Throwback Reds to Overturn Athletico?

By @davidrice83

I’m a big fan of things coming full circle.

You start down a road, a journey, and you think, where is this going? What are we doing? When we absolutely launched Manchester City out of the Champions League quarterfinals in 2018, we knew we were at the start of something special. We knew what this team was capable of suddenly, that this run could take us to the heights we’d been dreaming of.

And so far it has. We won number six and we’re destined to finally end the 30 year wait for a nineteenth league title. We’ve put together two seasons of some of the most brilliant football I’ve ever seen. To do it, we’ve evolved substantially. There has been a journey of discipline, of grafting, of defensive solidity and ruthless consistency within the journey of the results.

In that space of time, Liverpool have gone from the heavy metal football Jurgen Klopp promised upon his arrival to a more controlled, disciplined style that has all but guaranteed results, even when the team wasn’t playing very well. That evolution has followed the maturation of his players from diamonds in the rough to world class superstars.

But here is the thing. Most things in life, even our lives themselves, come full circle at some point. There comes a moment in our existence where we return to previous states, and for this team, the moment to come full circle, to go back to heavy metal football side of days past is now.

Jurgen himself said in his press conference today:

“Playing against a deep defending side is one thing, but the counter attacking threat they are on the other side makes it even more difficult… We need higher speed in different moments, we need better switches in different moments, we need braver football in different moments, we need to play around the formation, we need to play behind the formation, we need to play through the gaps. That’s all clear. If you play predictable, Athletico defends against you for the next six months without rest. If you prepare situations where it’s not that easy to defend, the more often you are in situations where you can score. There are ways and we have to find them tomorrow night.”

With the league all but sealed, the spring could be quite laid back in a way no one wants if the Reds fail to beat Athletico Madrid. Simply managing this game is not likely to be enough. What is needed is a fair amount of attacking brilliance like we saw at the beginning of this run back in 2018 and I suspect we will see an unorthodox lineup and, perhaps, shape.

We saw the importance of a presence like James Milner at the weekend against Bournemouth and have been lamenting what Jordan Henderson brings to the team. We’ll need one of them again tomorrow, with the other available off the bench, but we’ll need that attacking spark we’ve been lacking in recent weeks more than anything else.

In creating an element of surprise, Klopp is challenged with whether to change the shape or simply change the personnel in a way that lulls Athletico to sleep with something familiar while delivering something vastly different from the first leg.

As much as I want him to change the shape, I don’t believe he will. I’d like to see a 4–2–3–1, but he doesn’t seem to favor it in matches where Xherdan Shaqiri isn’t available. Barring the complete surprise of a new system, there aren’t many other options aside from a sort of 4–4–2 with Salah and Mane up top, with Firmino behind them at the head of a midfield diamond.

That could work but has rarely been deployed and may not be fine-tuned enough to create the heavy metal results built on chemistry that Klopp is looking for.

If the aim was the tightly controlled, highly disciplined order the Reds tend to create these days, that would be one thing. But the all-out chaos needed to score multiple goals against a side hesitant to leave its own 18-yard box will likely come from something familiar done differently, a return to where we started.

I think in the end he’ll simply be showing them the tape from the first leg and making subtle changes, either to personnel or to how players use the space around them. Perhaps he’ll hark back to that City tape, the Roma at home footage and show them just how to bring back the chaos.

Whether or not the tactics work will not define this season, but they could shape the next few months of our lives as much as coronavirus and lottery balls.

Do we march on toward a potential double and re-invest ourselves into the pursuit of number seven? Or do we take a few months to enjoy the procession for the league title and then regroup for next season? It all comes down to tomorrow, the decisions that are made, the atmosphere in the ground and the fire these players show to defend their continental crown.