Jurgen Klopp made five changes to the lineup that featured at Wembley for the Capital One Cup final. A reshuffled back four saw starts for Lovren, Toure and young Flanagan; Clyne started at left-back as Flanagan was given his original position to begin with after long injury spell.
The midfield pair of Can and Henderson was retained in the lineup, whilst Lallana, Firmino and Milner were playing in behind the striker Divock Origi.
Let’s take a look at Reds’ lineup for the game and analyse a few of our player’s performances:
Can and Henderson were very good on and off the ball, both recognised that City have threats on both sides of the pitch in wide areas, they protected their full-backs nullifying crossing dangers. Can was good in ball retention in deeper midfield areas, that deep mid press is perfectly suited for him which doesn’t allow the opposition no.10 to have free space.
Henderson was good alongside him, still not back to his very best but regaining lost ground quickly now, is the skipper. The England midfielder was good in his passing, he pressed in tight spaces so that City could not play one touch football.
Milner was very energetic against his old club, he pressed City’s full-backs on both sides and centrally too, his floating role in the team makes him unmarkable. There was an instance when Liverpool played some excellent stuff from the right hand side; Firmino played the ball to Milner with City centre-backs marking Origi, the Englishman’s first touch was impeccable which enabled him to go past the onrushing Zabaleta and slot it past Hart.
Lallana was by far Liverpool’s best player on the pitch, he was flexible and his ability to press in tight spaces and then counter-press in his own half is something that makes him an integral part of this Klopp-era Liverpool. He used the windy Anfield to good effect by shooting from 25 yards out and beating Joe Hart at the near post.
Firmino continued his good form with a goal and an assist, he was again influential centrally to retain the ball higher up the pitch and also midfield covering whenever necessary to balance out the play, getting caught in an offside area on more than a few occasions is a thing that should be rectified by the Brazilian.
The main focus of today’s analysis is the performance of the two full-backs, Clyne and Flanagan. Clyne was playing at left-back today for only the second time this season, with Flanagan starting his first Premier League game in more than 18 months. City should have felt that this was the opportunity to carve out Liverpool from wide areas, but both players played some good stuff and nullified any wide threats into the box. Both were very keen on defending first then attacking.
Flanagan had to deal with Sterling in the first half and was excellent, the main attribute was he never became extra-tight on the City man, just pressed in the right moments and made cynical tackles to disrupt the progress. The other good thing with young Flanagan is he always remains wide in the attacking third of the pitch; he will never tuck in and try to be a goal-scorer himself, providing width so that tracking back is easier just makes him a complete full-back who can balance the team at both ends of the pitch.
All-in-all Klopp was a happy man after the game, pleased to see his team press in deeper situations too and not allow City to play freely. The main aspect was a stable defence throughout the game, players tracking back and covering up was a good thing. A good team performance and a good reaction to that final loss to the same opposition.
By Mizgan Ahmed on 3rd March, 2016
Twitter – @mizgans
