Offside trap/high line.

[Insidious]

I'll not pretend to have examined it in great detail, but have been conscious that it is something brought up in match threads a lot, largely due to fears of conceding goals.

I don't know if this stat is for the League or for all comps, but I saw a graphic done by the Athletic (prior to Burnley, so figures are now out of date) about sides successfully pulling off offside traps. I was curious to see where we were on the list as Klopp has cited Sacchi as an influence in the past.

For context, Brentford and Man City, one a data-driven outfit, the other an elite and well-coached side (much as I dislike conceding it) were in joint second with 49 each.

We on the other hand were on....90!!! That's an absolutely huge disparity and it goes to show how big a part of our set-up it is. What's mad is that it would likely be much more, but for those times where Van Dijk, Matip or Alisson mop up and advantage is given for us to play on.

It's interesting - on the eye test I knew we did it a lot but by the end of the season we likely end up executing it close to twice as often as any other side in the League!

I know the high line divides opinion at times and it's relevant to Offside traps so thought it might present a chance to discuss it without it being lost in a thread of a different topic.

[LEGS]

The high line is done so we can squeeze high per up the pitch and nick the ball, we need all the players close together as such to do that you can’t have big spaces in case a team plays through us or there is a turnover.

It is risky if you not pick up deep runners but it is also invites pressure if you sit bit deeper teams will get closer but not be able to run in behind.

My only gripe with it this season is at Chelsea at 2-0 up they got in several times before we really should have been boring taken 2-0/2-1 at HT but I guess Klopp would say it helped us score two and they had to attack us.

This is like the Rafa days of “zonal marking” it was really bad wasn’t it Reina got most clean sheets most seasons!

Pundits would and still do stream MAN TO MAN marking he is your MAN .....I mean nobody ever scored on man to man marking you know !!

There is no right/wrong way there is always pros and cons to every system and style you play it comes down to how good the players are at doing their jobs nothing has changed in the 40 years I’ve watched the game.

[Insidious]

Thanks for that LEGS.

Personally a massive fan of the high line and the opportunities it can provide for the majority of situations.

Where I might be a bit more "on the fence" is situations where we develop a 2-0 lead with 30 minutes (or more) of a match to go.

I find myself easily torn between the sense of "doing what's working" (ie more of the same) or "sitting in" a bit more, in spells, with a view to reducing space for the opposition and opening chances to counter.

Irrespective of that, still absolutely amazed that we're not far off having twice as many successful traps as any of the other sides - it's a really noteworthy disparity.

[TheDOC1979]

I think it's easy for us to talk about the high line and criticise it when we're not playing our best and teams hit us on the counter. They don't usually result on goals, but if our forward play was silky and we weren't giving away so many silly passes, then we wouldn't notice it to be honest.

The stat is actually refreshing to see, but you can't blame the gasps of despair when a sloppy pass is played when we're playing that high up.

[Taksin]

I read the title of the thread as

‘Our crap high line’

[teesred]

I think it's easy for us to talk about the high line and criticise it when we're not playing our best and teams hit us on the counter. They don't usually result on goals, but if our forward play was silky and we weren't giving away so many silly passes, then we wouldn't notice it to be honest.

The stat is actually refreshing to see, but you can't blame the gasps of despair when a sloppy pass is played when we're playing that high up.

Fully agree. It rarely results in is conceding and the fact we have top end players who can execute it well means it's not a problem. It's an issue if you dont have players good enough to employ it.

[Nineteenx]

Our high line is or was a part of our pressing and counter pressing system, it was to allow us to press sides high and win the ball high through forced and unforced errors, smother them throughout the 90 minutes so they can never play out easy and create the sort of chances all too easily we've been letting almost every side do all season

We're nowhere near a good press and counter press this season, nowhere near it, I can barely remember a situation or goal we've scored from our press and counter pressing allowing us to nick the ball high through a forced or unforced error in any of our games, whereas the team we're chasing in the league have absolutely excelled at it

I don't honestly see the point in our line being as high as it is anymore, as our poor excuse of a press and counter press isn't seeing us get any benefit from it, it's just an unnecessary risk that without a exceptional press and counter press has the incredible potential to be our undoing, Alisson, Virgil and Matip aren't going to bale us out every time we gift the opposition the kind of gilt edged chance we've given up far too many of this season

Drop the line a little or sort the press out for me, it's not been good enough since February 2020