Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp spoke about the importance of clean sheets, saying that clean sheets win championships. Liverpool have begun the Premier League with three wins out of three and are yet to concede a goal.
Speaking about the importance of clean sheets, Klopp said, “It’s always like this – I think that’s one of the oldest laws in football. Scoring goals wins you games but not conceding wins you championships. That’s really pretty old but still very true. You can be the best team in the world offensively, but if you constantly conceded two or three goals [per game] then it’s just not possible to win all of these games.”
In their last 32 Premier League, Liverpool have conceded just 22 goals and have kept 17 clean sheets. However, Klopp said that he doesn’t take those statistics very seriously. He said, “I’m not really happy [with the figures] but it’s interesting, that’s what we always thought. I’m not this kind of guy who counts clean sheets or counts goals we concede because I know about our problems or solutions without counting goals.
Klopp added about the importance of clean sheets, “I’m not proud, I’m not surprised, it’s actually what we thought it was but it’s a good number and hopefully it will continue like that. Because of the football we play people could think I’m first and foremost interested in offensive movements. That’s not true actually, I’m desperate to have good organisation and that’s good when you see them and the boys feel it and when we have more and more when the confidence grows.
We had really difficult moments against Crystal Palace, it was difficult but we could still win the game. Against Brighton it was difficult, especially in the last few minutes, but we could win the game. That gives us a lot of very important information but we have to improve, controlling the game with the ball. I know that but a lot of people think controlling the game without the ball – to an extent that’s important – but we are a team and we need to control the game better with the ball.
You never can avoid conceding goals but you can avoid conceding the easy goals so you have to make life for your opponent as uncomfortable as possible. Always when they are on the ball they need to be at the top to find a solution against us. That’s the plan, it was always the plan.”
Despite their strong start Klopp remains grounded on the team’s Premier League chances. He said, “It is too early in the season to talk about that. In life and football you have to go through difficult situations to really know what your strengths are. That’s a big part but it will not happen overnight and it didn’t start last week and it will not be finished next week.
It’s a process and we are in the middle of it, we feel good in this situation at the moment. We know about all the difficulties that will come up. We have September with an awful lot of big games and that’s cool, that’s why we do it. But we know we need to be ready for that as well.
After the international break, they all come back and two days later you play Tottenham. Tottenham have the same problem so it has no advantage for anybody but there will be big challenges for us ahead and hopefully we are ready for that.”
Liverpool play their next Premier League fixture against Leicester City today,
