Great thread @crusadertsar
Every edition of CM/ FM since CM 01/02 I've tried to re-create Liverpool's style of play under Paisley. I'll try and keep this post as short as possible. Everything is merely my opinion based on many years of watching old matches, reading what info there is out there and listening to players from that era. I don't remember Paisley or Fagan's teams but I'm a child of the first Dalglish era!
The classic Liverpool style was by and large based on building from the back, enticing teams forward before a quick ball would speed up the attack. My opinion is that the Liverpool Way tactically speaking is misunderstood as a result of the free flowing football Liverpool played in the 90s under Roy Evans and to a lesser extent the brilliance of Dalglish's teams in his first spell. Naturally casual observers will remember the later teams of the Bootroom era which ended with Evans departure in 1998.
The classic Liverpool style was adapted from competing in European competition and really became nailed down in Shankly’s last season after Liverpool were knocked out of the 1973/74 European Cup by Red Star Belgrade.
It wasn't free flowing, it had it's moments alright. But it was designed to win trophies in as efficient a manner as possible and was carried out by some of the most resolutely disciplined players that English football has seen. These players were talented certainly but not all of them were world class. I think fluid counter- attack with a balanced mentality is the best way to describe the style. I also totally agree that there was little tactical micro- managing. The genius of the Bootroom era, and the much vaunted "secret", was in my opinion- player recruitment. Get that right, and Paisley nearly got all his signings spot on, and the tactics dictate themselves. Paisley was the master team builder, the best there ever was in my opinion.
The tactics did change with Dalglish's arrival in the summer of 1977 and the break-up of the Keegan/ Toshack dynamic duo over the course of the previous season as Heighway was pushed up front. Once Toshack began to fade away in 1977, Liverpool's attack became much more fluid and had less of a focal point. It was more 4-4-1-1 in my view with Heighway occupying a roaming role up front (CF-A) and Keegan then Dalglish tucked in behind in a type of Shadow Striker role. Heighway would clear the forward line so to speak and along with Dalglish, Ray Kennedy from left midfield and McDermott, in a very aggressive box to box role, would charge into it. Edit: I forgot about David Johnson RIP, who played in the teams at the end of the 70s and was Dalglish's more established partner before Rush. A different type of player to Heighway, 'the Doc' was more of a hard-working and mobile target man who worked the channels really well and contributed more than his fair share of goals. I reckon PF-A suits him and I've used Nunez in this role in FM24 in an attempt to turn him into a similar type of mobile target man.
That was the template until 1981/82 ( I think this is the era you're aiming for) especially with the emergence of Rush, Dalglish getting older and Souness really starting to emerge as a world- class all round central midfield general who completely bossed First Division midfields. He had no equal from then until his departure in summer 1984. This was the broad tactical outline right up until Rush's departure in 1987 and Dalglish went for some big changes to the style, particularly with the signings of Barnes and Beardsley. His style was more attacking and faster, there was more individual flair and less of the relentless machine like qualities of earlier teams.
I think the formation in the early to mid 80s was more 4-4-2 with Dalglish in a DLF-A role and Rush in an ADV FWD role, emerging as a new but different focal point to what Toshack was. He was perfect as Dalglish's pace and turn lessened the older he got but the more subtle his through balls and brilliant hold up play became. He released the ball at the perfect time. I've found these two roles actually work well together in FM with a fluid team structure and loads of support roles in midfield and defence. AK was a WB-S and Neal a FB-S (his role changed too as he got older and he moved into midfield a lot with Souness to give an extra man in possession if Liverpool built attacks slowly and the break wasn't on). Hansen a BPD and Lawrenson a bog standard CD. Whelan a WM‐S with sit narrower, Johnston same role but with stay wider and get more forward. Souness DLP-S, Lee BWM-S.
Some other key team instructions which I think are non-negotiables to replicate Liverpool's style.
1. I'm going to use some modern jargon! The Bootroom I think were big on compression, vertical and horizontal in order to cut down on the space the players had to cover to win the ball back in the middle third. This comes back to the efficiency of the Liverpool system where small squads played over 50 games at least a season to win a European Cup and were hard work was non-negotiable, "fancy dans" weren't signed. That to me means a mid press with a much higher defensive line, closing down much more and aggression in the midfield area with the defence closing down that dangerous space in front of them- Step Up More. The Bootroom referred to this as "countering", possibly counter- press in the modern jargon.(Paisley's teams were one of Sacchi's reference points).
Opponents were also enticed to go down the flanks and Liverpool used the sideline like a wall (Trap Outside), similar in fashion to Simeone's Atleti. I've heard Souness refer to Liverpool's midfield 4 which he played in as "pinched" when the opposition had the ball.
2. DRIBBLE LESS. Paisley detested fancy dan wingers dribbling into "no man's land" like "blue arsed flies" and disrupting the team's rhythm. Alan Kennedy told me that for years after leaving Liverpool he dreamt about being at Melwood and Ronnie Moran screaming "Get it, give it, GO!".
Also, a common tactical feature of the Liverpool midfield in this era was the use of a shuttler type of right mid paired with a more 'footballing" type of midfielder on the left flank in the No. 5 shirt e.g. Ray Kennedy and then Whelan. Case was something like a winger on Liverpool's right flank in the mid to late 70s but he would rather go through an opponent than go around them. A teak tough little tank who could play. Craig Johnston sweated blood, he was an unbelievably hard working player, if technically limited by his own admission.
3. Hold Shape. I know a bit contradictory with counter-attacking but Liverpool were disciplined and didn't run off forward like "blue arsed flies" when the ball was won, see above. The attacking was done by Dalglish to Rush. Goal. Efficiency, that word again, was the name of the game and if a counter wasn't on, it wasn't on. Liverpool built and squeezed the life out of an opponent with possession football until they cracked.
4. Situational TIs I use are-
Pass into Space, as there's two attack duties up front. This combination of TI and player roles I really like.
I usually take this TI off, drop the tempo and work ball into box if I'm leading. Liverpool did something like this in this period and strangled the life out of a game. They didn't get the machine moniker for nothing in this era. I suppose efficiency again. Liverpool didn't play like this for aesthetics. If Liverpool had the ball there was more chance of them scoring, the opposition not scoring and conceding. Crucially, the pass and move style cut down on the amount of chasing to win back the ball and potential injuries.
EDIT 5. Play Out of Defence. Jesus how did I forget this. This was also what defined the changes from 1973/74 and was certainly apparent in European away matches. As was the pass back to the GK who in this era was permitted to pick it up. Unfortunately this has been outlawed for 32 years, strangely in the same season the Premier League and Champions League began, as if co-ordinated to signify a break with the old First Division/ European Cup tradition. One of football's coincidences. It was a major feature in these matches though as Liverpool would silence the home crowd or drive them mad as they did in the Nou Camp in 1976 with a hilarious exchange taking place between Paisley and left-back Joey Jones over seats being thrown into the Liverpool dugout. (An enjoyable feature of Liverpool legends nights is some of the stories the ex-players tell about Paisley. Although he was a very intelligent man and a deceptively deep thinker about the game, at times cold and ruthless when it came to telling a player he was dropped or his time was up, he was also very eccentric with some hilarious and bizarre exchanges between him and the players).
Roll it out and Distribute to CDs and FBs tends to compliment POOD.
Hopefully my post is not too long. I tried to keep it as short as possible. I hope this might help contribute something in FM terms to an era of the club's history I revere and cherish. I'm something of a football nostalgic, even more so as I get older and the game and in fairness the club moves even further away from its roots, despite Liverpool going through a relatively comparable phase under the soon to depart Jurgen Klopp.
Thanks for starting this topic.