John Aldridge - Jurgen Klopp may lose the faith of Liverpool fans unless he resolves one big problem
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool goal scoring great John Aldridge suspects the club’s supporters may start to question the judgement of manager Jurgen Klopp and his coaching staff unless they resolve their team’s ongoing defensive issues.
Klopp’s side looked defensively uncertain once again during their 1-1 draw with Burnley on Sunday, with Aldridge suggesting the buck has to stop with the club’s management as much as the players.
“I’m a massive fan of Klopp and remain totally convinced he is the right man to lead Liverpool, but he has to get to grips with defensive woes that are costing him points far too often,” states Aldridge.
“If he can’t find solutions to the problems at the back, fans will start to question Klopp and his coaching staff because they do not seem to be getting to grips with the basic problems undermining their team’s ambitions.
“Not for the first time, I was pulling my hair out watching Liverpool try and fail to beat Burnley on Saturday in a game that followed a pattern of too many we have seen far too often in the Klopp era was played out at Anfield.
“Liverpool dominated the game for 88 of the 90 minutes, yet they could easily have come away with a defeat and you cannot comprehend how this keeps happening.
“They have to sort the defence out because it is basic errors costing them time and again. This is not a problem that started this season, as the issue that has been ongoing at Liverpool since before Klopp arrived as manager nearly two years ago.”
Aldridge suggested the mistakes being made on a regular basis by the Liverpool defence are comparable to schoolboy mistakes, as he argues opposing teams are fully aware that hey can unsettle Liverpool.
“The opposition know that if they keep it tight at the back, there is a real chance to get results as Liverpool will crack trying to defend crosses coming into their box,” he added.
“Honestly, some of the defending you see from Liverpool is like watching an under-12s team on Sunday morning because they make mistakes time and again and never learn from them.
“The players switch off at key moments, fail to cover runs from opposing players, lose out in physical battles and repeat these errors on a consistent basis.
“Maybe they need to consider adding a defensive coach to the set-up because you can feel the nerves going through the team every time the opposition get a corner or a free-kick within range of the goal.”
Read John Aldridge in the Sunday World every weekend.
