The prism of defensive play

Burnley 0 - 1 Liverpool; Liverpool 3 - 2 Atletico Madrid

I’ve been watching this stupid game for a very long time and, in the course of that, I’ve developed a bias for wanting to watch the game actually proceed in a prototypical fashion (ball into goal.) I understand that teams of differing skill levels will approach the problem presented by each other in a different fashion, based on those skill levels, the availability of particular players, the tendencies of their coach, and any number of other factors, but I also expect there to be some level of reason injected into the proceedings that is comprised of the very basic concept that is: “We are here to play a game of football.” The last two matches that Liverpool have played have both come against what have been considered “defensive sides” in recent times. That’s not to say that said assessment is universal. With now 14 years at Atleti, Diego Simeone has created that reputation for being most concerned with defense and occasionally getting this thing called a “goal” on the break, but in the last couple years I think he’s recognized that his act might be wearing a little thin at the Wanda and has decided to try for a midlife crisis/transformation and push the ball forward a bit more. Similarly, Burnley is still heavily enveloped in the legacy of their greatest manager of recent times, Sean Dyche, who never met a forward pass he didn’t hate, but the style they used under Vincent Kompany that won the Championship and then promptly got them relegated back there was absolute guns blazing at all times. However, current manager, Scott Parker, returned them to the ways of the Dyche in the second tier last season, setting a record for defensive obstinacy (ball no go into goal.)

So, there are different ways to interpret a “defensive approach” to the game, depending on which way the light is shining. No one would look at Burnley and Atleti and suggest that they were mirror images of each other, but most would acknowledge that they do tend to play the same way, regardless of circumstance. Despite that, it would also be largely agreed upon by observers of both matches that one was utterly awful (Burnley) and the other was hugely entertaining (Atleti.) It’s that whole “entertaining” thing that’s at the center of my acknowledged bias around the game of football, in that I actually want to enjoy what’s happening on the pitch and not just because my team is winning. While the circumstances of the Atleti game were significantly altered by the fact that we scored twice in the opening six minutes (first time that’s ever happened against a Simeone side), they still stuck to their (non)guns and continued to play on the counter. And, just to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with playing on the counter. It is a viable strategy and was, for example, the central focus of Rafa Benitez’s entire and often successful time at Liverpool (much to my distaste, but there it is.) We’ve played on the counter under both Jürgen Klopp and Arne Slot in particular matches. The difference between those instances and the Atleti match in contrast to Burnley was that in all of those non-Dyche instances, we were actually trying to play football.

From the opening moment of the Burnley match, it was clear that the “anti-football”, made famous by Jose Mourinho, was the order of the day. They were not only not interested in having the ball, they didn’t want to be anywhere near it until it reached their defensive third. Unlike Atleti, who did often engage us in the middle third and even carried the ball into our third of the pitch, Burnley simply wasn’t interested in playing football (ball into goal usually has a prerequisite of actually possessing the ball.) My express distaste for this is usually met by supporters of those clubs that engage in it with: “That’s the only choice we have!” That is, of course, absurd since clubs that have a payroll/squad value much closer to Burnley’s than to ours like, say, Bournemouth don’t make that “choice” but instead play the game. The same was and still is true for clubs like Brentford, who came up from the Championship in 2021 and have maintained their status since then, often playing a mid block and even a low block, but still being interested in playing the game. So, despite easy appearances, I’m not trying to make a direct comparison between a club that’s just come up from the Championship and the third wheel of the La Liga bicycle. I’d expect Atleti to beat Burnley 9 times out of 10 (if not more) in the same way I expect us to do so. But I have to say that I at least respect Simeone’s willingness to engage the game, even if he’s more reluctant than your average coach, in that respect.

So, to talk about some actual events on the pitch, I have to say that I’m not really interested in talking about anything that happened at Turf Moor, other than stating the obvious: 81% possession in a Premier League match, 2.48 xG to 0.13, shots 27-3, completed passes 607-81. Come on, man. That’s not even a game. That’s a training exercise and an awfully boring one for everyone involved. The idea that Burnley “deserved” something from the game, as is the popular conception whenever a side playing anti-football finally gets put down, is ridiculous on its face. The only other event of note in that “game” was that Milos Kerkez really needs to work on his diving.

And the funny thing is that, even playing a much more engaging style of “defensive” football, Atleti still pretty much got dominated in a similar fashion on the pitch: xG 3.99 to 0.51, shots 20-10, big chances 7-1. But do you know how I know that Atleti played football just by looking at the numbers? Because we only had 56% possession. Because completed passes were 532-389. Because 6 of their 10 shots came from inside the box. Because their xGoT (the chance of scoring after the shot is taken) was almost as good as ours (1.81 to 1.92.) Yes, again, there’s no way to make a decent comparison between Atleti’s current squad and Burnley’s or even between the two as clubs. I get that. But I also get that, even largely playing on the counter as they continued to do even down 2-0 after six minutes, they at least wanted to play the game of football.

For our part, it was business as usual. We’ve now done the winning-ball-into-goal thing in the last 10 minutes or extra time in all five matches that we’ve played this season. We’ve already set a record by doing it four times in a row in the PL. I’m not sure what the record might be in the European Cup, Champions League era or not. I’m not sure I really want to find out, either. Oh, and that’s five winning goals from five different players, as well. I think we can easily dispense with the “lucky” label that so many rival fans are trying to pin on us, too. No one gets “lucky” five games in a row, even if three of those situations were set up by us surrendering two goal leads (another trend I’ll be glad to see the back side of.) This is on top of the fact that we have yet to trail in a game this season. This is a team that simply a) never gives up and b) knows how to win. That’s the advantage of having not only experienced winners like Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz, who might’ve imported some of Bayer Leverkusen’s black magic from the ‘23-’24 when they also repeatedly won games in the last minute (22 of them, at one count), but also the hardened veterans of our squad, like game-winner Virgil Van Dijk and MotM Mohamed Salah.

Yeah, Mo continues to do Mo things, being the first Liverpool player to both score and assist in the first six minutes of a match since Steve McManaman did it against the Villans in 1996. But speaking of Florian, I’ve been one of those thinking that it was going to take some real time for him to adjust to the pace of the PL; similarly to Fabinho, who didn’t get regular time in the ‘18-’19 season until November. But this match was his coming out party, as he bossed the middle of the field for most of his 74 minutes, creating more chances than anyone else on the pitch (5) and as many big chances as Mo (2.) Yes, this wasn’t maximum power Atleti, who had a number of regular starters on the injured list, but Flo still looked vastly more assured and deft with the ball than he has in any game to date. The derby this weekend, against the typical Moyesian clog-the-middle-of-the-pitch tactics will be an even more interesting test. Meanwhile, I’ll keep this relatively short, since I’m still doing a ton of work lately over here and over here and over here. And I will get to that piece on managers/head coaches soon.