Jurgen Klopp hits back at critics of Liverpool’s defending

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Liverpool have kept just one clean sheet in the Premier League so far this season.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says he loses respect for people who say the Reds are suspect defensively, the Liverpool Echo reports.

This is despite the Reds only being able to keep one clean sheet in the Premier League this season – when they faced Manchester United last Monday.

During Saturday’s win over West Bromwich Albion, their Achilles heel in set pieces struck again as Gareth McAuley struck late on to get the Baggies a consolation goal.

Klopp, however, feels that his defence is performing better than others give them credit for, and is quoted in the Liverpool Echo, saying: “We defended well against United, brilliant, and then against West Brom it was so difficult but we have no defensive problem.

“We needed to be really aggressive to defend their long balls from the first moment without making fouls. That’s quite a challenge but they did brilliantly. When the ball is in the air, (Salomon) Rondon wants the ball or a foul, so Dejan and Joel were outstanding.”

The Liverpool boss does have some reasons to be positive defensively. Joel Matip has settled in well and has won several plaudits since arriving on a free transfer from Schalke, and he appears to have formed an effective partnership with Dejan Lovren, while both James Milner and Nathaniel Clyne have looked solid.

Opposition sides do not seem to be getting that many chances and some have pointed out that Loris Karius has yet to make a serious save since he has been introduced to the side, but sides are getting joy from dead ball situations.

It is something Klopp admits the side needs to work on, saying: “When people say we have some issues with set-pieces, how can I say they are wrong? I think 70% to 80% of the goals we concede are set-pieces but they’re all different and we’re still working on it.

“It’s not the same problem we had last year, when whoever was scoring against us. I understand but I can promise we work on it. But I like it more than they all creating chances like they want to because we defend crazy.”

If you look at the defensive records of the other sides towards the top of the Premier League, only Tottenham Hotspur have a substantially better record at the back than Liverpool out of the top seven.

Manchester United have conceded more goals than them, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea have all conceded two fewer, while Everton have conceded one less than them.

While sides feel they have a chance against Liverpool from set-pieces, and Klopp acknowledges it is something that needs to be worked on, overall it is clear he feels he is presiding over an improved Liverpool defence.