Jurgen Klopp recognises that new signing Andrew Robertson has a problem with one on ones, but is adamant he’ll coach the Scottish left-back out of it.
We secured the 23-year-old from Hull at the end of the last week for a fee that could reach £10m, adding competition to a problem position.
Last term, James Milner was used at left-back, but he lacks a left-foot, which makes him a less dangerous option on the overlap because he has to cut back on his right to deliver crosses.
While Robertson is brilliant at surging forward and crossing quickly, he’s not necessarily the best when opponents are running at him – but Klopp thinks he has the ability to coach him into a brilliant defender too.
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“I really like, for example, the kind of project like Andrew Robertson,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
“He is cool, he is not too long in professional football. He played outstandingly well at Hull but people have said ‘In defensive one-on-ones he is not that good.’
“That’s not a problem. I can’t teach him playing football because he is already good at that but I can teach him how to deal with one-on-ones.
“Because I could do that and I was a really bad footballer!”
We’re likely to see Robertson for the first time at the weekend, when Liverpool travel to Germany for a friendly with Hertha Berlin.
We then face Bayern Munich on August 1st, which will definitely be our toughest game of pre-season so far – with the Germans looking lethal so far this summer.