

[Red Bird]

I guess we're still find the balance between playing a highline against the minnows and penning them in, and recognising that you can't always do it against good sides, or you'll get punished, as we did at City, we nearly did at Everton and we did against Arsenal last season.

That break also stemmed from a poor square ball by Allen which left us hugely exposed.

You're right about conceding goals from our own attacking positions-- we have reduced them this year but some players still pass up the responsibility of nipping the counter-attacking danger in the bud. Gerrard and Coutinho are the worst culprits.

 

[mark1975]

Yes, how moronic it is to want an upgrade in a position where we need it.

He's not looked at his best for a while and has generally been up and down throughout his career. When he's good he can be pivotal to allowing the midfield to play, but that's too infrequent and he's certainly looked slugglish at times these days and off the pace (and wavelength) of his team mates. He does his job quietly and efficiently, keeping things ticking over, but you're right, it's not unfair to expect or surmise that we "can" get more in this role. We certainly lack the dynamism of someone like Mascherano or the intelligence of a Hamann. Lucas is a good solid DM who should have a positive part to play in a squad, he never moans, puts in a shift and clearly loves the club. Fine, he deserves and warrants a place in the squad and he's apparently a big favourite in the dressing room. Players and characters like that are essential, but we shouldn't be looking to standstill and neither should he. He needs competition, he needs that for his own game to push on, and we need it because there are times when Lucas isn't enough, just like there have been times when Allen and Henderson isn't enough.

Like I said, we're all big enough to acknowledge when someone has done well and when they haven't, all this sanctimonious oneupmanship bollocks is pathetic (and wearing really fucking thin), Lucas nor Allen nor Henderson have proven anyone right either way, they've all shown they can play a part but that they all have massive room for improvement. So I don't think anyone should be jumping on pedestals proclaiming anything just yet. They need to find consistency and we need to add some depth to provide healthy competition, which in turn will hopefully keep them on their toes and playing to a high standard.

 

[Hansern]

Good post Mark. Lucas has a place in the squad and its a win win situation if a new signing pushes him to improve.