Liverpool’s defending is laughable and they are no better under Jurgen Klopp than they were with Brendan Rodgers
Just what is the Anfield chief doing during training? The same mistakes keep rearing their ugly heads and need to be fixed
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JURGEN KLOPP is brilliant at the public relations game.
Indeed, listen to him and you would be fooled into thinking everything has been on an upward curve since he joined Liverpool.
Yes, he got them back into the Champions League with last season’s fourth place, which will have bought him plenty of boardroom bonus points.
The truth, however, is that Liverpool are no different under boss Klopp than they were under Brendan Rodgers.
Brilliant going forward but not so clever at the back.
Indeed, when they nearly won the league in 2013-14 under Rodgers, they scored 101 goals - the third-highest total in Premier League history.
Manchester City scored one more and beat them to the title by two points. But it was mainly down to the fact Liverpool’s prowess in attack was not matched by their defending.
They conceded 50 goals that season — more than anyone else in the top five.
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As our table below shows, Rodgers can actually boast a BETTER record than Klopp up to this point in their respective Liverpool managerial careers.
I am left wondering just what he does on the training ground when the same defensive errors are repeated week in, week out.
What I witnessed on Saturday in their draw at home to Burnley was laughable.
Much like when I analysed their 3-3 draw at Watford on the opening day and, more recently, their 5-0 defeat against Manchester City.
Klopp will point to the red card as a turning point in that game. But it was a forward in Sadio Mane who was sent off.
In that situation, you shut up shop and try to get something out of the game. Not Liverpool. They just opened up, as they did at Watford.
Now take Saturday and let’s look at the Burnley goal.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was beaten easily in the air to the first ball, which had travelled some 70 yards.
Ragnar Klavan and Joel Matip then both challenged for it with Burnley’s Chris Wood — but neither got to it and it broke for Scott Arfield to score.
That was not the worst of it.
Late on, even Kop fans lost patience as Klavan and Emre Can both went for the same ball without a Burnley player nearby, conceding a corner.
From that, Ben Mee was allowed a free header which Matip headed over. And from the next set-piece, Mee had another header saved.
Nothing learned. Yes, Liverpool’s possession and attempts on goal made for impressive stats but the one that matters — the scoreline — didn’t.
Burnley’s defending, by contrast, showed a team who know what they are doing and are willing to do it.
It shows they work on it in training and they look like they enjoy defending.
That has helped them to five points on the road already this season after a win at Chelsea and 1-1 draws with Spurs and now Liverpool.
That is only two points fewer than they got during the whole of last season on their league travels.
It is something Sean Dyche has clearly addressed and they sit a place above Liverpool on goal difference.
If Burnley can work on it and show improvement, why can’t Liverpool?
Not that boss Dyche will be getting any big jobs soon — that’s just how it is, sadly.
Liverpool’s nine goals against in the league is better only than West Ham, who have let in ten, and they are at the wrong end of the table.
The same problems were exposed during their 2-2 draw with Sevilla in the Champions League.
They left Wissam Ben Yedder free to poke home the opener, with Dejan Lovren falling over as he tried to clear.
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Yes, Liverpool came back but watch the Spanish side’s equaliser again. It came from a long throw, with nobody picking up Luis Muriel, who fed scorer Joaquin Correa.
Playing this way, there is a chance Liverpool could win six games in a row and one of the domestic cups.
But when it comes to the league, forget it. Also, in the Champions League teams are merciless in punishing any slip-ups — as Sevilla showed.
Now I know Klopp tried to get defender Virgil van Dijk.
In that case, they needed to go out and get someone else.
Liverpool can be thrilling to watch but it is increasingly enjoyable for rival fans, too.
Klopp must sort out the defending or that long-awaited title will remain a very distant dream.
