Mueez Ajao
– Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has likened his side’s confidence crisis to the struggles of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
– Liverpool have won only three games this season and sit ninth in the Premier League table after drawing 3-3 with Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.
– “Do you think Cristiano Ronaldo at the moment is at the top of his confidence? It happens to all of us. Lionel Messi last season [at Paris Saint-Germain] — pretty much the same,” Klopp said in a news conference on Monday.
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– “You have to take a step in the right direction and when you’re ready, it’s back… We have to be patient again to do the right thing and then we will be fine again.”
– Klopp added that Liverpool have been conceding too many similar goals this season and that they need to get “back to basics.”
– Famed for their counter-pressing style which helped Liverpool compete on all four fronts last season, Klopp’s side have leaked goals this season and kept only two clean sheets in all competitions.
– “When you spot a problem and think you have the solution, you expect the solution to be instant and influential, that’s never the case in football,” Klopp said.
– “We’ve conceded similar goals now, they have gone through the same gaps. The problem we have is a brave way of defending … 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.”
– Rangers lost both their group games without scoring to sit bottom of Group A and Klopp said he expects the Scottish side — who lost the Europa League final on penalties last season — to be pumped up after Saturday’s 4-0 league victory over Hearts.
– “Good football team, well coached. They had an exceptional season in Europe last season,” Klopp said.
– “I saw the last game against Hearts … We expect a proper fight and that is what we prepare for.”
