"Half of our defence didn’t play for ages" - Jurgen Klopp on Liverpool's defensive form

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has recently touched on the Reds' defensive form.

The German was without centre-backs Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez for large parts of the 2020-21 Premier League campaign due to respective injuries.

Therefore, Liverpool struggled defensively last season. Klopp's side conceded 42 goals in 38 top-flight games.

However, Van Dijk, Matip and Gomez have all been available for the majority of the 2021-22 Premier League season. With that being the case, Liverpool have only conceded 20 goals in 28 matches.

Klopp said that the Reds have been more themselves in defence this season as a result of key personnel returning.

As quoted by Anfield Watch's Twitter account, the 54-year-old said the following during his most recent press conference: "With the last year, half of our defence didn’t play for ages so we are now more our self and everybody knows again, they knew it before, but now they feel it again."

Anfield Watch Verdict

Liverpool simply had too many defensive injuries to deal with last season. Therefore, the Reds were always going to be a bit leaky at the back across the 2020-21 campaign.

It has been brilliant to see Van Dijk, Matip and Gomez back out on the pitch this season. We severely missed them.

In saying that, Nat Phillips (17 Premier League appearances) and Rhys Williams (nine Premier League appearances) were superb when called upon last season.

Both players are far from Liverpool's first-choice centre-backs, but they did help the club secure Champions League qualification via a top four Premier League finish by simply taking to the pitch on a weekly basis.

If the Reds are to go on and win the Champions League this season, Phillips and Williams should get plenty of the credit.

Liverpool have qualified for the quarter-finals of the competition. The Reds defeated Inter Milan 2-1 on aggregate in the last-16.

The draw for the last-eight and the semi-finals will take place in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday at 11am local time.