Monday, November 16, 2009

Liverpool Have Not Been Aggressive Enough - John Aldridge


Liverpool legend John Aldridge claims that his old side have not been aggressive enough this season, and believes that this is the cause for their recent run of one win in nine games.

The Scouse-born Irishman is of the opinion that the Merseysiders have been sloppy in defence, and has pointed a finger at the back four's handling of set-plays.

In his column for the Liverpool Echo, Aldridge said: "You can argue all you want about zonal marking but there seems to be a lack of belief when it comes to dealing with set-pieces.

"We don’t attack the ball, there’s no aggression and it is costing us dearly.

"It happened on the opening day at Spurs [Tottenham Hotspur] and it’s still happening – we haven’t learned our lesson."

The former Tranmere Rovers boss suggested that the team will have to get back to basics and sort out their problems in training.

"The only way to sort it out is on the training ground," he said.

"When I was a player if we leaked bad goals we would spend ages in training defending as a unit. The coaches would ensure you didn’t enjoy it [training] to ensure it didn’t happen again."

Aldridge then touched on the Reds' recent 2-2 draw with Birmingham City, in which they dominated the play yet allowed Christian Benitez - from a free kick - and Cameron Jerome to find the net.

He concluded: "We played pretty well on Monday [against Birmingham] but if you can’t defend you aren’t going to win games."

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