Analysis: Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp set Liverpool up in their familiar 4-3-3 formation in possession, with Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Georginio Wijnaldum operating as a midfield three behind Sadio Mane, Mo Salah and central striker Roberto Firmino.

In the early stages, Liverpool looked to play the ball in behind the Napoli defence for the runs of Salah and Mane. If this was not possible, the midfielders would position themselves to open up a passing lane from the Liverpool defenders through to Salah’s feet. Wijnaldum moved into a false full-back position on the right, drawing Fabian Ruiz with him and opening up space inside; Trent Alexander-Arnold pushed up from right-back to attract the attention of Mario Rui; while Firmino would drop into midfield, along with Milner and Henderson, to occupy Marek Hamsik and Allan – all of which left space open for the ball through to Salah. The Reds regularly targeted this side of the pitch, and it was eventually a pass into Salah’s feet from Milner that led to the only goal of the game.

Liverpool had lots of success when building from the back, without having to do anything hugely creative or risky. They created a simple 4v2 in a diamond shape, with Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Jordan Henderson against Lorezno Insigne and Dries Mertens. The distance between Napoli’s first and second lines was so big that Henderson could regularly get on the ball behind the Napoli forward line, turn and drive or play forwards, while he also had the option of his full-backs outside the Napoli midfield line.

In the first half, Mane played more like a centre forward than a wide attacker coming in from the left. Milner would drift out wide to that side, with Firmino dropping in to ensure that Liverpool still kept control in central areas. In the second half, Milner remained more central – leaving Andy Robertson to get forward more from left-back.

Out of possession, Liverpool pressed in a man-oriented 4-3-3 structure. Salah, Firmino and Mane would match up against the Napoli back three; Milner and Wijnaldum would lock on to Hamsik and Allan in midfield, while Robertson and Alexander-Arnold would track Callejon and Rui, leaving Henderson in front of Van Dijk and Matip. Crucially, the full-backs would only track their men if the ball was travelling into their feet or if play was being forced out to their side – in this case, the far-side full-back would tuck in with the rest of the back line to avoid leaving Henderson and the centre-backs three on three against Insigne, Mertens and Fabian Ruiz.

As Liverpool began to protect their lead, they formed extreme compactness around Hamsik and Allan when the Napoli centre-backs had the ball, forming more of a mid-block. This prevented the Napoli playmakers from getting on the ball and, if they did, they could be immediately pressed from all angles. This did leave the ball out wide, which Napoli began to use, but Liverpool were happy for this to happen and would then move out to the wide areas to prevent any further forward play.