PREMIER League, SEPTEMBER 20 2026
Isak (57)
Liverpool edged a closely fought game to collect three points on Andoni Iraola’s return to Bournemouth. Alexander Isak struck after good work from Cody Gakpo to make it two wins and three draws from Liverpool’s first five Premier League games under their new Spanish head coach. Meanwhile, his successor at Bournemouth, Marco Rose, is still looking for the first league win of his tenure, with three draws from his opening five fixtures in charge.
How the managers saw it
“It is disappointing to lose this kind of game when it is really tight,” said Rose. “But we defended one situation not well enough. We didn’t use our chances today and, in the end, we lose the game with one situation. We have to be sharper in both boxes.”
“I was disappointed with the first 20, 25 minutes,” said Iraola. “We didn’t start the game with the intensity the game required. To win here is very difficult, I know it very well. Normally Bournemouth start really strong and it took us these 20, 25 minutes until we matched a little bit this level. And from there, at the end of the first half and second half, we played better; we had better situations with the ball and we could win the game.”
Below, our UEFA-licensed coaches have analysed the tactical battle that played out on the south coast…
131451581216103791335468101872999/2
SHOTS / ON TARGET
12/3
49%
POSSESSION
51%
34
ATTACKS INTO AREA
29
1.03
EXPECTED GOALS (XG)
2.05
Bournemouth’s block
Both teams struggled to create high-quality chances in the opening stages of the match. To frustrate Liverpool and prevent them from penetrating centrally, Rose set Bournemouth up in a 4-4-2 block with mostly player-oriented marking. As shown below, Evanilson and Ryan Christie positioned centrally, screening and keeping Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai in their cover shadows. Meanwhile, wide players Marcus Tavernier and Rayan were aggressive in releasing out to Liverpool’s full-backs, Milos Kerkez and Ronald Araújo, regardless of the full-backs’ height in Liverpool’s build-up phase. In the midfield line Bournemouth had a similar player-oriented approach – when Liverpool’s Florian Wirtz drifted out into the widest lane, Alex Scott or Tyler Adams drifted from their more secure central positions, to restrict his ability to receive without pressure.
Bournemouth’s block looked very much the same in deeper areas. However, the first pressing line of Christie and Evanilson was reluctant to release from their deeper screening position on Mac Allister and Szoboszlai. In order to combat this, Liverpool’s centre-half pairing of Virgil van Dijk and Jérémy Jacquet often waited to try to entice Bournemouth’s first pressing line out of their structure. When Christie engaged Van Dijk, the Dutchman played a lateral pass across to Jacquet, prompting Evanilson to release. Jacquet was then able to find Mac Allister in behind Bournemouth’s front two (below), allowing the Liverpool midfielder to receive on his back foot and quickly progress possession forwards. He would look to play into Alexander Isak or Wirtz centrally, to penetrate through Bournemouth’s defensive line. However, Liverpool’s opportunities to do this were few and far between in the first half.
Bournemouth’s verticality in build-up
In possession, Bournemouth had to find solutions to Liverpool’s aggressive player-oriented press at their goal-kick restarts. Isak curved his pressing run on to goalkeeper Dorde Petrovic, while keeping António Silva in his cover shadow. At the same time, Bradley Barcola jumped from the left, ready to release on to James Hill. Similarly, Szoboszlai stepped higher to restrict Scott from receiving centrally (below), as Liverpool kept their man-to-man structure high up the pitch. Against this, rather than trying to build possession through their first and second lines, Bournemouth often looked to play directly into their third line, where they made adjustments to pick up the first contact and knockdowns, looking to create quick vertical attacks.
On the last line, Evanilson was often the target for Petrovic to clip into, though Liverpool were dominant in these contested duels thanks to their physical centre-backs. Rayan took up a position on the last line, looking to threaten in behind with his pace, while Christie and Tavernier dropped into deeper positions to connect and secure the knockdowns off Evanilson (below), to combine quickly and play vertically beyond Liverpool’s back line. It was on one such occasion during the first half, following a quick combination between Bournemouth’s front four, that Tavernier almost found himself in behind Liverpool’s defence.
Liverpool’s adjustments to create
Liverpool got some early success in the second period through greater fluidity with their structure. Rather than the typical scenario of a Liverpool full-back sliding down to create a back three in their build-up, Szoboszlai rolled out from a central position to form a back three alongside Jacquet and Van Dijk. In turn, Araújo pushed high on the right, which allowed Cody Gakpo to drift inside. As a consequence, when Jacquet shaped his body to play into Szoboszlai, Tavernier released from the left of Bournemouth’s midfield four, pressing the Hungarian as if the Liverpool midfielder were a full-back, while the deeper Adrien Truffert became responsible for Araújo. This, however, allowed Gakpo (below) to receive in a half-space pocket on the blind side of Scott, enabling the Liverpool attacker to turn and drive into dangerous attacking positions.
Gakpo’s positioning in this area led to Liverpool’s winning goal. With Truffert attracted by Araújo on Bournemouth’s left, ball-side centre-back António Silva was drawn across from his more secure central position – almost into the widest lane of the pitch – to apply pressure on Gakpo and support Truffert. As a result, when Gakpo received and drove into wide areas, Silva was too far wide to defend the box. After a mazy dribble down the right in the 57th minute, Gakpo crossed into the box, where Bournemouth had only James Hill and Adam Smith left centrally to defend. With Bradley Barcola and Wirtz making runs from their respective wider and deeper positions to attack the box, along with Isak, they overloaded Hill and Smith. This led to the opportunity from which the Swedish striker scored the winner.
The game was decided on such fine margins, meaning that Iraola can go into a three-week international break on a winning note. Rose, by contrast, was left frustrated at seeing his team again drop points from a tight encounter.
To learn more about football tactics and gain insights from coaches at the top of the game, visit Coaches’ Voice Academy
