Rio Ferdinand was impressed with the amount of chances that Liverpool created in their penalty shoot-out defeat to Manchester City on Sunday, but was concerned by their high defensive line.
Liverpool impressed in the second half against Pep Guardiola’s side but unfortunately a missed penalty by Georginio Wijnaldum proved to be what decided the Community Shield showdown at Wembley.
Mohamed Salah had almost all of the Reds’ chances in the game and after full-time, BT Sport host Jake Humphrey pointed out to Ferdinand that Salah had 10 of the 17 attempts on goal
“Unbelievable,” said Ferdinand on BT Sport 1 after the match on Sunday afternoon [05:14pm] in response to the stat regarding Salah.
“You take heart from getting 17 opportunities against the champions, you’re doing something right there.
“One thing I would say that concerned me from Liverpool throughout the whole game was the high line at the back.
“They have possibly the quickest back-four in the league and they’re playing offsides all the time. It’s either laziness or they’ve been told to do that. Just follow your man and run back in.”
OPINION
Liverpool have one of the best defensive lines in the world so whether or not Jurgen Klopp decided to make them play with a high line, or sit deep, should not really matter. Raheem Sterling did go through on goals a couple of times as he caught the Reds’ back-line high up the pitch, but their pacey defenders did enough to snuff out the former Anfield ace on most occasions. Liverpool will play like that against most teams this season, especially as they are going to be playing against a lot of teams where they will dominate possession. Maybe they should have sat a bit deeper against Man City but Klopp will know that now and probably won’t repeat it when the two sides meet each other in the Premier League. Obviously Liverpool and their fans would have preferred to win the game, but it’s not the end of the world and trying things out in that game is not a terrible idea. Klopp will have learned a lot and that could be advantageous for him and his side.
