Jamie Carragher explains how “tactically brilliant” Enzo Maresca beat Liverpool with this clever midfield ploy | OneFootball

Jamie Carragher was on Monday Night Football last night, and while the result of that game was very significant for Chelsea, it was also interesting to hear his analysis of our win over Liverpool on Sunday.

He noted how Enzo Maresca’s midfield setup had been even more effective than in the first game between the two sides.

Carragher breaks down midfield “spread” Chelsea used

Jamie Carragher shows how spread Liverpool’s midfield were.

“If we go back to the problems Chelsea caused Liverpool earlier this season, it was this box midfield. The two numbers 10s for Chelsea, Cole Palmer and Malo Gusto – on Sunday it was Enzo Fernandez,” Carragher explained.

“So Cody Gakpo and Curtis Jones are the ones blocking the pass out to Cole Palmer. [In this case] Gakpo blocks the pass, so Jones doesn’t have to come all the way out to Palmer. Because that’s what Chelsea are trying to do – they’re trying to drag the two opposition midfielders as far apart as possible.

“Now we look at a similar situation on Sunday. Again, you’re looking at that spread between Fernandez and Palmer. Here, Gakpo’s inside because Moises Caicedo’s come inside. He’s not blocking the pass to Cole Palmer as he was in the other clip. This gives Jones a problem. You can see Jones looking where Palmer is now, the ball comes across, it’s at Palmer’s feet, Jones can’t get there. It’s too far to run.

And that’s the problem Chelsea and Maresca were giving Liverpool through the game… Fernandez, Palmer, stretching Liverpool’s midfield. Tactically brilliant from Maresca, and caused Liverpool loads of problems.

You can see Carragher walk through his analysis in the clip embedded here:

Maresca takes advantage of new flexibility

It’s another example of how Maresca having Romeo Lavia available has opened up a number of options for him. It allows Fernandez to be in that number 10 role instead of Gusto, and allows Caicedo to move into midfield from right back.