Jurgen Klopp has been quite resolute in his use of the 4-3-3 formation in the past 12 months, with the German coach occasionally switching to the slight variant of a 4-2-3-1. Unlike the rest of the managers in the Premier League top six, he has opted not to use three at the back unless it has been implemented during a match.
The defence has come under scrutiny throughout the season, but Klopp feels that the best way to overcome their difficulties is through a combination of training ground drills from the back four and to expect more protection from his midfield and forwards. His reasoning behind this is that the defence will get exposed less frequently, if the advanced players press the ball at the right moments.
It’s extremely likely that he will seek reinforcements in the defence, although until that’s possible then he appears to have found another solution in the game with West Ham United. Slavan Bilic lost his job after this match and the Hammers were extremely poor once again, but that doesn’t alter the theory behind Klopp’s concept.
“We changed the system and yesterday (in training) was the first time we did it, 4-4-2, which looked maybe from the beginning like a very offensive line-up, we had a different idea - we wanted to defend deeper, more compact and using the space which we had for the counter-attacks,” said Klopp in the post-match press conference. “We will never know how it would have been if we don’t score the first one, I think it was kind of an open game up until then.”
Klopp has occasionally used a diamond midfield with two strikers in Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi in the past, but that has been usually confined to cup matches in an attempt to find an alternative structure. The two goals from Mohamed Salah and Joel Matip inside the first 25 minutes and West Ham’s woeful performance means that this variation of the 4-4-2 will face sterner tests.
A major factor behind Klopp’s adjustment has been Liverpool’s away form which had seen them win just once in the league prior to their trip to the London Stadium and concede more goals than any other side. It’s quite conceivable that he will use 4-3-3 for games at Anfield and the 4-4-2 on their travels, with encounters at Stoke City and Arsenal to come before the end of the year.
“That was one of the reasons why we changed systems today,” added Klopp. “It looked like a very offensive line-up, but it was a very defensive line-up.
“We had two No.6s, clear No.6s, two real midfielders on the wing in Sadio (Mane) and Ox (Oxlade-Chamberlain) and Roberto (Firmino) and Mo (Salah) had to really defend. That helps the last line and that's what we did and, for today, it worked.”
It also enables Klopp to use more pacey players on the counter-attack and the wide players can also assist the full-backs in a defensive capacity. The former Borussia Dortmund manager is under no illusion that the change in formation will simply solve their problems on the road, but it will give them more solidity.
