Deeney reveals he deliberately targeted Dejan Lovren in Liverpool win

‘You try and pick on the weaker of the two’: Troy Deeney reveals he deliberately targeted Dejan Lovren as Watford ended Liverpool’s unbeaten run, with striker explaining how his plan worked ‘perfectly’

• Troy Deeney netted Watford’s third to help end Liverpool’s unbeaten run 
• And the striker revealed he targeted Dejan Lovren to upset the league leaders 
• Watford jumped out of the relegation zone thanks to Deeney and Ismaila Sarr

Watford captain Tory Deeney has said his deliberate ploy to target Dejan Lovren was the key to the Hornets ending Liverpool’s unbeaten run. 

Deeney netted once following Ismaila Sarr’s double to drag Watford out of the relegation zone with a 3-0 win over Jurgen Klopp’s men at Vicarage Road.

But as well as stopping Liverpool from scoring for the first time in the league this season, Nigel Pearson’s men ended the visitors’ unbeaten record of 44 games. 

Troy Deeney revealed he deliberately targeted Dejan Lovren in Watford’s win over Liverpool

The Watford captain netted their third as the Hornets ended Liverpool’s unbeaten run

And talking about tactics in his Sky Sports post-match interview, Deeney said: ‘[Virgil] Van Dijk is a class act, he’s top five defenders in the world and it’s tough to get anything from him.

‘He’s 6’6, fast, strong and you try and pick on the weaker of the two – no disrespect to Lovren.

‘He tried to fight me from the throw in and I rolled him. He tried to fight me and wasn’t even watching the ball and it worked out perfectly because we scored from it.’

And Deeney revealed that their plan to target Lovren worked to perfection at Vicarage Road

Watford imposed themselves for large parts of the match and Deeney insisted that the belief remained at half-time that they could end Liverpool’s unbeaten run despite passing up opportunities in the first 45 minutes.

‘It was hard work, putting in a shift. Somebody had to beat Liverpool, why not us? We’re hard to beat on our patch, we go after second balls and make it difficult for them,’ Deeney continued.

‘At half-time, everyone had a belief that we could get at them. We had it at Man Utd, we were the better team in the first half but then conceded a penalty and struggled. 

‘We had a tight block and hit them on the break, we have pace on the break and we got the goals today.’

Deeney maintained Watford were confident of beating Liverpool at the half-time break

The Watford captain was also keen to praise fellow goalscorer Ismaila Sarr and midfield duo Abdoulaye Doucoure and Etienne Capoue. 

Senegal international Sarr set up Deeney for his goal, and speaking on his impact, the striker said:  ‘When you’ve got Sarr, whose raw pace is very difficult to stop, we tried to get at them with our forwards and use a tight block to build from.

‘The second goal was what I tried to do in the first half but got it a bit wrong. That goal is a young man not overthinking it, he’s going right, I’m through, let me show you what I can do.

Ismaila Sarr netted a double and Deeney was in full praise of the Senegal international

‘Sarr forces people back, if you push on with the full backs you’re leaving him one versus one with your centre-back and you don’t want that. He’s a phenomenal athlete and has so much to build on.

‘Doucoure is covering 12 to 13km a game, he’s a monster of a footballer, it’s very difficult to stop him and he’s scoring goals. 

‘Capoue was first class today but right through you can’t pick a bad player today.’  

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