English Premier League: Liverpool travels to Manchester United to battle for second place
If there’s to be any goals, or a high-scoring fixture, Liverpool has to be the team to score first. It might sound like it’s too much asking, but this is one team who can hammer in the goals.
When the two met at Anfield back in last year – Liverpool’s defensive line was perhaps funnier to watch than Trevor Noah. The South African comedian raked in fewer views than Liverpool’s backline blunders (Not a fact).
Anyhow, since Klopp has added his one and only £75 million defensive target – his men has looked a lot better on the pitch. The Reds have managed far more clean sheets than expected.
Lovren on Manchester United: “Last time, when they came here, they defended really deep so let’s see what happens now. For them maybe a point will be good but for us, we never play for a point.” pic.twitter.com/YtAYjyO7E3
— Anfield Edition (@AnfieldEdition) March 8, 2018
When scrutinising Liverpool’s defence this closely, one has to give credit where it’s due. This time credit needs to be given to Klopp for patching up the leaks, affording his team better results – with fewer goals allowed.
From the time when Liverpool had their worst experience, losing to Swansea and getting knocked out the FA Cup to West Brom (back in January) – they’ve assured in performances with a more stubborn defence.
Liverpool have only admitted three goals and collected three clean sheets, in the five Premier League fixtures played since then. In this time Klopp’s men have been undefeated and scored a huge amount of 13 goals.
https://twitter.com/LFC/status/972064974108610561
Out those five, two of them were away from home where they kept their unfamiliar clean sheet. Klopp has struggled to lose but easily managed draws back in 2017. In this 2018 part of the season – Liverpool have only lost one away from home (Swansea City 0-1), across all competitions.
The Reds, another powerhouse doing well as expected and what counts heavily in the favour of the manager – his team’s quite healthy, with him able to call upon anybody in the squad. Perhaps his first time as Liverpool’s boss where he’s able to summon anybody to take part.