Liverpool need to show Champions League reaction after Brentford mishaps: Klopp
Klopp played down fears over Liverpool's defensive frailties after their 3-3 draw with Brentford.
LONDON (AFP) - Jurgen Klopp played down fears over Liverpool s defensive frailties after their 3-3 draw with Brentford as he prepared his team to face Porto in the Champions League on Tuesday.
The six-time European champions started their Champions League campaign with a 3-2 home win against AC Milan in Group B.
Liverpool are top of the Premier League ahead of Monday s match between Crystal Palace and Brighton but they were uncharacteristically sloppy against Brentford at the weekend, twice throwing away the lead.
They had conceded just a single league goal in their first five games.
But Klopp said he had spoken about the issues with his players and was confident they could put things right.
"It s not that much of a concern," he said at his pre-match press conference on Monday. "I don t think you should make these things bigger than they are but we have to show a reaction, that s for sure.
"I think it s really tricky to win a football game when you are not defending on your highest level and that s what we didn t do."
Liverpool have won their past two away matches against the Portuguese side by an aggregate score of 9-1, in 2018 and 2019, but Klopp said those results were meaningless in the context of Tuesday s contest.
"Porto always change a little bit, they ve had players going out and coming in, still the same manager," he said.
"But we don t think about the last two games, we think about this game They have different opportunities to set up line-up-wise and system-wise and we have to be prepared for that."
"They are a top side, no doubt about that," added the German manager.
"They qualify year in, year out for the Champions League, they are always first or second in the Portuguese league -- that s a top team -- and that is what we are preparing for, not for a team we beat in the past."
