Hoops make it tough for Terry
JURGEN KLOPP has a chilling message for the rest of the Premier League: “I’ve got my old Liverpool back”.
The manager had said only last week he could offer no guarantee the free-flowing, irresistible football of last season would return any time soon, with his new-look team finding a different, more resilient balance between defence and attack.
But the 4-0 thumping of Red Star Belgrade in midweek had all the hallmarks of a classic Klopp-era Liverpool performance, with his unstoppable front three all scoring and his team producing some compelling build-up play.
That provided a stark contrast with the laboured display at Huddersfield last Saturday and, when asked if he felt last season’s Liverpool were finally back after a spluttering start to the campaign, the manager replied with a satisfied smile: “Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was really good, based on really good organisation.
“We scored three goals from counter-pressing situations. All the good things we did – playing in behind, chipping through balls – it was counterShaq, pressing that got us goals.
“The first goal, it was probably the first counterpress situation of [Xherdan Shaqiri’s] life. We got the ball back, passed it, wonderful goal. We filled the box which was also different to other games. Second one, we won it back, [Georginio Wijnaldum] chipped it to ball in and then ‘bam’. The fourth one for sure was a counter-press situation with Gini in front of the defender and passing the ball into the box.”
Klopp believes that pressing energy and ability to turn over the ball and hit opponents with ruthless efficiency is key to his side’s best attacking form.
And he will ask his team to repeat Wednesday’s Champions League improvements against Cardiff today, as the Reds look to build the pressure on ASTON VILLA lost their cool and a second match in four days as Pawel Wszolek fired gleeful QPR to a third win in a week.
Steve McClaren’s Rangers, with 13 points from the last 15, were fired up on the pitch – and off it by the fans who taunted new Villa assistant John Terry throughout.
Following Wszolek’s first-half strike and as the half-time whistle blew, Villa’s Jonathan Kodjia lashed the dead ball at Toni Leistner to spark a melee.
And the QPR defence then held firm in the face of wave after wave of Villa attack, closing in on the play-off places.
Villa enjoyed early chances through John McGinn and Jack Grealish, while Terry, assisting Dean Smith, was on the end of a full repertoire of chants from the home fans.
That was not only over his Chelsea links but for previously being banned for racial
QPR ASTON VILLA
abuse towards QPR man Anton Ferdinand.
After Joel Lynch scythed down Grealish the midfielder then almost caught out Joe Lumley with a 30-yard free-kick that hit the post. But Wszolek put Rangers ahead after 38 minutes, timing his run to perfection and smashing a half-volley past Orjan Nyland and off the underside of the bar.
Villa should have equalised after the break when Kodjia won a soft free-kick, but Tammy Abraham somehow missed the target from five yards out after being found by McGinn. Smith went searching for a goal and threw on Yannick Bolasie, who brought a good save from Lumley. But QPR were not to be denied, further denting Smith’s efforts to revive his strugglers.