Southampton defender Wesley Hoedt makes hilarious Liverpool tactics admission

Posted by

Southampton defender Wesley Hoedt was meant to replace Virgil van Dijk at St. Mary’s, but it didn’t quite work out for him…

The Dutchman is now on loan at Royal Antwerp after failing to win over a series of Saints managers.

Mark Hughes had no time for him – but the centre-back has explained how tactically naive his former boss was.

According to Hoedt, before a fixture with City in November 2016, Hughes told his team to ‘play like Liverpool,’ but they entirely failed to replicate our style and lost 6-1!

He told Voetbal International: “I played twice at that Etihad Stadium. One was a very good match, (which finished) 2-1 in the 90th minute.

“In the second we were wiped out 6-1. How they walked over us then was not normal.

“We always played with three in the back, but the day before the game, we were told that we had to play like Liverpool – 4-3-3 and with high pressure.

“Without training, that was not the right choice.”

Everybody knows how Jurgen Klopp likes his teams to play football, but clearly it’s not something that’s easy to put together.

Right now, we are very well-oiled machine, but crucially – capable of deploying different tactics throughout games.

When we’ve been under pressure in recent matches, Klopp has switched to a 4-2-3-1, and varied the roles of the front-three.

His genius and willingness to change will be required all season long if we’re to continue our sublime run.

More Stories Southampton Wesley Hoedt