Liverpool must balance their attack and defence

Liverpool must balance their attacking and defensive play in order to win games

It seems obvious, but Liverpool must balance attacking and defending in order to win matches. Offensively, we’ve been brilliant. Defensively, we’re improving. Now it’s about finding the right balance between stopping the opposition and scoring goals.

Jurgen Klopp addressed the need for balance after the match against Hull, saying the following.

“The rule is be an option or be protection. If you are not involved in the offensive situation then you must protect the offensive situation. Of course, hopefully it will stay like this that the centre-halves are not too often involved in finishing situations – they can do what they want around set-pieces – so that means they are always in a protective situation.”

“The rest is about being creative, changing, movement. Like I said after Leicester, where the opening goal was 50 per cent Daniel [Sturridge], they play man-on-man defending as you know, so take them to the outside line. That’s how football should work. For this you need time to train together because the games are full of pressure and intensity. You can use them for learning but it should not be the only possibility to learn. We learned a few things obviously and now we have to bring them all together.”

We need to be defensively solid in order to prevent conceding goals. Then we need to get players forward and transition to the attack in order to score.

Players like Sadio Mane are crucial to transiting play quickly. The passing abilities of James Milner and Jordan Henderson also allows for quicker transition.

I’m confident enough In our attack, but think defensively we can still improve. Joel Matip has been a big addition to our defence.