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Klopp won't change style

Liverpool boss wants Reds to continue playing attacking football despite defensive woes

LEICESTER LIVERPOOL

Crisis? What crisis?

Juergen Klopp claims criticism of Liverpool's recent struggles is unjustified because their poor run is just a temporary blip.

Klopp's side crashed out of the League Cup after a 2-0 loss at Leicester City on Wednesday morning (Singapore time) to extend their winless run to four matches in all competitions.

Liverpool have conceded the first goal in their last four games, resulting in two draws and two defeats, and that defensive vulnerability has been compounded by an inability to convert a significant number of chances.

Thrashed 5-0 at Manchester City before frustrating home draws against Sevilla and Burnley, Liverpool return to Leicester tomorrow morning (Singapore time) with injury concerns over defenders Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip.

Considering the circumstances, some critics have predicted another dispiriting defeat by the Foxes.

But Klopp insisted that he will encourage his players to continue being their normal, attacking selves. "In the beginning, it was so nice, how fluent we are, how creative we are," he said.

"We are still fluent and still creative, but we don't score, so it's a big problem.

"If you would ask me what would you prefer, 'Do you want your team perfect in defending set-pieces but don't know how to play football or would you prefer the other way round?'. I still would take this (second) one.

"What we have at the moment is that everybody wants to help where the first ball is.

"We come too close together in the situation where the first ball is going after a throw-in and it means for the second ball, we don't have a good formation.

"We need to get more natural in these things because it's not that difficult to be honest, but it happens too often.

"Now we have to work and then it will be even more difficult to create something against us."

The German admitted that the Reds are far from the finished article, but he believes the situation is not as bad as portrayed.

"It sounds like we have no points and are completely the worst team in the league," he said.

"Yes we have problems, that is why we have 'only' eight points and not 15. We can make it more serious than it is or we can take it like it is.

"I understand 100 per cent why we sit here and talk about the things that have happened.

"I know already about all these problems and I've made my decision already how to work with it but, if I talk a lot about it, I only create headlines 'Klopp says this. Klopp says that' and it doesn't help us.

"We have work to do, but that would be the same if we had 15 points."

Leicester winger Marc Albrighton is expecting a completely different game to the League Cup win.

"They'll bring their players back in who have had a rest, it's going to be difficult for us to cope in the early stages because they do press high," he said.

"But we can put pressure on them and create chances ourselves." - WIRE SERVICES

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