absolutely.
I saw Klopp saying since the defeat, that his team in training practices 7 defenders against 14 attackers....and often don't concede any goals.
But I just don't see any evidence of this during games.
As you mention above, if we have two marauding wing-backs, then this totally contradicts his stated wish to have less crosses come in from our opponents.
What he says and what he does, do not match up.
Overall, there is no Plan B. It's attack, attack, attack. Or in one word - OUTSCORE.
It's great to watch when we are dominating games - but it is seat of the pants stuff, even at the best of times.
I'm old fashioned perhaps. But I think balance is key. It's a crying shame that Rafa is not around.....especially with all the resources that the club now has (compared to when he was with us).
Dude, there's nothing old fashioned about balance within football. There are two basic stated aims, or possibly one, just phrased differently - score more than your opponent and concede fewer (apart from a nil-nil, obviously). Simply put, you have to be able to defend well as well as attack well, and you have to balance both out, so both exist side by side, and not have one being to the detriment of the other.
This should be 'Granny sucking eggs' stuff to any coach.
You can't just rely on everything clicking with the attack every single game. There are sensibly too many variables that can go wrong, or not in your favour for that to happen.
You have to be able to grind out or hang on for a result sometimes. When the goalkeeper's having a world class day, when the woodwork appears to keep moving, when individual defenders and collective defences are just having one of those incredible, well above par days, or even luck plays a part sometimes.
We don't look like we do
any sort of defensive work within training. We look clueless as to how to do even the basics. It looks as though the last time any of our defenders, and even midfielders, did any sort of defensive routines in training, was when they were all with their individual previous clubs and it was done within the individual requirement of those clubs' own needs and requirements.
There looks nothing 'collective' at all about any aspect of the defensive side of the game.
The last time we as a team looked like we had been drilled and organised was the half season Dalglish was in caretaker charge and trying to earn a permanent position, when he had Steve Clarke alongside him.
Since then, from when Dalglish was actually appointed as the 'permanent' manager, we've been hopeless, just hopeless.
Everyone can see it. The number of people, 'journalists', ex pros, ex Liverpool players and fans, can't all be wrong, but when you listened to Rodgers, and now to Klopp, they talk in terms of each time being a sort of blip, having extenuating circumstances to explain it, as opposed to being part of a pattern, a body of evidence that clearly indicates a underlying and constant problem.
The only thing balanced at the moment is our goal difference - the attack has been as good as the defence has been bad, or vice versa.
The problem is I don't see any way it will change until Klopp's prepared to accept a problem exists - it's just going to remain an ongoing massive frustration for us.
