Tactical Analysis: Liverpool - Borussia Dortmund 4-3/Europa League/14-4-2016

Liverpool produced one of the biggest come backs in European history, as they managed to get through to the Europa League semi-finals, despite them being down twice by two goals and having to score three in order to progress to the next round. Klopp made some very important mistakes, leaving Allen out of the starting line up, thus Can had to keep the midfield all by himself. When the Welshman was introduced along with Sturridge they changed the outcome of the tie.

Liverpool is slow to recover

Coutinho makes a poor pass for Moreno and Dortmund are counter attacking tremendously well. Five Dortmund players are on the run, while on the same time just four Liverpool players are left to defend. Quite annoying is the fact that three Liverpool attackers can be seen walking instead of trying to recover. 

Sakho's indecisiveness

I mentioned that Can was left alone in the midfield and here are the consequences of this strange decision by Klopp. The German midfielder is too far away from blocking that ball going through to Aubameyang, who is quick as a flash. However, Sakho is too slow to decide whether he will mark closely the attacker or whether he is going to keep a defensive line with Lovren. In the end, he is too slow, obviously, to catch Aubameyang, who scores Dortmund’s second goal on the night.

Reus gets behind Clyne

 Again Sakho is not in a good spot. Clyne who marks Reus knows that the German winger is in an offside position; at least he thinks so as Dejan Lovren and Alberto Moreno keep the same line with the right back. However, Sakho, marking Aubameyang isn’t aware of Reus’s run behind Clyne. Hence, he keeps him onside and Marco Reus takes advantage of this situation with a beautiful finesse shot in the down right corner.

Liverpool attack with style

 Liverpool managed to score a very important goal just in the second minute of the second half with the man in form - Divock Origi. Following some beautiful passes in the midfield three Liverpool players make runs and give options for a possible pass. Eventually the ball comes to the Belgian, who finishes calmly.

Reus comes behind the defence

Liverpool work smartly

 These two pictures show a free kick from exactly the same place. The first resulted in Lovren skying it into the Kop, while the second one ended up with the Croatian scoring the goal that ultimately gave Liverpool the ticket to the next phase. In the first picture Milner crossed directly into the box, while on the second he passed to Sturridge getting more closely to the box bringing more pressure around the Dortmund defense.