Liverpool winning 2-1 against Newcastle United, with ten men, was the shock result of the Premier League weekend.
Following a goal from Anthony Gordon and a red card for Virgil Van Dijk, things looked desperate for Jurgen Klopp's side. However, a calculated risk over where players would commit to attacks allowed them to stay in a game that Darwin Nunez would eventually win for them in expert fashion, leading Klopp to claim the comeback is among the greatest of his career.
What's perhaps more difficult to ascertain, though, is that prior to the red card, Newcastle were gaining control in the game. They had taken the lead through Gordon, who then continued to terrorise Trent Alexander-Arnold and win the individual battle handsomely.
With their captain Van Dijk sent off, things looked even worse for the Reds. Liverpool were, ultimately, at a numerical disadvantage.
That's not how Klopp saw things, though. The German boss flipped that numerical disadvantage on its head by employing a 4-3-2 system for his players, with attackers Mo Salah and Cody Gakpo dropping deeper than traditional forwards.
What this enabled Liverpool to do, as FourFourTwo's Adam Clery highlights in the video above, was create overloads across the pitch, but most notably in the centre of midfield. With Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson defending in wider areas, and Salah and Gakpo narrow up front, Dan Burn and Kieran Tripper were effectively given free reign to get forwards.
However, neither took advantage of their extra space or time on the ball, with Klopp confident they wouldn't cause the same problems other full-backs might. As a result, Liverpool effectively doubled up on Newcastle's three attackers, while they made the midfield battle five versus three through Salah and Gakpo dropping deep.
Bruno Guimaraes went from managing to play plenty of forward passes before the sending off, to being nullified and unable to make any incisive or line-breaking passes afterwards. The Brazilian essentially had fewer options, despite Newcastle having more players on the pitch.
While this allowed Liverpool to control the game, it didn't actually allow them to win it. No, that aspect of the tactical plan came through the introduction of Harvey Elliott, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez.
Creating a 4-2-3, with Salah and Jota still playing narrowly, this switch allowed Nunez to push higher onto the two Newcastle centre-backs, which is eventually where his two expertly taken goals came from. Though a gamble, Klopp clearly trusted his still overloaded midfield to control the game and not be caught out defensively.
"It was the most impactful and effective tactical change I have ever seen," Clerly states in the video, somewhat reluctantly as a Newcastle fan.
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