By Goal.com News on Friday, 30 April 2021
Category: Goal.com News

Klopp insists Liverpool scoring woes aren't caused by players being too selfish

The Reds have had serious problems taking their chances in recent months, causing concern for their manager

Jurgen Klopp acknowledges that his Liverpool side have had problems finding the net this season, but does not believe his forwards have been too selfish in front of goal. 

The Reds attack has suffered a significant drop in potency compared to their brilliant efforts in 2019-20 to wrap up the Premier League title. 

Klopp has taken a special interest in the issue, leaving no stone unturned to find the source of Liverpool's attacking malaise.

What was said?   

"We did have a look to see if we are too selfish," he explained to Sky Sports. "We are not. They are not more selfish now or less selfish. That is not the case.

"It is always like this when you miss chances. You look whether he could have passed. There are one or two situations where that could have happened but it is not as easy as telling the boys not to be selfish. One thing is clear, the selfish thing we can put off the table.

"We had a really detailed look at all the situations that we created over the last seven or eight games just to get an overview. It is not unlucky. There are moments where we are unlucky. But if you are unlucky so often there must be something else.

"Sometimes it sounds a little boring but we know we have to improve. The one thing we have to keep working on is the finishing. We have to finish the situations off. We have created 36 chances in the last three games and scored twice. That is obviously not enough.

"The performance around that, creating the 36 chances, shows you that something was right in the game. We had really good spells but the important moment is the last moment. We cannot expect it to change overnight but we will not stop working on it.

"It is not exactly the football of last year, maybe, but it is all fuelled by that one moment. Either you score or you don't score. We have to keep working. We don't have to change inside out, 360 degrees or whatever. We only have to improve and to make it click."

The bigger picture

Liverpool have managed to score 55 goals in the Premier League to date this term, the fifth-best record in the top flight. 

That number is far down from 2019-20, though, when over 38 games the Reds smashed 85 goals - a strike-rate of 2.23 per game compared to only 1.6 per game this time round. 

And the Merseysiders suffered similar problems in the Champions League, managing just one strike over 180 minutes as they went out in the quarter-final stage to Real Madrid. 

Klopp believes the issue is first and foremost psychological: "It is about talking to them, helping them to find solutions. You can do that in training," he added.

"All that is fine but then the game starts and the first ball does not go in, the second ball does not go in and the third ball does not go in. It is like a wound that is bleeding again."

Further reading 

Original link
Original author: Goal
Leave Comments