Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Liverpool may not have completed their business in the ongoing transfer market and could end up signing a player or two in order to strengthen their defence.
The Reds have had a poor pre-season campaign so far, losing to a second string Chelsea and AS Roma on their USA tour. Klopp is said to be unhappy with the way the Reds have defended in their pre-season friendlies. He indicated that he may sign a defender in order to shore up the backline.
“‘Is the activity all over? I have no idea. I don’t think so,” Klopp was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail. “We will see what happens. What you saw (in St Louis against Roma) was an example of how you can’t defend; leaving spaces so big you could have cut grass in between.”
While Klopp remained optimistic about his forwards, he was quite critical of his defenders. The former Dortmund boss said after the Roma game, “Their strikers did okay but we were too wide, too deep and too far from each other so each pass they played was a chance.”
Last season’s first choice centre-back Mamadou Sakho is carrying an Achilles injury at the moment. The Frenchman is also said to have had an altercation with Klopp during the USA tour, resulting in him being sent home prematurely.
According to reports, Klopp has not been too happy with Sakho’s general attitude around the training ground of late. Also, injuries to the likes of Joe Gomez and Lucas Leiva have not helped the club’s cause with regards to their defence.
“Gomez, Sakho and Lucas are all injured so of course we haven’t got enough centre backs at the moment. There have been too many games with not enough centre backs,” Klopp said.
Jurgen Klopp is well known for imposing a strict training regime for his players. The German’s philosophy of football — gegenpressing — requires the players to close their opponents down as soon as they lose the ball. This style of play requires a lot of stamina from the players.
Also, there is a high risk of players sustaining muscle and ligament injuries with the amount of running that they need to do in order to successfully implement this system. As such, a good pre-season is vital to prepare the players’ bodies for all the hard work that is expected from them during the season.
