Klopp Slams Liverpool’s Defending

Jurgen Klopp has let out his frustration at the poor defending of his squad, in the 3-2 FA Cup loss to West Brom.

Liverpool lost 3-2 to Alan Pardew’s men in front of home fans, as they crash out of the FA Cup fourth round.

Firmino’s opener was cancelled out by a Jay Rodriguez brace in the first half, before a Matip own goal sealed it for West Brom.

VAR was in major use during the match, disallowing a goal for West Brom and awarding a penalty to Liverpool. Firmino missed from the spot and a 78th minute Salah goal started a late comeback.

And Klopp has slammed the defence that could not close down Rodriguez or set an offside trap.

“Everybody saw; we made big mistakes and let them come back in the game,” he told BT Sport . “It’s obvious what we did wrong. We won the first balls but we lost the second and the third, so it makes no sense.

“You must be much more clinical and shoot it in the stand if you are not sure where you can pass the ball.

“The second one; wow, really bad defending. The whole group involved in that situation, not really compact, we let them play the ball, make the cross and the goalscorer is completely free in the box. That’s not how defending should be. Then we don’t use the chamce with the penalty, which can happen, of course.

“The third one is then in extra time of the first half. It must be offside; it’s unbelievable he wasn’t. It’s easy to defend; you push up, they pass the ball back and [Craig] Dawson is offside. He wasn’t, he celebrated the goal and he was like, ‘what can I do, if they let me do this?’

“Second half, we had to show character, there’s no doubt about character. We chased the game and scored a little bit too late. We did a lot of good things but, if you start like this, you make the game complicated.

“It was a bit hectic, they tried to save some time, it’s normal, but West Brom deserved it. We have to blame ourselves for this, it’s all about us, but compliments to West Brom.”