Match date: 28 January 2014

This Merseyside derby was perhaps one of the most important in recent years as both Liverpool clubs are pushing for a Champions League spot, with Liverpool sitting 4th and Everton 6th coming into the match. On top of which, the first derby of the year, at Goodison Park, ended in a 3-3 draw with late goals from Romelu Lukaku and Daniel Sturridge.

Martinez got a boost to his side with both Ross Barkley and Steven Pienaar fit enough to start, but Sylvain Distin and Seamus Coleman missed out due to an injury. Despite playing well in Everton’s draw against West Brom Albion in their last league outing, Barkley’s return meant that Mirallas was given slightly less freedom.

Brendan Rodgers has faced a bit of an injury crisis as of late with Daniel Agger, Mamadou Sakho, Glen Johnson, Joe Allen, and Lucas all missing the match on top of the long term absence of Jose Enrique. However, after playing something of a 4-2-2-2/4-2-3-1 over the last few weeks, Rodgers reverted to what was closer to his preferred 4-3-3.

Liverpool’s Shape

As mentioned above, Rodgers reverted to a 4-3-3, but still managed to play both Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez in the side, which required one of Sturridge or Suarez to play from the left, with Sterling on the right. As it happened, the two strikers were fluid in their movement of who would aid on the left side defensively. There were certainly times in which both players would stay higher up the pitch which gave John Stones and Kevin Mirallas 2 on 1 situations against Aly Cissokho, but the fluidity in their movement made it even harder for the Everton defenders to track the two strikers. Their own fluidity, lack of adaptation to defensive duties this year, and want to stay higher up the pitch, especially as Liverpool began playing more counter-attacking, direct football, almost always prompted Jordan Henderson to pick up the defensive duties of the two Liverpool strikers when both stayed high up the pitch. However, Suarez and Sturridge were surprisingly very willing to do their defensive work well enough against John Stones. The Everton full back was very adventurous going forward, which left Everton caught out for both of Sturridge’s goals, but the Liverpool strikers were able to keep his influence going forward to a minimum; something they might have struggled more with had Seamus Coleman been fit. As you can see below, between them, they attempted four tackles in Liverpool’s defensive third of the field on the left side as they helped Aly Cissokho.

In the midfield three were Henderson, Coutinho, and Gerrard. Coutinho played centrally for the first time in a few weeks for Liverpool, playing slightly deeper than a number 10 role, but higher than both Henderson, who continued to play a box-to-box role, and Gerrard who was deployed in a deep lying role. In playing centrally, Coutinho was able to once again show his full range of abilities more when Liverpool were in possession of the ball and defensively.

Gareth Barry was matched up with Coutinho throughout the match and was unable to keep the young Brasilian from having an influential part as he was too quick and skillful for the Everton midfielder. Coutinho set Sturridge up for his first goal, played the ball in for Sturridge on what could have been the striker’s third goal or Coutinho’s goal had Sturridge passed the ball back to him, and played the ball through to Sterling to earn the penalty that Sturridge missed. Coutinho’s vision and passing abilities made it easy for Liverpool to play direct, counter-attacking football to catch Everton in transition throughout the match, but his defensive work also looked much better than when he is deployed on the left of Liverpool’s attack. When on the left, he sometimes seems to lose concentration in his marking and fails to track the opposition’s full back or, as he likes to drift in from the left, fails to get back out into the wide areas when the opposition attacks. Playing centrally, however, he looked more eager in performing his defensive duties. He was involved in Liverpool’s high press throughout the match, but was also able to double team the likes of McCarthy and Barkley with Gerrard and Henderson and win the ball back.

The front four of Liverpool were very fluid throughout the match. After the match against Sunderland in October, Rodgers was quoted as saying that Liverpool play with “two nine and a halves.” As it goes though, Liverpool really are playing with numerous options up front. There were times during the match when Sturridge was playing as part of the midfield three and was able to dribble with the ball at Everton’s defense. His pass to Sterling, who had his shot saved by Howard’s foot, was an instance of Sturridge dropping deep to get the ball and acting as a number 10. Liverpool’s attacking quartet have numerous dimensions to their play that allow them to be a bit unpredictable. Sterling can beyond in behind a back four, which drops them deeper and allows Suarez, Sturridge, and Coutinho to find spaces between the the opposition’s back line and midfield. Sturridge and Suarez can push the depth of the opposition’s back line as well and one can drop off to receive and turn. Against Everton, we saw variations of each. Sturridge is an easy example as his second goal was from him breaking Everton’s back line on a simple ball over the top from Kolo Toure while he also played deep and was able to pick out passes like the one to Sterling mentioned above.

Gerrard Deep, Part III

Including this match, in Liverpool’s last three league outings, Rodgers has deployed Steven Gerrard in the deep-lying role of Liverpool’s midfield three. The idea behind this is that with Gerrard’s passing ability, Rodgers wants the Liverpool captain to be able to dictate the tempo of the match and direct his teammates. However, in his first two matches in that role, Liverpool had struggled defensively, especially against quick counter-attacks like Liverpool faced last week against Aston Villa. Not only did Villa play around Gerrard, but they also pressed him very well throughout the match which made it hard for him to have an influence on the match, despite the idea going in that Liverpool should dominate possession of the ball.

Against Everton, however, in a match that Rodgers knew would be a battle for possession, and with Ross Barkley back in the side for Everton, Gerrard played more as a strictly defensive midfielder like De Rossi than a deep-lying playmaker like Pirlo. Overall, he had a successful night, more so as the game wore on and Liverpool were able to get their shape, control the space, and allow Everton to possess the ball for longer periods in their Liverpool’s defensive third. In the opening stages of the match, he was dragged out of position and towards the ball bit more than he should have been and it allowed Everton some early opportunities, but he looked more disciplined and kept Ross Barkley from having as much influence on the match as he did in the reverse fixture earlier in the season.

This isn’t to say that Gerrard didn’t have his flaws. Much like against Aston Villa, his pace and lack of mobility left Liverpool exploited on counter-attacks. A perfect example against Everton was when he was in a 1 on 1 situation against Mirallas in the 66th minute of the match. Mirallas was quick with his feet, got the ball by Gerrard, only for the Liverpool captain to bring him down. While there was not yellow card for Gerrard, this is a vulnerable part to his game; his immobility and as he gets older, it will show more, especially against more counter-attacking teams.

The positioning of Liverpool’s full backs also aided in Gerrard’s ability to play his role well as the game went on. Early on he was getting dragged out from the middle as he went to help his full backs with Mirallas and Pienaar, but with Liverpool attacking with Sterling, Suarez, Sturridge, Coutinho, and Henderson and with little sustained possession for Liverpool in Everton’s attacking third of the field, it meant that Jon Flanagan and Aly Cissokho didn’t have to get forward as much, making both Liverpool’s back four more solid, but also allowing Gerrard to stay more central and keep Barkley from finding space to influence the match.

Liverpool Press, Everton Miss Lukaku

Liverpool pressed the ball really well, especially in the first half before they had a 3-0 scoreline that allowed them to sit deep and defend in the second half. Mentioned above was how Coutinho aided Liverpool’s forwards in their pressing and while many of his tackles were attempted and won in Liverpool’s half, his positioning allowed Suarez, Sterling, and Sturridge to press higher up the pitch. Below is a screen capture just after an Everton goal kick. Jagielka received, but as immediately pressured and unable to play the ball into a central midfielder or John Stones and was forced to play back.

In Everton’s last league outing against West Brom Albion, Lukaku was incredibly important to Everton because of West Brom’s pressing. The Belgian is obviously an excellent target for defenders to play to and if a team presses Everton’s defenders, they can easily play the ball into Lukaku. During the first Merseyside derby, the 3-3 match at Goodison, Lukaku not only scored two goals for Everton, but his physical presence against Agger and Skrtel on that night caused the Liverpool defenders a lot of problems and allowed Everton to play the ball into him and get more numbers forward.

Comparing to two matches, in the first, Liverpool didn’t press as high and Lukaku was able to easily receive balls from his defenders and link up well with the likes of Barkley. Even during his time on the pitch, though cut short through his injury, Lukaku struggled to receive the ball centrally.

Following his injury, in the 25th minute, Lukaku was replaced by Steven Naismith, who struggled to get involved much in the match. Naismith has struggled to fit into Martinez’s system this year. He isn’t a complete forward like Lukaku and doesn’t have the ability to play in one of the wide areas in Martinez’s system and his introduction in his match showed just that as he was mostly anonymous. He failed to receive the ball within five yards of Liverpool’s area as Everton lacked penetration with Liverpool playing a low block for much of Naismith’s time on the pitch.

Conclusion

It will be interesting to watch Liverpool’s matches in the coming weeks. Unless they sign a midfielder that can make the first XI before the January window closes, a midfield three of Henderson and Coutinho in front of Gerrard may be what Rodgers is forced to play. More interestingly, however, will be if Rodgers continues to instruct Sturridge and Suarez to play down the left in a 4-3-3 as opposed to a 4-2-2-2.

Martinez was critical of his defense’s awareness and concentration during his post-match interview with the BBC. John Stones was made to punish for Sturridge’s first goal and with Everton playing a high line, the midfielders and forwards failed to put enough pressure on the ball for Sturridge’s second goal. It was certainly Everton’s worst performance of the season and was compounded with the injury to Lukaku that will leave them light up front as they continue their push for a top four spot.