Van Dijk has solidified Jürgen Klopp’s defense, being the best this season in the Premier League only conceding 21 goals, receiving ten fewer goals than Manchester City. He is not just a defender, with an attacking past, he has a versatility to play in-possession adapting to Liverpool’s style when playing against different opponents.

In this scout report, we are going to do a deep tactical analysis of Virgil Van Dijk in this 2019/20 season. The analysis will focus on different areas of what some conclude to be the best central defender of the world. His ability to read the game in all the phases makes him the perfect central defender for Klopp’s tactics.

Intelligence to read the game

Klopp’s style relies on a highly attacking team, in which sometimes both of the fullbacks will be position high on the pitch leaving the centre-backs exposed, with huge spaces to be cover. Awareness becomes essential for the back two, as they need to know where the rivals are and which are their options. Most of the time, the opponents of the Reds use counter-attacks as the only way to attack them, this would involve fast transitions in which Liverpool will only count with the two centre-backs and possibly the centre-midfielder. Van Dijk has the perfect capabilities in these scenarios, as he can fast read the situation and anticipate the play reducing the chance of a counter-attack. He outperforms his centre-back team-mate Joe Gomez in both recoveries and counter-pressing recoveries, 14.49 vs 13.68, and 6.67 vs 6.32 per game respectively.

His speed supports his anticipation capabilities, he is quick in reading the play and accelerating to deactivate the rival’s attack. You will not imagine from a 1.93m-tall to have such an acceleration, but his athleticism is indeed remarkable. In the next picture, we can see his intelligence to read the game and anticipate through pace. In a defensive transition, the Reds defensive line has pushed up leaving Bournemouth attacker offside. Van Dijk knowing where the rivals are, he just needs to look to the ball and anticipate the horizontal pass to the central lane, accelerated intercepting the pass, and starting the counter-attack for the second goal for the Reds.

As we said before most of the times the Reds central-defenders will be attacked with pace and in numerical or positional superiority. Numerical superiority caused by the number of players that Klopp’s team involves in their attacks and positional superiority because attackers have the advantage of running frontwards towards the goal and the option of using the blind-sides. Albeit, Van Dijk excels in these inferiorities’ when challenged, mainly by reading the play and taking a fast decision without needing to get involved in a duel or tackle. In the next picture, we can see this applied in a counter-attack against Wolverhampton, in which the rivals managed to get into the box. Van Dijk nor challenge the ball-carrier neither sits deep protecting the goal, he instead read the cross-back intended to the edge of the box and intercepted the ball brilliantly. He already knew who was on his blind-side and read that situation perfectly.

In ball possession

Van Dijk is not just a good defender, his in-possession attributes in control of the ball make him a complete player. Klopp’s tactics need from his players’ versatility to adapt to the different styles of the opposition, and Van Dijk accomplishes that perfectly. Most of the time the Reds will face teams who sit back in a low compact block, from here is where we are going to see one of the best attributes of Van Dijk which is his ability to break this low-block using long cross-passes behind the defensive line. In the next picture, we can see in the game against Bournemouth his passing range as he placed a long cross-pass behind the defensive line.

Sometimes Klopp’s team will be facing a medium or high block opposition, which in this case requires from the central defenders to drive forward to overcome the first line of pressure and to commit the 2^nd line of pressure. In the next picture, we can see the aforementioned capabilities when in-possession against a medium block applied by Manchester United. He first dribbled up passing the striker pressing him, then he read perfectly the scenario up the pitch and made a long cross-pass connecting Mohamed Salah in the wide channel.

Defensive duels

If we just focus on stats, we will not understand why such a defender will only commit to 3.06 defensive duels on average per match, 11 less than Tottenham Hotspurs leader in this tally Juan Foyth with 14.67 defensive duels per game. This is part of what we already mentioned in the first section, his anticipation capabilities allow him to win the ball without even forcing a challenge or a tackle. In the next picture we can see this repeated high in the pitch, West Ham United recovered the ball in the central area and looked to pass the ball to the side to the only forward option they had. Van Dijk anticipated the play knowing that his rival was the only pass available to escape from the Reds counter-pressing. Even been behind his rival, he accelerated through the blind-side and used his body to protect the ball, without allowing West Ham player to even connect the ball.

The other attribute he used in the defensive duels is his body, we can see his agility to quickly move his 93 kg body to block balls and get rid of rivals. In a 50-50 situation, rivals will require a lot of strength to outplayed Van Dijk, as he can accelerate fast and position his body in front of the ball not giving any chance. In the next picture, we can see a 50-50 ball on the edge of the small box, which would mean conceding a goal if Raúl Jiménez connects it. Van Dijk’s agility to move his body in front of the ball was perfect not giving a chance to Wolverhampton striker to connect it.

He will also use all his capabilities in numerical inferiority to reduce rivals attacking duels, firstly intelligently reading the play and then using his body agility to speed and win the duel in the precise moment. In the next picture, we can see a counter-attack by Manchester United in which he faced a 2 v 1, the ball carrier advancing through the central lane an in behind the striker running through the blind-side. He managed this situation perfectly, he firstly sited back denying the option for a pass behind his back delaying the counter-attack. Once Andrew Robertson has recovered and took the striker on his blind-side, he speeded closing the lane for the ball carrier in the edge of the box, ending the counter-attack.

Aerial duels

This scout report won’t be complete if we don’t mention his aerial capabilities, essential for any centre-back. Van Dijk combines his intelligence to read where the ball is going to be and his physical agility to exploit his 1.93m to win in both areas, he averages 6.34 aerial duels per game with a high rate of success of 74.62%. If he commits to an aerial duel it is nearly sure that he is going to win it, we can see this in the next picture. He does not mind stepping over the midfield-line to easily win that duel.

Klopp exploits Van Dijk aerial capabilities in set-pieces using other players to block rivals and release Van Dijk from his markers. In the next picture, we can see Georginio Wijnaldum blocking Michail Antonio whilst Van Dijk uses his agility to fast move in front of his marker and attack the center with great timing connecting the ball. He has scored ten headers since his arrival to Liverpool, four of them on this season in the Premier League.

Conclusion

We have gone through a deep tactical analysis of what is meant to be the best central defender of the moment. The questioning on this player is why it took him so long to exploit, albeit being a central-defender gives him a long time to keep exploiting and reaffirming his top rank as a central defender as it is a position that tends to allow a later retire.

One thing that this defender is missing is cups, just 19 cups are only a few compared with the likes of Raphaël Varane that is one-year younger and already account 64 cups. Some could also argue the lack of trophies, but they already started to arrive and we foresee more to come to this great central defender in Liverpool.

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This tactical analysis provides a scout report on Firmino. The analysis will break down how the striker plays a pivotal role in Jürgen Klopp tactics both offensively and defensively.

Liverpool’s line up

Liverpool will typically set up in a 4-3-3 with a defensive midfielder and two box-to-box midfielders and Firmino as a false nine. Looking at Liverpool’s pass map from their 2-1 win over Bournemouth. It illustrates Liverpool’s passing tendencies but also the player’s positions. The defensive midfielders’ role when Liverpool are in possession is to sit in between the two centre backs to provide the pivot in the middle to dictate the play. The fullbacks will then push up remaining in a high position while the two wingers will slightly tuck in to allow space for the fullbacks to overlap.

Firmino will then drop back into the central space in between the two midfielders. This effectively means the formation switches to a narrow 4-1-2-1-2. As the pass map shows it means that Firmino is the creative midfielder and is the central link to attack down the middle. His positioning is also vital in Liverpool’s counter-pressing style as his slightly deeper position enables him to press quickly with the midfield as soon as Liverpool lose the ball.

Recoveries

As the analysis has mentioned Firmino will operate as a false-nine this enables him to be able to counter-press with the midfield something that Liverpool do very well. On average every 90 minutes, Firmino will make 2.51 counter-pressing recoveries and 3.29 recoveries. His work rate is admirable as the forward is determined to win the ball back for his team in order to get them moving forward again.

Firmino will typically recover the ball when tracking back. As the image below demonstrates West Ham have turned the ball over and the midfield is looking to drive into the Liverpool half. To stop this Firmino will run diagonally across from a central position to put pressure on the runner and force him into the Liverpool press from Georginio Wijnaldum, Andrew Robertson and Fabinho. As Robertson has stepped across it covers the middle meaning the West Ham player has nowhere to go enabling Firmino to win the ball back. Liverpool will often press in this way as it surrounds the opposition player meaning they can win the ball back quickly. This press is triggered as soon as Liverpool loses the ball.

Assists

Once Firmino has recovered the ball his immediate intentions are for a forward pass instead of running with the ball. On average the Brazilian will only attempt 3.5 dribbles per 90 minutes instead he will favour a forward pass as his intentions are to get the ball in and around the box as quickly as possible. This mentality has led to his joint-highest assist tally of seven Premier League with a potential of nine games still to play. Only Trent Alexander-Arnold has more for Liverpool with 12.

The tactical analysis has mentioned his false-nine position allowing the wingers to play in more advanced positions, as the example below highlights, this enables Firmino to immediately have passing options when he recovers the ball. On this occasion, he has two options in Salah and Mané. Salah’s wider position stretches the Newcastle defence leaving the space in behind for Mané to run into, Frimino quickly spots this and grabs another assist. Liverpool’s number nine is particularly good at his passing as he averages 32.29 passes a game with 81.93% accuracy. His central position benefits him as the two-footed Brazilian is comfortable dribbling and playing a pass with either foot, with accuracy, making him unpredictable and dangerous.

Dropping into gaps

As part of Klopp’s tactics, Liverpool often looks to play out from the back, however, when a team adopts a high press Firmino is then excellent at dropping into the gap in between the midfield and the defence in order to be a direct ball out to bypass the press. Firmino is then a forward-thinking player and will look to turn and get the ball forward. He is able to do this accurately as 155 out of his 181 progressive passes are accurate.

The example below demonstrates the areas that Firmino will target. As he is able to find these pockets of space he is able to quickly turn and look for a forward pass. His movement into theses position often triggers the wide players to get forward meaning he has passing options. On this occasion, it is Mané that is making the run and as Firmino has time to turn he is able to find a pass to the winger this direct approach results in a shot on goal.

Brazilian flair

In a similar way, Firmino is also excellent at finding gaps around the penalty area. Interestingly Firmino is more likely to drop into these positions than to provide the natural striking position in the middle. This is because both Liverpool wingers like to cut inside and Liverpool want to target the space in behind either for a driven cross to the six-yard box or to get into a shooting position. In order to do this Firmino will drop into theses pockets of space to draw the defence out.

What this example highlights is both the forward’s ability to find these gaps but also his brilliant technical skill. Firmino loves to add flair to his game adding a clever flick or a bit of skill whenever he can. He will often go for a quick skill as well-meaning Liverpool attacks can progress  with speed and fluidity. On this occasion, Firmino receives the pass from Salah drawing the defender towards him. From this position, he can see that the Egyptian has space to run into therefore needs to quickly get the ball out of a tight situation. It is likely that a normal pass would be intercepted as it is obvious what he wants to do therefore Firmino opts to stop the ball with his right foot before dragging it back and flicking the ball with his left foot. This impressive piece of skill causes the Newcastle to hesitate meaning he is able to get the pass to Salah, who finishes the brilliant move with a smart finish into the bottom corner across the goalkeeper.

Progressive Runs

Firmino only makes 1.8 progressive runs per 90 minutes. As the analysis has mentioned this is because Firmno plays more of a creative role. Nevertheless, he will make a forward run when the ball is in a wide position. This is to target the space in behind the defence, but also to take defenders with him to create the space for the wingers to cut inside for a shot. The image below highlights the position that Firmino will make for this type of run as Mané has the ball on the left and there is space in behind the Southampton defence. As a result, Firmino makes a diagonal run into the box where his shot is parried away by the goalkeeper. What this demonstrates is that Firmino is able to mix up his game making him unpredictable as defenders are unsure whether he will come short looking for the ball or drop in behind for a shooting opportunity.

Dribbling

So far this scout report has demonstrated that Firmino’s first intentions when receiving the ball is to look for a forward pass and therefore on average only attempts 3.5 dribbles per game. However, when he does run with the ball he wants to do it in the final third as out his 161 dribbles 118 have been in the final third. His overall success rate is 71.9% and drops slightly when in the final third to 67.8% this is to be expected as he will have more players around him and less space to work in.

When dribbling Firmino will take lots of little touches keeping the ball close to him and will wait for either a run from a teammate to create space or for the defender to commit before taking the ball past his opponent. This is effective for Firmino as his dribbling has led to expected goals of 7.35 from the shots that have followed.

Despite being very good with both feet he does favour his right foot and as the graphic below shows more goals have come from Firmino dribbling from the left coming in. This is because Liverpool will often look for the drilled cross across the six-yard box and to cover these defenders need to be tighter to the by-line this therefore creates the space for Firmino to cut inside on his favoured right foot.

Shooting

Firmino has had 82 shots in the Premier League this season only Raúl Jiménez and Salah have had more demonstrating he is getting into the right areas but is possibly lacking the finishing. The scout report has mentioned how two-footed the Brazilian is however he does slightly favour his right foot, for a large part of his game this is not evident until it comes to his shooting. Looking across the season 123 shots in all competitions, however, only 41.5% have been on target and considering 104 have been inside the penalty area with 59 being with his right foot it does show an area of weakness.

Part of the problem may be the type of shot as with his right foot he looks for the curled effort towards the far post, this requires a higher level of accuracy to beat the keeper as it often lacks pace. Notice on the graphic below the Brazilians shot pattern that the majority are on the right of the goal.

Conclusion

To conclude this tactical analysis it is clear that Firmino is a world-class player. He probably should have more goals this season considering the number of shots he has had, however, most top forwards will most likely say they should have scored more or wanted to have scored more than they actually have. It also cannot go unnoticed Firmino work rate off the ball as he plays a vital part in Liverpool’s counter-pressing system which has helped in Liverpool having the best defensive record in the league, and it’s not like Klopp’s team have stopped scoring, as only Manchester City have scored more, with 68 goals compared to Liverpool’s 66, 48 of which have come from the front three.

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Injuries haven’t really helped him. He’s missed 23 games due to injury at Anfield, making it a rather stop-start stint so far for the Guinean. But his issues are not just limited to that. It is more about the sort of player he is and what exactly Liverpool demand.

At Leipzig in the club’s 4-2-2-2 shape, Keita played a key role in a side that wasn’t as good as Liverpool. In his last season, he had a hand in 11 goals in the Bundesliga and did well in linking the midfield with attack with his ability in the ball and penetration.

Over two seasons at Liverpool, he’s contributed to five goals. His passing and tendency to get the ball and move forward is something different to what others provide. And that is something which hasn’t been helping him at all.

The three options Liverpool have in central midfield are Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Gini Wijnaldum. All three of them are workhorse midfielders. But Keita has played 66.8 passes per game for the side and that is around ten more than any other Liverpool midfielder.

Henderson, Wijnaldum and Milner aren’t the best of creative midfielders. They win tackles, hassle the opposition and lay it off for the full-backs. The likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson use their crossing and ability to get forward and create goals.

That’s why Robertson has contributed to eight goals and Alexander-Arnold has contributed to 14 goals. It shows that the club’s creation comes from wide instead of the central areas. The midfielders are meant to keep it tight and win it and recycle it wide.

Keita isn’t someone who fits that sort of a style. At Leipzig, the narrow 4-2-2-2 shape emphasised on creation from central areas as there’s no wide player bar the full-backs. It made Keita dictate things, score and assist.

In that sense, the system at Liverpool doesn’t really suit Keita. He does make an impact when Jurgen Klopp’s men look to attack and breakdown defences. But that doesn’t happen too often, considering how the season has gone for them. And due to that, Keita doesn’t get to play as much as he should.

For a player who is worth £48 million, that probably isn’t enough. That doesn’t mean that Keita isn’t good enough defensively. He has won 1.8 tackles per game in the Premier League and having played in a double-pivot in the past, he knows that trade. But his ability on the ball often goes waste in the system at Anfield. There is every chance Keita could be on the move in the summer and if you think that might happen you can register your vodds account and place a bet on where you think he will end up.

If not for injuries, he could have been tested more and he would have got more time to settle in. But that hasn’t helped and it is letting Keita down on a consistent basis.

The ability is certainly there- it was always there. But the suitability has come down for both parties involved. There is every chance he still makes a bigger impact but time is running out for him and it needs to change fast.

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