Tactical Analysis | Vitolo sizzles, Coutinho fizzles as Sevilla lift third Europa in a row

How they lined up

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

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.

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.