The False 9

It has been a big season for tactical evolution of Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp. With just six games remaining his side sit only one point behind defending champions Manchester City

Barcelona host Atletico Madrid on Saturday at the Camp Nou in a game which could effectively decide the La Liga championship for this season. Barcelona lead Atletico by 8 points at the moment and with only 7 games left, this would be Atletico’s last chance to keep the title race alive

Piqué, Lenglet & Busquets were left against the trio of Fakir, Dembélé and Depay on a man for man basis, while the rest of the side pressured the ball high up the pitch in a bid to win back possession. Given the combination of space in behind, and time afforded to the Barcelona midfield on the ball, the opportunity was there for multiple attempts to clip the ball over the top for either Suarez or Coutinho to run on to. Man for man defending against Messi, Suarez & Coutinho was precarious enough, but pay special attention to the distance between Mendy & Rakitic on the Barcelona right flank Lyon pulled a goal back from a set piece, with Tousart finishing smartly, and generally looked brighter for playing with more conviction. With the tie out of reach, Lyon subsequently collapsed allowing Piqué and Dembélé to extend Barcelona’s lead to 5–1 over the next ten minutes.

This was seen against Arsenal a few weeks ago in City’s 3-1 win, where Fernandinho was used as a centre back when out of possession before moving into midfield alongside Gundogan, to play as a deep double pivot when City had controlled possession. When in possession, City shift from a 4-3-3 to a 3-2-4-1, with Fernandinho and Gundogan as the deep double pivot, Bernardo Silva and Sterling maintaining the width in the system, allowing De Bruyne and Silva to float around in behind the opposition centre midfielders to find the half space where the can be found. Usually, in a 4-3-3 this sort of in possession system is achieved by advancing the full backs so they are almost playing as wingers, dropping a midfielder into the back line to split the centre backs, creating a three man back line, and moving the wingers into narrow advanced midfield positions. Other players who could possibly play this role include David Luiz, Victor Lindelof, Allan and Marquinhos, due to their long range passing and composure which would make them able to play in midfield, Allan is obviously a centre midfielder who would be able to fulfill the same duties as Fernandinho due to his athleticism, positional awareness and tackling ability, whilst the others are centre backs who are athletic and technically good enough to step into midfield and give their side an extra made, especially if a side doesn’t have full backs who have exceptional attacking output.