Following Sunday’s Premier League stalemate at Brighton, Jurgen Klopp has identified two areas where Liverpool needs to improve.
As he crossed his fingers once more for the upcoming international break, Jurgen Klopp feels Liverpool must stop giving up so many set-piece goals.
Sunday’s 2-2 draw between the Seagulls and Reds, secured by Lewis Dunk’s conversion of a Solly March free-kick with 12 minutes left, prevented the Reds from earning a hard-earned Premier League victory at Brighton.
Only four teams have committed more fouls per game in the top tier, despite the fact that it was only the second set-piece goal Liverpool have allowed this season.
And given that his team also failed to capitalise on a number of favourable circumstances in the second half, including Ryan Gravenberch’s close-range drive that hit the crossbar, Klopp acknowledges that both ends of the game still need work.
“In decisive moments, we should have had one, two, three more one-on-one situations offensively,” the manager of the Reds stated. We would have had more opportunities if we had played better defence and not allowing them to take so many set pieces.
“That’s the issue; there is unquestionably room for improvement in both areas. Because we caused them issues when we got it offensively right. Undoubtedly, we had a great opportunity to score the 3-1, but we squandered it.
“We lost too many set-piece opportunities. Although we nearly succeeded in defending all of them, one is sufficient.”
However, Liverpool significantly improved from their horrifying 3-0 loss on their previous Premier League trip to Brighton back in January.
Following the final whistle, the majority of the team left for international service. The Reds resumed play after the break with a 12.30 p.m. kickoff, this time at home against Everton’s neighbours.
And speaking on LFC TV about the New Year’s defeat on the South Coast, Klopp said: “Things have changed a lot. Bad things don’t stick in my memory very well. We were terrible, I recall that! But I believe we could have done better this time. It was like Mars and the moon compared to that game. Due to the fact that the water was so low that day, it’s not that difficult.