Teams aren't setting up against us to allow us to do that anymore, they're getting everyone behind the ball and leaving us the wide areas. It's too easy to say we need x, y and z players back and to start to pass and move again but when teams are defending so narrow against us we haven't got that space. Even Plymouth were able to come to Anfield and look comfortable against us using those tactics.
It looks to me like Klopp has recognised this and is trying to tweak the way we play. I'm not sure crossing the ball more is the answer although both goals against Swansea came from crosses and our best chances last night did too.
We can still play the incisive, quick passing, even with the space more restricted. We're playing too many horizontal passes and we've lost confidence (or lose confidence during the game when we don't see immediate results). There were a few moments yesterday when the ball was fizzed into the front man and we looked a threat (shots got blocked, but we broke the initial block). We can still do pass-and-move even in restricted spaces. So, what can we do to improve? I would suggest this:
1. Play more vertical passes
2. Increase the tempo and intensity
3. More 3rd man running
To expand on the 3 points:
1. In the final third, we need more vertical passes into the front man (be it Sturridge, Origi or Firmino). The key here is playing the pass even when there is little space and they have a defender up their backside. The idea being to by-pass the first block of opposition players. I wouldn't expect the front man to then turn, or do something magic with the ball, I just want him to take a good touch and bring another player into the game (the 3rd man runner preferably). I noticed yesterday that whenever this pass was played, Sturridge was closer to the first block of players than the second block - that for me, is the mistake. This pass has to be played beyond the first block. It takes confidence and bravery to play that pass as the space is limited and the player WILL be pressed. I've heard Klopp mention numerous times in interviews about being brave in possession, this is an example of that.
2. Pretty self explanatory - everything is too slow at the moment. Too many touches, no zip, and we're not mentally affecting the opposition at all. It's more like the training ground, attack vs defence, as opposed to a seige mentally. Again the horizontal passes stifle the tempo. Of course, I understand why we're moving the ball from one side to another, but on the transition, or next phase, the speed has to be increased.
3. I think this is killing us. There's no 3rd man running off the ball. It's static. We play a pass and watch it, play a pass and watch it. There's some elementary, school boy stuff we're not doing. Can anyone remember "follow your pass"? If Hendo, Can, Gini, Lallana or the fullbacks do this, it will force the first block of players to make a decision - Do we press the runner? Do we back off? Do we attack the ball? At the moment, no-one follows their pass, so it's all in front of them, no energy consumed, no disruption to their set mentality, so it's easy. This isn't even 3rd man running, it's just very basic movement in football. The 3rd man running should tie in with point 1, the ball hits the front man and the 3rd man is running onto him to either pick up the ball or drag the opposition out of position. Lallana does it, but it's been less frequent. Gini did it vs Swansea, we score. We have enough bodies in that area to consistently do it.
