Leicester 3-1 Liverpool: A tactical breakdown of Foxes comeback

Leicester City managed to overturn their dismal recent form against Liverpool, with a mesmerising 3-1 victory at the King Power Stadium – let’s dissect the decisions, changes and tactical implementations that allowed the Foxes to come out of the game victorious.

I’ll be the first person to admit, Leicester City were underwhelming for the majority of the game – in a possession-based sense. Liverpool, as they usually do, dictated the game by camping in the Foxes half, rotating the ball through their midfield trio and into either of the wingers (or overlapping full-backs).

When Leicester City reclaimed possession, the efficiency in turning over the ball was exceptionally high for Liverpool. This is Jürgen Klopp’s ethos and style, counter-pressing, which enables The Reds to activate a good opportunity straight after winning possession back. Unfortunately, the Foxes fell victim to this trap in the first-half.

As the half dwindled towards half-time, and after Liverpool struggled to convert their dominance of the pitch/ball into clear-cut chances – mainly due to the clever composition of the Leicester City back line, the Foxes grew into the fixture. The end of the half saw the hosts create the better chances – with those falling to Jamie Vardy.

I’ve alluded to a “clever defensive composition” from Brendan Rodgers, which included playing Ricardo Pereira as a left-back, and Daniel Amartey as a right-back. Personally, I would’ve opted for a defensive three/five, with Amartey as the wide centre-back – playing Marc Albrighton as a wing-back instead of as a winger. Regardless, having Pereira retreating on the inside with his stronger footer (versus Mohammed Salah) was advantageous, whilst having an aerially dominant – and strong physical presence – such as Amartey against Sadio Mané was also positive. During the start of the game, Mané was beating Amartey one-versus-one, but with Wilfred Ndidi often dropping to create a two-versus-one and their being little exploitable space for Mané to play into, Leicester City neutralised his strengths.

The “better” chances for Leicester were by-products of the Foxes utilising the ball behind the Liverpool defensive line – which they were abundantly fragile at defending. A “makeshift” duo of Ozan Kabak (making his debut) and Jordan Henderson – again featuring in the back line, were easily exposed when turning towards their own goal. Once Leicester City forced this pass, they started to create good chances – either by directly running through on goal (i.e. Vardy and Barnes’ goals) or giving space to the advancing players in the wings – the foul for Maddison’s free-kick goal.