Jurgen Klopp has discussed Liverpool’s need for ‘balance’ ahead of the visit of a ‘very well-drilled’ Southampton side this weekend.
Liverpool host the Saints at Anfield tomorrow, looking to maintain the momentum from last weekend’s win over Arsenal and close the gap on league leaders Chelsea.
The Reds are currently third in the Premier League and four points adrift of the west Londoners, with Klopp having discussed his side’s need for greater balance to sustain a title challenge.
Liverpool are the Premier League’s leading scorers so far this season, but their 11 goals conceded is more than both Chelsea and Manchester City combined.
“To be where we want to be we need a good balance in the team,” he said at his pre-match press conference.
“We score two goals in games but then we spoke about how many goals we had conceded the week before.
“It’s not a crazy number for a team around the top of the table but we concede too many, that’s why we need to be a well-balanced team.
“That we take the necessary risks for our offensive stuff but we protect as good as possible. We need a line as high as possible and we need to be at our absolute best in a defensive part of the game. Then there is counter-pressing as well, so then we are really difficult to beat.
“I don’t compare us with the team last year or the team the year before, I just want to be as good as possible.”
Klopp spoke on the threat posed by Southampton this weekend, with the German expecting a difficult challenge against Ralph Hasenhuttl’s ‘well-drilled side’.
The Saints are currently 13th in the division, having seen a four-game unbeaten run ended with defeat at Norwich last weekend.
“Ralph [Hasenhuttl] is obviously doing well, building a proper team there for each game and especially when they expect not to have the majority of possession,” said Klopp.
“They are really well organised, I have to say. Very well-drilled team and you have to be creative to break them down. They don’t concede a lot of goals, a lot of shots on target. So, that’s one of the issues we have to find solutions for.
“It’s at home and I hope we really use that, enjoy that because that will be essential.”
