Liverpool is in very high form with an unbeaten record since the beginning of the season. In addition to having good physical preparation for his students in the pre-season, Jurgen Klopp is also making new tactical innovations based on old people.
Andy Robertson scored an important goal to help Liverpool come back against Wolves in round 5. That was the situation in which the Scottish star broke into the penalty area, caught Mo Salah’s pass and quickly finished the ball from close range. This was a familiar image of Robertson when he was playing for Hull City in 2017, helping him get into Klopp’s sights. From that point on, the German strategist wanted to build an all-out attack system where the two full-backs were also tasked with scoring goals.
However, from the beginning of the season until now, especially after the failed 2022-2023 campaign, Klopp has refined his playing style quite a lot, no longer 4-3-3, now switched to 3-4-3. This scheme of The Kop changes the tasks of many familiar stars, including Robertson.
At this time, Trent Alexander-Arnold rose high and played as a “number 6”, Robertson was assigned more defensive responsibilities, combining with a pair of central defenders to form a defensive trio. The Scottish player himself admitted that he had to sacrifice more for the common goal of the team. Therefore, moments like the goal against Wolves appear very rarely. This is what makes Klopp conflicted because he owns a good offensive player but is forcing him to play defense.
Even though Liverpool is unbeaten in 15 matches from last season until now, the German strategist is still a bit confused about how to use Robertson most effectively. Statistics show that since playing for Hull City in 2017, Robertson is the player who has created the 9th most chances in the Premier League even though he is only a defender. As for the number of assists, this star ranks 4th with 63 times (53 in the Premier League). Robertson is only behind Kevin De Bruyne (74), Mohamed Salah (62) and Alexander-Arnold (55).
However, since the beginning of the season until now, Robertson has not had any assists. The last time the Scottish international assisted was in the 7-0 win over Manchester United last season. That was the last moment before Liverpool changed their style of play. The last two assists against Nottingham and West Ham were both set pieces when Robertson was assigned a new task.
This season, Robertson has an average of 18.2 offensive touches per 90 minutes, the lowest since he joined Liverpool. This number is currently equal to about half of the season when Liverpool won the Premier League 2019-2020. Along with that, Robertson now only has about 1 touch of the ball in the opponent’s penalty area every 90 minutes. In previous seasons, this number was never less than 2 times/90 minutes.
The season Robertson assisted the most with 15 times was the 2021-2022 season. Looking at the chart below, you can feel how strong this defender’s attack power is.
On average in previous seasons, Robertson had 57% of his touches on the opponent’s side of the field. However, this season, that number has decreased significantly since he was assigned a new mission by Klopp.
Robertson’s number of touches in the midfield has decreased from an average of 15.8 times per 90 minutes to 12. In a slightly higher position, if you look at the diagram above, the number of touches has decreased even more. from 14.1 times/90 minutes to 7. In the midfield area, Robertson’s number of touches per 90 minutes has increased to 7.6, proving that Klopp is pushing his student to play more under his shoulder inverted full-backs game.
Even though he is taking on more defensive duties, Robertson still doesn’t forget to remind Klopp how good he is in attack. In the match against Wolves, Dominik Szoboszlai and Curtis Jones dropped deep at times to join Joe Gomez to form a defensive trio. From there, Robertson can comfortably advance to take advantage of his strengths. That was the moment Klopp realized that his student was returning to his old image. Even though his instructions were wrong, the German teacher could not help but be satisfied because Robertson brought very good results.
Gradually, Liverpool no longer let Alexander-Arnold and Robertson advance at the same time, which would be very dangerous. If Alexander-Arnold retires to play “number 6” to provide more defensive support, when he feels good, Klopp can let Robertson run forward as before, not necessarily forcing this defender to play full defense as desired. The decision was outlined at the end of last season.