Three teams – Nottingham Forest, Fulham and most recently Manchester United – have traveled to Premier League leaders Liverpool and achieved a positive result this season, and they have all played a similar style of football.
The latest example – United's well-deserved 2-2 draw – was labeled a Liverpool landslide before the match, such is the current rift between the two clubs.
But Ruben Amorim had done his homework, just like Marco Silva and Nuno Espirito Santo before him.
United consistently attacked to their left, exposing Trent Alexander-Arnold's known weakness as Diogo Dalot's numerous rushes forward produced chance after chance. Bruno Fernandes then created the perfect entry for Lisandro Martinez to slam home.
The visitors' second was much the same as Alejandro Garnacho's left flank produced a cross for Amad Diallo who converted first time. Fifty-four percent of United's attacking touches were aimed at Alexander-Arnold's third of the pitch, something of a trend.
Liverpool's last six goals at Anfield have all come from the left – a thorn in the side of Arne Slot's systematic demand for control.
United not only preyed ruthlessly on the overexposed left flank, but also applied pressure with balls over the top. Nearly 80 percent of Andre Onana's kicks went long. It proved a simple but effective way to reverse Liverpool's high line and forced the usually calm Virgil van Dijk to retreat a few yards.
Rasmus Hojlund then played on the shoulder of Ibrahima Konate, a yard off the pace after the injury lay-off in December, while Fernandes and Amad roamed the space between.
“Man Utd's front three held Liverpool down and Fernandes caused Alexander-Arnold a real problem,” Jamie Carragher told Monday Night Football. “Their 3-4-3 system won out over Liverpool's 4-2-3-1.”
Slot's opinion was similar: “United had a very good game plan; no build-up, go long and don't give us a chance to press high. It's more about the opponent's plan if we drop points.”
Slot is right, but failed to address his side's weak spot until Conor Bradley came off the bench to replace Alexander-Arnold in the 86th minute. The same thing happened against Fulham in mid-December and here the pattern becomes impressed.
Silva understood the assignment just as Amorim did.
Fulham's opener originated – you guessed it – wide left when Harry Wilson sprayed the ball to playmaker Alex Iwobi, floating between Ryan Gravenberch and Alexander-Arnold, and he found Antonee Robinson's overlapping run.
Before you know it, Andreas Pereira had taken out Andy Robertson at the back post to volley home – the Scot also had a difficult afternoon against United.
The same perpetrators were involved in Fulham's second when Robinson ran behind Alexander-Arnold, again deliberately overloading his zone, before latching on to Iwobi's pass (yes, from the left) to deny Rodrigo Muniz.
Callum Hudson-Odoi's winner when Forest triumphed at Anfield in September relied on a little more individual ingenuity, but that all-round display, which forced Liverpool's famous failures, appears to have set a precedent.
Bradley may have been the right full-back on that occasion, but the outcome was no less damaging. Liverpool's inconsistency at right centre-back – Konate, Joe Gomez, Jarell Quansah and, by emergency measure, Gravenberch are all in – hasn't helped either.
The Reds' unbalanced defense and inability to deal with the strategic positioning of a number 10 who can play between the lines are modeled by three teams you would expect Liverpool to beat this season.
If Slot's team can't push high with a defensive line that plays further than halfway, they won't be nearly as effective.
Both Fulham and United forced Liverpool to play much deeper than they like, using width in advantageous areas to drag players out of position while the main striker stays high to create gaps. Leicester – the other visitor to Anfield in the same period – allowed Liverpool to play almost entirely in their own half and were defeated 3-1.
“Alexander-Arnold was constantly caught between Fernandes and wide full-back Dalot,” Carragher noted in his recent MNF analysis. Iwobi played exactly the same role a few weeks ago and before that Morgan Gibbs-White for Forest.
And yet Liverpool's shortcomings are so often offset by their electricity supply. They have the firepower to eliminate teams at will and have recovered 13 points this season by losing positions in the Premier League after being behind in four of their last six.
Maintaining a healthy lead as title favorites will be Slot's sole aim – but evidence proves they can be achieved with an ambitious and goal-oriented game plan.
Of course, having the courage to try is something completely different.
Watch Tottenham and Liverpool in the Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday, live on Sky Sports Football; starting at 8 p.m.
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