Despite the loss on January 11, 2017, Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool will strike back against Southampton in their League Cup semi-final second leg match
LONDON, United Kingdom, Sep 22 – Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is trying to plug the holes in his defence for Saturday’s rematch against Leicester City in the Premier League.
The Reds return to the King Power Stadium to face the Foxes for the second time this week after losing 2-0 in the League Cup on Tuesday, putting their defensive problems on display while making it four in a row without a win.
“Each manager in football has another hole to fill,” Klopp said. “But if you ask me what I would prefer – do you want your team perfect in defending set-pieces but they cannot play football, or would you prefer the other way around? I still would take this one.
“We’ve spoken about set-pieces since I’ve been here, more or less. In different moments we conceded goals from the first ball – cross, header; cross, volley.
“It’s concentration but it’s also a little bit of readiness in these moments, the second ball situation. What we have at the moment, because of the situation, everybody wants to help where the first ball is.
“You see this very often, we come too close together in this situation and it means, for the second ball, we don’t have a good formation.
“We really work on this and we see it in the game. Around these situations, there is not the same confidence as there is around, ‘give us the ball’. That looks a lot more natural.”
Klopp will be without first-choice defenders Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip for Saturday’s return to the King Power Stadium, while Emre Can will face a late fitness test.
