Liverpool are facing an unparalleled defensive injury crisis as the second half of the 2020/21 campaign draws near and the Reds have all three senior centre-backs sidelined.
Two of last season’s most important players in Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez will be fortunate to play again this season and Joel Matip is always seemingly only moments away from his next spell on the treatment table.
With the chances of January arrivals looking slim and dissenting voices already making themselves heard, Jurgen Klopp could revert back to the primitive days of his tenure for inspiration as to how to attack what’s left of this season.
After Klopp recently engaged a siege mentality within his players about how he and his side were going to ‘fight’ with all they have to retain their Premier League title, perhaps a shift in tactical style could fuel the fire.
Despite unwarranted criticism over his defensive naivety in the first two seasons in charge at Anfield, early Liverpool under Klopp were a different animal to the one which has swept aside all before them in the last two years.
A seemingly gung-ho ‘you score three, we’ll score four‘ approach was the way for large parts of the German’s early Anfield tenure, with varied outcomes and plenty of nervy moments before the arrival of some key signings.
With reliable defenders once again at a premium whilst still boasting a plethora of top-quality attacking talent, Liverpool may be best served to go ‘back to the future’ in the defence of their title.
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Despite coming close on numerous occasions, the ultra-attacking Liverpool way never brought about any silverware for Klopp prior to 2019.
However, with more quality in attacking positions now and with a midfield to rival the best in world football, a shift in policy could just work this time around.
The art of defending mustn’t be totally forgotten, but with a relatively low points total possibly being enough to claim this season’s title, the Reds may stand the best chance by truly ‘attacking’ their crown, as Klopp claimed in pre-season.
