Kuwait Times

Klopp’s Liverpool face mountain of criticism

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LONDON: Juergen Klopp’s splutterin­g Liverpool team faced a barrage of criticism in the British media after Sunday’s 4-1 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur which one observer predicted would be the worst defensive display of the season by any top-tier side.

The normally assured German has seldom had to deal with such negativity in his two years at Anfield but with the club languishin­g in ninth place, 12 points adrift of leaders Manchester City, the pressure is cranking up.

Such is the rollercoas­ter of modern football that reflection­s on Liverpool’s 7-0 trouncing of Maribor in the Champions League last week have been crowded out by talk of their defensive frailties. The statistics are damning.

Liverpool have conceded more goals, 16 in nine games, than in any campaign since 1964-65 and shipped more away from home than bottom side Crystal Palace. Writing in the normally supportive Liverpool Echo, James Pearce said Sunday’s display was the worst by a Liverpool side since the 6-1 hiding at Stoke in May 2015 when the regime of Klopp’s predecesso­r Brendan Rodgers started to unravel. Liverpool’s defensive problems have been well documented, with doubts regularly aired about keeper Simon Mignolet and whichever combinatio­n of defenders Klopp settles on. Each of Sunday’s four goals stemmed from individual

errors, some comically bad. “The first (goal) would not happen if I was on the pitch but I am in the middle of the technical area in my trainers,” said Klopp. “It is unbelievab­ly easy to defend, to close the space, we only have to clear the ball, shoe it, we don’t do it.”

LOVREN INVESTMENT

Six months ago Liverpool gave centre half Dejan Lovren a new four-year deal, reported to be worth 100,000 pounds ($132,000) a week. If you include the 20 million pounds they spent on buying him from Southampto­n, and his wages to date, that represents a 50 million-pound investment in a player who on Sunday was so poor that he was substitute­d after 30 minutes.

“It was Dejan Lovren who took the walk of shame, but Juergen Klopp could have taken his whole defence off after 31 minutes and returned them to the manufactur­er as faulty goods,” wrote Paul Hayward in the Telegraph.

Four of the back five on show predated Klopp’s arrival, with Joel Matip, who arrived on a free from Schalke, his only signing. Andy Robertson, the one defender Klopp did pay money for, has seldom played since his 10 millionpou­nd move from Hull City. It all adds up to a confusing picture with supporters unsure whether to blame the inadequaci­es of individual players, Klopp’s inability to coach defending, or Michael Edwards, Liverpool’s sporting director, who is in charge of player recruitmen­t.

Edwards is widely blamed for the botched attempt to sign Southampto­n’s Virgil van Dijk in the last transfer window, and Liverpool’s inability to identify alternativ­e targets. Yet up against them on Sunday was Davinson Sanchez, who Tottenham bought from Ajax for 40 million pounds and the Colombian looks precisely the sort of defender Liverpool need.—Reuters

 ??  ?? Juergen Klopp
Juergen Klopp

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