Liverpool were defensively woeful against Tottenham Hotspur yesterday, there’s no other way of putting it.

They lost the important Premier League fixture 4-1 and are now sitting ninth in the table. The Reds have conceded sixteen times in their first nine encounters and only five teams in England’s top flight have conceded more.

Dejan Lovren can give you some very good performances but he can also throw in some clangers and even pathetic defensive contributions. That inconsistency was perfectly highlighted yesterday as the Croat simply couldn’t deal with Spurs hitman Harry Kane.

For the first goal, Lovren had the turning circle of an articulated lorry. He was slow and Kane breezed past him with ease. Then for the second goal, Dejan misjudged the ball in the air and missed his header high up the field. Kane then had plenty of space and time to set up Heung-Min Son to grab his side’s second.

By that time, Liverpool were pretty much done and even their manager Jurgen Klopp had a go at his defender:

“The first goal would not happen if I was on the pitch but I’m the middle of the technical area in trainers,”

After half an hour, Klopp decided he’d seen enough and hauled the Croatian international.

Can Lovren have any complaints? I don’t think so, he was extremely poor.

Many will question the decision. Some will state that the boss was protecting his player and the team by bringing him off, when he was clearly not at the races. While others will think that Klopp has thrown his central defender under the bus and will have totally destroyed Dejan’s confidence.

In fairness, Liverpool lost two more goals and the defending wasn’t much, if any, better.

Joel Matip failed to clear the box with his header and Dele Alli capitalised with a volley. Kane then grabbed his brace when Reds keeper Simon Mignolet fluffed his lines and the Liverpool defence were once again static as danger loomed.

Now we can’t ignore the fact that Tottenham are in form at the moment and were ruthless on Sunday. But Liverpool made it too easy for them.

Now the question of Liverpool’s transfer business once again pops up.

Everyone and their auntie knew Klopp needed to bring in a top class centre-back, maybe even two.

They started the summer by going all out for Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk but they soon stepped back when the Saints claimed the Dutchman had been tapped up by the Reds.

Now why was the Dutch defender the only name on the shopping list? Why didn’t they go back in officially for the twenty-six year old if he was your only and desired option?

It was so bizarre that they didn’t have a second option. In terms of squad depth they look very weak when it comes to options at the back centrally.

It’s my belief that they actually sold their best out and out defender in Mamadou Sakho. I understand his attitude might have been iffy but surely Klopp could have sorted that out.

By the way, I am also not sure they have the best goalkeepers in the squad either. Both Mignolet and Loris Karius struggle to convince me that they are anywhere near world-class level. If you want to win titles, trophies and finish in the Champions League places continually then you need a top quality goalie in between the sticks.

I don’t think they fill their defenders with much in the way of confidence and they have too many mistakes in them.

The midfielders will also have to do more to try and protect the back four, especially when you consider how badly they can be cut open with through balls.

Jurgen Klopp is a terrific manager and he has such wealth in talented, creative players but he’ll struggle to win anything at Anfield if he doesn’t sort out his defensive issues. They’ve been glaring for a while now and the German has to get the funds in place to build better foundations at the back!

 

Posted on October 23rd, 2017 by scott
Filed under: Article