Genius - Chapter 569: Can’t Stop Them? That’s the Point! (Patreon)

Guardiola hadn’t expected Klopp to be this bold.

He had already anticipated that Klopp would come up with an aggressive tactical approach for this match, but even so, this was almost recklessly daring.

Klopp had Leo press Ederson and Rodri press Fernandinho, while trusting Joe Gomez to handle Grealish one-on-one and assigning Van Dijk to mark Sterling.

In other words, Klopp had Liverpool’s defenders take Manchester City’s attackers one-on-one, freeing Liverpool’s midfielders to push higher and help the forwards press City’s back line.

At the moment, Liverpool were probably the only team in world football bold enough to use this kind of defensive setup.

“When you defend like this, it means that if one of your defenders loses his one-on-one battle, the attacker can go straight through on goal.”

“You won’t even have enough time to send someone over to cover.”

“So Klopp is truly going all in. He’s risking everything.”

“I know that if we lose this match, we lose the Premier League title.”

“But if we lose the title because we gave everything and still lost the match, then there’s nothing more to say.”

“If we lose because we were too afraid to play the football we really wanted to play, though, I don’t think the Liverpool players would ever accept that.”

The match continued, and Liverpool were determined to play exactly the way they wanted.

Leo was practically glued to Ederson.

Even when Liverpool didn’t have the ball, Leo barely dropped back to defend. He simply stayed next to Ederson.

Fans kept seeing two players standing in front of Manchester City’s goal.

Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought City had fielded two goalkeepers.

The 32nd minute!

“Manchester City simply can’t build through short passes! It’s just like when Liverpool played Tottenham last month. Tottenham were forced to go long as well!”

Stones, playing at left back, looked toward his teammates further up the pitch.

Sterling and Mahrez still had no real opportunities, and Grealish was the only available target.

Stones immediately went long.

Once again, the ball went toward Grealish.

Joe Gomez quickly closed him down from behind, positioning himself in a way that allowed Grealish to pass but denied him the chance to turn and beat him.

Grealish moved the ball across to Sterling.

But against the physically imposing Van Dijk, Sterling didn’t even have time to accelerate before the ball was taken away from him.

After winning possession, Van Dijk passed back to Alisson.

Manchester City immediately pressed forward, but Alisson calmly moved the ball to Robertson.

With Mahrez closing him down, Robertson played it on to Mac Allister.

Liverpool were completely in rhythm now.

“Manchester City came into this match wanting to control it from the very first minute, but now they can’t control anything!”

“You can’t stop Liverpool when they play like this. And really, that’s exactly the point!”

“When a top team has a squad this talented and chooses not to waste it by sitting back, but instead focuses entirely on unleashing all of its attacking power, then that team deserves to have the advantage.”

“They’re braver.”

“They trust their own ability and their tactics more.”

“And that’s exactly what these Liverpool players are showing right now!”

“Are Manchester City really going to lose the Premier League title because of this one match?”

“They’ve led the league for the entire season!”