A remarkable Twitter thread released by @AIUnderPressure has debunked critique surrounding Liverpool’s alleged lack of pressing against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
Noting that Jurgen Klopp’s men conducted a similar number of pressing actions in comparison to our first-leg clash with RB Leipzig in the prior round, the thread highlighted Diogo Jota’s work off the ball as being a contributing factor to our press being made redundant.
It’s also worth noting how well Real Madrid executed their plan, as the La Liga giants’ claimed a vital 3-1 win in the first-leg to hand the Reds a mountain to climb next week.
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With our Portuguese forward still technically adjusting to life at Anfield and the tactical demands of Klopp’s style of football, it’s entirely possible that the 24-year-old still has some learning to do – particularly given that he was sidelined for a significant part of the season.
Tactical pressing has underlined our successes in recent years, marking a notable evolution from the raw, heavy metal football the German promised in 2015 – it’s return next week will be critical to our chances of making it through to the semi-finals.
Though we’ll face a tough ask to bridge the gap in the scoreline without our fanbase roaring from the stands, we’ve been in more precarious situations before and triumphed, so we won’t lose hope.
You can see the full thread below, courtesy of AIUnderPressure:
One of the biggest stories is that Jota playing the centre forward role did not press Kroos once during the entire match. In fact neither Jota or Mane pressed Kroos during the match. Jota and Mane pressed the same people in the same locations (Vasquez, Militao, Modric) pic.twitter.com/kuFUJz6bAC
— AIUnderPressure (@AIUnderPressure) April 9, 2021
The primary issue was that we were unable to press in packs or waves, mostly this was a function of Real's tactics. the only zones where we able to press as a team were on the left and right either side of halfway. Nothing in the final 3rd or across the Real defence pic.twitter.com/4JeR10Hxws
— AIUnderPressure (@AIUnderPressure) April 9, 2021
Jota/Salah pressed high on their own and were isolated. It was easy for Real to get the ball into midfield where they would play a short pass into the fullbacks to draw our players in before switching play once, sometimes twice to finally find a free man with time on the ball
— AIUnderPressure (@AIUnderPressure) April 9, 2021
If we did press them and there was a risk of losing it, Real simply went long and gave it back to us on halfway and we had to start again.
In summary, we created a problem for ourselves with Jota's positioning off ball, but the rest was Real brilliance.— AIUnderPressure (@AIUnderPressure) April 9, 2021