Owen Hargreaves was providing post-match analysis on Liverpool’s victory over Aston Villa and gave his thoughts on the tactics that were deployed.
There were plenty of thoughts that Steven Gerrard would be one man who knew Jurgen Klopp’s tactics better than most and so it was always going to be intriguing to see how he set up at Anfield.
Put simply; our former captain’s tactics were to sit deep, frustrate and time waste, in the hope of finding a way to a draw or maybe snatch a winner late on.
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The former Manchester United midfielder said: “He [Gerrard} has the utmost respect for Jurgen Klopp and that Liverpool team which is back to its absolute best, you can be slightly worried that if they’re [Liverpool] firing and you’re too open at the back, they can put you away.
“I think he went there but was maybe a bit too defensive, as Klopp said – for the first 75 minutes they dominated and then they [Aston Villa] had a few chances at the end.
“I think Stevie knows how to show Klopp and that group of players the utmost respect, because they deserve it and they can hammer you if you’re too open, but I think for Stevie they’ve played City and Liverpool now and even though they lost, they’ve lost with respect and I think this Villa team is looking very good under Stevie G”.
Maybe the former Rangers boss did show a little too much respect to the Reds but he wanted to ensure that his squad could remain positive after the game and not be on the end of a heavy defeat.
Sitting back did provide more confidence to our players that the chance would come, as well as inspiring the crowd to become louder and more passionate as the game edged closer to a goalless finish.
Thankfully though, the tactics were unsuccessful and we came out with all three points.
You can watch Owen Hargreaves’ analysis (at 2:21) courtesy of Premier League productions (via Kr4Tos-YT):
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