Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has blamed a poor performance in the second half for the Reds' defeat against Besiktas last night.
After Besiktas midfielder Tolgay Arslan levelled things up in their Europa League last 32 tie in the 72nd minute with curling left-footed strike, making it 1-1 on aggregate, the match was eventually decided on penalties.
After every player from both sides converted their spot-kicks up to the scoreline being 5-4 for Besiktas, Dejan Lovren missed the crucial fifth penalty for Liverpool to send the Turkish giants through to the last 16 of the Europa League.
However, Aldridge didn’t blame Lovren’s miss for the loss and feels Liverpool didn’t play well enough in the second half, which resulted in Besiktas coming into the game.
The former Reds striker applauded Brendan Rodgers’ men for their desire and commitment, but believes they allowed Besiktas to dictate the game in the second half and a goal almost seemed inevitable, which then pushed the game on to the eventual penalty shoot-out.
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“You can’t fault the lads for commitment, but we didn’t play well”, Aldridge told LFC TV.
“We didn’t keep the ball in the second half; we didn’t stretch them and allowed them to dictate the play.
“The possession in the second half must have been around 70-30 in their advantage and you could always sense that a goal was coming in the second half.”
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