Brendan Rodgers reveals vital tactical switch for Swansea City win

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The Liverpool boss was full of his praise for his players after securing a crucial win over Swansea…

Brendan Rodgers has revealed that his side’s change of approach – switching to a diamond midfield at half-time – played a huge part in our 1-0 win over Swansea City on Monday evening.

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Jordan Henderson scored the only goal of the game, as the Reds scored a crucial three points to move within two of fourth place Manchester United.

We struggled for our usual fluency in the first-half, but the game was turned on its head at the break by Rodgers’ tactical brilliance.

Speaking after the game, the Northern Irishman was full of praise for his players, who reacted perfectly to his changes. He said: “It was a wonderful demonstration of the character and resilience in the team, especially [after] how we played in the first half.

“Any system you play in the game doesn’t work unless you have that ability to work, and we just weren’t anywhere near it in the first half. But that resilience and character kept us in the game.

“We knew we were going to be better in the second half, we changed the structure of the team a little bit and then I thought in the second half we really dominated the game.”

Rodgers, who was quoted by our official website, added: “People who know me and have watched my teams regularly from when I was a youth coach, my teams have played 4-3-3 and 4-4-2 diamond.

“If you look at Swansea tonight, they were a diamond and we were a box in midfield, and they got between us quite well I felt because they’ve got good players and they passed it well.

“We’ve prepared that in training for if we have to flip and you see the difference it can make. The players went smoothly into it.

“You push the sides further up, so it’s a 3-4-3 but in a different format. We pushed Raheem [Sterling] higher up the pitch onto the full-back, [Alberto] Moreno went right high and then the diamond occupies the spaces in midfield.

“They play with two front players, but we still go three versus two at the back and then that allows us to have the extra numbers. It worked well for us.”

The Reds are now unbeaten in thirteen Premier League games, dating back to a defeat against Man United in mid-December. Our run of six away games without conceding a goal has also equalled a 40-year-old record.

Liverpool face the Red Devils on Sunday, and tonight’s result means that we could move above Louis van Gaal’s side with a victory at Anfield next weekend.

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