As Liverpool prepare to take on Wolverhampton Wanderers in an FA Cup replay on Tuesday, manager Jurgen Klopp says his under-performing side will have to go back to basics in order to solve their current problems.
Saturday’s 3-0 defeat away to Brighton & Hove Albion was Liverpool’s sixth loss in the Premier League this season, a result leaving them ninth in the table and ten points off the Champions League places.
Liverpool were held 2-2 in the first FA Cup third-round encounter with Wolves at Anfield and when asked about how he can remedy his team’s dramatic loss of form ahead of the replay at Molineux, Klopp said they must become more difficult to beat.
“The issues we had in that game were obvious,” he said. “In the end, these are football problems and you solve them with football and to play better football than we did at Brighton should not be too difficult.
“We have to be more compact. The pitch looks too big when we are defending. You have to go back to basics and from there you can make steps. We have to do some things slightly different and some things the same. All the success in football starts with solid defending and that’s what we have to do again.”
'We will freshen up for Wolves'
With the replay coming just three days after their trip to the south coast, Klopp will make changes to his team. It could be a blessing in disguise as they have looked lethargic in recent weeks.
Darwin Nunez remains a doubt after a minor muscle injury while Roberto Firmino is still not fit. The likes of Naby Keita, James Milner and Stefan Bajcetic could come in to freshen up a midfield that has been bypassed too easily in recent games, and forward Fabio Carvalho may be brought in having not featured in the last five matches.
“We need fresh legs. The easy thing for me is to sit here and tell the boys ‘At Brighton you put us in the situation so let’s see how you can get us out of it’,” said Klopp. “But that would mean I would not be taking responsibility and I just can’t do that. I will take decisions, we will make changes. That makes sense.
“Wolves are in a good moment; they played well here, won the game at the weekend [1-0 at home to West Ham United]. It will be tough,”