Match date: 21 December 2013

Coming into the match, a lot of the press revolved around the tense relationship between Cardiff City owner, Vincent Tan, and Malky Mackay. Mackay had guided Cardiff to 17 points from 16 matches up until this match, an average of about a point per game which would possibly be just enough to stay up, but Tan seems to want instant success despite not wanting to invest much in the squad.

On the other side, Liverpool have been in good form, both on and off the field, as they beat Tottenham 5-0 last weekend and just signed Luis Suarez to a long-term deal.

Rodgers kept the same XI that beat Tottenham, which meant Liverpool setup in a 4-3-3. Mackay made some alterations to the side that beat West Brom 1-0, opting to drop Fraizer Campbell for Aron Gunnarsson to bolster the midfield in a 4-2-3-1.

First Half Tempo, Coutinho and Henderson

Liverpool’s first half built off of their performance against Tottenham in their last match, a match which Rodgers said was one of the most complete performances that Liverpool have managed during his time at Anfield. Henderson and Allen dictated the tempo well and Coutinho’s movement inside, as it did during the Tottenham match, allowed Liverpool’s midfield to outnumber Cardiff’s. With a 4-2-3-1 (Cardiff) against a 4-3-3 (Liverpool), the midfield triangles line up, 2-1 v 1-2, but with Coutinho coming in, he was able to do two things, either overload the areas of the pitch where Liverpool possessed the ball or, which he did more often, find the space ahead of Lucas, but behind Henderson and Allen, which allowed him to have a good amount of time on the ball and pick out passes. Below, you can see an example of this as Liverpool shift the ball from the right side of their attack back to the centre of the field. Coutinho is alone in a good amount of space to operate in.

The Brasilian playmaker has been linked up well with Suarez over the course of the season and they looked tidy around Cardiff’s penalty area, looking to play quick one-twos as Suarez would drift consistently drift to the left when Coutinho came inside and dragged his defenders with him, opening up more space for Suarez to operate in.

Henderson, again, played a big part in Liverpool’s play in the first half. He is the only Liverpool player, aside from Mignolet, to play start every match and without Gerrard in the midfield, his importance and quality have really shown through. He and Allen occupy to two spots in front of Lucas in Liverpool’s 4-3-3, with Henderson the more attacking of the two. Against Cardiff, as it was against Tottenham, it was his runs from midfield that opened up space for Suarez as he occupied Caulker and Turner. His movement allowed Suarez space, but in the end it was Henderson that setup Suarez for both of his goals, the first being a chip from the left side of Cardiff’s penalty area for Suarez to volley, the second being a back heel that Suarez then curled into the far post. He could have had a third as well after playing Suarez in on a counter attack, but Suarez played a square ball to Sterling to score.

Again though, it wasn’t just Henderson’s and Liverpool’s attacking play that was impressive as much as it was their pressing when they lost the ball. With a midfield of Henderson, Allen, and Lucas, it allows Liverpool to play higher up the pitch and press more effectively when they lose the ball. Throughout the first half, they won tackles and made interceptions high up the pitch that allowed for good counter attacks.

Liverpool Attack with Sterling and Johnson

A good amount of Liverpool’s attacks were down the right side of the pitch through Raheem Sterling and Glen Johnson, with both getting the best of Cardiff City’s left back, Andrew Taylor. There were a number of times when Liverpool broke on counter attacks where Taylor would either be isolated 1v1 with Sterling or 2v1 against Sterling and Johnson as Whittingham would fail to track Johnson effectively. Both Sterling and Johnson had good chances to score in the first half after being played in behind Taylor and while neither were able to convert their chances, their ability to go at Taylor highlighted Liverpool’s attacking play in the first half.

Sterling’s play was reminiscent of his performance against Tottenham just last week which caused Andre Villas-Boas to withdraw Kyle Naughton at half time. His pace and ability to get behind has seen him reclaim his spot in Liverpool’s starting XI and has added another dimension to Liverpool’s attacks as adds a vertical outlet and supports Suarez up top. Against Cardiff, as well as Tottenham, he showed his ability to take on the full back as well as make diagonal runs across the defense, which opened up space for Johnson to move into and Suarez to make freer runs.

Second Half

After three goals from Liverpool in the first half, they looked to play a lower tempo game. Henderson dropped deeper and didn’t make as many runs forward and beyond Suarez and, while it invited a bit more attacking from Cardiff, it was perhaps a look at the coming week for Rodgers with fixtures against Manchester City and Chelsea.

Cardiff certainly grew into the match in the second half due to Liverpool sitting deeper and because of the introduction of Fraizer Campbell for Peter Odemwingie. Campbell looked to work the channels and exploit the space that Johnson and Flanagan left once they pushed up the pitch. Noone and Mutch both worked well with Campbell, with Mutch making good runs in support of the striker, while Noone was able to get by Flanagan throughout the match fairly easily.

Flanagan was withdrawn in the 55th minute, replace by Martin Kelly, with Glen Johnson moving to left back. The young defender was almost certainly withdrawn because of Noone getting the beating of him, but once he was withdrawn, it seemed to upset the balance of Liverpool’s play a bit, especially when going forward. Johnson has played left back well for Liverpool in the past, but Flanagan seemed to play a more supportive role than Johnson was able to.

Cardiff grabbed a goal off of a set piece with Liverpool leaving Mutch unmarked at the back post, but other than that, Cardiff never really looked to put Liverpool under much pressure.

Conclusion

A fairly straight forward match in the end. Liverpool were able to get three first half goals and then, with their next two fixtures in mind, eased off in the second half. Following their goal, Cardiff had about ten minutes of good pressure on the Liverpool defense, but weren’t able to test Mignolet to any extent.

The scenes after the final whistle were emotional ones from Malky Mackay, who certainly felt he was to going to be sacked at some point over the weekend. He spent a good amount of time on the Anfield pitch and thanked the away fans for their support.