Jurgen Klopp denies Liverpool 'problem' ahead of Atalanta; uses Man United example | OneFootball

Jurgen Klopp denied Liverpool had to overcome a problem against Atalanta on Thursday. Some people are looking at things wrong.

Jurgen Klopp was asked in his pre-match press conference on Wednesday evening whether Liverpool can overcome their problem with man-marking. It was a talking point coming out of the 3-0 defeat to Atalanta last week, with the Reds struggling to take control of the game.

Klopp, though, doesn't believe it's a problem. That defeat was far more about what Liverpool didn't do rather than how Atalanta played, he says.

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"Man-marking is not the problem," Klopp said. "They did really well but we did not [play] well. Yes, we didn't win against [Manchester] United but we created how many chances against them? They play man-marking.

"That's not the problem! We have to do better. We played in these moments with their cards. But that's not to change anything, it's just a description of the game.

"Specific runs we didn't offer on the night could have caused them more problems but tomorrow the game is even more difficult because they don't need to score, so I don't know exactly what they want to do."

Atalanta vs Liverpool

And so Klopp's big point here is that Liverpool knew how to play against Atalanta - they just failed to perform. He mentioned the 5-0 win in Bergamo back in 2020 which certainly backs that up.

Seven of the XI on that day are still at Liverpool and could play on Thursday. Despite that, the Reds were unable to recreate their victory.

But it's a sign that when things click, Liverpool can absolutely create chances and have a lot of success against Gian Piero Gasperini's Atalanta. They just need to enact the gameplan properly this time around.

Do that, and there's no reason Liverpool can't overcome the 3-0 deficit and progress. It would be another historic result for the Reds but one they are capable of pulling off.

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