Klopp: I’ve lost respect for critics of Liverpool’s defence

Joe Williams
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Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp insists his side do not have a problem defending after the post-match spotlight was again focused on their weakness from set-pieces.

The Reds are now joint top of the Premier League with Manchester City and Arsenal after they saw off West Brom 2-1 at Anfield on Saturday.

Despite dominating the Baggies, the Reds still managed to concede a goal from a set-piece, with a Chris Brunt corner finding its way to Gareth McAuley, who took advantage of some poor defending.

But, with Liverpool winning three out of their last four home matches, Klopp is fed up of hearing about their apparent inability to defend properly in certain situations.

“I’ve heard this a few times and I lose respect when people say this,” Klopp said. “It’s not important because I don’t have to respect everybody and you can say what you want but I cannot say more.

“I am not interested. I’m the first who knows about it and we work on it. I’m the coach of this team. I’m pretty close to them. I see all the games from a quite good perspective. I understand all of this and we will see at the end.

“If people say we have some issues with set pieces, how can I say they are wrong? I think 70-80% of the goals we have conceded are from set pieces.

“But they are all different and we are still working on it and we defended against Manchester United brilliantly. Against West Brom it was so difficult but we have no defensive problem.”