Liverpool vs West Brom

Rory Fitzgerald · October 23, 2013

Set up

West Brom's greatest quality is their willingness to work for each other and play as a team. Whilst the differences are subtle, I see their set up more as a 4-4-1-1 rather than a 4-2-3-1 based on the mandate of the wide midfielders and the role of Sessegnon as the link man between midfield and attack.

Steve Clarke has settled on his defence and 2 holding midfielders this season with the rotation happening at the other end of the pitch. The quartet of McAuley & Olsson in central defence and Mulumbu & Yacob holding the midfield ahead of them is one of the more robust & uncompromising in the league. They are complimented by Billy Jones at right back and Liam Ridgewell at left back. In an age whereby full-backs are adding alot more to the offensive side of the game, Jones & Ridgewell are full-backs of the more conventional variety. Neither are blessed with great pace but both are well disciplined defensively. As such, what the back 6 may lack in individual quality, they make up for by being a tight unit and seem to be have been well drilled under Steve Clarke's tutelage.

Defensive support

Clarke has revealed that he worked hard with the players over the summer in a bid to tighten things up at the back going into the new campaign "In pre-season we just focused on getting back to basics. If you're solid and you don't give too many goals away then you always give yourself the opportunity to create in games. If you give yourself the opportunity, we have shown in recent matches that we can score goals." He added: "Am I pleased defensively? Absolutely! Defensively, as a team, we have been much better".

Below are a couple of examples of how West Brom have managed to keep it tight against Man Utd & Arsenal. Unlike the Newcastle Preview whereby Ben Arfa & Remy provided no support, Steve Clarke would seem to insist that his wide players drop back in to provide cover in the full back areas in order to allow the rest of the defence to remain tight and compact .

The following examples show what kind of obstacle West Brom can present when they aren't countered and get time to get men behind the ball. This is an example from the Utd game of how Scott Sinclair's position allows the rest of the defence to remain tight and not become stretched.

Here is another example of the wide players coming deep. With Arsenal being a team that generally plays a narrower game than most, West Brom's 2 banks of 4 are able to squeeze in field.

In the screen shot below, similar to those above, West Brom have enough men back to ensure that Olsson & McAuley are not pulled from the center of the box.

Dominating midfield

One notable observation from West Brom's defensive positioning is that they start deep . That is their regular gameplan. With Mulumbu & Yacob ahead and the wide players putting in a shift of work, Clarke seems to have taken the approach that if there is going to be space on the pitch when the opposition have the ball then its better for the space to be ahead of the defence rather than between/behind it. Against Utd & Arsenal, Carrick saw plenty of the ball and attempted a staggering 103 passes with a 91% pass completion rate. Similarly, Arsenal's two deep midfielders (Flamini & Arteta) were able to get on the ball and attempted 134 passes between them with a 97% pass completion rate each. None of this matters much to WBA, their defenders are not the quickest and as seen above, the midfield seems more intent on providing support when play enters the final 3rd to allow the back line to keep their shape and remain compact (as opposed to contesting possession much higher up the pitch like Southampton do). As such, Liverpool's midfield could see alot of the ball in non-threatening areas. The following graphic perhaps gives some credence to this observation with WBA being the team that rank 2nd last in terms of tackles per game this season - which may indicate 2 things;

that the team don't contest the midfield area as much as other teams, and
when the opposition are retaining possession the focus is on getting into position and creating a tough unit to penetrate rather than defending on the front foot and proactively trying to win the ball back.

Here is a graphic which seems to suggest that teams find it hard to create many good opportunities against WBA. In the 1st graphic, they are the team that have conceded the fewest shots within the 6 yard box - perhaps due to the doggedness of McAuley & Olsson not being caught out of position too much. Ideally teams will look to restrict the opposition to shooting from range and WBA have been 4th best team at this so far this season - perhaps due to the limited space/gaps in the box that opponents try their luck from range.

As only 5 graphics are permitted in 1 post, the rest of the preview is continued here;

The Inside Right

The rest will look at West Brom's attacking players, how we might find some space and how Saturday may turn out.

Dan · October 23, 2013

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