“If there are one set of supporters who aren’t being entertained by it, it’s the Liverpool supporters.”
Jamie Carragher has a theory on Liverpool’s defensive failings, and it makes a lot of sense. Jurgen Klopp’s side have surrendered soft goals all season, starting in their first game of the Premier League campaign away to Watford. Liverpool conceded twice from set-pieces, and opposition corners proved their Achilles heel again on Saturday.
Liverpool beat Leicester City 3-2 in a frantic game at the King Power Stadium, but the score line arguably should not have been as close as it was. Klopp’s team were leading 2-0 until conceding a haphazard goal to Shinji Okazaki, and needed Simon Mignolet to save Jamie Vardy’s penalty to earn all three points.
The Belgian goalkeeper redeemed himself after appearing suspect for Leicester’s opener, but he was by no-means the only Liverpool player culpable in their shaky defence.
Various pundits have offered theories on why Liverpool seem incapable of preventing sloppy goals. Jamie Redknapp reckons they lack a defensive “leader”, Carragher has said that one player alone won’t solve their issues, and that it’s a collective shortcoming. Former Republic of Ireland and Leeds United midfielder John Giles pins the blame on the team’s manager,
“Klopp does not seem to place a premium on defence and is committed to a press and counter-attack style. The shortcomings in his system have been exposed on numerous occasions…”
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On Sky Sports on Monday night, Carragher said that Liverpool’s players lack the nous and “streetwise” instincts to control a game and kill it off when they are leading.
The statistics back-up Carragher’s view. Since August 2016, Liverpool have conceded more goals than their top six rivals, but have also made considerably more errors that led to goals, and conceded more from set-pieces.
“Even at 2-0 or 3-1 teams think they have a chance (against Liverpool) because history has shown in the last few years they always concede goals,” Carragher said on Monday Night Football.
“What Liverpool fans want to see isn’t so much 3-2s and 3-3s, but streetwise footballers who know what to do when they need to go and win a game and how to hold onto a game. The greatest teams in Liverpool’s history, in the early 1980s, they could be pragmatic week-in, week-out. It’s not all about open, expansive football. Sometimes you need to know what to do at the right moment. And that’s the thing with this Liverpool team, they’re not streetwise enough.”
The former Liverpool defender also said that it’s stressful for fans of the club to watch the team at the moment, and that opposition sides know they will get opportunities against them, regardless of the score line. He said Klopp’s side give their opponents “oxygen” as they fail to kill games off.
“Watching Liverpool now is the hottest ticket in town,” Carragher said.
“If Liverpool are on TV, everyone wants to watch. But if there are one set of supporters who aren’t being entertained by it, it’s the Liverpool supporters. Entertainment, for me, means you enjoy it. I was watching Liverpool [v Leicester] in the pub. It goes 2-0, 3-1 but no one can relax. Everyone is still on edge. Liverpool in those moments should be killing the other team off by either being really strong defensively or saying ‘come on, we’ll kill you on the counter-attack’. But what Liverpool do is they give them oxygen.”
You can watch some of Carragher’s analysis here, Sky end the clip just before he began detailing Liverpool’s defensive failings.
"One set of supporters not entertained by Liverpool is Liverpool supporters." 😂
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