Jürgen Klopp Sees “Space for Improvement” Following Defensive Miscues

Turns out conceding three goals wasn’t the plan!

Liverpool were good enough to beat Leeds yesterday.
That’s nice.

But it was hard to escape the feeling that things were a little
loose at the back. It felt like we should’ve had things locked down
better. When Leeds attacked, it was a little too easy for them to
turn a situation into a good chance, and then a goal.

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, however, doesn’t think there’s
too much cause for concern.

“I didn’t really see us struggling defensively, it’s just the
way they play, you cannot defend it 100 per cent all of the time”,
the Evening Standard report the Liverpool manager as saying.

“The goals we conceded, the first goal, both full-backs were
deeper than the centre-halves and that should never happen in
football, actually. But then you need the opponent to use this
situation and they did.

“The second goal I think was a misunderstanding between Virgil
[van Dijk] and Ali[sson Becker]. Things like this can happen –
should not, but they can – and I don’t think we will see these
situations very often when these two boys are not exactly clear
what the other one is doing.

“The third one, we changed Hendo [Jordan Henderson] I think a minute before, or
not long before, so they came through. It was a throw-in, our
formation was not moving and we didn’t close one gap.

“So, again, to use the situation like that you need the game
plan and also the bravery of Leeds in this situation. I don’t think
it was a striker if I am right, he just showed up there, got the
ball and finished it off really brilliantly.”

While none of the goals individually were of huge concern to
him, Klopp did admit that “we let them run, that’s true, the two
midfielders could have done differently. The gap between Virgil and
Joe [Gomez] was big as well. It’s defending, but it’s not an
excuse, it’s just an explanation.

“The last line played for England, Holland and Scotland four
days ago or whatever. All top teams but all different ways of
defending, so it can happen then.

“If all these things are not really settled… people say they’ve
played 500 games together, but defending is not like riding a bike,
you have to work on it constantly. Like I said, [there’s] space for
improvement.”

Personally I’ve always felt Liverpool look a little rusty when
they haven’t played a competitive game in a while. This was one of
those days. No reason to sound the alarm just yet.