Andy Robertson: Man Utd and Bayern showed Liverpool respect... we need to start respecting ourselves

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David Lynch25 February 2019

Andy Robertson called for Liverpool to start respecting themselves as much as the opposition after they were held to a second consecutive goalless draw on Sunday.

The Reds returned to top spot in the Premier League with a point at Manchester United yesterday, but were left disappointed by their failure to convert domination of possession into chances and goals.

The draw at Old Trafford followed on from a similarly frustrating midweek encounter with Bayern Munich in the Champions League that saw Niko Kovac’s team also adopt a safety-first approach.

And Robertson believes he and his teammates must react to this new challenge of even the top teams now sitting deep against them.

“We need to get used to teams doing that now,” the Scotland captain said.

“It’s two top top-quality teams have done that to us in the last week - Bayern Munich and Man United, it doesn’t get much bigger than that.

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“I think something we’re struggling with is that we need to start respecting ourselves.

“[United] showed us the respect of sitting back and being a bit more defensive than they have been since the manager’s took over, we need to use that as a positive rather than a negative.

“It’s maybe something we need to work on.

“I’ve never seen Lukaku dropping so deep in my life but that’s the respect they kind of showed us.”

Robertson acknowledged that Jurgen Klopp’s men lacked ‘spark’ in attack as they mustered just one long-distance shot on target across the 90 minutes at Old Trafford.

But the 24-year-old insisted a point could well be viewed as a good result come May if the Reds return to top form and go on to claim the title.

He continued: “Today, I can’t really remember any real chances, so of course today there was a spark missing.

“That’s why it’s hardest to win a Premier League instead of a Champions League because it’s over 38 games. You can’t play well in every game but it’s about grinding out results.

“We might well look back on these games and say, ‘You know what, a time we weren’t playing our best we grinded out results and that’s what won us the league’.

“There are always times in the season where every team will look at it but we need to start getting back to playing better and attacking better.”

The Scot also noted the positive reaction of the away supporters at full-time, which he believes is testament to the good position Liverpool find themselves in in terms of the title race.

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“Easy isn’t it? If we win every game we win the league! If we do win every game, we win the league, that’s the position we’re in, no other team can say that,” he added.

“That’s the position we’re in but it’s the Premier League, there are going to be a lot of twists and turns and I do believe it’ll go right to the wire. We’ve got to be strong, we’ve got to enjoy it, and I’m sure we will.

“If we’re to look at anything we need to look at the fans, the way they didn’t celebrate it but were happy we were back top of the league, happy with the point.

“We can look at them go, ‘You know what, fair play’. But we need to look at that and kick on. If you’d offered everyone connected to Liverpool being a point clear in February, everybody would have took it.”

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