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LIVERPOOL. — Liverpool are conceding too many similar goals in their matches this season and the players may need to get “back to basics” to tighten the defence and return to winning ways, manager Jurgen Klopp said yesterday.
Famed for their counter-pressing style which helped Liverpool compete on all four fronts last season, Klopp’s side have leaked goals this season and kept only two clean sheets in all competitions.
A 3-3 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion dropped Liverpool to ninth in the English Premier League standings and Klopp said they would have to come out of the crisis in a similar way to when they lost several defenders to injuries two seasons ago.
“When you spot a problem and think you have the solution, you expect the solution to be instant and influential, that’s never the case in football,” Klopp told reporters ahead of tonight’s Champions League group game against Rangers.
“We’ve conceded similar goals now, they have gone through the same gaps. The problem we have is a brave way of defending . . . When the timing in our defending isn’t perfect we’re too open. So yes, we have to be more compact.
“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.”
Champions League Fixtures
Today: Bayern Munich v Viktoria Plzen (6:45pm); Marseille v Sporting CP (6:45pm); Club Brugge v Atletico Madrid (9pm); Eintracht Frankfurt v Tottenham Hotspur (9pm); AFC Ajax v Napoli (9pm); Internazionale v Barcelona (9pm); Liverpool v Rangers (9pm); FC Porto v Leverkusen (9pm).
Tomorrow: RB Salzburg v Dinamo Zagreb (6:45pm); RB Leipzig v Celtic (6:45pm); Chelsea v AC Milan (9pm); Juventus v Maccabi Haifa FC (9pm); SL Benfica v Paris Saint-Germain (9pm); Sevilla v Dortmund (9pm); Real Madrid v Shakhtar Donetsk (9pm); Manchester City v FC Copenhagen (pm). — AFP
Online Reporter