Liverpool’s defence has been branded an ‘absolute and utter shambles’ after the Reds conceded three times in their opening Premier League fixture.
It was like the Liverpool of old on Saturday evening as Leeds time and time again cut open Jurgen Klopp’s backline to find a way past Alisson three times.
Klopp had his attackers to thank as Mohamed Salah netted a hat-trick to secure Liverpool a late, late win, with the Egyptian King’s two penalties firing the Reds to a 4-3 victory.
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But Liverpool picking up three points to begin their Premier League title defence has been largely forgotten with all the focus on their woeful defensive showing at Anfield.
And ex-Reds full-back Steve Nicol – a veteran of over 450 Liverpool appearances and eight major honours – could not believe what he was seeing from his former club.
Speaking to ESPN FC, Nicol said: “You’ve got Liverpool’s back line trying to push up, almost on the halfway line
“That’s not ‘well it was one of those days’ type of things; that is a huge, fundamental problem.
“It doesn’t get any more basic than your backline closing when there’s no pressure on the ball. It really is a huge problem if you get it wrong.
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“When you get it wrong you see what happens today and if you don’t fix that, you’re in big, big trouble defensively.”
Individual errors were to blame for Liverpool conceding two goals on Saturday – Trent Alexander-Arnold was turned inside out by Jack Harrison for Leeds’ first and Virgil van Dijk’s mistake led to Patrick Bamford’s strike – but Nicol highlighted the entire defensive unit’s performance as not being good enough.
“I don’t care how good you are as individuals,” he continued. “You have to defend as a group and they’re not defending as a group.
“I’m not talking about what’s in front of the backline, I’m talking about the actual back four.
“Whatever the back four did, they did it together last year when they were successful. That’s the key to it all.
“Whatever is going on in front of them, whether it’s good or bad, they’re the backline; it’s their job to be the backline, they’re the last line of defence.
“What they did well was they did every single thing together. They were up and down the field, whatever it was, together.
“What they’re doing now is they are all over the place. It’s an absolute shambles and it’s huge. You get this wrong and you’re going to lose goals for fun.
“When you start thinking about yourself and not the line, then you see what happened today. Absolute and utter shambles.”
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