FRUSTRATED Jurgen Klopp has vowed to “reinvent” his Liverpool squad after they were embarrassed by Napoli in their Champions League opener.
The Reds were on the receiving end of their joint-biggest defeat in the competition, losing to the Italian side 4-1, and found themselves trailing by three goals at half-time.
It took going behind by four goals for Liverpool to show some intent – with Luis Diaz getting a goal back.
But Liverpool’s defensive disaster-class has left Klopp fearing rivals are licking their lips and “laughing” at his team.
Klopp has also hinted at going back to the drawing board tactically, with the team swamped by Premier League and Champions League fixtures.
Klopp told BT Sport: “So, now we have to… little bit looks like we have to reinvent ourselves.
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“So there’s a lot of things lacking – not in all games but now.
“The fun part is we have to do that in the middle of a Premier League season and a Champions League campaign.
“In three days we play against Wolves.
“If they saw the game tonight they cannot stop laughing, probably, and think ‘oh my God, that’s the perfect moment’.
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“I would say it’s the perfect moment.
“But we have to try to find a set-up to be much better in pretty much everything. In three days time, let’s try.”
Klopp cut a frustrated figure in his post-match interview, insisting the result was “tough to take”.
But he has asked for more time to find the cause of the gutless defeat in Naples – time which wasn’t afforded to compatriot Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea.
Ex-Chelsea boss Tuchel’s team, like Liverpool have started poorly in the league, and on Tuesday lost their group stage Champions League opener – at the hands of Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb.
Tuchel was sacked on Wednesday – with Graham Potter the frontrunner to take over the reins at Stamford Bridge – despite splashing upwards of £250million on players this summer.
TOUGH COOKIE
Klopp said on the defeat: “Yeah, really tough to take. I would say it is not that difficult to explain when you saw the game.
“For start with the two penalties… First and foremost, Napoli played a really good game and we didn’t – that is the first explanation for the defeat.
“The two penalties we conceded. For sure one, both were a little bit unlucky. Only one goes in.
“And then the next two goals we served on a plate, pretty much, that’s not cool and we should defend it better in the first place, but then of course in the last moment as well.
“And yeah, 3-0 down having kind of chances – never really in the game.
“We were not compact neither defensively or offensively.
“Until Thiago entered the pitch I cannot remember one counter pressing situation.
“The reason for that is because we are just too wide, we try to sort the situation out ourselves with a little dribbling here or there. Cannot really play together, [we] are not connected.
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“So it was obvious. Why it happened? That’s now the question I cannot answer now – give me a little time to think about it.
“It’s a really tough cookie to take but obviously I have to take it.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
