Jurgen Klopp has explained how Liverpool’s defensive plan isn’t based around the height of our backline, but about the roles of every player in the side.
We haven’t racked up a clean-sheet this season, but thankfully haven’t paid for it yet either – winning all our Premier League games and the European Super Cup to boot.
But it would undeniably be nice if we were not conceding goals either – perhaps starting at the weekend against Burnley.
In fairness, our defending against Arsenal was in the most part very good – and we only conceded after the game was won – dealing with the dangerous Nicolas Pepe well.
“People spoke about our defending,” Klopp told Goal. “We work on our defending but not in the way people probably expected…”
“It’s not about the last line; it’s a common thing, defending in the Premier League doesn’t work if you talk to [each individual player] and tell him, ‘We have to do this and that differently.’
“We worked really hard now on that, like we always do but this week we had the time to do it. From a defending point of view, it was for sure the best game, against an incredible threat from Arsenal.
“We really defended really well, I’m really happy…
“The goal happened when everybody was in the box, that’s nothing to do with defending.”
We think now that Liverpool have a seemingly settled defence, things will improve. Joel Matip should be starting alongside Virgil van Dijk at the moment, as despite Joe Gomez’s enormous potential, he’s not performing to the same high standards as before his injury last season.
Alisson will hopefully be back after the international break as well, as despite Adrian doing ok since his arrival, he’s not a world-class operator like the Brazilian – but a free transfer we acquired after he’d been released by West Ham.