Liverpool rounded off its pre-season exploits with a relatively comfortable win on Monday night, defeating Bundesliga side Darmstadt 3-1 at Deepdale. Despite the good attacking signs, Jürgen Klopp was not completely satisfied after the bout, though, with the Reds boss suggesting that plenty needs to be worked on ahead of the new campaign.
Speaking to LFCTV, the German coach said: “When you win the last pre-season game 6-0, you think about how you can keep the players awake for the next week, but that is obviously not the case. We could have scored more goals, conceded again, it’s an obvious mistake that we spoke about already. The diagonal protection is not there. We had our moments where we were a bit too open
Indeed, Liverpool lost just one pre-season game from a possible five, and that defeat came against Bayern Munich — the champion of Germany — but nevertheless, Klopp doesn’t seem entirely happy with his defensive set-up. Over the course of those five contests, the Reds shipped a total of 11 goals, conceding one every 41 minutes
Pre-season friendlies aren’t supposed to be particularly competitive but considering defensive security was Liverpool’s primary weakness last season, supporters will hope that overwhelming flaw is addressed in the coming days, with many expecting Roméo Lavia to be the solution.
Since Fabinho and Jordan Henderson were both allowed to move to Saudi Arabia this summer, Klopp has operated without a true specialist holding midfielder within his ranks. All of his options for the engine room are attack-minded, but none of his players focusing on the defensive side of the game.
It remains to be seen why Liverpool is taking so long to sign an heir to Fabinho’s throne. Lavia seems to be the man who is wanted, but three bids for his services have already been rejected by Southampton. The Saints are holding out for over $64m (£50m/€58m) and that hefty price tag is making the Reds hesitate.
Legend Jamie Carragher criticized the behavior of his former club in the market after Liverpool’s third bid failed to land Lavia. The ex-defender posted on Twitter (now rebranded as X): “This is embarrassing. Liverpool for years now has got deals done quickly with no fuss. If you don’t think he’s worth £50m move on, if you really want him to pay it.”
Klopp has been forced to use attack-minded players such as Curtis Jones and Alexis Mac Allister in Fabinho’s place, which could explain why Liverpool has still appeared defensively vulnerable in pre-season and also captures why supporters expect Lavia to make a real difference.
The Belgian starlet could do exactly that, but based on how the Reds performed against Darmstadt, in particular, Klopp can help the fortunes of his team by making a number of tactical adjustments. A defensive presence like Lavia will certainly help the cause, but the 19-year-old wonderkid won’t plug all of the gaps on his own.
Too often on Monday night, Liverpool appeared too eager to accelerate the game without having the proper defensive structure to regain the ball if it was lost, which could have been a product of simply fielding far too many offensive players. Moreover, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté are the only players in Klopp’s team who clearly wished to remain behind the ball at all times.
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