Thursday 18 August 2016 17:21, UK
Jurgen Klopp has defended Alberto Moreno after the Spaniard came in for criticism following his performance in Liverpool's win over Arsenal on Super Sunday.
The Liverpool boss reacted to questions from reporters over the form of the left-back after he gave away a first half penalty which Theo Walcott missed before being caught out of position a few minutes later as the forward did open the scoring in the 4-3 Premier League win last weekend.
However, Klopp defended his player in his pre-match news conference ahead of the trip to Turf Moor to play Burnley on Saturday and said the team needs to defend better as a whole.
"If someone plays not too good then we talk about it in the press conference? That's cool. He was involved in a penalty situation, right? That's something we spoke about. How can we defend together differently? Because the situation was cleared two times before the penalty situation," Klopp said.
"In my opinion, we could have avoided this situation five or six times before and then we came to this situation where Alberto could have done better, that's right, but that's all.
"But I don't understand what we are talking about. We are talking about Alberto Moreno because he didn't defend so well against Arsenal? I don't understand the conversation, maybe I should read more newspapers.
"The world is not satisfied with our left back or what? I'm sorry people aren't happy with Alberto Moreno."
Klopp also revealed that Sadio Mane's shoulder injury is "not that serious" after the Liverpool forward was taken to hospital for assessment on Wednesday following a collision in training.
The German is unsure whether his summer signing will be available for Saturday's trip to Burnley but moved to allay fears that Mane was facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines.
"It was a challenge between two players in the air and Sadio fell on his shoulder. It's not that serious," Klopp said. "At this stage I don't know if he will be available for the weekend but I don't think he will be out for a long time."
Klopp also revealed that Liverpool will only dip back into the transfer market if it is the right move for the club and spoke about the lack of strength in depth at left-back, with Moreno currently Liverpool's only specialist in that position.
"We have to make decisions and in this case, we say ok, the most comfortable situation is that you have three players for each positions," Klopp said.
"It's not about going risk on one position but if we would have found the perfect fit for all the things around - it's not about money - but playing style, technical skills, then we would have made a transfer.
"We do have a number of players in our squad who can play as a left full back but we are not blind. We know that if Alberto is injured we do not have a clear left-back but we have other options.
"Milly [James Milner] can play and everybody can say the Barcelona game [pre-season friendly] showed he can do it. Clyney [Nathaniel Clyne] played it before.
"We will only take another one if it's the guy we want. Problem with transfers is no-one cares about players still here."
