Jurgen Klopp says he showed his Liverpool players some clips of what they were doing well at half-time last night.
Speaking to BBC Sport, Klopp said that he wanted to show the players that they had used the spaces well at times, despite the score-line.
“1-0 halftime, we showed the boys a couple of situations where we did extremely well because we used the spaces they offer with the way they defend, and we want to do that again,” said the Liverpool manager. But unfortunately The Reds plans were foiled with Manchester United’s second game.
“Then concede the second one, that’s obviously not helpful, and then we have to chase the game properly,” said Klopp.
Slim positives to take on a difficult night
In all the furore over the performance and the defeat, it has been overlooked that Liverpool did play some nice football last night.
Of course, it was too few and far between, and ultimately it wasn’t enough. But that doesn’t change the fact that Liverpool did put together three or four good moves in the first-half alone.
Once they got the ball down and moved it through the midfield, they looked like causing United some problems.
This didn’t lead to a goal, though. Too often Liverpool couldn’t quite find the final ball after working it into a good position.
Many won’t see, or will refuse to see the positives of a largely horrendous display from Liverpool. But it’s Klopp’s job to see the bits that can be worked with, and accentuate them for the next game.
Against United, Liverpool were often the more dominate team in charge of the ball. This will be the same against Bournemouth on Saturday. It’s up to Klopp and the players to make sure they do a little bit more with it this time.
Perhaps it would be wiser to show the Liverpool players the clips of their atrocious defending for the United opener. The attacking play comes naturally to most in The Reds’ squad. The defensive side of things is where the changes need to happen.
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