25 Apr 2017 16:59:19
klopp's attitude towards defending is questionable. He says the whole team should defend. Maybe, but some players' job title says 'defender'; they should be good at defending.


1.) 25 Apr 2017
25 Apr 2017 18:03:38
Maybe we should give Big Sam a go.

{Ed001's Note - Allardyce has used that quote himself before now.}


2.) 25 Apr 2017
25 Apr 2017 19:04:25
As has been said 1000 times, set piece defending is very poor for a team that has ambitions of top 4, trophies and challenge for the league each year.

It's embarrassing how we can't seem to deal with a second ball and get caught so easily on the break. Matip and Lovren are ok but positioning can be poor.

We either play a different system to provide more support for our defence or buy defenders who are proven in playing a high line. I'd play more compact and hit teams on the break like Leicester did last year.


3.) 25 Apr 2017
25 Apr 2017 19:41:08
It'd not Klopp fault that players make stupid errors on the pitch .


4.) 25 Apr 2017
25 Apr 2017 19:43:19
Lots of managers have the same belief, hardly Klopp alone, the successful sides of 70s and 80s talked about defending starting from the attackers.


5.) 25 Apr 2017
25 Apr 2017 19:51:50
Nice reply Statto. Very close to the reality. Highline with slow CB results in calamity.


6.) 25 Apr 2017
25 Apr 2017 20:11:54
Are you watching the Chelsea -Southampton game 😏.


7.) 25 Apr 2017
25 Apr 2017 20:44:08
I said it the other day but I think it's worth repeating.
Klopp could easily turn us into a boring defensive team scraping the odd 1-0 win. Poorer managers (Allardyce) than him do it regularly. Roy Hodgson tried to do it to us, that didn't end well.
That's not Klopp's style and we all knew it wasn't when he signed - "heavy metal football"?
What he's trying to do is balance the attacking, brilliant football that we can play with being a bit more defensive. It's a minor tweak, a delicate balance, but I back him to get it right long term in favour of short term dull boring football.
We will need to be patient though.


8.) 25 Apr 2017
25 Apr 2017 21:19:38
Ron

It's no minor tweak. Barcelona has been a victim of playing and pressing high up the pitch. Leaves acres of space behind them for someone to exploit. We just don't have the right personal at the back to play this system. I did raise some concern on Matip's pace back in the summer but was quickly shut to bed by usual " Klopp couldn't be wrong " slogans. Klavan and Lovren lacks severe pace. How many times have us seen a decent winger beating Lovren on pace.
We also don't play with a stopper which makes it easy for opposition to run at our already slow CB's.

Why did Rafa played a deep defensive system? He has Carra, skrtel and Hyppia ( None has pace ) to play high up!


9.) 25 Apr 2017
25 Apr 2017 22:30:51
Stopper? Were generally very good tacklers but usually slow. Not sure how that would stop players running at slow CBs - unless you are talking about having 3 man defence. But that raises a different set of issues and Im not sure a stopper would solve them.
Matip is quick - his issue is that he doesn't turn as quick as say a Cannavaro (but has a different skill set so not comparable)

In my opinion, biggest area our defence needs to improve on is communication and understanding which wold lead to better organisation.


10.) 26 Apr 2017
26 Apr 2017 04:56:09
Quite obviously, LFC need an upgrade in defence in terms of recruitment and in defending. I think this is something Klopp needs to rectify in the summer.

Also, Rafa didn't play a deeper defending line because he had slow defenders, that is how he sets his teams out to play.


11.) 26 Apr 2017
26 Apr 2017 08:31:32
Ed001 you implying that Sam tried to get the Liverpool job at one point? I always got the impression that he disliked Liverpool.

{Ed001's Note - what? No. Where on earth did you get that idea from?}


12.) 26 Apr 2017
26 Apr 2017 10:44:25
To the original post - Football is a TEAM sport. Whilst I agree that it would be preferable to have a back line that had a) more pace and b) collectively more positional and game awareness it's very wrong to focus on the weaknesses of individuals.


13.) 26 Apr 2017
26 Apr 2017 13:14:16
For my 2 cent on this one - it's very little to do with the balance of play. We've conceeded 7 goals this season from corners alone I believe (possibly 8), and in total set pieces are responsible for almost half our goals conceeded in the league. In those times we aren't being caught on the counter, we haven't having the space behind us exposed etc. We are all there, all in our pre-arranged position and all focused on the job of defending.

Granted no team will go all season without conceeding any goals from set peices. But cutting that choatic response to a ball dropping down, and the laziness in attacking it as it bounces in half would give us a gd that would be practically an extra point in the CL race (ignoring the effect it would have on our points) . And considering we'd still only be mid table in our set piece stats by doing that, it's hardly an impossible dream!

Our ability to defend set pieces left with Rafa. Someone, preferably a goalkeeper, needs to start taking charge of our defense in the moment and making sure that everyone there is fully committed to getting to those balls and knows what balls to attack. And from a coaching perspective, everyone needs to have their position and their responsibilities for the entire set piece drilled into them, and anyone who is making those half assed, back turned lunges towards the second ball gets a nice long spell on the bench as a reward for lack of commitment.


14.) 26 Apr 2017
26 Apr 2017 17:51:16
Spot on, Hijkle. We no longer have the desire to be defensively sound anymore and this since carra left. Rafa actually focused on defending and getting us well drilled as a unit. That is what Klopp is trying to do BUT his job is two fold i. e, be defensively sound while playing attacking football.

This CAN be done as we have done it in some games BUT clearly not in enough of them to sustain good results. Ron's post touches on this so good job, Ron.

If we must make any defensive signings, we need to be rid of Klavan and especially the error prone Lovren, upgrade the FB's positions and get in a defensive coach to drill the players on the art of defending especially mentally. All this will lead to protecting the GK who should also take responsibility for organizing the defence.