Liverpool’s defence has come up for more criticism after their 4-1 hammering at the hands of Tottenham on Sunday. The Reds were looking to keep three clean sheets in a row after games against Manchester United and Maribor but came unstuck thanks to a catalogue of errors from the defence and goalkeeper.
While a number of former players and managers have ridiculed the defending, with even Klopp sharing harsh words for the players, Bournemouth goalkeeper Asmir Begovic also was scathing at our defence during an episode of The Debate.
As quoted by Sky Sports, the former Chelsea keeper analysed just what is majorly wrong with our team.
“I think for Liverpool it is a combination of things: communication, positioning and the desire to defend is lacking for Liverpool.
“They don’t look organised, they don’t look like they want to defend. I look at some of their players and the first thing is how good they can be on the ball, how they can pass and go forward and how the full backs can attack and join in. I don’t think their first thought is defending.
“I think as a unit they look all over the place and there could be many reasons. Confidence once again is low and there are people making bad decisions so it seems to be a bit of a mess.
“They are not doing the basics of defending and I don’t think they have the pride it takes to be a defender.”
Begovic also didn’t think that changing players at the back or in goal was helping us, given that we keep switching between Simon Mignolet and Loris Karius between the sticks.
“I don’t think it is one particular player or one particular thing but everything in that defensive area is going wrong. I’m not sure how much time they spend on it or if they’re being coached.”
There was more criticism to follow by Jonathan Northcroft, who was also on the show, and the journalist had a go at our manager for his reactions to the same defensive problems pointed out during press conferences.
“I’ve been to previous press conferences and he’s almost laughed at journalists for asking about the defending, almost as if it’s a stupid question and we don’t understand what’s going on,” the Sunday Times’ football correspondent added.
“He wasn’t a Germany international, he was a Mainz reserve defender for half of his career so he wasn’t a brilliant defender do for him to say he could do better is pretty damning.
“I think this probably has to be the moment for Klopp where he fixes what other people can see. It has been puzzling asking him about this and him rejecting the idea that anything is wrong.
“I think the supporters have enjoyed that. He is still hugely popular but Liverpool fans have been wondering why he couldn’t see what they could see and I think that would have gone down well in the stands if not in the dressing room.”
Things are looking tough for us at the moment but with a run of easy fixtures coming up, we should be able to claw back to a better league position. The problem would be regarding injuries and how Klopp decides to bring Dejan Lovren back into the side after his horror show against Spurs.
https://youtu.be/zgG7ZR4f7_Q
