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Jurgen Klopp makes honest Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi admission as he urges his Liverpool squad to ‘go back to basics’
Jurgen Klopp makes honest Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi admission as he urges his Liverpool squad to ‘go back to basics’
In light of Liverpool’s continued sluggish start to the season, Jurgen Klopp has asked his team to get “back to basics.”
The Anfield team has only won two of its first seven Premier League games after being held to a 3-3 draw with Brighton over the weekend.
Cristiano Ronaldo(photo by Getty images)
Only two clean sheets have been recorded by the 55-year-team old’s thus far this season, and the German strategist has encouraged his team to be’more compact’ to help their campaign get back on track.
“When you spot a problem and think you have the solution, you expect [it] to be instant. That’s never the case in football,” Klopp said (as quoted by BBC Sport).
“We’ve conceded similar goals now, they have gone through the same gaps.
“When the timing in our defending isn’t perfect we’re too open. So yes, we have to be more compact.
“Defending is an art and it worked for us really well for a long time. But with it not working, you realise you have to go back to the basics.
“We can’t always start anew. If we can help the boys with ways to defend differently, we have to do that.”
After Saturday’s dismal performance against Brighton, focus is now on the Champions League and our matchup with Scottish team Rangers on Tuesday.
In the most prestigious competition in Europe, we have won one and lost the other of our first two games, so the Merseysiders will need a tremendous effort to defeat the Glasgow-based team with three points.
The FA Cup and League Cup winners from the previous season appear to be lacking in confidence, but the former Borussia Dortmund player insists that a drop in performance is entirely normal.
“People can ask how could it happen that these players are not full of confidence?” Klopp added.
“Do you think [Manchester United forward] Cristiano Ronaldo at this moment is top of his confidence levels?
“He was for ages the best player in the world and now it is not going his way and it is not exactly the same. That happens to all of us.
“Lionel Messi played last season [his first at Paris St-Germain] where it was not exactly the same because these kind of things are really important to all of us and you have to work for it.
“You have to take the little things to take a step in the right direction and be really ready for the moment when it is back and that is what we are doing.”
The Reds have a difficult set of fixtures to contend with during October including clashes with Arsenal, Manchester City and Ajax.
