2 assists and a goal on his first Premier League start for Liverpool's Conor Bradley, and the young right-back has officially "exploded onto the scene". But why was, what should have been a really tough test for him, so incredibly easy? Well, the answer is.. Chelsea. FourFourTwo's Adam Clery explains.
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00:00 Hello everybody, my name is Adam Cleary, this is 442 and today was supposed to be the day
00:08 we finally did our "Isn't Diogo Jota amazing?" video, but sadly for him, Connor Bradley exists.
00:17 So.
00:18 Right, so Liverpool fans, that was a lot of fun. The young full-back only played 69 minutes,
00:25 nice, and got himself two assists and a goal, and as like first Premier League starts go,
00:30 yeah, it's not bad that.
00:32 Now obviously, first and foremost, the main reason he was so good was just because he
00:37 was so good, but it was also helped by the fact that Chelsea turned up at Anfield and
00:41 just were a total mess.
00:44 They lined up in their usual 4-2-3-1, Cole Palmer up top so they didn't have a recognised
00:48 centre forward, and if you are going to Anfield to play a team of Liverpool's quality, there's
00:53 sort of like two things you can do.
00:55 Either you can deny them space by sitting really deep and compact and not letting them
01:00 play through you and not giving them easy opportunities to make things happen in dangerous
01:05 areas, or instead of denying them the space, you can deny them the time by pushing really
01:09 far up, by getting really aggressive in the press, by not letting them build out from
01:14 the back. It's kind of, those are your only two options really.
01:17 And what Chelsea did was neither of those things, or rather both of them, just badly.
01:22 They did push right the way up, they had a really high line which implied they were going
01:26 to be aggressive and on the front foot, but then they just didn't really press them, they
01:31 sort of stood off them, so they just had this mess of players, not really sure what they
01:36 were doing in the middle of the pitch.
01:38 In fact, they were just so sort of non-committal and meek out of possession that Liverpool
01:43 were not attempting to do their usual box midfield thing with an inverted full-back,
01:48 but just ended up doing that anyway, because I presume Joe Gomez was bored.
01:53 To give them their due, Palmer and Gallagher did end up pressing the centre-backs and even
01:58 the goalkeeper on occasion, but that wasn't matched by the work rate of Sterling or Manduike,
02:02 who didn't really push on to either of the full-backs.
02:05 So on the one hand, that meant that Gomez could kind of just sort of dawdle into here
02:09 and get on the ball, which he is quite underrated at in my opinion. Obviously when you've normally
02:13 got Trent Alexander-Arnold on the other side, very rare he gets the opportunity to do that,
02:17 and even rarer that he gets his flowers for doing so, but he is really good on the ball
02:22 and he had a lot of fun there.
02:23 Like it wasn't a massive contribution or anything, but if we just overlay his passes, you can
02:26 see that he was down the left every now and then, but he did also just wander into the
02:30 middle and help to tick things over.
02:32 But we're not here to talk about Joe Gomez, are we? We're here to talk about Connor Bradley.
02:36 And if Gomez was having a little bit of fun on the left-hand side, because of Chelsea's
02:41 just sort of refusal to make his life difficult, Connor Bradley had like his 16th, 18th, 21st,
02:48 30th and engagement party all in the space of about an hour.
02:52 This is his heat map from that game. And yes, it is a product of Chelsea kind of allowing
02:57 this to happen, but at the same time, the kid's only 20. You would have forgiven him
03:02 for being a lot more conservative, for only going forward when there was really an obvious
03:06 opportunity rather than giving Ben Chilwell an absolute nightmare.
03:11 And the thing is, when you think about Chilwell, he is one of the most forward-thinking left-backs
03:15 in the Premier League. He's an England international. Sterling would obviously drift into the middle
03:20 to allow him to bomb up the other side. Bradley theoretically should have had a lot more to
03:25 worry about with him than he did with Bradley.
03:28 And if you compare the two heat maps from the game, even from just a territorial sense,
03:32 Bradley absolutely dominated that entire channel.
03:36 But the reason I wanted to do a video looking at this specifically is because, well, players
03:39 can territorially do well. They can get in good positions. Doesn't necessarily mean they'll
03:44 do anything with it. But Bradley, when given this opportunity, was unbelievable.
03:50 Now for his first assist, you saw precisely what Chelsea thought they would be doing all
03:53 night, but also why Bradley was so good at exploiting that. He had Diogo Jota in front
03:58 of him, who was obviously going to want to drift inside because he's so much better there
04:02 than he is when he's out wide. So he wasn't covering this flank. So Chelsea, with Chilwell
04:06 especially, were advancing in that area.
04:09 But Bradley, showing absolutely zero fear, charges out into him and successfully wins
04:14 that ball back. He turns it over with Chilwell high up the pitch. And then from there, he
04:19 drives all the way down the right-hand side, plays the ball into Jota, who is, of course,
04:23 in that more central space, and he gets through and scores.
04:26 But just quickly zoom out, look back at Conor Bradley. When he gives that ball to Jota,
04:32 he's not like, "Oh, well, I've done my job. I should make sure they don't get back the
04:35 other way now." He continues his run. He is demanding to get the ball back in the final
04:40 third. And his goal is an even better illustration of the mindset he possesses as much as his
04:45 technical ability.
04:46 Like if we just look here, when Liverpool win the ball back, he is in the correct position.
04:50 He's not being over-adventurous despite the amount of space he has goal side to the man
04:54 he's supposed to mark. But the second Liverpool win that ball back, he is away. And not just
04:59 there to make up the numbers, again, he is pointing where he wants the ball. He's demanding
05:03 it off his more senior teammates.
05:05 And this time, because Jota has moved infield and taken Ben Chilwell with him, they have
05:10 a coming together, that leaves all this room that he can run into. And Raheem Sterling,
05:15 I mean, he's no slouch, but he's too quick for him.
05:19 And I know it's been talked about loads since the actual game itself, but just look at the
05:23 position he takes that shot on from. That is such a low percentage chance. Like it's
05:29 not, he's not in on goal by any stretch of the imagination. Chelsea have got back, he's
05:33 got a very small part of that goal to hit and running full pelt with defenders closing
05:39 him down. It's like the unerring, arrowing finish of an experienced centre forward.
05:44 And just to go back to the build up of that, by the way, like it's really, really good
05:48 reading of the play, recognises that Chelsea have massively overcommitted on this side
05:53 and he is free to get in there, provided he's got the determination to get there.
05:58 His second assist, Liverpool's third goal, and I think possibly the most interesting
06:01 one to talk about when you look at the comparisons between him and Alexander-Arnold as well,
06:05 because the Liverpool of old used to effectively play with a front five, where Alexander-Arnold
06:10 would end up being the furthest forward player on the right hand side.
06:13 Very similar to the position Bradley has taken up here. He's pretty much in the forward
06:17 line. Xhota has moved into the middle again, dragged Chelsea across, created this space
06:22 on the right and rather than just holding his position and thinking, "Oh, I might be
06:26 able to get in there," he just goes and stands there.
06:28 But the difference between him in this position and Alexander-Arnold in this position is where
06:32 he receives the ball, this is where Alexander-Arnold would look to cross from.
06:36 You've seen it a hundred times if you're a Liverpool fan, he's got that sort of David
06:39 Beckham perfectly pitched, weighted and curved ball, which could drop either at the near
06:43 post for this player or go right the way round to the back post for this player.
06:47 But that is not Connor Bradley. And again, where most 20-year-olds making their first
06:51 Premier League start would get the ball here, recognise they're doing a good thing, wait
06:55 for a bit of support, try and play a little tricky one too, he just thinks, "No, I can
07:00 beat this guy."
07:01 So he does, he turns on the afterburners, he flies past Badia Shelley, he puts in an
07:05 absolutely brilliant cross, just the exact right weight and everything to get a good
07:09 connection on it if you're running in and they get a third goal.
07:13 And as full-back performances go, it was pretty much perfect. He kept his side of the pitch
07:18 quiet, Chelsea didn't really get any joy down that side, he was winning his tackles, he
07:22 was winning his duels.
07:23 And then when he does turn the ball over, he then drives his team up the pitch, his
07:26 first thought is not, "Oh, I've got the ball back, oh, I better give it to one of the nice
07:30 big experienced defenders." No, he gets his head down and he pushes them up.
07:34 And then when he does find himself in the attacking part of the pitch down this side,
07:37 he has the conviction, the self-belief and importantly, the technique to either lay on
07:42 a great chance for his teammates or just go for goal himself.
07:45 And I've done these kinds of videos before where a young player has had a really good
07:49 breakout game and you lavish them with praise and people are like, "Look, can we just calm
07:53 down here? It's like one or two performances, we don't want to get carried away, we don't
07:56 want to be putting that kind of burden of expectation on them."
07:59 And I'm not, nothing's guaranteed in this game, it's just a really good performance
08:03 by him.
08:04 But the indicators in this game against good opposition, both collectively and individually
08:09 by the way, are so promising.
08:12 And more to the point, I actually think this is really worth looking at from a tactical
08:15 perspective because I think it's something that Jurgen Klopp has really wanted to be
08:20 able to do over the last sort of two years.
08:22 Like Trent Alexander-Arnold is fantastic, but he's always presented a bit of a structural
08:26 problem for Liverpool.
08:27 They know they want him in the middle where he can control games, but to do that, you
08:31 have to have him invert over from the fullback.
08:34 You've kind of got to use a boxman field to use Alexander-Arnold that way.
08:37 But the thing is, while the three box three system is great and Liverpool have used it
08:42 really well, you don't need four players in the middle every single game.
08:46 In fact, it's probably part of the reason why they set up the way they did last night
08:50 because Chelsea play with a double pivot and Gallagher, who's technically the third midfielder,
08:54 he joins in much nearer Parma.
08:56 So you don't need four in the middle to outnumber Caicedo and Fernandes.
09:00 They were fine with a three.
09:01 With attackers like Xhota and Salah on that side, what's much more beneficial on occasion
09:06 is just to have a flatback four, three in the middle, allow them to move closer to the
09:11 attacker and then get your width from your fullbacks.
09:14 While obviously Trent Alexander-Arnold can do that, he doesn't do it with the same sort
09:17 of just drive and determination.
09:19 He's not a classic flying fullback in the way Andy Robertson is or in the way Connor
09:24 Bradley is.
09:25 I think that's why 18 months ago they went out and they bought Calvin Ramsey because
09:28 you can't go and spend loads of money on a right back who's going to expect to start.
09:32 That's going to be Alexander-Arnold's position.
09:34 But if you've got somebody within the first team squad who you can use sparingly every
09:39 now and then and play them as the situation demands and then just stick Alexander-Arnold
09:43 straight in centre midfield, that's a really, really good option to have.
09:47 And Jurgen Klopp, I don't know whether he's shagged a rabbit's foot or something, but
09:51 just seems to have had the perfect player drop in his lap straight out of the academy.
09:56 They could not wish for a player with the raw ingredients to do this better than Connor
10:01 Bradley.
10:02 So I do think when Mo Salah is fit again, you will see Liverpool set up in this kind
10:07 of system with Alexander-Arnold deployed in the middle, possibly even allowing McAllister
10:11 to play further forward.
10:12 And then this guy here.
10:14 Not all the time, of course, because if Liverpool can play a box, then that's really beneficial
10:18 against teams that will normally dominate the middle.
10:20 So you'll have Alexander-Arnold there, he'll invert into the side and you've just got this
10:24 brilliant option to enable you to change the game.
10:27 And if there's one thing you should have learned about Jurgen Klopp in, I still can't believe
10:31 I'm saying this, his final year at Liverpool, it's that he is the absolute master of changing
10:36 games on the fly.
10:37 And now Connor Bradley isn't just another tool in his arsenal to do that.
10:42 He's potentially one of the best ones they've got.
10:44 Do you say that?
10:45 Is it?
10:46 It's not a tool in your arsenal, is it?
10:47 Do you have a tool in your arsenal?
10:48 Tool in your box?
10:49 Tool in your toolkit?
10:50 What's in your arsenal?
10:51 It's a weapon.
10:52 You have a weapon in your arsenal, a weapon in your arsenal and a tool in your toolbox.
10:57 This is possibly why none of my shelves stay up.
10:59 Hey!
11:00 Now, I did just mention Jurgen Klopp there, so I want to quickly say to everybody who
11:03 has commented on previous videos or even just like tweeted me directly asking, are you going
11:08 to do a Xavi Alonso to Liverpool video?
11:11 Because that would be fun.
11:12 Yes.
11:13 Yes, we are.
11:14 We are currently very hard at work on that one.
11:16 You can see here our man in Germany, Edmund Cambridge, working all hours of the day to
11:20 bring you the details and the facts we're going to need to make that really, really
11:23 good.
11:24 And it should be along, I'm going to say, next week.
11:26 So I don't know if that's something you'd be interested in watching.
11:28 Please do consider subscribing to us here on 442.
11:31 Last month we had an unbelievable month for new subscribers, reviews for everything.
11:35 And that's literally, that's what you, that's you guys.
11:37 That's not me.
11:38 That's you guys watching the stuff and sharing the stuff and telling us you like the stuff.
11:42 So massive, massive thank you.
11:44 And if you'd like to suggest a video of your own or just tell me how bad my jokes are,
11:47 you can get me on Twitter @adamcleary, C-L-E-R-Y.
11:50 The 442 socials are in the corner of the video.
11:52 I would show you the magazine, but I suspect this will be a Liverpool heavy audience and
11:57 it's got Alex Ferguson on the cover.
11:59 So let's not.
12:00 Yes, there you go.
12:01 That's the, that's the whole video.
12:02 Connor Bradley.
12:03 We, we love that for him, don't we?
12:05 Well done, young sir.
12:06 Talking of the Subito pieces now, I'm going to go.
12:10 Bye.