Liverpool need to be ‘more aggressive’ at Stoke, says Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool suffered a 2-0 loss to West Ham at Boleyn Ground on Saturday and, as a result, they dropped to 8th place in the Premier League standings.

West Ham scored with two headers at the weekend and Klopp admits cutting out the supply is a major concern.

Our article after the match suggested Klopp would have to get nasty with his powder puff side, who on current evidence, look too inconsistent to mount a challenge for the top four.

“I don’t think it’s important to get a lead, I think it’s important to be in the game”, he told stokecityfc.com. These games will be games we expect to be involved in.

But the Liverpool manager revealed that Sturridge has failed to maintain his current fitness programme without interruption, rendering him unavailable for tomorrow’s Capital One Cup semi-final with Stoke City. Stoke then had Geoff Cameron sent off for raising his hands to the theatrical Claudio Yacob, a decision which the club are likely to appeal against today. “I can see why people say January will be decisive”. We have an issue with crosses; before we had an issue with set plays.

“But for the rest of the game we had the ball, we passed it, we were around the box and we didn’t shoot or pass in the right moment, we did not have consistency in our crosses and things like this. Most importantly, though, they need a centre-half because I think they look vulnerable”. Affelay, Bojan, Arnautovic, Shaqiri and Diouf have been terrific this season and Mark Hughes side have been one of the most exciting teams in the league to watch.

After failing to win their first six matches this season, Stoke have recorded 11 victories in 17 attempts since and have not gone more than two games without a win.

Hughes has “warmed” to Klopp since the German’s appointment three months ago but says the Reds boss is still learning about the demands of Premier League football. “Talking is easy, changing is more hard but nevertheless we have to do it”.

“We hope it’s not serious and we don’t have to wait because we can not do more”.

“We know the numbers and it is not good, but we can do better”.

The annoyance you may have seen him show in front of the television cameras after the final whistle was not an act: those in the away dressing room experienced it on a different level, as they failed to carry out the duties Klopp expected.

“Our target is to win it. It will be tough because Mark Hughes has done a brilliant job”.