I didn't say it's all Klopp's fault. I said the majority of it, is. But in reply to your post, your picking out Matip's once mistake pales in comparison to the costly errors made in the last 18 months.
- Who bought Matip?
- Who won't drop Lovren or Henderson?
- Who didn't think we needed a new CB after the VvD fiasco?
- Who tells them how to play?
- Who persists in playing footballers who continually make these schoolboy errors?
- Who thinks they can change things with substitutions made 3 minutes from the end?
No player is going to walk up to the manager's office and say "Sorry boss but I'm not playing today because my form is so poor of late." It's up to the "manager" to do that. But he isn't.
Again, I'm not saying Klopp is to blame for everything but he is the one who picks the team and EVERYONE can see there are players who shouldn't -currently- be near the first team let alone captain. Klopp is not helping his cause here and whilst he isn't to blame for everything, he is to blame for 90% of it in my book. Has to be. We can't exactly point the finger at Pep Lijnders can we?
Let us look at the issues with defence in two ways - tactical and personnel.
- Who tells them how to play?
Liverpool conceded a total of 42 goals last season, 12 of which were from set pieces. As I mentioned previously, those 12 goals were from 110 set piece chances (fifth lowest in the league, one lower than United). On an average, we have conceded 8.2 shots per game, the second lowest (City has the lowest - 7.9), made 18.9 tackles per game, the second highest (Boro had the highest - 19.1). I am not able to get the actual chances conceded by the different teams, but, based on the above stats, I am inferring that the number of chances conceded by the team is actually lesser. In general, while we have a problem with defence, I don't think it is majorly a tactical issue when we have reduced the chances created against the team.
- Who won't drop Lovren or Henderson?
- Who didn't think we needed a new CB after the VvD fiasco?
- Who persists in playing footballers who continually make these schoolboy errors?
@chats
So, the goals conceded seem to be more of a personnel issue. On, Henderson, while he isn't exactly Steven Gerrard, his presence in the midfield was very important last season. Magillionare had shared Henderson's stats recently in the "Should Klopp choose a new captain" thread. Here is the link to that article:
https://www.thisisanfield.com/2017/03/statistics-show-jordan-hendersons-return-can-help-seal-liverpools-top-4-finish/ Yesterday, even though it was one of his worse games in the shirt, he still managed to make 4 tackles and 3 key passes (Salah made 3 key passes). And, Can was more at fault for the second goal than Henderson.
All said and done I am not sure why we put all eggs in one basket this summer and why we did not strengthen where we had to strengthen. On the VvD saga, as many have mentioned in other threads, there is definitely more to it. Here is a world class defender on whom there was no bid made at all by the other clubs when everyone seemed to be bidding 30mn for Johny Evans. Was it because of some promise that Klopp made to VvD? Of course, what I say is speculation, but, Klopp seems to be a genuine person who lives by his word. While you saw Rafa getting disillusioned with Xabi for Xabi wanting to be with his wife during his kid's birth, Klopp seems to be on the other end of the spectrum as seen in Gini's case. And, Klopp's strengths and weaknesses are his loyalty to players. It is this loyalty that extracted better performances from players such as Lallana and it is exactly this loyalty that makes him play the likes of Lovren. And, it was this loyalty that led to his downfall at Dortmund too.
- Who bought Matip?
He is a decent buy, isn't he? I don't share the same opinion as a few other in the forum about him being an excellent defender. He is no Sami and he looks to be a better defender when compared to the dross surrounding him. He doesn't seem to be a leader. And, I am sure he will be a very good defender alongside the likes of VvD.
- Who thinks they can change things with substitutions made 3 minutes from the end?
This beats me. I don't know why the subs aren't made earlier when the going gets tough. As far as last season was concerned, we had nobody on the bench to influence the game. It was very weak. As far as yesterday's match was concerned, there was no need to effect a sub until maybe the 70th min as we were going strong (of course, it was not as intense as the first half). But, as soon as they scored a goal, Coutinho was ready to come on. But, I get your point about the subs being a little late in the day.
