Once again, Liverpool’s defending came into question yesterday as they gave away two sloppy and avoidable goals in an otherwise dominant display against Crystal Palace.
Our ability to out score opponents this season yet again came as a blessing as we conceded twice in a 4-2 victory at Selhurst Park.
Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, as always, is keen to remain calm when it comes to his side’s defensive issues and is confident that we will improve at the back, as the season progresses.
When discussing the mistakes against Palace, he told the Liverpool Echo: “They are human beings, we work on it, and I’m completely convinced about the quality.”
“It’s a very good test for them. I’m not happy with the situation or the start of the game, but I’m happy with the reaction. I’m fine, we will work on it, and we will see where it leads to.”
“We can defend really well, it’s normal. I know in this game everybody will talk about this, but inside the football team, it’s not brilliant news for you. I don’t go into the dressing room and say ‘you’re a bad defender’ and to the goalkeeper ‘where are you?’ and all these things.”
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Palace’s opening equalising goal was a perfect presentation of the errors we must eradicate if we are to continue our good run of form.
Aside from Dejan Lovren’s horrific mistake, it was simply an inability to clear our lines that came back to hurt us. We have to learn to put our foot through the ball every once in while and really stamp our mark on authority in defensive areas.
This is something that can be fixed in a short space of time, which is why Klopp is right to remain calm over the situation.
Other than the mistakes, we actually defended well on the day and came up well against a physical Premier League rival.
Things appear to be improving at the back, even if the scoreline doesn’t suggest that.