Liverpool’s attacking organization against Burnley
How Harvey Elliott’s first Premier League start affected Mohamed Salah and Trent Alexander Arnold’s roles and eventually the outcome of the match.
Harvey Elliott made his first Premier League start for Liverpool against Burnley last Saturday, after a fantastic loan spell at Blackburn last season. He was very involved, both on and off the ball, in the 2–0 victory in front of a packed Anfield.
I’ve analyzed Liverpool’s attacking organization in the match and how it was affected by Elliott’s movement off the ball and his qualities on the ball.
Build-up
Liverpool usually created a 3–1 structure to bypass Burnley’s two strikers in the build-up phase. For the most part, it was Trent Alexander-Arnold who dropped next to Joël Matip and Virgil van Dijk but sometimes it was one of Jordan Henderson and Naby Keïta who would drop between or next to the centre backs, with the other in a position between or behind the two Burnley strikers.
When Alexander-Arnold got the ball in a low position, Liverpool could often use the space behind Burnley’s left midfielder Dwight McNeil to progress the ball.
An advantage of utilizing Alexander-Arnold in a low position is of course that he can switch the play to the other flank or play progressive passes through the opponent’s press.
Roberto Firmino has played a big part as a ‘false 9’ for Liverpool the last couple of seasons and against Burnley, Diogo Jota showed that he’s more than capable of playing that role as well and that he’s not “just” a goal poacher in the penalty box.
When Elliott drifted out wide and a Burnley midfielder followed him, Jota dropped into the open space in midfield and could turn and play forward.
As another way to progress the ball, Liverpool used longer passes to the front three who could pass back to a midfielder facing the opposition’s goal.
Sometimes when Elliot was in a wide position, Burnley’s left-back would follow and therefore force one of the centre-backs to close down Salah, leaving their backline vulnerable.
As Elliott held a wide position and vacated the centre, Salah could turn inside when receiving the ball and find a midfielder or another of the front three who could drop into that open space.
Alisson is also capable of playing accurate long passes to a free player or behind the opposition backline. He showed that with a great pass to Elliott who almost set up a third goal for Liverpool in the 86th minute.
Attacking half
When Liverpool have the ball in the attacking half they follow a principle to have one player wide in the outer corridor, on each flank, and the rest in the inner and central corridors.
Against Burnley, the positioning on the right side was very dynamic with different players in the different spaces throughout the match. Liverpool’s three players on the right side (Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Elliott) had to share three spaces: the inside low, inside high and outside.
Most coaches position their players in spaces where they can do the most damage to the opposition. If they have a player who is great at 1v1 dribbling they might position the player out wide. If they have a player who has fantastic movement around the box and great finishing they might position the player in the inside high-space. And if they have a player who has a natural ability to play line-breaking passes they might position the player in the inside low-space.
But what Klopp has in Alexander-Arnold, Salah and Elliott are three players who are much more than one-trick ponies. There are different benefits in having these players in the different spaces. With the dynamic positioning used against Burnley, Liverpool were unpredictable and exciting to watch.
Trent Alexander-Arnold out wide
One obvious benefit of having Alexander-Arnold out wide is that he can deliver accurate crosses into the penalty area for the front three. Salah can join Mané and Jota in the box to try to score. In this scenario, Elliott is in the inside low-space and can focus on his playmaking abilities.
Mohamed Salah out wide
The most obvious benefit of having Salah out wide is that he can come onto his left foot and attack the goal either with dribbling or, like in the disallowed goal against Burnley, with a run in behind the defence. When Salah vacates the inside high-space Elliott can use that space to play through-balls to one of the front three.
Another benefit from having Salah wide is that Alexander-Arnold can be in the inside low-space and thread passes through the opposition to players behind the opposition midfield.
Alexander-Arnold is pretty good at striking the ball and in the inside low-space he gets opportunities to show that by shooting towards goal, although he didn’t manage to beat the keeper against Burnley.
Harvey Elliott out wide
Many teams have a winger and a full-back who share the outer space. But Liverpool also used their attacking midfielder Harvey Elliott in this space against Burnley. An effect of this is that both Alexander-Arnold and Salah could be in the central spaces. It was from that scenario that Liverpool scored their second goal of the match.
But Elliott is not just out wide to find other players in central areas. If you’re not familiar with the teenager, he’s a very talented player with huge confidence in his own ability. He’s not afraid of taking on a defender with a dribble and he backs himself to beat him.
In a friendly against Athletic Club a couple of weeks ago, Elliot showed Anfield his quality in 1v1-situations.
Attacks from the left
Although Liverpool’s attacking against Burnley was very centred on their right side, there were of course situations where the left side was used to create goal-scoring opportunities.
The first goal against Burnley was created from the left side where Keïta had drifted out wide. When he dribbled inside with the ball Tsimikas moved out wide and when he got the ball he had the time and space to cross the ball into the box for Jota.
While there were some attacks like that one, most attacks from the left came from a switch from Alexander-Arnold or Henderson out to Tsimikas who was isolated on the left side.
Mané and Jota usually stayed central and occupied the centre-backs. Tsimikas could often pass the ball back towards the centre and when Burnley had moved their block towards Liverpool’s left side Liverpool could then create overloads on their right side with another quick switch.
In the clip below, both Jota and Mané have the opportunity to find Salah who would be completely through on goal, because Elliott and Salah has a 2v1 against Burnley's left-back after the switch from the left side.
Although they didn’t find Salah they still managed to create a good chance. Because Tsimikas was isolated out wide, Liverpool could overload the centre and their right side and that’s where they could create the chance.
There have been a lot of talks about who Liverpool should buy to replace Wijnaldum. But the truth is that they have a lot of options with Fabinho, Thiago, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Milner and Curtis Jones not in the starting 11 against Burnley, who are all midfielders with different skillsets. It will be interesting to see how the attacking midfielder’s role will affect the whole team in different matches throughout the season, depending on who’s playing.
