Good shout!! No doubt Sane and Sterling as the "wing backs" pushed up as wide forwards to make it 4 attackers and really stretching us. F**k, I am not sure how to deal with this? Anyone have any ideas? Do we just hit them on the counter or just press high?
Remember what we did against Hoffenheim and Arsenal when they played a 3-5-2 / 3-4-3 / 3-4-2-1? We identified the weakest of the wide CB's (Bikakcic / Holding) and told Mane to stay high up the field to allow him to get in positions where he would be 1 v 1 with a CB. You have to trust your FB to deal with two players, which Moreno did really well in those games. It was a high risk / high reward tactic which worked perfectly. All depends on whether Klopp wants to go out and get the early goal or not.
We actually did the same in our 5-0 loss against them early on in the season. We left Salah up high and got him 1 v 1 against Otamendi who was on a yellow within 10 minutes. I'd play as we usually do, just slightly more cautious and we'll have to choose our moments wisely. City will be nervous as f**k, we're the ones leading 3-0, they'll make mistakes when they rush things to score an early goal and we have to be ready to pounce.
All in all it doesn't really matter how they line up against us. This is pretty much their shape in their game against us on Wednesday:
On paper it was a 4-3-3 with Laporte as a LB, in reality it was some kind of 3-4-2-1. Can't really put a formation on that, but they clearly played three at the back, which is what we're looking for. Laporte stayed really close to Salah and didn't push up. Sane pushed up high and Walker too. Problem was that Gundogan offered nothing at all.
Pep can't play both Sterling and Sane and also play Jesus and Aguero. He'd have to leave out David Silva, who is far too important to exploit spaces in and around the box. Well he could play both Sane and Sterling as wingbacks, but our front three will absolutely love that. Sterling isn't a defender. If he plays them both + both strikers, they'll only have 4 defensive minded players on the pitch. That's not enough when you're playing against us. Walker will play, he was rested against the Mancs. So if he plays the two strikers, it'll be Gundogan missing out and Sterling will be on the bench again. All it will do is give us more space in midfield to run at their back three.
I think we have to look at bolstering the midfield. A mid of Ox, Milner and Wijnaldum isn't enough. Tactics must come into it. We will be defending a 3 goal lead so we can't just pitch up and expect to play our normal high line attacking game. We will have to snarl it up in midfield.
Klopp may well go for broke. He's a gutsy attacking coach and your post may well be correct. I just think we should shore up midfield because if they get in early it's anybody's guess as to how it might pan out.
We don't need to bolster midfield at all. Three is enough and Firmino dropping deep effectively gives us four players in midfield. Mane also moves into midfield, depending on where the ball is. It's the halfspaces we need to protect, not the wide areas. Let them play their cross field passes, doesn't matter, as long as we shift quickly enough as a team and don't allow Silva and De Bruyne to get on the ball in those half spaces. Clyne isn't going to help prevent that, he has never done that kind of defending from a midfield position. Our midfield did brilliantly on Wednesday, no need to change the shape, the shape was near perfect all game.
I don't think City can both attack like they need to and also keep a clean sheet.
This is set up perfectly for us. We thrive on teams that need to score against us and hit them on the counter. I can see lots of goals in this one, and that's great for us.
Exactly. People have to keep in mind that there's one thing City absolutely want to avoid: concede an early goal. We score early, the game is dead. If I were Pep, I'd tell my players to play as usual, dominate possession, wear the opposition down and wait for gaps to open up. If they make it to half time 0-0, they still have plenty of time to throw the kitchen sink at us, at least they won't be out of the tie by the time the first half is over.
If they throw everything they've got at us from the start, one mistake from their defenders puts the tie to bed.
