Jurgen Klopp calls for more protection from his Liverpool defenders as they prepare to welcome West Ham to Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp plans to remind his Liverpool players of the dangers of West Ham United’s set-pieces when they visit Anfield this weekend.
And the Reds boss believes protecting his back four will be key to closing the gap on Manchester City to three points in the Premier League on Saturday evening.
The Hammers are one of just two teams to have won against the Reds this season in the league, ending a 10-game unbeaten start for Klopp’s men back in early November.
That 3-2 win at the London Stadium came on the back of two goals that were headed in from corners by Michail Antonio and Kurt Zouma either side of a strike from Pablo Fornals.
Liverpool have lost just one of their 15 games since in the top flight and head into the match at Anfield on Saturday evening still chasing three more trophies having won the Carabao Cup last Sunday.
The Reds have conceded eight in their 14 games since the turn of the year but Klopp will remind his players about the Hammers’ ability from dead-balls situations before Saturday’s fixture.
Klopp said: “We are not famous for having struggled with defending set-pieces.
“You don’t think too much about it in training – you do it still in training – but you don’t focus much on it, he is doing it, he heads the ball away, he heads the ball away, but we obviously had to improve a couple of things.
“We had to improve our protection from that game – we were very flexible in the things we did.
“But when we lost the ball, our counter pressing was not the highest level and then we conceded that cheap ball to Bowen and here the counter attack goes.
“The last line was not high enough in these moments (for West Ham’s second goal).
“The protection was just not good and there were so many things after that game we had to talk about.
“That’s what you should use the defeat for otherwise it makes no sense. We used that game, that’s true, but it is not now something special.”
Klopp continued: “It is not like defending set pieces, it is about being in the situation.
“So we have the physical basis to defend set pieces most of the time – sometimes we are slightly shorter than the opponents – but usually, we have the physicality and we have the organisation to do it.
“Then it is about concentration levels in these moments very much. And that day we had a slight problem with that.
“I don’t think we had it after that game too often but that doesn’t mean anything for tomorrow.
“So thank you for reminding me. I will tell the boys again today that we have something to improve.”
Leave a Reply