The old adage rings true: Good attackers may win games, but good defenders will win titles.
Some people say that Liverpool is suspect defensively. In 2016 Jurgen Klopp didn’t agree: “I lose respect when people say this. That’s not important because I do not have to respect everybody and I don’t need most of the people.”
Courtesy: BBC
Although Kopp would get frustrated when pundits suggested that Liverpool’s defense was too weak to win the Premier League title, time would prove that those pundits had a point.
A turning point may have been reached earlier this year when Swansea became the first away-team in more than a year to win a league fixture at Anfield. Roberto Firmino’s goals had helped The Reds recover from a 2-0 deficit, but Gylfi Sigurdsson struck the winner 16 minutes from time and condemned the Klopp-led side to defeat.
After the game an obviously furious Klopp said: “We showed again that when we are on track, we are a strong side and can create chances and score goals. But the defending around all three goals today was not good enough – 100 per cent. That’s a very important part of the game and it was very disappointing today.”
Klopp was spot on. Liverpool’s defense that day was poor–poor to the extent that a then relegation-battling Swansea team could score three goals at Anfield.
The deficiencies that day became a pattern. So it’s little wonder that an angry Jamie Carragher, who once played as a Liverpool defender, was perturbed after Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat to Leicester City: ‘Liverpool have been one of the best attacks in the league this season. But there’s no way you can win anything conceding that amount of goals. It’s just impossible.”
But Klopp didn’t make major tactical changes in his team’s defense, even as his team went on to concede more goals in the league.
Carragher’s opinion was clearly justified. Statistics shows that The Reds have conceded almost exactly 1.3 goals per game in the past four seasons. This was evident last season as the club conceded 42 goals in just 38 Premier League games–the worst of any of the top six teams.
Courtesy: RantSports
More worrying is this: of the 42 goals conceded, 20 came as a result of set-pieces, which is proof that defenders didn’t do enough. Apart from goals conceded, the overall defensive perfomance of the team wasn’t impressive. Only 46% of aerial duels was won by the team last season.
These defensive problems can’t be totally blamed on Jurgen Klopp. Why? Klopp’s former team, Borussia Dortmund, made only 34 defensive errors during his 3-year stay with the club. But the Reds, on the other hand, have made about 40 defensive errors since Klopp arrived–32 of them in the penultimate season.
That may say that the club’s defense wasn’t good before Klopp joined. But, even if that’s true, Klopp could and should have done something about it. He hasn’t. Those defensive frailties culminated in Liverpool finishing the season winning nothing–although fans could take as consolation the frequently-eluded Champions League spot.
But Liverpool fans deserve more than just qualifying for the Champion League tourney.
Attacking-minded players–Coutinho, Firmino, Lallana, Mane and (now with the addition of) Salah–will only prosper if properly protected by good defenders. Scoring goals alone is not enough.
Courtesy: Onmanorama – Manorama Online
Klopp should pay more attention to his defense if he truly wants to make his team a formidable side. A world-class central defender is needed to give the likes of Sakho, Matip and Lovren stiff competition. Signing Virgil van Dijk from Southampton would do the team a lot of good.
Constantly playing Milner at the left-back position, and then using an unreliable Moreno as his back-up, may not keep the defense strong for a whole season. Klopp needs to bring a more experienced left-back defender to add more steel in that department.
With Wijnaldum, Can and Henderson still with the club, it looks very unlikely that Klopp will bring in a defensive midfielder. But Klopp should endeavour to make his current defensive midfielder(s) offer more protection for the defense.
Liverpool may be currently led by attackers who are ”Lions,” but if defenders are as weak as ”Sheep,’ then Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool will end up achieving nothing.
The old adage rings true: Good attackers may win games, but good defenders will win titles.
