Liverpool latest news: Emre Can happy to tell it like it is – even if Kop boss Jurgen Klopp isn’t
EMRE CAN is willing to tell it how it is — even if his boss Jurgen Klopp isn’t.
The Liverpool midfielder claims his manager has not been critical of ANYONE in the Kop camp.
Klopp’s side not only have the worst defensive record in the Premier League apart from West Ham and Crystal Palace, they are conceding more goals — 1.71 per game — than at any time in Klopp’s 16 years as manager.
Honest Can said: “I read a statistic that we had over 120 shots in the past seven games and scored seven goals. This is clearly not enough.
“It is definitely a fact that we have defended badly and conceded too many goals.
“However, I believe that if we were scoring the goals that we should have been this would not have mattered so much and that we would have won more games.
“So it is not just about the defensive side of things and we cannot point only that way.”
So Liverpool are conceding too many and not scoring enough. Not an ideal combination.
Four days into his third year in charge at Anfield, Klopp is staring into a title abyss.
Pundits are lining up to criticise the manager, players and recruitment.
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But Can revealed the forgiving nature of his Liverpool boss. Others might call it blind faith in players who have dropped him into a crisis.
Defeat by Manchester United on Saturday will leave his side trailing the other Reds by ten points.
Even this early in the season that would surely be a chasm too wide to cross.
To make things only worse this week he lost jet-heeled Sadio Mane to hamstring injury for up to six weeks.
But Can, 23, speaking to German paper Bild, said: “The criticism on Jurgen Klopp has increased but the coach does not question anyone.
“He is convinced that only the necessary bit of luck is missing to return to really good success.
“The coach himself says we are not playing badly and we almost always dominated the opponents in all games so far and were the better team.”
Klopp is under no immediate threat from his club’s hierarchy despite a run of only win in seven game and a starting slot tomorrow lunch time of seventh place.
He did, after all, warn his American owners back on the day he started, October 8, 2015, that it would take him four years to claim the Prem title.
But more fingers will be pointed at Klopp should Jose Mourinho and his joint leaders head out of Anfield with the points on Saturday.
Can still believes the German’s work is a testament to plenty of good things going on at the club, stressing: “Everyone can see the steps we have made under him in the last two years.
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“We as a team want to work with him and we play a good football, as he wants us to play. Jurgen Klopp is a top-top coach. Klopp is a top-top trainer.”
Even if Can is convinced, there will be more doubters if Liverpool fall further behind in the title race come Saturday evening.
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