Xabi Alonso to Liverpool: What Europe’s Hottest Young Talent Could do for the Reds
The shocking news from the world of football this week has been that of Jurgen Klopp’s decision to leave Liverpool at the end of the season. The current longest-serving Premier League manager, Klopp’s announcement came as a shock to everyone in the football industry. After almost nine years, Klopp has built a Premier League legacy that not many can boast, having rescued Liverpool from a 30-year drought in the competition. But what’s next for the Reds? In the wake of the departure announcement, pundits and fans alike quickly moved on to thinking of the future, and one name has stood out as a clear favorite for the Liverpool job.
This is of course Xabi Alonso. The current Bayer Leverkusen manager was a Liverpool player for five years and part of their 2005 Champions League winning squad. After just over a year in the Leverkusen role, Alonso has his side top of the Bundesliga. More impressively, Leverkusen remain unbeaten in all competitions this season.
With this in mind, it's no surprise that he is being linked with the Liverpool role. His lack of managerial experience does pose a slight concern; however, the style of football that his Leverkusen side have employed has certainly caught the eye.
Alonso has lined up with a 3-4-2-1 in every match this season. Focused on fluid, possession-dominant football, Alonso’s success thus far has warranted a lack of tactical manipulation. The fact that his versatility hasn’t yet been fully tested raises questions over how his Liverpool side could line up.
Below is the team that he has employed most frequently at Leverkusen this season:
Alonso’s 3-4-2-1 is centered around possession. His side maintain the highest average possession in the league, while also averaging the greatest number of short passes per match. Along with this, they rank bottom for long balls per game.
A student of Pep Guardiola, Xabi Alonso has ingrained the Spanish patience and precision into Bayer Leverkusen’s style. A focus on technical excellence particularly in central areas has earned his side top spot in the Bundesliga along with the respect of the global footballing fanbase.
3 at the Back
In Alonso’s system, the implementation of a back three serves two crucial functions. The first is their role as a constant outlet. In possession, Leverkusen’s center-backs push incredibly high up the pitch, compacting the space but also providing passing options. The two wide center-backs stay higher, creating triangles with their respective defensive midfield and wing-back pairings.
Taken from their last match against Borrusia Monchengladbach, the images above illustrate how this might play out in a game scenario. Center-back Robert Andrich starts with the ball in possession. He then bounces the ball off of a player in an advanced position who finds the right center-back (Josip Stanisic on this occasion) coming forward on the right.
The wide center-backs position themselves as backward outlets which enables Leverkusen to keep the ball safely. This base of three players across the defensive line ensures that there is always a backward option to pass to. When the ball is on one side of the pitch, the shape of the backline allows the center-back on the side with the ball to edge forward, while the opposite center-back pinches in to create a solid back two.
The options all along the backline are crucial to Leverkusen’s possession-oriented way of playing. The center-backs enable safety on the ball. They also represent the most valuable part of Leverkusen’s counter-press. As mentioned, they maintain a high central position when their team has the ball. This creates a defensive semi-circle that covers the central area of the pitch.
Here, as Monchengladbach attempt to break quickly after winning the ball, the left center-back Hincapie closes in centrally while the midfielders chase down the ball. A couple of seconds later, Stanisic emerges with possession.
The central position taken up by these center-backs helps to compress the opposition’s space tremendously. While the central center-back remains deep, acting as a sweeper, the other two players are free to step up and step in, closing down the attacker’s angle diagonally. This allows Leverkusen to pin their opposition in their own half while stopping most counter-attacking situations. In this way, Leverkusen’s back three is critical in their ability to keep the ball, both in and out of possession.
Box Midfield
While Alonso’s back three differs greatly from the defensive back four that Jurgen Klopp opts for, the two sides show similarities in midfield. This year, Klopp has operated exclusively with a box midfield when in possession.
While often described as a 3-4-3, the ‘wingers’ in Alonso’s system act as attacking central midfielders. Wirtz on the left side in particular comes deep acting almost as a third central midfielder. When Leverkusen have the ball, their midfield creates a box.
Liverpool have operated the same way. In their case, right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold inverts, forming part of the two-man midfield base with Liverpool’s defensive midfielder, while the other two central midfielders push forward.
For both Leverkusen and Liverpool, this box midfield allows them to move through the field centrally by creating a central overload. In the 23/24 Premier League campaign, 29% of Liverpool’s attacks have come through the center - their highest value in this metric since 2017/18. In this way, Alonso may want to keep the Liverpool midfield core together.
Much of the debate over Alonso’s potential move has revolved around Trent Alexander-Arnold’s role in the new team. For Liverpool, he operates as a right-back out of possession and as a central midfielder when his side have the ball in a nuanced, hybrid role. The success that Liverpool have achieved when playing through the middle this year may make Alonso keen on keeping Alexander-Arnold in midfield. In Alonso’s system, Granit Xhaka has been the pivotal player, and the man averaging the most passes per game in the Bundesliga this season. The Leverkusen attack revolves around him, as he has continued to showcase the progressive passing ability that once made him a staple of the Arsenal team.
Alexander-Arnold could be made for this role. The 25-year-old Englishman ranks in the 97th percentile for progressive passes for players in his position. Moving forward, he certainly looks to be the player for Alonso to build around when looking to play through the center of the park.
High and Wide
For Klopp’s Liverpool, the central progression that they’ve adopted this season has been a way of creating more space for their talented wide players - namely Mohamed Salah. Liverpool’s wingers have always been their most dangerous attacking players and the box midfield that has been taken on has allowed these players to flourish.
Again, Alonso has approached his tactic from a similar angle. Somewhat surprisingly, it has been his wing-backs, or perhaps more accurately wide-midfielders, that have stood out offensively. Grimaldo and Frimpong have managed a combined 12 goals and 14 assists so far this season. These are unheard-of numbers for players who many still consider to be defenders and who have primarily been defensive players throughout their careers.
Alonso’s system caters to them. The central progression employed by his side draws attention to the central areas of the field. Without out-and-out wingers, opposition full-backs often are forced centrally in order to mark Wirtz and Hofmann who shift deeper. This leaves vast amounts of space in the wide areas.
In the first image, Hofmann can be seen coming centrally and dragging the opposition full-back into the center of the pitch. Wirtz and Boniface maintain central positions which causes the Union Berlin back four to compact. With the full-backs sitting narrow, Frimpong bombs down the Leverkusen right and is found by a sweeping forward pass from Granit Xhaka.
While Grimaldo and Frimpong remain less important to the Leverkusen build-up, they hold their wide positions, either forcing opposition players to leave open gaps between their defenders or to leave Grimaldo and Frimpong with space out wide. Usually, other teams opt for the latter, which accounts for much of the wing-backs’ high goal contribution tally. They are frequently the players responsible for the final pass or shot.
If Alonso were to move to Liverpool, it would be interesting to see how he adapted this role to the squad. While Andy Robertson could certainly fill the position on the left as a bombing wide midfielder, Alexander-Arnold has adapted his game to be more successful in the center of the pitch. Liverpool’s talented attacking wingers could fulfill this role going forward but would struggle to meet the defensive requirements of these players in Leverkusen’s system.
A Good Fit?
Despite the undeniable immediate appeal, Alonso to Liverpool might not be the perfect managerial replacement. Trading Klopp’s energetic, direct attacking methods for Alonso’s patient and persistent build-up may be a more difficult task than first imagined. Along with this, Alonso is untested in regard to his tactical versatility, and at first glance it looks challenging to fit the Liverpool players into his 3-4-2-1.
The wingers that have been such a staple for Klopp’s Liverpool might struggle to find a place in this new-look side. The lack of a left-sided central defender might also pose a problem.
Generally, trying to imagine Liverpool under Alonso involves much of fitting square pegs into round holes. While Alonso’s superb record in the Bundesliga speaks for itself, Liverpool ownership will have much to consider in regards to this appointment. If Alonso were to join the Reds, a huge shift in the squad could be expected, as this hire may only work with a large transfer budget and an acute signing strategy. With the announcement of Klopp’s departure coming so early, Liverpool should have time to prepare this strategy. Plenty of work will have to be done. Promising or not, Alonso doesn’t look like the flawless Klopp heir. But who could be.
References:
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“Xabi Alonso.” 2024. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xabi_Alonso.
Agbobli, Joseph. 2024. “German Journalist Says Xabi Alonso Would Be Allowed to Leave Leverkusen.” DaveOCKOP. https://www.daveockop.com/latest-news/german-journalist-says-xabi-alonso-would-be-allowed-to-leave-leverkusen/.
Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo made big impacts off the bench. 2024. “Jurgen Klopp Has ‘belief and Trust’ in His Forwards after Liverpool Beat Fulham.” beIN SPORTS. Accessed February 3. https://www.beinsports.com/en-us/soccer/leagues-cup/articles/jurgen-klopp-has-belief-and-trust-in-his-forwards-after-liverpool-beat-fulham-2024-01-10.
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