Liverpool dropped another two points on Monday at the London Stadium. Afterwards, Jurgen Klopp explained the problems his side faced in the draw with West Ham.
The Reds were hoping to bounce back from the 1-1 draw with Leicester City but instead saw a repeat. The Foxes took advantage of slack defending at a set-piece to equalise at Anfield and it was the same story against West Ham.
Michail Antonio easily beat Liverpool’s marking to score on Monday, much like Harry Maguire had. He wasn’t the only one who found joy from a set-piece, however.
Both Javier Hernandez and Declan Rice had big opportunities from free-kicks. It was enough for Klopp to admit that West Ham deserved the draw but he did explain why Liverpool struggled to defend.
Klopp on problems before the West Ham draw
“Yesterday night we trained and after the session we had to change three positions. That, of course, is not perfect,” said Klopp, according to the Liverpool Echo.
“You saw that around the set-pieces with the organisation especially. That’s where we struggled a bit.
“[James Milner] came back but he did not train yesterday. He came to London by himself because he’s infectious. The preparation for the game was far from perfect and we still got a point.”
Klopp has certainly put a positive spin on things there with his final line but it was a disappointing result for Liverpool.
Still, they’re handling a mini ‘crisis’ as best they can. Injuries in defence – and the midfielders in front of the defence – will hurt your organisation badly, as we’ve seen.
Things should improve once Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez are back from injury. Milner and Van Dijk, the latter of which Klopp claims lost four kilos through illness recently, aren’t at their best, either.
This has been a blip but far from a fatal one. Get the defence settled again and Liverpool will be back on track for the title race.
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