Klopp must learn from Kop history: Great defence wins you titles

WHEN Robbie Fowler and I were at Liverpool we scored a shed-load of Premier League goals between us. Seventy-two, to be precise – 29 more than Andrew Cole and Eric Cantona managed for Manchester United in the same two seasons.

Yet those two ended both campaigns – 1995-96 and 1996-97 – with Premier League winners’ medals while at Liverpool we finished third and then fourth.

Why? It’s simple. In the Sir Alex Ferguson era United had a great goalkeeper, great defenders,and great attackers,great midfieldersand they mopped up.

While at Liverpool, even then, we had better attacking options than we did in defence.

You would probably like Kenny Dalglish was a player to find a time when Liverpool were great at the back and great up top.

Under Gerard Houllier and Rafa Benitez they were good at the back and average up front, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres aside.

And under Jurgen Klopp now they are great in attack but bang-average at the back.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that teams need balance if they are going to compete for Premier League titles and the problem will be evident again at Liverpool on Saturday when Manchester United visit. Jose Mourinho is the arch-pragmatist when it comes to setting up teams. He gets his defence right first and worries about his attack later. It seems to have worked pretty well – and be working pretty well – for him. Antonio Conte did the same at Chelsea last season. Whereas at Liverpool it’s the opposite and Klopp’s frontmen now go into games knowing they have to score at least two to stand a chance of even a point. at concede between 0.82 and 0.92 goals a game. Already this season Liverpool are at 1.7. So there’s not much wriggle room and until Klopp addresses his back four – and I hope he does it in January – his side difficultare goingto keepto find up it withvery Mourinho and Co. I don’t know how far back Klopp looked at Liverpool’s history when he arrived at the club but there is a recipe for the success they had in the 1970s and 1980s. Dalglish, who will have a stand named after him on Saturday, played alongside Kevin Keegan and then Ian Rush up front, and behind him in midfield he had the likes of Graeme Souness and Terry McDermott.

In defence, there was Alan Hansen, Phil Thompson, Phil Neal, Mark Lawrenson and Steve Nicol, so tell me that balance is not key.

Those heady days are one of the reasons Dalglish is being honoured with the stand at Anfield, although it’s not just because of the way he played the game or the trophies he won as a player and a manager.

The way he conducted himself and represented the club around the difficulties of Hillsborough was different class.

And he doesn’t deserve just a stand for that but a knighthood as well.