Alan Pardew's bravado in suggesting that he knew exactly what to expect from Brendan Rodger's Liverpool side might well have been the comical bluster of a man on the back of three victories, but it did actually reflect the fact that Liverpool have played a similar way all season. They've started games as 4-3-3, or 4-2-3-1, but have changed to a back three in possession and a 3-4-3 0r 3-4-2-1 system to dominate possession, but protect the back line with a bank of four, including wing-backs. But for Newcastle, probably sensing that Alan Pardew would set his team up confidently to attack Liverpool and swarm forward, he went from the starting 4-2-3-1 - the shape they kept when off the ball - and adapted to a 3-2-4-1, with the wing-backs gone completely and a five man attack designed to profit from space left by Newcastle. Rodgers had attempted to rope a dope, foolishly taking Pardew's press conference boasting as a sign of a cavalier spirit, but the Newcastle manager resisted the temptation. Instead of swarming forward, Newcastle played like the away team, holding deeper positions, and not pressing the three centre-halves and not leaving the space in midfield that Liverpool's system needed to profit. So instead of being able to punch Newcastle on the break, Liverpool were faced with Jack Colback and Mehdi Abeid in a disciplined pressing line in front of the defence, eating up space and not letting either Coutinho or Henderson have space to play. Both were duly frustrated, and their passing rates dropped dramatically, with Coutinho in particular completely pushed out of the game. Cisse and Sissoko similarly dropped back to press Allen and Gerrard, rather than pressing the defence, as they were intended to, and Liverpool were unable to play through midfield, while the close attention given to the wide man (and Sterling in particular) meant there was little joy coming around the defence. It was a tactical master-stroke by Pardew that depended mostly on not making the decision to adapt: Rodgers tried to trick him into playing more aggressively - or tried to profit from the assumption that he would - and Pardew maintained his commitment to patience. And ultimately it was Rodgers who cracked to the pressure: changing the make-up of his attacking third twice to try and get through Newcastle's defence, but because the team resolutely refused to press higher, it was never going to work. And in pressing forward more, Liverpool left the space that almost resulted in two Newcastle goals, and did result in one for definite. So while Pardew deserves a lot of stick for the past year of results, he does deserve credit for not going for it against Liverpool. Which sounds strange, when we're usually calling for ambition - but then, it does sort of fit that the manager would end up profiting from a more stoic approach, even at home.
