Liverpool’s defensive shape deserves far more credit

There was a moment during the first-half, one of many moments, when Martinelli gathered the ball and ran at Trent Alexander-Arnold. He had skinned him previously, and seemed set to torment him again and resurrect the old debates about whether Trent can defend or not. Instead, Jordan Henderson was there, shuttling over in the half-space between Trent and Joel Matip, providing the buffer to enable Trent to apply pressure and reclaim the ball.

That was it really. A lot of noise and a bluster of intent from Arsenal that swiftly faded, as it had done so for most of the first-half. They were the better team but in that sense that they never really dominated or controlled any phase of play or even the tempo. Neither were they necessarily reactive; Arsenal defended stoutly in a compact mid-block and pressed Liverpool intelligently. The visitors were unsettled, unable to conjure fluid passing rhythms and it was Arsenal who seemed likelier to score during the first-half.

Likelier to score doesn’t mean they were likely to score. There were no clear openings, or even half. Liverpool controlled the space and Arsenal finished with an xG of 0.67 that tells its own story of just how difficult it is to break this Liverpool team down.

You wouldn’t believe that based on what you read and hear. The criticisms of Liverpool’s…