The REAL Reason Arsenal Beat Liverpool.

In this video, James Allcott takes a tactical look at the Arsenal victory over Liverpool 3-1 in the Premier League title race.

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James Allcott content focuses on Premier League, Champions League, EFL Championship talking about Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Tottenham, Barcelona, England, Chelsea, Jurgen Klopp, Erik Ten Hag, Mikel Arteta, transfer news, tactical analysis and much more. James has made content with Mark Goldbridge from the United Stand, Rory Jennings, Ben Foster, Spencer FC, The Club, Thogden, JaackMaate, ESPN and many more.

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This was the moment yeah oh D oh no what’s going on here he looks like he’s not going to kick it I’m not sure he’s going to kick it yeah that was uh that was the problem we’re going to have to talk about V van djk in this video guys

Liverpool have lost they have lost away at the Emirates Arsenal are in the title race guys you are always in the title race I’ve done a lot of content this week and a lot of people talking about the fact that Arsenal aren’t really in

It it’s a lie now this game was down to fine margins we will explain that but Arsenal utterly deserve this one utterly utterly utterly deserve this one we’re gonna have to go through the goals we’re gonna have to go through what in my opinion when it comes to lineups I think

Klopp got it really wrong really wrong in this one and he spoke about it in his interview himself I’m really pleased he did bring it up himself because I think it’s a an interesting element of it and look the goals are the things that matter so let’s go through the goals

Because I mean it was a car crash wasn’t it let’s be honest for quite a few of them apart from the first goal and this is where I want to talk about some big time players for Arsenal that in these big games moving forward are players that actually in the games against the

Lesser sides when you’ve got the ball when you can utterly dominate these not might not be the kind of players for you but in a game like this when you want to safeguard the center of the pitch when it’s about being really really smart players like havs and also teams

That will play a high line as well when you play against those teams players like hav and players like georgino are absolutely crucial and odard as well um I don’t know if you guys around the world were able to watch it in the same mode that I was but you’re able to watch

The whole game properly uh and it was absolutely fantastic and the first goal is a great example of what they did brilliantly but it’s also a example of the vulnerability that Virgil Van djk has to play Within and the risks that he consistently takes I think we did this

For the man city game I brought up the fact that van djk sort of cheats and and the reason he cheats because he often he kind of has to he has to sort of read the game and make those those big moments now in a different kind of game

You wouldn’t have to make those same um risky movements but in modern football in the way that Liverpool play and overall it’s worth doing he takes those risks um and it pays off but as a general as a someone like who’s a center midfielder let’s say let’s have a look

At the sort of tactics element of it here because as we go through the goals it’s really important to say that say someone like Gino let’s use him for example if georgino plays here and he is sweeping and wants to sort of cheat and push and he did do that actually it was

De rice who stayed a lot of the time played as a double pivot a lot more they had a bit of a a box to be honest especially when they didn’t have the ball I’ll show you that in a little bit but someone like jogo in terms of him

Reading the ball if he reads tries to read the ball and they play around him you’ve still got other players if we switch that round and make that someone like Virg van dijk and the decisions that he’s having to make if you get it wrong it’s a goal and today was one of

Those days but this is this is also a good example of havit doing really really well and getting the credit he deserves despite the fact of him not being able to actually score the goal at the end of it so what’s really nice here is that there’s this triangle that’s played

Between these guys here Gabrielle havitz and havitz obviously havitz is Center forward so hit’s really should be up here sort of holding his ground being that Target man at the times he did that of course but in this moment he was looking to to drop deep and help with the press and what

That does is it takes a lot of players out of the game and this is the one goal that wasn’t down to utter calamities but taken out of the game taken out of the game taken out of the game taken out of the game by him dropping deep getting

The ball and then in the end the ball makes its way over to zenchenko if we move it on one more you’ll then see havit has made a very very quick move here and those Third Man Runners are really really important you see zenchenko here and the important thing

With all of this is this man here odard throughout the game was constantly free and he was constantly utterly fantastic for the team be it in terms of out of possession and the Press I thought he was superb but also just stepping into the other side of the pitch and actually

The side of the pitch that he’s probably not used to being involved in or you wouldn’t think that he is involved in it as much as he is because you generally would consider him a player who’s normally in this area here but by coming and getting involved first of all the

Center of the pitch is safe it georgino and Ry in this one but he is able to take out players and leave spacing behind but it doesn’t happen if you don’t have a third man Runner and also sacka who you’ll see in a second’s really important in this

First goal so havit drops deep they get through the Press zenchenko is um is looking for Martinelli but I think one thing that is a problem for Liverpool when they play sorry a problem for Arsenal yeah for Liverpool when they play Arsenal is Martinelli they can’t handle him and ultimately he’s always

Living in their minds rent three free and the important thing to say here is that everyone’s focusing about canate here and no one’s really concerned with Kai havs even Trent himself Trent’s thinking if I stay up and stay pressed as long as I keep the ball away from Martinelli who’s obviously here then

I’ve done my job but odard brilliantly comes and gets inv D and by getting involved but also as I say importantly hit’s making that run he’s then able to make a fantastic pass but the person that has to take a massive risk and is’s therefore going to have to take some be

A bit of a the full guy is Virgil Van djk is Virgil Van and you can see from his body language here VG van djk has a decision to make and again if we go back go watch that video The Man City video he has a decision to either like hold

The line up or stay in line basically or jump into odard cuz he’s seen him in that space face now it kind of goes against the idea of what clot wants to do with his team is that they want to be on the front foot and they want to press

High but I think with someone like V van djk I think he’s made the wrong decision here like totally when there’s so much space and again importantly that third man Runner of Kai havit we move it on one more he’s made that move towards odard great I mean it’s really really

Smart and genius play from odard and importantly again you can’t see him on screen here but sacka is kept is keeping it really really wide he’s um he’s underneath me so because you can’t see him what that means is that you’ve got Gomez here and canate who’s concerned about Martinelli and this

Huge gap for habits to get into and van dijk needs to he’s got to read that he’s got to play the percentages for someone who does take risks he’s got to take the the the um he’s got to play safe there has to play safe there and he doesn’t

And so if we move it on you can see it’s It’s Too Late by this point but it’s down to havit as good play now havitz goes through and as you can see you can see sacka there now and that’s why Gomez can’t get tighter and can’t help out um

Van dijk and again another reason why van djk has to wait he has to stay and I don’t know what he was doing there o of all the mistakes he makes and we’re going to go through the other goals this is the worst one in my opinion because

If he stands still still and stays there havit is not going to outrun him and as a team they’ve still got you know 40 yards to to sort of work with if it doesn’t happen but it did havit should have scored himself um but havitz was a real threat throughout the game I

Thought it was really really impressive we’ll come back to Vil van dyk’s problems but CA had a stinker as well for one of the goals and it’s interesting for these two goals both involving the goalkeepers I think for this one it’s not on David ryer but for

The next one it is on Allison that’s just my opinion feel free to disagree with that I think the important thing to say with cba’s goal is that first first of all you’ve got a header here go and win your header it’s LS Diaz you should

Be winning that and I think that’s one where this is the top of the top here so at this level you can’t make those kind of mistakes and you certainly can’t compound it by making another mistake and there’s there’s an element here of of of being a little bit too clever a

Little bit too cute at certain times and that’s why the comparisons with celra and Van djk are always there if we move it on you can see that’s the first mistake the second mistake I think look I screenshotted it here on purpose because from this point there’s

Absolutely no excuse for for this to become a goal because you’ve you’ve got your arm out you’ve dealt with it by this point get rid of it and again in your own penalty area I think it’s on you to make the decision I think it’s on

Him to get get it done get rid of it get to halim especially that as well you know look at that get to halim and you’re sorted the second goal for Arsenal actually artetta deserves some credit here because what people won’t have noticed and of course Martinelli goes and gets that goal but

What is his starting position now you would have thought throughout the game that this is Kai havs and this will be Martinelli wrong he had made that change and I think this is once Gomez had gone from playing the left back to the right back he thought okay martinell is not

Going to get the free reign that he had previously you’ve got to get through Gomez and then you’ve got to get through canate how can you hurt this team the most and so they thought maybe be that little bit more direct and so this is totally telegraphed he’s made that run

He’s already on on his bike before the pass is made so it’s a ball in the air to try and make it a bit difficult for them and as we know what happens happens as we see from that original screenshot I think the important thing to say with

The second one is that for me it’s Allison’s fault I don’t think the second one is Virgin van dyk’s fault but once again there’s a moment there where he can get across if he wants to and he doesn’t and and I think that’s going to be the frustration and this is what I’m

Going to come back to when it comes to Virgil Van’s performance in this game is that he takes risks he takes risks and it’s that’s a huge when you’re when it’s just you and canate and you’re going to play the way that you’re going to play I think

Sometimes there are games where you can try this stuff and there’s games where you where you shouldn’t and I think when you’re facing your own goal that’s that’s the moment you know I think when the ball’s high up and you kind of you got to deal with things then fine but

When you are when you have your back to goal in particular look he he has a clear look to Allison they’ve been playing together for years and years and years and Allison can see everything so once that very clear bit of body language from V van djk goes to Allison

Allison has to clear this one this one is on Allison but if you wind back a little bit before that could van dijk have just cleared it of course he could of course he could so it’s one where it’s like I’m not saying verg van dyk’s

Bad you know I recently said that like he is back to his best but he’s playing within a system where he will always always always be taking risks and the third goal is another example of that before I get into that one thing we’re doing Twitter spaces on the JFC Twitter

Account so if you want to be a part of it and a part of the conversation especially for games like this the guys are doing one right now well in a second basically I’m going to go check it out in a sec so make sure you check that out

Thirdly I think there’s a reason why this looks worse for Virgil Van djk today specifically going forward Liverpool are normally so so strong and Arsenal fans stay with me here guys because we’re going to talk about how brilliant you guys were defensive but offensively you look it’s 91 minutes

You got 10 men on the pitch you haven’t got a right back anymore and so you are you know highly exposed in this area but again that’s just to to provide the examples of of who he is and how he plays and how much pressure there is on

His decisions all of the time because he you know talk about Jamie carer or any of these players they would have people with them so that if things go wrong you’ve got that contingency these center backs don’t play like that anymore and so with this one obviously the reason

All this happens is because you’ve got Harvey Elliot there that shouldn’t be happening but it is what it is and trossard does brilliantly if we move it on one what I think is really interesting is this look so ver van djk is here and he has a look around the

Back but if we have a look at that look and again I think there’s he is taking risks but he’s he’s very much alone here you know you’ve got Robertson over there his Center back partnership is now Thiago it would seem um he’s not involved obviously still making his way

Back mallister so he and when he sees the Arsenal player here I think what he’s thinking is don’t allow for a cutback do not allow for a cutback so he needs to time his run accordingly in terms of going across because he’s the guy who’s got to get across there and

Actually if you watch him run what he does he sort of starts a Gallop then slows it down and kind of gets in line with van dijk and again he plays chicken he plays percentages and there’s huge amounts of bad luck in this but the reason he’s now

Thinking all I need to stop is this cut back this cut back here so he trusts Allison from that point of view but you know again playing percentages right so he makes his way across he’s in line with him and then the time that he does

Get the block off trossard is but is here so again is it something that is necessary could he have just galloped along and got it sorted is he struggling by being left vulnerable by the players around him are we expecting too much from him I think it’s a fair point as

Well yes I think the answer for all of these things right it’s gray it’s not black and white but the risk you’re taking here is that because of everything that’s gone on here and you’re two one down I get it he is dicing with death and so when you’re

Dicing with death and you get a bit L bit um bit of bad luck you die the reason it looks worse is because Liverpool offered absolutely nothing going forward that was down to two things one the lineup but two it was down to Arsenal’s defensive approach which was absolutely fantastic they’ve

Been really impressive in those big games especially through the center of the pitch and and this is a great example of it and what they did was they kind of played a 442 out of possession odard was absolutely brilliant but the main focus here was stopping all of the passing

Lanes um to vergin van djk and to canate at times as well so they could go side to side as you can see here there’s no way through at any time havit dropping in with odard odard starting the Press time and again and again I thought he

Was his sort of vision both defensively and offensively was absolutely fantastic in terms of going around and sort of not putting out fires but kind of solving problems with his with his brain like just super super smart stuff but the same came from from georgino as well who

I thought was superb and you can see him barking orders um in this screenshot and defensively they just look so so sound so so sound throughout the game and and that was a big reason why they were able to do it and again this is as as it

Shifts across you can see that 442 okay that’s that pass that can come out here but they’re safe sack’s making his way Ben White is already on his way there as well every single Channel and passing Lane is is utterly utterly sort of stopped and I think that was the problem

For them for Liverpool because in terms of getting the team wrong this is where they went wrong for me I thought the decision to play grenberg was just miles off it absolutely miles off it and the reason I say that is because what Virgil um what Young klopp said himself which

Was we was we were trying out a new right-sided triangle now Chris pjac did an amazing video on this I would absolutely implore you to go and check it out if you’re interested in in Liverpool in any way obviously an amazing Channel but the important thing

That that he spoke about and and klopp said it himself was when he talks about triangles the triangle that he’s talking about is these three now now if you’ve got that congested press let’s just get it set up here if you imagine it’s like this you’ve got this congested press here

Right and then you’re looking to play through that if I bring in two players say jot out put Salah in for a second so let’s go find sabosa who I thought they were massively massively missing throughout the game and you put him here instead of graen bur that is a much

Better team that’s where having players like sabar like who can get on the ball and turn or come out wide and be comfortable with the ball as well to sort of you know displace the opposition defensively so that’s one thing that obviously klopp hasn’t got Salah and

Saos is supposedly injured but to bring in grenberg grenberg doesn’t want to be there he doesn’t want to be in these half spaces he’s just not that kind of player I think you know we did a video about him and Alonzo I think him in a

Deeper uh position driving I see it I think it can work but in a game like this it had to be Harvey Elliot for me had to be Harvey Elliott and they looked to to eradicate in the second half so that um mallister wasn’t totally on his

Own and and Jones came and got involved where is Jones I’m got him in there there we go but in this game on this right hand side Trent the reason he got taken off as much as anything I thought was that he was just utterly redundant

Because he had no one to really kind of play it to and I thought jotter again similar idea right jot never really wants to be here he just doesn’t he wants to bend and make those runs and that’s why they have been great at times but that lack of variety and that lack

Of a player like Elliott I thought was massively massively missing in terms of how they were going to get forward and win the game credit to Arsenal defensively got utterly spot on sort of the brains of georgino the brains of odard crucial in this one and you saw them in the stats themselves

.41 XG against Arsenal you know Liverpool always create chances weren’t able to do anything at all in this game and in the first half not10 utterly nothing total nothingness the average positions explain the out position work that we were talking about in terms of that 442 the amalgamation of

That and then from a forward point of view sticking with that width and in particular Martinelli on that left hand side almost being like an advanced forward always looking for him in behind and the work that havit did was crucial and Liverpool you can see it there so

Congested so unable to to get up the pitch and get in behind an absolute disaster for them and and that’s the final thing I want to say when it comes to Virgin van djk is that the style of play is worth it and this title race

Comes down to to to the what you’re best at and those things coming out on top and overall I still think Liverpool win the league I’ve said that I think they will I think they get those players back this is one of those game games one of

Those days but what will get them the title is that offensive side of the game because they do go all at it and so in games like this things will happen like this and Virgil Van djk will continue to make mistakes I’m going to use that word because he’s having to play percentage

Defending at times because he doesn’t have that security around him so an absolute horror show of a a day for them and when it comes to Arsenal in terms of being in the title race it’s about the offensive side of Liverpool but for for Arsenal defenses win titles defenses win

Titles and now I know again we’re staying in the gray because CBA has made a horrific mistake with this one but overall the defensive control is really really impressive and actually fin thing that I want to show you with that in mind is to have such a low XG as you can see

No.41 but to not make many tackles not make many interceptions 11 tackles throughout the game eight interceptions throughout the game 15 clearances throughout the game there not a lot of effort going in there so it’s down to Smart defending great day for Arsenal huge day for Arsenal

Good day for the Premier League in terms of the title race bad day for Virgil Van djk and for Liverpool