Liverpool turned up their other side when they faced Burnley and deservedly lost 2-0 to the newly promoted side. The Reds were the ones who were expected to win away at Turf Moor but they couldn’t get going and fell behind to an early strike by Sam Vokes before Andre Gray made sure of the three points in the first half.
The Reds had nearly 80% of the possession but could not trouble the Burnley defence and succumbed to their first ever loss to the side in the Premier League. The manager Jurgen Klopp might not be too happy with the defending, though the performance was alright it seemed.
Liverpool were awful in their defending in the game against Arsenal and only survived thanks to a blitz in the second half, something they could not do as Sadio Mane was out due to an injury and that lack of pace in the final third was evident as the Merseyside club lost but those same failings of the defence came to light again and with tougher games to come, Klopp has to fix the defence.
Jurgen Klopp’s team might not have a lot of games to play this season, but here are three things the German can do to ensure the Reds stop messing about in the defensive third.
Get the defenders to be more aggressive
For both goals that Liverpool conceded in the game, their defence was out of sync and barely tried to pressurise the opposition. For the first goal, there was absolutely no one on Sam Vokes and he was given way too much time to turn and shoot right in the top corner.
In the second goal, Andre Gray turned Jordan Henderson inside out in the penalty box and then Dejan Lovren came up with a half-hearted attempt to block the ball. Liverpool might be doing a lot of Gegenpressing in the top half of the pitch but that comes to naught if they cannot defend properly.
Burnley had two shots on target in the first half and made it count, while Liverpool could not break down a resolute team. Lovren, Klavan and Matip (when he does come back) have to be more aggressive than what the central defenders did for the side against Burnley, and if they don’t, the Reds will concede a lot more goals.
Get a replacement for Alberto Moreno
James Milner was played as left-back and he did not have the best of games. Shoehorning a player into the side does not work for any team and the English midfielder struggled for most of the afternoon against Burnley.
Though he was not the worst player in the team, Liverpool could have done much better if they had an actual left-back in the team. Though Jurgen Klopp came out to defend Moreno after the win against Arsenal but why did he start with Milner when Moreno was fit?
It just does not make sense but Liverpool have been linked with Jonas Hector and even if the German is not young or the greatest left-back in the world, he would still be better than what Liverpool have at the moment.
Play with a defensive midfielder
For some reason Jurgen Klopp is not willing to play with a defensive midfielder. It is not like Liverpool do not have someone who can do a job there, after all, Marko Grujic and Emre Can are robust midfielders who can tackle and put themselves about but neither of them have started the games in the Premier League.
This might be a concern for most Liverpool fans and with Jordan Henderson providing absolutely nothing to the side in both games, Klopp should start with either Can or Grujic in the next games.
Liverpool do not have any energy in midfield and are overloaded with attack minded players. There has to be someone who is willing to run back and do the dirty work and that player could easily make the difference for the side as they look to bounce back from the disappointment of losing to Burnley.
Klopp has time on his hands but if the Reds lose any more games due to poor defending, a lot of questions will be asked about the manager and his transfer policies.