17/09/2018

Tactics and Stats Preview | Liverpool vs PSG

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Article by Mizgan Masani @mizgans Liverpool kick-start their Champions League campaign with a tough game against Paris-Saint Germain at Anfield. The Reds have got their league campaign off to a rampaging start, winning all the five games played. A comfortable win over Tottenham on Saturday meant that Jurgen Klopp’s men are confident and mentally fresh to really go for it against the high-flying opponents from Paris. Liverpool, who are defending their runners-up finish in this competition last year, face a team who are managing expectations of winning the whole thing this year. Both teams are tuned to attack and play at a higher intensity, which might mean we see an abundance of goals on the night. Tactical Preview: Expected Formations:

As shown in the above image, the expected starting lineups for tomorrow. First up, the team news – PSG are without Marco Verrati and Gianluigi Buffon due to suspensions, while Dani Alves and Layvin Kurzawa are injured. Liverpool are pretty unsure whether Roberto Firmino will play tomorrow, meaning a start for Daniel Sturridge is on the cards. James Milner may get a game off, and Jordan Henderson would start in that case. Thomas Tuchel’s men are a bit short in midfield with the suspension of Verrati. We may see Adrien Rabiot and centre-back Marquinhos playing in central midfield, more like holders in front of the back four. Thomas Meunier and Juan Bernat are experienced fullbacks who have the know-how of playing on the biggest of occasions. Thiago Silva and Presnel Kimpembe are a good partnership in central defence. However, what PSG face in the league is quite a different gravy to what they will come up against in the form of Liverpool, that too at Anfield. This is where their test lies if they are to win the competition. Last season, they got unstuck against Real Madrid just because some of the players were a yard short in terms of intensity, thanks to the one-sided nature of the Ligue 1 (with all due respect to the teams). Tactically speaking, Tuchel shouldn’t approach this game in a hullabaloo fashion. The first thing for his team to do is to try and silence the crowd by not bulking in the first 20-30 minutes. For that to happen, central midfield and the back four have to be disciplined in what they do on or off the ball. The gap between them and the front-line cannot be more to aid Liverpool to dominate the midfield. Playing the game on the counter would not only suit the game of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar, but it would also help the team to be compact and secured defensively away from home. The former has blistering pace and he showed in the World Cup, how devastating he can be on the break with spaces in behind a defence to run into. Neymar will float around Cavani from that number 10 position which will make it difficult for Liverpool defenders to specifically mark him. Interesting to see whether Tuchel plays Angel di Maria on the left wing, or as a conservative play-maker. As for Liverpool, Klopp needs to make sure his defence doesn’t get exposed early on against the quality of PSG forwards. For that reason, he may well set up his team in a slightly tweaked way. He might tell the front three to press the opposition build-up but instruct the midfield and defence to be compact and be aware of the runs made. In this way, the pressing action isn’t taken away, neither is the solidity. Mbappe and Neymar would look to make runs on the sides of the Liverpool centre-backs, exposing the space left behind by the fullbacks. So, both Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold have to make sure they are conscious of these things, or at least they are making the forward runs with wide midfielders alive to the situation. Liverpool will most certainly have the opportunity to outnumber PSG in midfield, with their three counter-acting their opposition’s two. But Neymar and Di Maria’s positioning and interchange may just mean one midfielder getting dragged out of places. In that case, the communication among players is important. One player can’t run behind a particular attacker unless he is ordered to man mark him. Conclusion It may just out to be a game wherein the first 20 minutes both teams would suss each other out before landing the sucker punches. History of both these teams clearly states that there will be goals aplenty. If PSG score first, they will be the favourites to win it as the game would open up, same is the case for Liverpool as well. Stats talk –

The last time these two met was in the 1997 UEFA Cup winner’s Cup Semi-final. Liverpool won the first leg 2-0, PSG won the second leg 3-0 to take the tie.
Liverpool and PSG have been involved in Champions League games where at least 2.5 goals are scored on an average. (last 15 games for the latter, 10 out of 11 for the former).
Both teams have conceded at least 2 goals in their last 3 Champions League games. Sounds like fun then!

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