Klopp Discusses Consecutive Clean Sheets in the Premier League

It’s always good to end a game with a deep breath and the satisfaction of three points and a clean sheet. Even when the 90 minutes that came before that moment were far too stressful. Luckily, things were on Liverpool’s side (even if the refs largely weren’t) and with Liverpool’s 1-0 win against Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa, Liverpool have now played consecutive games without conceding.

“It’s difficult for us to really work on [our defensive record] because our problem is that we obviously play all the time,” Klopp said following the game. “Yes, in the few moments when we have time, that is something we have to be completely committed as a squad to – defending.”

“That’s our idea. If this squad, this team defends on the highest level we always have a chance to score a goal and if we don’t do that then we need to score two, three, four or whatever and that makes no sense because that’s not always possible. Yes, it’s something we’ve absolutely worked on and it’s about balance, it’s about offensively and defensively that you don’t get too exposed but it is important you are exposed because you need the spaces to create space for other players and all these kind of things.”

Apart from the Merseyside derby in the beginning of this month, Liverpool has largely done a good job of maintaining clean sheets in recent matches but there have been some dangerous moments — both from Alisson and from our backline that we could do without.

“There are so many things you have to think about, but the most important thing is that you are well protected because then you feel really free for offensive things,” Klopp added. “I am really happy with that, but the last 15 minutes I am not happy with, of course. How could I [be] because we really opened the door for the game, but the 75 before were absolutely outstanding so I’m really happy about the performance.”