RED LIGHT

LIVERPOOL played out a tactical “game of chicken” against Chelsea on Sunday.

And Arne Slot’s side came home to roost with a 2-1 win courtesy of goals from Mohamed Salah and Curtis Jones.

The Dutch tactician came up trumps thanks to a genius way of neutralising Blues star man Cole Palmer in a “traffic jam”, while simultaneously allowing Jones to dominate both ends of the pitch.The England Under-21 international proved the difference maker with his defensive contribution and vital impact in the final third.

Jones, 23, dedicated his match-winning goal to newborn daughter Giselle Deliah and girlfriend Saffie Khan. SunSport tactics guru Dean Scoggins explains how Slot was able to squeeze a win out of Enzo Maresca’s side.

Slot’s traffic jam

Slot and Maresca showed each other a lot of respect in their respective set-ups, but it was the move to shut down Cole Palmer which was a key difference maker. Chelsea have often looked to find their top scorer in the corridors between the centre-backs and full-backs. In possession Liverpool lined up in 4-2-3-1 formation with Ryan Gravenberch and Jones in a pair. But when defending this morphed into a 4-3-3 as Jones drifted into the channel where Palmer likes to drift to pick up the ball to stop him receiving it in those lanes.

This was not a man-marking job, but rather a job of cutting out the passing lanes while he also got help from Cody Gakpo to crowd that area to prevent the likes of Levi Colwill from executing his trademark long passes through the lines.

Jones’ role almost saw him hiding at times as he waited to pounce to press against the ball. Although Jones’ task of marking the area of Palmer meant he had a greater responsibility.

Double bubble Jones

Jones had a dual-role in midfield at Anfield.

The first saw him picking up the passing lane in front of Palmer, but this in turn left him unmarked by the Blues’ box midfield shape when the ball was turned over.

This meant Jones was then able to be the spare man in midfield for Liverpool, which resulted in decisive consequences for the overall game.

Jones used this free space to make late runs into the penalty area, resulting in him causing many headaches for the Chelsea defence.

His movement resulted in two penalty appeals — one that was given and one that was not given — and in him finding the open space to score the eventual winner early in the second half.

Chelsea’s own gameplan saw Malo Gustotucking inside from left back and pushing up alongside Palmer while Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo completed their box midfield set-up.

This freed up space for Reece James on the right side with Gakpo and Jones doing a specific job to cut out space more centrally.

However, James was far from his best and struggled to utilise this space, with Liverpool able to be patient and wait for the overload before counter-attacking.

String theory

As mentioned earlier, Gakpo and Jones worked in tandem to shut down the threat of Palmer. Gakpo — an interesting selection choice ahead of Luis Diaz — was often seen sitting in front of Jones to help block the passing lane.

He remained disciplined and kept a steady distance from Jones as a screen in front, with Jones then able to instruct him in how they could best combat the threat. This extended to when the ball was switched to the other flank, with Gakpo able to pick up Palmer after Jones tucked in to continually make a 2v1 scenario.

Game of chicken

The patience shown by both teams meant a lot of the emphasis on build-up play was left to the goalkeeper, and Chelsea’s Robert Sanchez did not have a great game in this regard.

Rather than jumping out to press, Liverpool simply set up and told Chelsea to try and break them down — a similar move to their set-up at Old Trafford against Manchester United.

The first pass was the trigger, but only if they had the numbers.

This “mid press” meant Sanchez was often forced to go long, and will likely be another indicator that Chelsea will move for an expensive ball-playing goalkeeper next summer.

Dominik Szoboszlai was given specific instructions to press Colwill when he was on the ball to stop him playing by blocking the passing lanes, but to leave Sanchez alone. —Sun

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