Manchester United and Liverpool's stalemate came down to two tactical decisions, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's decision to play 3-5-2 and Jurgen Klopp's move to a 4-2-4 late in the game.
Solskjaer sprung a surprise when he decided to line up with three centre backs, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Ashley Young used a wing backs, as Klopp continued with his usual 4-3-3 despite Mo Salah not being available and being replaced by Divock Origi.
YouTuber Nouman, who breaks down football games with tactical analysis, has shown how United's system allowed them to have the upper hand against their rivals.
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Interestingly the video compares United's approach to the one Arsenal took when playing Klopp's side earlier in the season but notes that Unai Emery played a 4-4-2 diamond so did part of the job but not all of it.
Essentially by playing three, or five, at the back, United matched up man for man with Liverpool's front three and Young and Wan-Bissaka went mono e mono with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson.
Arsenal's diamond was to cover Roberto Firmino dropping deep but United didn't bother with that, instead using three midfielders to cover Liverpool's middle three when not in possession of the ball.
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In terms of attack the front two were deployed in order to drag one of the two centre backs one way or the other to create space for their partner and Andreas Pereira.
The full backs are concerned with the wing backs which allows the wide men to find the runners in space between the two defenders.
However things changed late in the second half with Liverpool changing their formation from a 4-3-3 to a 4-2-4 and without Solskjaer changing his tactics enough they were able to get on the front foot more.
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The Reds' four upfront went against United's back three plus wing backs, who started dropping deeper, but that also allowed Robertson and Alexander-Arnold to push further forward.
With the two midfielders still being occupied one-on-one it became six on five in Liverpool's favour up front.
Overall it seems that United out thought their opponents to start with but with better players coming off the bench and the ability to change the system the visitors forced their equaliser.
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You can see the whole video here:
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Liverpool, Daniel James, Football News, Unai Emery, Manchester United, Premier League, Marcus Rashford, Jurgen Klopp, Arsenal, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer