There’s a bit of a truth we probably need to swallow first: Liverpool don’t always look like they’ve got the legs to press how we all want them to press. Not for 90 minutes, not at full throttle, not week after week. And if that’s the case, forcing it just turns into a half-press that scares nobody and leaves gaps where you really don’t want them.

So instead of pretending we’re going to hunt in packs from their goalkeeper, I’d keep the basic out-of-possession shape as it is. Let their back four have it. Let them knock it about if they want. The key is what happens next, when the ball crosses into our half and suddenly it actually matters.

Sit off, then squeeze when it matters

The idea is simple: once the ball comes into our territory, that’s when you go properly aggressive. Man for man, squeeze up like your life depends on it, and make the pitch feel tiny. Not a gentle jog towards them. A proper collapse that forces rushed touches and ugly decisions.

You can even live with leaving one of their centre-halves “free” in the build-up if the trade-off is an overload in midfield and clear references for everyone else. If our striker marks one centre-half and the other gets ignored, fine. The point is to funnel the ball into areas where we can bite, not drift around in a vague mid-block and call it control.

On the ball: stop being so polite

With the ball, it’s hard to escape the feeling we can be far too easy to play against. We keep it, we recycle it, we start again. All very tidy. All very comfortable for the opposition if we’re not stretching them or asking proper questions.

First thing: width. Proper width. High and wide full-backs overlapping rather than always worrying about holding shape or tucking inside. Make their wide players run back towards their own goal. Make their full-backs choose between stepping out or protecting the box.

Second: balls into the box from out wide. Not hopeful punts for the sake of it, but relentless delivery with intent, early enough that defenders have to turn and face their own goal. Too often we get to a decent crossing area and then decide the “safe” option is another pass backwards.

Pull the trigger and lift the tempo

Third: shoot. Or at least, stop refusing to shoot. There’s a habit of always looking for the extra pass around the box, and it slows everything down until the chance is gone. Sometimes you’ve just got to pull the trigger and live with the outcome.

And it all comes back to tempo. Move it quicker, play forward quicker, attack the space quicker. Tempo, tempo, tempo. Get that right and the funny thing is you actually earn the right to sit in when you’re winning and comfortable, because you’ve already done the hard part: you’ve hurt teams first.

I’m with the fan view on this one. It doesn’t feel like a squad issue. It feels like a choice. And it feels fixable.

Written by Ecogsi: 21 December 2025

Tags: tactics efl