Match date: 22 March 2015

This match had huge meaning for both sides. Manchester United came into the game in fourth place, just two points ahead of Liverpool in fifth place, so the race for fourth place (and third and second) are still on. Liverpool have been in very good form with their last loss in the Premier League coming against Manchester United at Old Trafford in December.

Brendan Rodgers named the same starting XI that beat Swansea in Liverpool’s last match and continued with a 3-4-3, which he first deployed against Manchester United in that 3-0 loss in December.

Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United have been criticised for much of the season as their play has been less than desirable for many supporters and van Gaal’s ‘philosophy’ has seemed to be ever changing. The Manchester side arguably put in their best performance under the Dutch coach against Tottenham last week and as a result van Gaal stuck with the same starting XI.

Manchester United Play Wide, Fellaini and Carrick

One of the biggest issues of Brendan Rodgers’ 3-4-3 is that the wide areas can be exploited, especially if the opposition is playing a 4-3-¾-1-4-1, like Manchester United were, where the full backs push high up the field. With Coutinho and Lallana playing in the half spaces, it means that the opposition’s full backs can get forward relatively easy and leaves Liverpool’s wing backs and right and left centre backs to figure out who is picking up who. Manchester United’s wide play was very good and it stretched the the back three of Can, Skrtel, and Sakho. Ashley Young and Juan Mata both looked to play relatively high up the pitch, especially Young on the right, with Mata wanting to drop deeper to become involved in the build up play more often. When Young pushed up, however, this meant that Emre Can, Liverpool’s right sided centre back, had to slide over and Sterling was left to pick up Daley Blind’s forward runs. You can see a good example of this below and also notice Fellaini starting to make a run into the space between Can and Skrtel.

With the ability to find success against Liverpool in the wide areas, it allowed Manchester United to dominate the opening stages of the match and most of the first half. The opening goal for Manchester United was a result of, not only their domination of the ball, but also because of the success in the wide areas, as well as Fellaini finding space behind Henderson, with the Belgian playing very well throughout the half. The goal, however, was scored because Manchester United had been successful on the left side of their attack and had spread the Liverpool back line. Alberto Moreno was trying to read Fellaini’s pass, think the Belgian was going to play a cross field pass to Valencia, and so the Spaniard stepped up and with the Liverpool centre backs shifted over as Can covered Ashley Young, there was a huge space between Sakho and Moreno for Ander Herrera to play Juan Mata in. Below you again see the huge spaces between Liverpool’s back four s Manchester United’s 4-3-3 stretched Liverpool really well, allowing the away side to have the better play in the first half.

Fellaini and Carrick were the ones that allowed the Manchester United to thrive in the first half. The Belgian’s influence was mostly that he offered the away side another option. When Liverpool tried to press high up the pitch, Manchester United simply had to find Fellaini in the air. Sometimes the Belgian was up against Henderson, while other times he would battle with Can or Skrtel in the air. He won most of his aerial duals and so Manchester United did not hesitate to play long to him if they struggled with Liverpool’s pressing. Fellaini also pressed Liverpool fairly well, hassling both Henderson and Allen throughout the first half. Manchester United’s pressing was good for much of the opening 45 minutes and Fellaini was a huge part of it.

Getting the ball into Carrick was the first option, however. He remained relatively unmarked, despite the fact that one of Lallana and Coutinho could have theoretically picked up the holding midfielder. Carrick’s movement was smart, but it was also contained in case Manchester United lost the ball. He did not want to be dragged away from the central area in front of the back four by either Coutinho or Lallana. When Carrick got on the ball, he moved it very well; setting the tempo for the away side with simple passes into the wide areas where Manchester United were pushing Liverpool deeper and deeper and read the situations when Liverpool’s pressing was putting his side in danger and used De Gea to relieve the pressure.

Rodgers’ Changes

Rodgers did two things at half time, he changed Liverpool’s shape from a 3-4-3 to more of a 4-3-3 and also brought on Steven Gerrard for Adam Lallana (who it now seems came off due to injury). This is the first time in quite some time that Rodgers has really changed his system since introducing the 3-4-3, but it was necessary as Manchester United were dominating the wide areas and Allen and Henderson were a bit over run by Fellaini and Herrera. In a 4-3-3, Henderson and Allen now had the chance to push back the Manchester United midfielders a bit deeper. All this looked like it was going to work relatively well and Liverpool were getting on the ball in the opening seconds of the second half, but then Steven Gerrard was sent off just 45 seconds into the second half.

Down to ten men, Rodgers did little to alter his changes. He kept the back four the same, with Can, Skrtel, Sakho, and Moreno while Allen, Henderson, and Coutinho now played in a midfield three behind Sterling and Sturridge. Moreno looked to play high up the pitch when Liverpool got the ball and  give the home side a bit more width in midfield than Coutinho would provide. It is easy to say that Liverpool played better with 10 men than they had with 11 (it would have been interesting to see Liveprool play a full half with 11 men in the 4-3-3), but the change in formation allowed Liverpool to match Manchester United in the middle and the pace of Sterling and Sturridge forced the away side’s defensive line deeper, allowing the likes of Allen and Coutinho more time on the ball.

Rodgers’ second change was taking off Moreno, who had a really poor night on both sides of the ball, for Balotelli. This moved Sterling to left back and Balotelli played behind Sturridge at the tip of what was something of a midfield diamond at that point for Liverpool. While Balotelli did very little during his time on the pitch, he (and Sterling did this while in the same position as well) did occupy the space that Michael Carrick had found so frequently in the first half. Notably, it was Carrick that was tackled by Coutinho, with Balotelli hassling him, that lead to Sturridge’s goal.

Manchester United Struggle To Close

Despite having a numerical advantage, Manchester United struggled in the second half. As mentioned above, Rodgers changed Liverpool’s shape at half time and it helped pushed Manchester United a bit deeper and Liverpool were able to get the ball into Sturridge with more consistency and in more dangerous areas. Carrick was closed down easier and the long balls toward Fellaini were not connecting as frequently with the Belgian much deeper, but Manchester United had the opportunity to close out the game. Both Valencia and Blind were able to find huge amounts of space in the wide areas, but when Manchester United did get on the ball, they stopped looking out wide as often as they had in the first half, when they found huge success in that area. When Manchester United did play wide, they easily controlled the game, but the moments were few. Below is a good example of the space and this comes after Blind was found in space on the left, took Can on in a 1v1, and then played to Herrera.

Conclusion

In reflection, the subplot of this match was Moreno versus Mata, with the former making mistakes to allow the latter to get two very good goals. After Sturridge scored, it made from a nervy ending for Manchester United, although Liverpool did not really create any other good chances in the half. Their next best chance came in the first half with the score at 1-0 when Sturridge played the ball into Lallana’s path only for the midfielder’s shot to go just wide of De Gea’s goal.

Rodgers’ change at half time was spot on. Liverpool needed to gain control of the match and they needed to push Manchester United back. Gerrard’s introduction would have allowed this as he pick up the ball six times during his 45 seconds on the pitch. Unfortunately for Liverpool, he stomped on Herrera and made things very hard for his side.

Manchester United had the chance to control the ball and kill of the match by simply playing it in the wide areas and then working it back to the far side, with Balotelli and Sturridge both high up the pitch, but they never really took a hold of the game in the second half like they did in the first. Of course, Rooney had a chance to really end the game, but Mignolet saved the Manchester United captain’s penalty well and kept the score at 2-1.

It will be interesting to see how Liverpool react to this as their next match is against Arsenal, another rival for a top four position. Manchester United play Aston Villa in their next match before taking on Manchester City.