Match date: 14 December 2014

Manchester United have enjoyed a significant amount of good fortune in their recent matches as they have arguably not performed well, but come into the North West derby winning their last five matches. In their last match, a win over Southampton, they recorded just two shots on target, scoring from both.

While Manchester United are on the rise, Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League the midweek after drawing Basel 1-1 and not earning enough points to qualify for the knockout stage. Their recent form has been very poor and Brendan Rodgers has failed to find a starting XI that he can truly be confident in selecting.

Van Gaal continued with the 3-5-2 that saw his side beat Southampton last week, with Michael Carrick starting at centre back with Evans and Jones on either side of him. Rooney, Mata, and Fellaini started in the centre of midfield behind Robin van Persie and James Wilson.

Rodgers opted to also start the match with three at the back in what was a 3-4-3. It was an interesting tactic and came with Brad Jones starting in goal with Simon Mignolet dropped indefinitely, while further up the field, Liverpool started without a recognised striker with Raheem Sterling starting in a centre of the front three.

3-4-3 v 3-5-2, Centre Midfield

It would be interesting to find out when the last time two sides in the English Premier League both started with three man defenses. What it gave viewers, however, was an interesting tactical battle. Van Gaal’s use of a 3-5-2 at Manchester United has been praised and questioned throughout the season, starting with his use of it during their pre-season tour in the USA, but it was not a surprise that he reverted to its use, especially against a very poor Liverpool defense.

Rodgers’ decision to use three at the back was a bit more interesting. He used it at times last year, around this time in the season, but it did not stick and the Liverpool boss found the most success with a diamond midfield in a 4-4-2. His decision to use a 3-4-3 against Manchester United was not a bad tactical decision. It allowed his front three to match up against Manchester United’s back three, which allowed them to press the Manchester United centre backs when they had the ball. It also allowed Liverpool to be matched up on the wings with Alberto Moreno against Antonio Valencia and Jordan Henderson against Ashley Young. The three centre backs allowed Liverpool to have a man advantage at the back against van Persie and Wilson. Lastly, the starting XI gave Liverpool flexibility. Looking at the teamsheet, it would have been easy to assume that Liverpool were going to play with a 4-3-3, but instead of playing right back, Glen Johnson was used as a third centre back, while Jordan Henderson was used on the right side of midfield rather than centre midfield.

Where Liverpool lost this match was in the centre of the field. They were outnumbered. Manchester United had a midfield three of Rooney, Fellaini and Mata against Steven Gerrard and Joe Allen. At times Gerrard and Allen would both collapse on the midfielder on the ball and the other two midfielders would be left, with Liverpool’s front three failing to get behind the ball quickly. Below is an excellent example of this.

Mata, in particular caused Liverpool’s midfield a big problem. In the screen capture above, he was able to receive the ball behind both Allen and Gerrard. Mata was able to get into this hole consistently as Gerrard and Allen looked to put more pressure on Rooney and Fellaini and deny Manchester United from building from the back. Regardless, without three men in midfield, Liverpool were unable to deal with the Manchester United’s midfield rotation and so there was always an open player for the home side.

Liverpool’s Press, Good and Bad

Liverpool started the match the far better of the two sides. They had good possession of the ball, deep in Manchester United’s half, and the front three of Lallana, Sterling, and Coutinho pressed Manchester United’s back three very well. They showed intent and Manchester United struggled to build out of the back in the opening stages of the match. Fellaini made an error early on by passing the ball straight to Coutinho, but Rooney was able to win the ball back quickly. Even early in the second half, Coutinho forced a poor back pass from Evans that Sterling got on the end of, but failed to get the ball past De Gea.

As good as Liverpool’s front three pressed, and as nice as it was to see Rodgers insisting that his side press once again, it was all undone by the lack of support from the midfield duo of Joe Allen and Steven Gerrard. In a high press, the midfield most support the front players in the press or else the opposition has space to play behind the press and that space makes it easy for the pressing lines to be broken. This is exactly what Manchester United were able to do despite the best efforts of Sterling, Lallana, and Coutinho. Far too often, Gerrard and Allen were too deep and this allowed Rooney and Fellaini too much space to receive and turn with minimal pressure. Below is an excellent example of the amount of space that Gerrard and Allen afforded Rooney and Fellaini to help bypass Liverpool’s press.

The gap was huge and this was in part due to the having just Gerrard and Allen in centre midfield. They could not press too far as it would allow Mata too much space to operate in further up the pitch. It was also in part due to Liverpool’s deep defensive line. Johnson aside, there is little pace between Skrtel and Lovren and so it is unrealistic to ask the back line to play higher up the pitch to squeeze the field.

However, perhaps more problematic was the personnel in these positions. Joe Allen was not too much of a worry. He could have supported the press as he did so under Rodgers as Swansea, but he had to sit back to support Gerrard. The Liverpool captain was unable to reliably get forward to support his front three’s pressing and then get behind the ball quickly enough to support the defense. Liverpool lack a true defensive midfielder and it showed significantly in this match. Perhaps Can or Henderson could do the work of getting forward and back consistently Liverpool’s pressing be more effective, but Gerrard was not an ideal inclusion in the system.

Liverpool’s Chances, Changes

The away side had plenty of chances to get ahead. In fact just before Rooney scored his goal, Sterling had an excellent chance to put Liverpool up 1-0. He made a good run that Lallana picked out with a good reversed ball, but he was unable to beat De Gea, who had a man of the match performance for Manchester United.

That chance, however, showed Liverpool’s ability to get behind Manchester United’s back three. Sterling’s runs, with Coutinho and Lallana’s passing, were able to penetrate the back line with a sense of ease at times and Balotelli’s introduction into the match added another player that could benefit. The Italian striker’s best chance came after an excellent through ball from Coutinho to Sterling, who made an equally good run across Manchester United’s back line. Sterling then pulled the ball back for Balotelli, who had a good strike, but De Gea tipped the ball onto the woodwork.

The introduction of Balotelli at half time, with the score at 2-0, changed Liverpool from a 3-4-3 to a 3-5-2 as Balotelli partnered Sterling up top and Coutinho moved into midfield with Gerrard and Allen. Liverpool continued to create good chances, but their pressing wasn’t as effective as they could no longer pressure the three centre backs, but were now equally numbered in midfield.

Manchester United’s Attacks, Liverpool’s Defense

In the first half, Manchester United were able to consistently find an out ball to Antonio Valencia and it was little surprise that the opening goal came from his side. The right wing back was effective going forward, but also found himself isolated against Moreno, and when Moreno was caught up the field, Valencia was isolated against Allen. This was a problem for Liverpool. Not so much that Valencia was getting on the ball, but that he was always in a 1v1 with not covering defender. Theoretically, it was Lovren’s responsibility to provide such cover, but the Liverpool defender’s positioning (among many other things) was poor.

Manchester United’s attacks were not as excellent as a 3-0 scoreline at home would suggest. They again struggled to create good chances on goal, but were, again, efficient in the converting of their limited chances. Of their six shots on goal, they scored three. The first goal, as you can see in the above screen capture, was in large part due to both Lovren’s lack of cover and the lack of midfield support from Liverpool. Allen is on the ball, but Gerrard is completely ineffective and was for most of the match when tracking back, especially on Manchester United counter attacks. The second goal was wrongly award as Mata was offside on van Persie’s flick on, while the third goal was another defensive error by Lovren, who passed the ball to Mata, just outside the penalty area, in the build up.

Conclusion

Brendan Rodgers will find himself under more pressure now, and though the performance continued to not reach the high expectations of last season, there were signs of improvement. The pressing from the front three, which has been absent for much of the season, was sharp and had the personnel choices in midfield been more appropriate to the pressing (another fault against Rodgers), it could have been even more effective.

Manchester United kept the ball well during stages of the match. They looked much better than they did against Southampton, but they were still not as excellent as a team that has won six matches in a row should be. Having in-form strikers in Rooney and van Persie have effectively won them games, but had Liverpool had just one in-form striker, the match could have been significantly different.