Jurgen Klopp has urged his Liverpool side to revert ‘back to basics’ as the Reds continue to experience a slow start to the campaign.
The Anfield outfit were held to a 3-3 draw with Brighton on the weekend and have won just two of their opening seven Premier League games.
The 55-year-old’s side has kept just two clean sheets so far this season and the German tactician has urged his club to be ‘more compact’ to help get their campaign back on track.
“When you spot a problem and think you have the solution, you expect [it] to be instant. That’s never the case in football,” Klopp said (as quoted by BBC Sport).
“We’ve conceded similar goals now, they have gone through the same gaps.
“When the timing in our defending isn’t perfect we’re too open. So yes, we have to be more compact.
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“Defending is an art and it worked for us really well for a long time. But with it not working, you realise you have to go back to the basics.
“We can’t always start anew. If we can help the boys with ways to defend differently, we have to do that.”
Following our disappointing result against Brighton on Saturday, attention now turns to the Champions League and our clash with Scottish outfit Rangers on Tuesday.
We’ve won one and lost the other of our opening two games in Europe’s premier competition and a huge performance is required from the Merseysiders to earn all three points against the Glasgow-based outfit.
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Confidence appears to be low amongst last season’s FA Cup and League Cup champions but the former Borussia Dortmund has insisted that a dip in form is completely normal.
“People can ask how could it happen that these players are not full of confidence?” Klopp added.
“Do you think [Manchester United forward] Cristiano Ronaldo at this moment is top of his confidence levels?
“He was for ages the best player in the world and now it is not going his way and it is not exactly the same. That happens to all of us.
“Lionel Messi played last season [his first at Paris St-Germain] where it was not exactly the same because these kind of things are really important to all of us and you have to work for it.
“You have to take the little things to take a step in the right direction and be really ready for the moment when it is back and that is what we are doing.”
The Reds have a difficult set of fixtures to contend with during October including clashes with Arsenal, Manchester City and Ajax.
In total, Liverpool will play nine games across the month and need to return to form as soon as possible to prevent the campaign from turning into a failure.