Jurgen Klopp has called on his Liverpool squad to get back to basics after the "horror show" of last week's defeat at Napoli.
And the Reds boss believes his team need to focus their efforts on defensive solidity first and foremost before they can begin to move out of a sticky patch that has seen them win just two of seven games this term.
Klopp branded the 4-1 loss in Naples on Wednesday night as the worst of his near seven-year reign at Anfield and claimed he saw nothing of what has made his team such a feared one over the past few seasons.
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An analysis meeting with the players at the AXA Centre late last week forced the squad to pick the bones out of a deeply disappointing night in Italy and Klopp says his team can only begin to play their way out of their rut once they rediscover their defensive qualities as a unit.
"I had a lot of thoughts and a meeting with the players," Klopp said as he previewed Tuesday night's visit from Ajax in Group A of the Champions League. "I watched the game back plenty of times and it was a real horror show to be honest and the boys knew that.
"But we showed the boys the situations. They knew, but seeing it again made it really obvious. It was the worst game we played since I came here. Everyone probably remembers Aston Villa (7-2 defeat in 2020) and in other games there were always glimpses of us, even in these games. In this particular game (against Napoli), nothing.
"So then you have to understand why that happened. That is not a common thing, it is an individual thing. I think pretty much eight of the 11 were absolutely below their level and the other three were not on top level, just a normal game. You sort all individual problems as a team.
"That is the first thing we have to do. You have to follow a common idea again and everything we did since I was here and everything my teams do in football is based on a really solid if not nearly perfect defending. That is where it all starts and that is what we have to work on.
"After that game, for sure [the mood was low], but now not because we have to build again. But how can you get confidence in a football game? By winning challenges. That is how it is. If you take specific things for granted, then it's a mistake but these kinds of things can happen. We all have to realise it starts with defending.
"We have to give ourselves the chance to celebrate winning a challenge again. If you do that, you can get some kind of momentum. If you have momentum then you can play football. There is no good game I can remember when a team played flawlessly offensively and defensively was just a shambles.
"It does not work like this but there are plenty of games where teams defend really well but don't play that well offensively, maybe. So it is all based on real defending and that is what we have to show. I am pretty sure our people will help us with that as well."
Klopp added: "I have to do something. I can’t sit there and wait for how we react. Is this a situation I wanted? Nope. But now we are in it. I find it interesting, challenging. A lot of good things happened in the past and this team showed an incredible amount of consistency over a long period and I know how this business works.
"I didn’t read 10 words about what was said about us, but most of the things were fair, probably. I am not sure all right, but it is OK if you are not inside [the squad] and you watch the game and think that.
"When you watch the game back, I would have asked a lot of questions about the players and the manager. That is OK. That can’t be our biggest problem at the moment so we have to respond. For this we had to talk, had to show and we had to train.
"I don’t want to give Ajax any kind of hint for what they can expect tomorrow night and don’t give anyone a headline. It is not the time for us to do that. We don’t have to give any headlines before the game. For positive headlines after the game, the only chance we have is during the game. Ajax expects us to react. I am not sure they will use a lot of the Napoli game [for analysis].
"If you see us this season, we are just not consistent enough so far and this consistency we have to build and start again and it always starts with defending. That's what we have to do better and then we will see what we can do."
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