Several of Liverpool’s academy prospects put their name in the spotlight last weekend, after they secured a famous 1-0 victory over Everton in the FA Cup.
Ahead of that fixture, despite the added emotion for the Reds of facing their city rivals, Jürgen Klopp felt it necessary to make a host of changes to his starting line up in order to rest some key personnel following a grueling festive period.
This resulted in a youthful side being deployed at Anfield which included the like Curtis Jones, Neco Williams and Harvey Elliott, as well as debutants Takumi Minamino, Nathaniel Phillips and substitute Yasser Larouci.
And it was one of those future stars, Jones, who stole the headlines with a stunning 25-yard strike that eluded the outstretched arms of Everton keeper Jordan Pickford late in the second half to secure the victory. While the game was settled by a slender one-goal margin, Liverpool’s young guns fully merited their place in the fourth round and bettered a much more experienced Everton side in almost every department on the pitch.
Delighted with the win, Klopp said afterwards: "If you want to be a Liverpool player, you have to respect the principles of this club. We cannot always play the best football in the world but we can fight like nobody else. And as long as we use our principles, we will be a difficult opponent to play against."
The German’s reference to the ‘principles’ was important to note, and any observer would echo that Liverpool's youthful side fought harder, and were more courageous, than their opponents. But they also impressively seemed to mirror most of the tactical principles - to use that word once more - of Klopp's first 11.
This is highlighted in the below average player position graphics. The graphic on the left was from Liverpool’s win vs Everton, while the graphic on the right was taken from the Reds victory over Sheffield United three days earlier.
![Liverpool's average positions vs Everton (left) and Sheffield United (right)](https://i2-prod.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/article17565851.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_image.png)
Note the near identical positional locations of each player.
The only outlier across the two graphics is James Milner, who came off against Everton after nine minutes through injury, therein impacting his positional location. However, you will note his replacement Larouci, wearing number 70, occupied a position on the pitch that was almost indistinguishable from Andy Robertson’s in the Sheffield United match.
While Klopp would have worked with the club's younger prospects on multiple occasions and on a more concentrated basis in the lead up to the Everton game, it would be near-impossible for him to have such an influential impact on the tactical understanding of the players in such a condensed period of time.
It is therefore likely that Liverpool’s prospects are being developed and moulded in line with the first-team’s ideologies at youth level.
To further investigate the same, I travelled to Liverpool’s club academy in Kirkby on Monday night to watch Neil Critchley’s U23 side take on Southampton in the Premier League 2 (PL2).
The results were stunning.
![Liverpool's U23 side ahead kick off vs Southampton](https://i2-prod.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/article17565871.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_LFCk2PNG.png)
LINE UP
Liverpool’s line up interestingly included five of the players who featured against Everton in the FA Cup: Williams, Larouci, Pedro Chirivella, Elliott and Jones.
![Liverpool's formation vs Southampton](https://i2-prod.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/article17565896.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_LFC2PNG.png)
What was immediately noticeable was that like Klopp’s first team, Critchley’s side lined up in a 4-3-3 formation, as illustrated above.
In defence, Morgan Boyes and Sepp van den Berg anchored the back line, similar to both Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez; they were being flanked by Larouci and Williams, who replicated the roles of Trent Alexander-Arnold Andy Robertson.
Chirivella, who performed brilliantly against Everton, sat in the ‘Fabinho’ role, deployed to dictate the tempo in possession and breakdown any opposition counter attacks. Ahead of him, 18-year-olds Jake Cain and Leighton Clarkson featured in the number 8 positions, and were tasked with blocking passing lanes without the ball but also bringing an element of creativity with it.
Across the attack, both Jones and Elliott, arguably Liverpool’s two most revered youngsters, were bestowed the sizeable roles of replicating Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, playing wide of the front three. This left January signing Joe Hardy playing the 'Roberto Firmino' role, roaming between the defence and midfield and linking build up play.
PLAY IN POSSESSION
Critchley’s side would almost always build out from the back, relying on Boyes and Van Den Berg who, like Van Dijk and Gomez, looked extremely comfortable in possession.
From goal-kicks, Van Den Berg would often drop into the penalty area to collect possession of the ball from his keeper. From there, he would play the ball into the feet of Chirivella or Williams to build the attack.
![Van Den Berg would come short from goal-kicks to commence the attack](https://i2-prod.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/article17565914.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_LFC-3PNG.png)
If the opposition pressed in an attempt to cut out these passing lanes, the young Dutchman -like his compatriot Van Dijk, albeit on the opposite side of central defence - illustrated an ability to play accurate switched passes into Larouci at left back who then had plenty of space to drive into.
![Liverpool's central defenders possessed the ability to play accurate switched passes over a press](https://i2-prod.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/article17565930.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_LFC-4.png)
Chirivella was the crucial component in possession, occupying pockets of space to receive the ball before playing line breaking balls along the floor or in behind the defence, depending on the state of play at the time.
Given their standout qualities, Jones and Elliott were granted free roles, similar to Salah and Mane. This meant they were regularly switching wings, coming into central locations or coming short to collect the ball. This posed two issues for the opposition. Firstly, defenders struggled as to whether they should track the attackers or allow them to be picked up by a team-mate. By the time the opposing players had communicated between themselves who should track the forwards, they had often already collected possession of the ball.
Secondly, due to the dribbling abilities of both players, opposing defenders would often try to 'double up' on them in order to limit their offensive threat, like many Premier League sides do with Salah and Mane.
Yet when defending players actually did vacate their positions in order to assist team-mates in duels against Liverpool's forwards, spaces opened and were exploited by the Reds' wing-backs pushing up and making runs in behind, like Alexander-Arnold and Robertson do every week.
![The movement of Liverpool's danger men created spaces for full-backs to exploit](https://i2-prod.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/article17565951.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_LFC-5.png)
PLAY OUT OF POSSESSION
Liverpool under Klopp are renowned for their pressing capabilities. The German initially received plaudits for his now well known ‘Gegenpressing’ philosophy, the idea of pressing aggressively as soon as possession is lost to win the ball nearer the goal.
While a success at Borussia Dortmund and in the early stages of his Liverpool reign, his side's press has become less chaotic in recent seasons and now seems more calculated.
He instructs his side to push high up the pitch, with defenders situated near the halfway line and forward players cutting out passing lanes for opposition central defenders.
Starved of options on the ball, opposition defenders will often play the ball long, handing possession back to Liverpool to recommence an attack.
This was replicated by Critchley and his side on Monday night, and an example of the same is below.
When Southampton tried to play out from the back utilising their right centre-back, Hardy would cut off the passing option to the second centre-back. Jones would then cut off the pass to the right-back, and Cain would press the closest holding midfielder.
![Liverpool pressed Southampton well when their defenders were in possession](https://i2-prod.liverpool.com/liverpool-fc-news/features/article17565971.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/0_LFC6.png)
When Saints were forced to play the ball long, Boyes and Van Den Berg proved disciplined in holding the line and also dominant in the air. This meant they won most headed duels or enjoyed success in playing opposition attackers offside.
Another footnote worth noting was the role of keeper Ben Winterbottom, who was often primed to exit his line and make Alisson-like sweeping interceptions when required.
SO WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?
In this game, both Liverpool’s tactics and the talent of their individuals proved too much for Southampton and they secured a dominant 5-0 win with goals from Elliott, Jones, Liam Millar and a brace from Hardy.
Despite this commanding victory, Liverpool’s U23 side currently languish in mid-table in the PL2, with five wins, five draws and five defeats Additionally, since Klopp’s arrival, the young Reds are yet to win a single PL2 title.
On this evidence, it’s fair to argue that replicating the first-team’s tactics does not always guarantee success at youth level. The main reason for this is because it is difficult for young players aged between 18 and 21 to replicate the elite abilities of Liverpool’s current crop of first-team players, players who play an effective but demanding tactical set up.
Yet this clear choice by Klopp and his staff to forgo success at youth level in favour of development of the club's budding stars in alignment with the first-team is the key reason why many of Liverpool’s young players are managing to translate their abilities from reserve football to senior football. and successfully implement the tactical instructions given to them by Klopp.
While Liverpool’s youth sides haven’t been receiving the accolades in terms of trophies in recent seasons, their standout display in the Merseyside derby last week highlighted another area in which the club are once again drawing up the blueprint for others to follow.