The Merseyside Derby is scheduled for 17th October and promises to be a highly competitive and interesting battle between the two sides. Everton currently has a 100% record in the Premier League and are top of the table, while Liverpool started the season on a high, but their recent humiliating defeat at the hands of Aston Villa showed their vulnerability in defense. Let us jump into a tactical preview of the game and try and work out what Carlo Ancelloti’s men would have to do to beat their local rivals.
Predicted Lineups
Liverpool — With Alisson injured, we will see Adrian in goal again, also, Henderson is expected to start this weekend as his absence might have been one of the reasons for their defeat to Aston Villa.
Formation: 4–3–3
Goalkeeper: Adrian
Defense: Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joseph Gomez, Virgil Van Dijk, Andy Robertson
Midfield: Naby Keita, Fabinho, Jordan Henderson
Attack: Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane
Everton — Being top of the table after 4 match weeks, Ancelloti’s side has shown great form and are expected to not make any major changes.
Formation: 4–3–3/4–5–1
Goalkeeper: Jordan Pickford
Defense: Seamus Coleman, Yerry Mina, Michael Keane, Lucas Digne
Midfield: Doucoure, Tom Davies, Gylfi Sigurdsson
Attack: James Rodriguez, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Richarlison
Generally Used Tactics
Jurgen Klopp rarely deviates from his 4–3–3 formation, and always comes up with sides that perform continuous high pressing. During the attacking phase, they normally have their central midfielder, mostly Fabinho staying back with the center-backs with both the full-backs attacking high up the pitch to provide complete width. The other two midfielders are mostly forward to help the famous front three of Salah, Mane, and Firmino in the attack. Upfront, Firmino generally drops a bit deeper to get behind the opposition’s midfield and receive the ball in between the lines. Mane and Salah generally bring in diagonal runs towards the goal as the full-backs are present to provide the width. In the first four games this season, Klopp’s men have shown high vulnerability at the back, conceding a lot of goals so far. The game against Aston Villa proved that proper man-to-man counter-pressing caused a lot of problems to Liverpool forcing the defenders to go long as they could not pass to the midfielders.
Carlo Ancelloti generally goes into a game with a 4–3–3 formation but in the defensive phase, his side generally turns into a 4–5–1 helping them to get two lines of defense at the back. While turning into the attacking phase, James and Richarlison attack from the wings turning into a 4–3–3 formation. They generally use Rodriguez and Richarlison very differently. James likes to come in towards the center from the wings trying to link up with his midfielders, while Richarlison stays wide on the opposite flank looking for any opportunity to run in towards the goal. Also, Lucas Digne is a big help from the back, as he does not get extremely forward, but is a great crosser from deeper positions. Calvert-Lewin upfront is brilliant in the air and also holds up the ball pretty well.
What Everton needs to do?
Everton will need to show some quality counter-pressing to overcome Liverpool’s brilliant pressing which everyone has been seeing in recent years. When Liverpool try and build-up play from the back, the pressing from Everton should be provided more from their right. This means that during a goal kick, they will have to cut out any passes to Robertson, and man-mark Van Dijk, Fabinho forcing Liverpool to play out from the other side, with Gomez and Trent. Gomez hasn’t been great on the ball and has also shown some positional flaws recently, Everton should try and force him to make an error and capitalize.
Counter Attacking is something that Liverpool have shown to be weak against recently, especially against Aston Villa. Liverpool’s full-backs are a lot more forward mostly, leaving behind spaces that Everton will have to exploit. Liverpool have also shown their vulnerability against attacking runs from the wings whenever they hold a high line of defense. This has been a problem they have been facing recently, as all of them tend to get to a higher line as most teams just sit back and defend against them. To force Liverpool to form that high backline, Everton will need to cut spaces in the midfield. This means that they will have to block any passes from the defenders to the midfielders, forcing them to play long.
In this case, whenever Everton get the ball they can always exploit the high backline with their two talented attackers in Calvert-Lewin (who is great in the air and holds up the ball well) and Richarlison (who is extremely quick and makes great diagonal runs from the wings). Trent Alexander-Arnold has faced a lot of problems from the runs from the right-wing recently as we saw against Grealish the other game. Keeping Richarlison high up the pitch is going to be instrumental for Everton. Also, James Rodriguez, Richarlison, and Calvert-Lewin will have to short similar displays to Grealish, Barkley, and Watkins of Aston Villa from the previous weekend.
Prediction
According to me, Jurgen Klopp is a man who learns from his mistakes, and he definitely learned a lot from the Aston Villa game. Therefore, they might change the way they build up from the back till Alisson is not back to fitness. Also, he might change the way Liverpool have got into a habit of holding a high line. On the other side, I believe Ancelloti will set up his side to be strong defensively first and then think about the attack. This game should be highly engaging and physical, and I think it would be difficult for both teams to get the early goal. Although I think Liverpool, the mentality giants might come up with a goal in the second half and clinch a 1–0 victory.
What are your predictions for the Merseyside Derby? Do let us know!
About the Author: Namit Sharma is a student of MBA(Sports Management) at Symbiosis School of Sports Sciences, and a football enthusiast obsessed with an in-depth analysis of football. A big supporter of the flexibility of tactics and formations during a football match.
Namit is a creative writer at HeadKick.co
