Liverpool were shattered at Napoli and their high line once again attracted attention after the Italian team ran through the team, but the set-up isn’t the problem, it’s the lack of pressure.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are currently unrecognizable, and the 4-1 loss at Napoli felt like it had been brewing for some time after a dismal start to the campaign.
Liverpool were 3-0 down at half-time, the lack of pressure on and off the ball inconceivable when you consider that this team’s identity has long been associated with intensity.
The performance put the high line under the microscope once again, a tactic that has served the Reds well as they try to turn the ball over and create scoring opportunities.
That is the result when it goes well, but when the team is disconnected and without sustained pressure, the rival can have free rein, as Napoli did on Wednesday night.
The inability to shut down Napoli made the high line a “risk” as the Reds weren’t compact enough to handle their threat, but Klopp insists the “problem isn’t the high line”, it’s the acts of pressure. , or lack of them.
“We were never compact. I don’t remember a situation where we were compact. We didn’t have a counter-pressure situation in 60 minutes, in a game where we lost a lot of balls”, explained Klopp.
“Just because we were too far away from everything. That means too wide in possession, we don’t push up with the back line, the midfield is not connected.
“The questions now, because I know guys want, they want to win football games, and the questions of why they don’t, obviously it’s my job to figure that out.
“The high line is only a risk if we don’t have pressure on the ball. If we have a high line and we don’t have any pressure, yes, then it’s a risk, but generally that’s not the case.
“The problem is not the high line. We need the high line to be compact. The problem was that we never got close enough to put pressure on the opponent.”
“Until Thiago entered the field, I don’t remember a counter-pressure situation. The answer to this is that we went too wide,” Klopp told BT Sport, a damning assessment.
Liverpool are far from their best, but the manager put it best when he told reporters: “If you’re not playing exceptionally well, you can still defend at a really high level, you should be able to do that.”
