Liverpool have been a disaster defensively at times this season, and if they harbour ambitions of winning trophies, they have to find a way to be less porous.
Jurgen Klopp’s men sit in ninth place in the Premier League table, 12 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, and a big reason for that is their defensive record.
The Reds have conceded 16 goals in just nine games, that’s 12 more than the two Manchester clubs who sit in first and second place.
In turn, something has to change. It’s difficult to assess what it is needed though as a new signing in January surely won’t be the magic solution.
Speaking after their 4-1 loss at Tottenham on Sunday, Joel Matip has done his best to rally the troops and has placed the responsibility on his shoulders to be better in the heart of the defence.
“It cannot go like this. It cannot be that we concede that many goals away. I’m a defender and I should take care of this,” he told Sky Sports, as reported by The Daily Mail.
“We gave them the opportunity. It was not that they played the perfect ball with our mistakes. We have to take care of them and have to stop them.”
It does mainly come down to individual errors, as Simon Mignolet has been guilty in the past, Alberto Moreno has never really convinced at left-back from a defensive perspective, while Dejan Lovren was hauled off in the first half at Wembley as he couldn’t contain Harry Kane.
As a result, Klopp can only continue to work with the players in training to eradicate these lapses in concentration, but ultimately it could take a lot more to get Liverpool defending like a top team and in turn capable of genuinely competing for major honours this season.