Jurgen Klopp was taken aback by the “horrendous” defense he displayed in Liverpool’s 3-3 draw with Brighton, serving as a reminder of his “heart attack” early years in charge.
The real turning point in Klopp’s time at Liverpool came in 2018, with the signings of Alisson and Virgil van Dijk and their transformative impact on defence.
Almost immediately, Van Dijk improved a defense of four that still included Dejan Lovren, while seven months later Alisson’s arrival finally ended a long run of mediocre goalkeepers with the gloves on.
Before then, it was often a lottery whether Liverpool could back up their overwhelming attacking play with solid defence, and in Saturday’s clash with Brighton, Klopp saw familiar signs.
“If you’ve watched football games here long enough, we had these kinds of situations years ago where we were only one goal up and it happened quite often that everyone almost had a heart attack,” he told reporters.
Liverpool trailed 2-0 in 17 minutes at Anfield when Leandro Trossard scored twice on the coal, and though Roberto Firmino’s brace restored parity and Adam Webster’s own goal gave them the lead, Klopp could still smell a draw.
“We just weren’t convincing in these moments, where then we get a counterattack, being compact, this kind of thing. That’s what it reminded me of today a little bit,” added the manager.
“So I can’t say I was 100 per cent convinced that we wouldn’t concede a goal when we were 3-2 up. Then they scored a goal.
“We should have defended the three goals better, there is no doubt about that, in different areas, not at the last moment, we should have defended better before.
“They scored, 3-3, so that feels, again, like a loss, even when it’s not a loss.
“We have to fight through this. The guys can play much better, my job is to create a situation where they can deliver, and for that you need stability, consistency.
“You get that from superior defense and obviously we didn’t defend superior at the beginning, and then even during the game there weren’t always situations. They were really dangerous.
“Then we had much better moments and I think it was absolutely fine that we were 3-2 up, but then we weren’t sitting deep, we weren’t attacking high, we were somewhere in the middle, and that’s how they got their moments. .
“I don’t know how many situations I saw today where offensive players could turn between the lines.
Horrible, really horrible to watch.
“Again, that’s the same job you have when you’re winning all the time, only it’s harder because you have to create a situation where you can make it easier for guys to deliver. That’s how I see it.”
