One of the highlights of Jurgen Klopp‘s analysis on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football saw the manager discussing his side’s problematic defending at set-pieces.
The Reds’ boss was typically entertaining as he provided analysis and insight ahead of Burnley vs. Watford, joining Jamie Carragher in the Sky studio.
When shown a graphic showing Liverpool’s problems defending set-pieces in the 12 months since he arrived, Klopp admitted it was an area his side are working hard to improve.
“We don’t have the tallest players in the league,” said Klopp.
“We improve, but we don’t have the physical quality for set-piece defending. We need to find more creative solutions, like Wijnaldum blocking, the same with Hendo and Lallana.
When asked how he intends to improve the set piece record, Klopp joked: “Make them taller!”
He also joked that the Reds were “Much better in training!”
“[The] quality in England in these moments is really intense, it’s much different to other countries in the six-yard box,” explained Klopp.
“It’s not so much of an issue this year because we’ve done much better already but it doesn’t feel too good when you are really good in a game like the Hull game when they had no chances and we give a goal away [on a set piece].
“Most of the goals we gave away in the early stage of the season when I came here, we had to change a few things, change a few formations and we always played against ‘specialists’ in set-pieces.
“When you play against West Brom, Crystal Palace, West Ham last year. They are unbelievably strong at this and we had to change it so it’s not about a formation, it’s more about how we react in the moment.”
Klopp signed 6’4″ Joel Matip this summer, seeking to address the height problem, and also added 6’3″ Marko Grujic; showing the need for physically capable players in the side.
Liverpool are yet to keep a clean sheet in the Premier League this season but will be hoping to change that record as the season progresses.
Fan Comments