Ahead of their much anticipated travel to Premier League rivals Stoke City for the League Cup semi final first leg, Liverpool FC boss Jurgen Klopp has said that he rues the fact that his side is weak at defending aerial balls.
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Stoke City have long been known to be strong in the air, bullying their opponets — especially at home. Although under manager Mark Hughes they have produced an exciting brand of football that is not generally associated with them, Stoke City still possess the same aerial threat.
This could be accentuated by the fact that Liverpool FC have been poor in the air, and manager Jurgen Klopp has rightly pointed that out as an area of concern for the reds.
“We have an issue with crosses, before we had an issue with set-plays. It’s always a ball in the air,” Klopp was quoted saying by ESPN FC, ahead of the match. “As long as the ball is on the ground most of the time we handle it. When the ball is in the air we have some problems with the goals we conceded. We know this, we have not solved this.”
In it to win it
Being in the semi finals, many of the Liverpool FC fans would obviously be dreaming of the lifting a silverware early on in the season. Klopp feels that due to the nature of the tournament being a knockout, the Reds have a chance of winning it. And as long as they have a chance of winning the tournament, Klopp would always urge his team to go for it.
“It is always important because if you have the chance and you don’t try to go for it then it is a waste of time,” said Klopp. “It is not our target to be part of the final, there is only one reason in tournaments like this and it is to win it.”