Roberto Firmino & Klopp
Jurgen Klopp has called on Liverpool to improve their defending as they aim to get back to winning ways at home to Arsenal on Saturday evening. The Reds have conceded five in their last two games that included a first defeat of the campaign at West Ham before the international break.
Jurgen Klopp said: “If a defeat is ever good, it’s after you get over it, but that takes a bit of time. A defeat is good for information but at the moment when you lose, there is no good defeat. After that you have time and we can watch a lot of football in between the games, maybe not with us involved, but you always want to see a reaction with different things. I spoke after the game about the first goal we conceded, which I thought was a foul. It is a foul, by the way, but it’s because you feel really hard [done by] after a defeat and you don’t think it’s fair and all these kind of things. Analysing it [later], things look different and the goal what I hated most was the counter-attacking goal. We had to defend that much better and the other two goals were obviously set-pieces. The second set-piece goal (West Ham’s third) was an incredibly well-taken one and really well executed. The first goal was a foul, bam! Second goal we have to defend better, show a bit of aggression, there are things we can do much better. And scoring there twice against a team like that and being very dominant, we were really in charge of the game. They had good moments against us and looked like the old West Ham, they always have good moments against us. We won a few years ago 3-2 and it was a really tight game, so you can struggle against West Ham, that is clear. But the one goal I hated most was the goal through the counter-attack and that is what we have to have to improve. Against Arsenal they can counter-attack you as well, especially if you let them, but if you’re playing a team who can counter and play set-pieces, you need to defend set-pieces better and you need the help of a ref sometimes. Sometimes you have to do better and the rest we have to improve, that is what we already knew. We have to improve in that [defensive] area. We know that. We scored an awful lot of goals, but we conceded too many as well. That is how it is and that is where we have to improve. You only get consistency through defending and we have to defend at our highest standard. Tomorrow is a very good example of that, if you do not defend against Arsenal on the highest level you should not even try to go there. It makes no sense. They are too good for that. They have clear patterns of what they do. They have players who they want to be in a certain position, all these kinds of things, so that is a big challenge. But on top of that the best way to defend is keep the ball and that is what we have to do better as well. So many things – completely independent of the West Ham result and even after 25 games unbeaten, we always knew we had to work on it. That is what we do. But we are constantly interrupted either by injuries or international breaks. That is a little bit of the problem. Unfortunately in football you need time to work on solutions, but you don’t have time. That is the tricky thing.”
Klopp also believes the Premier League is hands down the strongest in Europe. The Liverpool boss expects that strength in depth only to improve after the top flight was able to absorb the economic downturn of the COVID-19 pandemic better than other leagues across the continent.
Jurgen Klopp added: “This league is very exciting, absolutely, I can see that, even when I am completely involved. But yes, it increases pressure as well and this league is unbelievable. When I was in Germany, people spoke about which league was the best, maybe some people thought it was Germany. No, it’s not. It could be Spain and maybe it was Italy at one point, but for a few years now it is the Premier League, for sure. It’s not a competition, it’s just how it is. The amount of world-class players in this league is absolutely incredible. English clubs came through this very difficult pandemic the best from an economical point of view. It will not get worse for the next few years, the league will only get stronger and stronger. The managers will get better, it’s a tough race indeed and when you have the momentum you have to treat it carefully and sensitively and if you don’t have it, you have to fight with all you have to get it back. That is what we always do. I am not into the record-chasing thing, but if it happens, it’s always a good sign if it is a positive record, obviously. We had different records but then things went a little bit the other way, I am not sure how long we were unbeaten at home for (before January’s loss to Burnley), but after that, all of a sudden we lost six in a row. I don’t want to be in that situation again, it all felt very uncomfortable but we are a good football team and that means we are responsible for putting in top, top, top-class performances and that is what we try.”
