Andy Robertson has conceded that Liverpool’s centre-backs and goalkeeper were left exposed against Napoli last night.
Liverpool were humbled to the tune of a 4-1 defeat in Italy. The worst possible start to their Champions League campaign. Speaking to liverpoolfc.com after the game, Robertson admitted that The Reds left too many holes.
“It all starts because we weren’t compact enough. You come away here, we’ve not won here as a group, obviously we’ve always found it difficult and you just think: go and keep it tight,” said the left-back.
“Obviously we’re a pressing team and when your mate doesn’t win the ball you have to have somebody to back him up; we didn’t have that, people were flying into challenges, they were turning fairly easily and then nobody was there to back it up and then they had acres of space to run into.”
The Scotland captain went on to admit that Joe Gomez, Virgil Van Dijk and Alisson Becker in particular were given no help.
“We left our two centre-backs exposed and we left Ali exposed. When you happen to do that and they were clinical – they take their chances – then you find yourself in the position that you’re in,” he said.
Liverpool making life easy for their opponents
If last night’s issues had been a one-off occurrence for Liverpool, it would have been concerning enough. But the alarming truth is that these problems have been happening all season.
Over recent times The Reds have looked like a team of complete strangers. The gaps between players across the pitch makes life so easy for whoever they’re playing against.
When that team happens to be one full of quality and hunger, like Napoli, then you’re in big trouble.
It’s almost worse that the players can see the issues themselves. Robertson’s assessment here is pretty spot on. The group are obviously aware of their shortcomings.
But for whatever reason, they’re not able to put them right.
There isn’t a big turnaround until they face Wolves on Saturday. Thankfully, that’s a home game. The crowd will have to put their frustrations aside in an attempt to breathe some confidence into the players.
The rest will have to come on the training pitch. Liverpool’s approach has been so successful for so long, but something now needs addressing. And quickly.
Given the quality of their players and coaching staff, there will be faith that a solution will be found. But that may take time. There may be one or two more difficult days ahead for Liverpool before they can turn this ship around.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
