KG Leonard wrote:If Liverpool played 60-70% of the regular attacking,passning they would have drawn or won. They was side passning, didnt run made Atlético look good defensivly. Its a myth of old great Atlético defence to say they played great defence. They defended with 9 players and Salah, Henderson still had shots in box. Horrible Liverpool offence made them look good. Keita should have played,Mane wasnt in shape to start.Baphomet wrote:Regardless of what happens at Anfield, Atletico have defended incredibly here. I haven't seen Liverpool look this bereft of ideas in years, or look second best to this extent. Tactical masterclass by Simeone.
Don't know if they can do it in the reverse leg.
Great Simone team with Griezmann, Godin etc would have scored the second goal.
Skickat från min SM-N950F via Tapatalk
I respect your opinion, but I would say that's a reductive analysis. Liverpool were playing sideways passes because they had no space to operate centrally. Atletico played deep enough to prevent the ball over the top, and were happy to funnel Liverpool out wide as they fancied their chances in aerial duels against their forwards. Vrsaljko and Lodi were playing very tight to the wingers and did well in mostly preventing Liverpool's trademark overlaps. They also created many great chances and honestly should have won by more.
You mean to tell me that a historically great team that's the reigning CL champion, who have won all but one game in the league, didn't get a SINGLE shot on target for the first time in ages because "they didn't run"? Liverpool have had no problem implementing their gameplan in every other game this season, with the exceptions of United and Napoli away. If Atleti had played any other way they would have been destroyed, just like Liverpool have destroyed near everyone else this season. Their gameplan was to fluster and prevent Liverpool from playing their usual game, and they succeeded because they dug in behind the ball defensively and "won" (wink wink) free kicks in key areas. Simeone has done this time and time again in big matches, regardless of personnel.
Now, whether they can do it at Anfield? That's another story. But I'm quite confident in saying that the first leg was a tremendous defensive tactical display.
