AVB appointed again!

Villas-Boas enjoyed great success with a high line at Porto - although even there, the high defensive line seemed very risky at times. It’s the defining feature of his coaching style, and while it’s not a flawed tactic in itself, Villas-Boas repeatedly used it in situations where it didn’t suit his own players, and played into the hands of the opposition. That, put simply, is the opposite of the point of tactics…

The damning aspect isn’t the scoreline itself, or even the fact this was so similar to the City defeat. It’s that Villas-Boas he appeared to have learned his lesson from the City game, and changed his strategy accordingly…and then reverted to the high line against the Premier League’s most prolific striker, who loves running in behind defences. Sometimes bad results are unfortunate – you can lose 5-0 if a couple of players have an off-day, or if opponents are particularly clinical with their shooting. But when Villas-Boas’ sides get thrashed, the strategy always plays a huge part, and it’s generally the same issue.

Liverpool were facing a side that played perfectly into their hands, but they carried out the obvious task extremely impressively. The role of Henderson was the main talking point – he helped penetrate the opposition defence frequently, causing problems for the opposition centre-backs and meaning they couldn’t focus solely on Suarez.