John Giles dropped in for his usual Off The Ball Thursday chat, where he supported Roy Keane's point following the spat on Sky with Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp took issue with Keane calling Liverpool 'sloppy' but Giles thinks that Keane was restrained in his analysis of the defensive tactics on show.
"I thought Roy could have been more critical, in saying this high line is not good," said the veteran analyst.
"Which it's not, and Liverpool play it a lot, but because they are on top so much they are not exposed to it. They are exposed now and again and twice the other day against Arsenal.
"So they weren't being 'sloppy,' it's a bad system to be playing."
The fact that Alexandre Lacazette fell foul of the 'offside trap' on one of the occasions is not proof of the tactic being effective, according to Giles.
"You cannot get an offside trap to perfection, it is impossible to do it. He was offside once, but was he offside the second time? No."
Klopp stroppy over 'sloppy'
Giles thinks Liverpool should abandon their high line as they have enough talent without taking such a risk.
"With Liverpool, they have the defenders with Van Dijk and Gomez who are quick," said the Leeds legend.
"It's a risky thing when you put your hand up for offside and you don't know where the other defenders are.
"You get caught every now and again because somebody, somewhere goes to sleep for that half a second and they are through. There's no need to do it, especially with the players Liverpool have.
"So, I don't describe it as 'sloppy,' I think they were being kind to him. I think what happened with Klopp was that he didn't hear what Roy Keane said.
"He heard the word but actually Keane was very good to the Liverpool team in that he said they played really, really well.
"He just heard the word and actually Carragher said the word 'sloppy' as well. I think he might have been more annoyed if Roy Keane had gone into a little more detail about playing this high line."
Praise for Liverpool, support for Roy Keane's analysis, and how #MCFC are predictable.
It was a quality chat with John Giles tonight@paddypower
PODCAST:https://t.co/UKEu1yeUat— Off The Ball (@offtheball) October 1, 2020
When asked if the reaction was necessary from Klopp, Giles did not believe so.
"I don't think it's needed, no. He didn't hear what Roy Keane said for a start, all he heard was 'sloppy,'" asserted Giles.
"He could have said 'what do you mean by sloppy?'. Yeah, he said they were great, they were this they were that.
"It doesn't mean that Lacazette didn't have a chance in the match. It's not being that critical is it, being a bit sloppy?
"He took the wrong meaning from it in many ways because Roy Keane said 'Liverpool were really terrific tonight and they were sloppy a couple of times.'
"Which they were, they were worse than sloppy."
Klopp similar to Sir Alex?
Were there shades of Sir Alex Ferguson in the way Klopp had a pop to defend his team.
"I can understand that, but Ferguson wasn't always right in his behaviour, touchy to say the least," recalled the former Manchester United man.
"Klopp, though, was wrong - he pulled up Keane for something that wasn't at all meant in that way.
"A lot of managers are very touchy, he was too touchy in that situation, it's no big deal."
