Liverpool v Leeds United: one big game, five big questions

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Their Liverpool v Leeds. And we have five big tactical questions …

1) Will Leeds moderate its high pressure or will it go all out?
Marcelo Bielsa is an idealist; a tactical purist whose vision of how soccer should be played has inspired a generation of coaches. But, like many of the great revolutionaries, he is inflexible to the extreme. Leeds United will press high and hard and play furious attacking football, no matter the opponent. That surely suits Liverpool.

Jurgen Klopp has tempered his own ‘heavy metal’ football for the past two seasons, mostly in response to Premier League opponents feeling deeply and denying Liverpool’s ability to fight back. Leeds, then, offers Liverpool a rare opportunity to break through at full speed; to represent your own high pressure game to devastating effect.

That’s the expectation, at least, and yet surely even Bielsa realizes that you can’t go to Anfield and play an expansive game. Saturday’s result depends almost entirely on whether the Leeds manager is willing to sit down at times and absorb the pressure. Assuming it doesn’t, rather than go all out as usual, then Leeds could be off to a good start. They could enjoy periods of dominance. But in the end Liverpool will triumph amid the chaos.

2) Can Bielsa’s attack lines expose Liverpool’s wingers?
The chances of an open game on Saturday night are increased by the contrasting lines of attack deployed by the two coaches. While Klopp channels the attacks down the middle (instructing Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah to stay close, sucking the opposite box to create space for late-arriving full-backs), Bielsa aims to overload the wings. That offers Leeds a ray of hope.

Although nominally a 4-1-4-1 Bielsa system mutates too often to be defined by a formation chart. With Kalvin Phillips anchored as a deep playmaker, the remaining midfielders fan out to create multiple diamond shapes across the field, making late runs to replace forwards as they fall. Most of the time, Bielsa’s quick vertical passing lines trickle down the wings as central midfield empties to support the wingmen.

Liverpool are occasionally vulnerable in this area, as demonstrated most powerfully in Watford’s 3-0 win in February. Mane and Salah rarely back down and central midfielders have been known to struggle to cross, leaving Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson exposed if counterattacks are funneled down the flanks. That is the area where Leeds can hurt.

3) Or will Liverpool’s controlling possession crush the visitors?
Liverpool will most likely do everything in their power to prevent the contest from spiraling out of control. Klopp isn’t the wild genpresser he once was, and one of his team’s greatest strengths is his ability to kill a game by controlling tempo. They may play more conservatively than usual, working their way through the competition by allowing Leeds to do all the first races in the hopes that they will tire.

Keeping Leeds at arm’s length in the initial exchanges would allow the hosts to find their feet and get a sense of the danger this unknown entity poses. Also, over time, it would force Leeds to gradually retire as Liverpool gained possession. From here, they could win the crucial psychological battle as excitement and enthusiasm begin to wear off.

Contrary to what most are predicting, this game might not be a carnage. Klopp will know that Liverpool’s best chance of winning is to avoid end-to-end competition.

4) Could Firmino and Keita have the key to outmaneuver Bielsa’s man-to-man press?
The most unusual aspect of Leeds high pressure is Bielsa’s use of a man-to-man system. Instead of circling the ball or cutting through the passing lanes, his players seek to sit on top of their opposing numbers and rely on just a couple of men to apply pressure to the ball. This gives Leeds that aggressive edge and prevents the opposition from out-running the press with just smart moves.

It also means that players can be dragged out of position. Until now, Leeds de Bielsa have been very well organized defensively as a direct result of this pressure system (and their use of a spare man on each defense line and midfield, to fill the gaps as the players retire) But the Premier League, of course, represents a big step forward. Liverpool’s tactical intelligence could put holes in focus.

Roberto Firmino’s move coming out of the front line confuses almost everyone, and certainly presents an enigma for Leeds midfield: does the center back follow directly from the baseline, or should Phillips pick it up? That interruption alone could be enough to allow Naby Keita to escape unseen, making the kind of line break in the middle that we began to see at the end of last season.

Working together, Keita overlapping Firmino is the kind of complex tactical move that could make Leeds’ midfield a bit unstable.

5) Will Liverpool’s long balls expose Leeds’ high line?
For a simpler read on how this game could go, maybe those long balls from Virgil van Dijk can catch Leeds pushing too high up the field. Direct football is becoming more and more common at Anfield, and Bielsa wouldn’t be the first big-name coach to get caught up in the simplicity of Klopp’s approach.

Van Dijk could be the key player, then. No doubt he’ll be happy with the chances of guiding the shy Patrick Bamford or the new signing Rodrigo, ready for a baptism of fire against the best defender in the world. With the ball, Van Dijk’s distribution can push Salah and Mane away behind the Leeds defense, taking advantage of Bielsa’s ultra-offensive philosophy.

Leeds will not be penalized for events at Anfield, whatever the score. Bielsa only has one way to play. Some weeks it will work and some weeks it will end in a 5-0 loss. Liverpool at Anfield will probably be the last.

Alex Keble – follow him on twitter



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