Says who?
Pep was standing 10 feet from him and didn't once correct his positioning or bollock him for being out of position. He didn't take any steps to make Mendy more defensive. Walker wasn't doubling up on Mané with Danilo, so who says he was supposed to cover Otamendi?
When has Pep ever had 5 players defending against 2 wingers?
It's a 352. Not a 532.
Mendy has made a mistake in that picture, but it's not failing to drop deep to protect Otamendi more, it's being too far back and giving Alexander-Arnold time and space to play the pass, when he should have been closing him down and in his face like he was most of the rest of the game.
Don't think it was to push back Salah - it was to push Wijnaldum and Arnold back who are normally ridiculously high up, and gave us better numbers in midfield and left Firmino to Fernandinho and our back 3 vs their 2 wingers.
Mané and Sarah would get behind but in theory the combination of very aggressively sweeping Ederson and a man advantage would be enough no matter how fast - especially if the midfield and forwards pressed well enough to not give players loads of time and space to pick a precise ball over the top.
I still think it worked for the most part - most of those balls down the side that were scaring everyone pushed Salah very, very wide because they were just knocking a ball into that channel, not really picking out a killer pass, and so we always got men back before Firmino and Mané could arrive, which is why they only got 2 shots off from those balls behind us, one of which being the Ederson save.
And those 2 were where we cocked up and gave possession away and they hit us quickly where there was real chance they could score.
IMO this is why Pep didn't change it all through the half, why he didn't pull Mendy back when it was apparent the pattern had emerged - if he was trying to push Salah back like you said, or he wanted him protecting Otamendi by doubling up on Salah like others have said, I think he'd have adjusted once it became apparent what the pattern of the game was.
His defending was fucking awful tonight but his presence & pace defensively still adds up to more than Kolarov.
Their guy did really well against him & then Sané.
As much as Keown kept slating their 5 at the back, it lead to just one telling cross all game from our full backs. Excatly where we ripped Liverpool open.
I thought as shit as they were in possession they snuffed out our dangerous full backs.
The addittion of Bernardo meant it was harder for them to stiffle us centrally.
They were poor, but they were not far off tactically. We just moved the ball very quickly, too quickly for them. We also whipped in a few undefenderble crosses and we nodded a few in.
He'll do for me
Took up the mantle of getting the club..... love him..
Poor defensively today though but who cares (@Neville Kneville)