LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Monday, October 17, 2016: Liverpool's manager Jürgen Klopp during the FA Premier League match against Manchester United at Anfield. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Jurgen Klopp on Liverpool’s defending from set pieces as they prepare to face West Brom

Jurgen Klopp says his Liverpool side must have a plan against teams with a defensive approach, ahead of Saturday’s Premier League clash with West Brom.

Tony Pulis teams are famed for being difficult to beat and his Baggies side visit Anfield this weekend looking to continue their hard-to-beat run – Pulis’ last five games against Liverpool have seen four draws and just one win for the Reds.

Having been thwarted by a defence-minded Man United side on Monday, Klopp has expressed the importance of being prepared for matches of that ilk, starting with West Brom.

“We are a football-playing side and Manchester United were more physical and stronger than we were with a lot of tall players,” Klopp said.

“We did it well and I cannot remember there was a big advantage in this game out of these situations.

“We need to be ready again for situations like this [on Saturday]. You can always use a few things from the last game but on the other hand it will be different again.

“Defending these balls was important, very important in the United game and will be important in the next game. Playing football would have been important in the Man United game too and will be very important in the West Brom game. There is a lot of work to do.”

Pulis’ men have scored the joint-most goals (4) from corners so far this season, and six of their eight league goals have been from set-pieces.

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Sunday, December 13, 2015: Liverpool's manager Jürgen Klopp and West Bromwich Albion head coach Tony Pulis uring the Premier League match against West Bromwich Albion at Anfield. (Pic by James Maloney/Propaganda)

Klopp is wary of the threat they pose in that respect, but believes his own side’s qualities should shine through.

“Everybody knows a little bit about their style of play, so there’s obvious things I can say. There will be a lot of set-pieces, 100%,” he continued.

“They are really strong at this, each Liverpool fan thinks there is one real weakness (for us) and it’s set-pieces. We don’t have these big problems any more but still we concede goals.

“The good news is it is not easy to outplay us, the bad news is, we don’t defend at 100% on set-pieces.

“That’s another kind of truth, so we need to be really concentrated. We can’t avoid the set-piece, we have to defend them really well.

“They are physical and strong, we know about this, and as long as we have the ball, they cannot do something else – they have to defend us.

“It’s really important we find solutions for their formation, so maybe a few games we have played up to now is a good education for this game.

“All what we did for the start of pre-season is for games like this, so hopefully we can show we are taking a big step in the right direction.”

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