In the two years since Jurgen Klopp’s first game in charge of Liverpool – a 0-0 draw at Tottenham on October 17, 2015 – the German has overseen significant improvements overall at Anfield. But with the Reds continuing to be undermined by defensive issues, and currently on a run of one win in eight games in all competitions, there are clearly still issues Klopp has yet to resolve at Anfield.
Namely...
1. The defence
Liverpool conceded 42 goals last season, their best goals against record since Rafa Benitez’s final season in charge of 2009/10. Five clean sheets in the final six games of the season helped towards it, and hinted at a better defensive future for a team that has been plagued by individual errors and problems defending set-pieces in recent years.
The expected arrival of Virgil van Dijk in the summer was intended to further strengthen the defence, and help get Liverpool to below 40 goals conceded for the first time in eight seasons. Alas, the big Dutchman didn't arrive and now Klopp’s side are currently set for conceding 57 goals if they continue at the rate they’ve started this season.
While Klopp has previously acknowledged that “it is obvious we have conceded too much, there’s no doubt about this”, the manager’s patience must surely now be wearing thin. He said recently after the League Cup game at Leicester that conceding sloppy goals “makes me really, really sick".
The statistic that Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren have lost just once in the 22 games they’ve started together doesn’t provide an accurate picture of the defensive issues that undermine the rest of the work being done by the team.
That Klopp’s only defensive signings have been Steven Caulker (loan), Matip (free), Ragnar Klavan (£4m), Andrew Robertson (£8m) plus goalkeeper Loris Karius (£4m) has led to the accusation that the manager has failed to address the defensive shortcomings. It’s difficult to disagree with that.
2. Too much faith in players he inherited
Of the XI that started Klopp’s opening game against Tottenham, four are no longer at the club - including the man of the match that day, Mamadou Sakho – while six of the seven substitutes have also left and the other is Adam Bogdan.
However, of the squad against Manchester United at the weekend, only three of the starting line-up were signed by Klopp (Matip, Wijnaldum and Salah). Therefore, the spine of Liverpool’s team is still made up of players inherited from the Brendan Rodgers era.
Upon his appointment at Anfield, Klopp insisted he had inherited a group of players who didn’t need much changing. "We don't have to sprinkle magical dust on them: 'and now you can play football'. They know how to play," he said. "We just have to create a situation where it's possible to do this.” It’s a mantra he has repeated frequently since.
The theory was that Klopp had told FSG that a major playing personnel shift wasn't required, whereas somebody like Carlo Ancelotti would have wanted wholesale changes. But has Klopp overestimated the quality of certain players? Players who look good one week, but lack the consistency to perform to their best week in, week out – a necessary ingredient for a title-chasing side.
Is Dejan Lovren really a centre-back who can help you win a league title? Is Jordan Henderson really a holding midfielder and captain who can inspire his team towards the top of English football? Klopp is clearly a glass-half-full man, but to answer ‘yes’ to those two questions is extremely optimistic.
3. Leadership on the pitch
Klopp leads Liverpool from the sidelines, kicking and cheering every tackle and attacking foray, but many Kopites yearn for a player on the pitch who leads the team in such a manner.
Ten years ago, the Liverpool squad was full of leaders; Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Pepe Reina, Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Dirk Kuyt. All were captain material in their own right; players with a strong mentality who would provide the inspiration to turn a defeat into a draw, a draw into victory, or to hold on to three points.
Yet as those players have left over the last decade, there’s been a struggle to replace them. Of course, this is not all due to Klopp, but the German certainly hasn’t found new players to lead his team quite yet. Too many of the squad are inconsistent and often found wanting in games where someone needs to drag the team through.
The fact that Liverpool have failed to score later than the 77th minute this season points to a major concern about a winning mentality to net that late winner or equaliser – an essential attribute for any successful side.
4. Finding the balance
The end of last season saw a run of defensive solidity, with a more regular back four plus goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, and a midfield trio of Henderson, Wijnaldum and Emre Can in front of them. They are three very similar players, and while using them may offer more solidity – as it did against United, something which Jose Mourinho commented on post-match – it offers very little creativity or attacking output.
Liverpool's midfield trio have just one league goal between them so far this season, while Henderson has just three goals in two years under Klopp. The German's use of his skipper as the deep-lying midfielder has meant a change of role for Can, with the Germany international taking time to adjust his game to a more attacking role – one which he reportedly isn’t so keen on and is part of his contract impasse.
With Klopp having added Mohamed Salah in the summer and played Philippe Coutinho in midfield at times, his side became even more open defensively. Sadio Mane’s latest absence has forced a return to the more staid midfield – and closing off Liverpool’s attacking three results in predictable action from midfield. The right balance has yet to be found.
When Klopp took over at Liverpool he called it “the most interesting challenge” in world football, and it’s difficult to disagree with that statement. The longer the wait goes for a league title, the less patience some supporters have. Changing from “doubters to believers” may have been successful in the early months of Klopp’s reign, but this has since been replaced – rightly or wrongly – by scepticism in some quarters.
What’s important to remember is the progress that is being made, and that looking beyond statistics is required to see the improvements that are ongoing and clear to see. The major concern is that tomorrow never comes for Liverpool. The addition of Naby Keita next summer will improve them in midfield, but the likely departure of Coutinho will offset that. If Can leaves on a free transfer, that’s another significant loss.
What’s needed are signings who immediately impact the team – and Klopp must ensure these are players who add the leadership that’s so clearly lacking. Maybe then will the balance be found.
