Tactical Analysis | Vitolo sizzles, Coutinho fizzles as Sevilla lift third Europa in a row
Image Courtesy Sevilla FC Facebook Official
Last night the commentators felt that Unai Emery tactically outfoxed Jurgen Klopp, but it was more about individual performances than wholesale changes in shape and organization. The match was won and lost in midfield, and Vitolo and Banega won the battle in the second half.
How they lined up
Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team have reached the final on the back of some fluidity in attack, and the German tried to maintain that with a front three of Sturridge, Coutinho and Firmino. Pool also had Divock Origi and Jordan Henderson back from injuries, but only for the bench. In a formation that always felt more like a 4-3-3 than a 4-2-3-1, Pool had Lallana, Milner and Can in midfield. Dejan Lovrenn and Kolo Toure once again featured at the center of the backline in the absence of Mamdou Sakho.
Sevilla lost Konoplyanka to a knock in training, making way for Nolito to start. Krychowiak and N’Zonzi shielded the defence, while Ever Banega, Nolito and Coke took charge of attack with Gameiro leading the line in a standard 4-2-3-1.
Coutinho and Firmino awful
Phillipe Coutinho had 36 touches of the football last night. To put that into context, his opposite number, Ever Banega, had 73. To say Coutinho was wasteful is slightly unfair, because he assisted the only goal Liverpool scored and completed 93% of his passes. The problem was that he was just not involved.
He barely made any off-the-ball runs, or completed any take-ons. In fact Coutinho had more blocks while defending, than take-ons while attacking. It was mysterious to explain at best, because it wasn’t like N’Zonzi or Krychowiak had stuck to him like a leech. They gave him plenty of room in the first half, and then later in the second, yet the Brazilian failed to have any significant impact on the game.
(Coutinho and Firmino's combined heatmap)
One Brazilian’s misery was shared by the other, and Firmino even took his invisibility to another level. He had one touch more than his fellow Brazilian, but was far less effective. One forward pass in the attacking third—one—and Liverpool’s potency in attack suffered clearly. The ball movement was slow and sluggish, so much so that even after dominating the first half, Liverpool could barely muster more than a handful of chances. With Firmino it was still understandable, he was just irresponsible in possession. 68% passing, 7 ball dispossessions, some of them in Liverpool’s own half, didn’t do the Reds any favours.
(Firmino's passing, only 1 forward pass in the final third)
Vitolo bosses, Coke finishes
To say the match was decided and dictated in midfield would be an understatement. Vitolo started lazily, not tracking Adam Lallana’s movement and gave the Englishman too many chances to run at left back Escudero. But that was in the first half.
In the second half Unai Emery asked his men to up the tempo and that meant quicker transitions, faster ball movements and more service to striker Gameiro, who was a passenger in the first half. Vitolo took it upon himself to change all that, and made a mockery of the Liverpool defence, not once but on several occasions, and was probably the star of the match.
More than his passing, which was penetrative to say the least, it was his off-the-ball movements that gave the Liverpool defence a headache. He had his faults as well, being too eager at times, getting caught offside once too often, and sometimes not too eager to track back. But his eagerness to get involved bore fruit soon. He chose to ghost into the spaces between the Liverpool midfield and defence and his pace in transition made things happen for the Spanish club.
Fact that, Emre Can was often caught high up the pitch and couldn’t recover in time as Sevilla poured men forward also gave him more space to manoeuvre. For the second goal he showed quick feet, excellent movement and clever shadowing before laying the ball for Coke to score a cracker. Coke scored once more, stealing away the headlines away from Vitolo.
Klopp throws the kitchen sink, Pool shift to a back three
After seeing his team rattled, it was a surprise Klopp didn’t make changes earlier than he did. His first change came at the 69th minute and by the 70th they were 3-1 down. Alberto Moreno was terrible and to keep him on the pitch for the entire 90 looked unpardonable. But that did not stop Klopp from keeping him on the pitch, after all he was always a better left winger than a left back.
Allen, Origi and Benteke were subbed in to change the shape to a 3-4-3 and that helped them counter the threat possessed by Sevilla to an extent by crowding the midfield, but what was more important was that they shifted the ball to the wide areas more. But it was too little too late, by that time Sevilla already had their third consecutive Europa League trophy in the bag.
