Not panicking after Villa rout was key to revival, says Klopp

LIVERPOOL have conceded only twice in the five matches since Virgil van Dijk was injured in the Merseyside derby last month and Jurgen Klopp believes the secret was not panicking after their 7-2 thrashing at Aston Villa a month ago.

The Liverpool manager will be aware today’s opponents Manchester City represent a bigger threat than recent opponents Ajax, Sheffield

United, Midtjylland, West Ham and Atalanta but he has been pleased with the maturity in their reaction to the Villa Park debacle.

Further good news could arrive today with Joel Matip set to return from injury to partner Joe Gomez in the heart of Liverpool’s back four.

‘Defending isn’t usually our problem because we do it as a unit,’ said Klopp. ‘We didn’t say after Aston Villa: “Come on, we start again completely about how to defend”.

‘We knew what we didn’t do right that night and maybe in one or two other games as well, so we tried to sort that without overdoing it.

‘But when you concede seven goals, it is not that you have to start at nil (the beginning) again.

‘We were quite relaxed about it, as relaxed as you can be in how we dealt with it. At the moment we lost, nobody was relaxed. We were all really frustrated about it but then how we responded, it was clear that it’s not all bad.

‘We realised what was good before but some things needed to be adjusted.’

No1 goalkeeper Alisson missed out at Villa Park due to injury, but the Brazilian has returned for the last four matches and that has helped compensate for the loss of Van Dijk, who could miss the season after knee surgery was required after a reckless challenge by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

‘Yes, it helps massively when all your best players are on the pitch because there are moments when the individual has to defend what the unit couldn’t defend before. That’s how it is,’ added Klopp.

Liverpool’s last visit to The Etihad in July ended in an 4-0 defeat, just after they clinched the Premier League title.

At the time, Klopp promised his team would be fully concentrated but now he acknowledges the scoreline indicates there had been a mental hangover from celebrating their first championship for 30 years.

‘We learned that if you are not 100-per-cent focused on the game against City, you will lose big,’ he admitted.