By Jordan Carreno

Match day 4 in the Champions League see Liverpool head down to Belgrade, Serbia to take on Red Star. Kick off is set for 12:55 PM EST on Tuesday.

Red Star v Liverpool — 11/06/2018 17:55 GMT

Of all the god-awful fixtures times that exist, surely 12:55 on a Tuesday takes the cake. Usually I’d encourage you to whip up a clever excuse to get out of the last 2 hours of work on a midweek, but clocking out of work after lunch is going to take a certain level of skill that I do not possess yet. Fortunately, we haven’t been relegated to the B/R Live streaming platform and will be the match on TNT, so that is a small bright spot.

As always, all 3 LFC Tampa Bay pubs will be open and showing the match. So, if you can sneak out early or at least take a long lunch, come and join us. With that said, let’s get into the talking points.

No Excuses

As far as European away days go, going down to Belgrade to play at the Marakena is right up there with the toughest. It may seem counter-intuitive given the relative ability of this Red Star team, but it might be the toughest away match for the Reds in this group. A trip down to Belgrade ticks most of the boxes in regards to tricky European away fixtures.

First, there’s the massive pitch which is even larger than Napoli’s. Red Star’s pitch will feature an extra 1,162 square meters of space as compared to Anfield. As we saw in that Napoli match earlier on in the campaign, this extra space will present its own type of challenges for Liverpool’s high intensity and space manipulating system.

Secondly, there’s the long journey and short turn around. The flight from Liverpool to Belgrade is a 4 and half hour flight covering over 1,000 miles. The trip will see the Reds go from the Northwest of England all the way down to the Southeastern region of Europe. That this trip will comes after a late Saturday kick off and will see Liverpool play in the early Tuesday window, only makes the journey that much more taxing.

Lastly, there’s the hostile atmosphere. First, the players will have to walk down a tunnel that would look more at home in a bomb shelter than a football stadium. After they emerge from that, they’ll walk into a stadium that will most likely appear to be on fire from the amount of flares being lit in the stands. From there, they will most likely be submerged into an atmosphere of Serbian noise that will last as long as the Reds allow it to.

The type of scenes we should expect on Tuesday night

Between the massive pitch, the long trip, the short turnaround, and the hostile environment, there are plenty of built in excuses going into this match. However, despite all the difficulties stacked against the Reds, this is a must win match and we cannot allow any of those factors to be anything other than obstacles we overcome.

As things stand, Liverpool are currently top the group on 6 points with Napoli and PSG behind them on 5 and 4 respectively. Getting all 3 points and getting to 9 would put us on the brink of qualification heading into the difficult final two matches of the group. Even with all the challenges that come with this match, the Reds are good enough to adapt and overcome and, in reality, none of those excuses will be good enough if they don’t do the business come the final whistle.

Handling the Extra Space

As I mentioned earlier, Red Star’s pitch is much larger than what we’re used to playing on. The exact figure on the extra space is 16.9% more than what we’re used to at Anfield. It may seem trivial, but when Liverpool’s system usually relies on high intensity and manipulating space, accounting for an extra 5th of a pitch becomes a tactical problem to solve.

Against Napoli, we accounted for this extra space by being less aggressive going forward and trying to break quickly. Rather than sending our wingbacks flying forward, we were much more reserved. We relied more on Salah and Mane’s pace to take advantage of the extra space than trying to build from the back or control play in Napoli’s half.

We also had tried to use Naby Keita’s dribbling as a bridge between our defense and attack before he went off injured. Unfortunately, that injury early that forced Keita off put a halt to our game plan and we resorted to defending and hoofing the ball down the wings.

We ended up looking disjointed, slow, and completely off our game. Part of that will have come down to a lack of options in the midfield at the time and some of it will have come down to respecting Napoli’s ability. So, in a matchup against more favorable opposition, and with a return to health for Keita, it will be interesting to see how Klopp decides to handle the extra space this go around.

The Keita Success

Naby Keita could play a key role in handling the extra space on Tuesday night

Clever puns aside, I do believe that Naby Keita’s return to health couldn’t have come at a better time. As mentioned in the previous talking point, he was tasked with accounting for the extra space against Napoli by being the bridge between attack and defense. Ultimately, his injury early on in that match prevented him from contributing in that role. So, with his return to health, and with Shaqiri missing out on the trip due to political reasons, we should see Keita return to the starting 11 to play the part he was supposed to against Napoli.

Naby is by far one of our best available attacking options in the midfield courtesy of his dribbling and ability to pick out a pass. Both of those traits will be needed in making up for the extra ground on Tuesday night. Usually, Klopp might wait before introducing a player back from injury into the line-up, but given the circumstances, I see Klopp turning to Keita in order to play that key role in making up for the extra space.

Having had a difficult start to his Liverpool career, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was that match where he finally took control of things and looked the player we were all itching to get our hands on. Having sat out for almost 3 weeks now, he will undoubtedly be eager to get back on the pitch and put his early struggles behind him. If he does find his way into the starting 11 and performs as he can, then the Reds should have far more success in this match than they did against Napoli.

Prediction

We are back to the European table where David and I currently sit even on 5 points after predicting a Red’s victory with a clean sheet last time out. The tension builds.

If you couldn’t tell from my talking points, the extra pitch space has me worried. We are a team of high intensity that likes to manipulate the playing area and force our opponents into cul-de-sacs. Whilst we’ve shown some tactical flexibility so far, our play has still revolved around these two principles. So, given how poorly we manage the large pitch at Napoli, for the first time this year I’m not immediately inclined to think we will smash these.

However, I do really feel this is the moment for Naby Keita to shine and show all his promise. It would have be interesting to see how much better we performed without him being forced off against Napoli. I think Tuesday night will be redemption for Klopp and Keita in that regard. It won’t be easy and there could be some hairy moments, but I think we do eventually see this one out and get the 3 points we need. 2–0.

David’s Prediction: I would share Jordan’s concern about the pitch size if not for two things: 1) the Napoli experience and 2) the Arsenal match. The former will have shown the Reds the need for conserving their energy and maintaining control of the match so as to not allow exploitation of the extra space. The latter was effectively one of our most careful, calculated performances of the season with few risks being taken in the middle of the park. Perhaps that’s been a matter of discussion in training for this match as well as Arsenal, who play on a slightly bigger pitch than Anfield’s though not by much. I see Liverpool looking to make the ball do more of the work in this one and owning somewhere in the region of 75% possession. The home side strings together a few chances, but when they come at us it opens them up. The Reds sneak one in and get the hell out of Belgrade with a 1–0 victory and their spot atop the group intact.