LIVERPOOL MANAGER JURGEN Klopp has urged his team to start enjoying themselves again after a run of indifferent form.
The German’s men have fallen to fourth in the Premier League on the back of a three-game winless run, including a 3-2 defeat at home to Swansea City on Saturday.
Klopp feels Liverpool’s love of their possession-based, high-tempo style that saw them make such a strong start to the season has eased.
“We are Liverpool, a really good football-playing side, and we don’t enjoy the job we have to do,” he told UK newspapers.
“It is not as though we are a team at the bottom of the league that has to defend 80 per cent or 90 per cent of the time.
“In most of our games we are dominant, so we have to enjoy this, even when we don’t come through after five minutes.”
Liverpool’s defence has faced the most criticism during the campaign, with their 27 league goals conceded the most of the top four.
Klopp said his team as a whole needed to take responsibility for their defending, which cost them against Swansea.
“We have a lot of meetings. It was because the goals we have conceded in 2017 have been a little bit of the same story,” he said.
“The influence of throw-ins is a little bit too big on the goals we concede. It’s not that teams create a lot of chances against us. That’s still a good sign. Usually, they don’t create a lot and still score.
“There has been a lot of talk about defence, you always speak about players – I speak about the whole defensive work of the team.”
Liverpool host Southampton in their EFL Cup semi-final second leg on Wednesday, trailing the tie 1-0.
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