Brendan Rodgers Insists Liverpool Do Not Need a New Defensive Coach

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers insists there is no need to add a new defensive coach to his staff despite his side's continued problems at the back.

After conceding 50 Premier League goals last season – the worst record in the top five –the club have continued to ship goals despite the defensive additions of Dejan Lovren, Alberto Moreno and Javier Manquillo in the summer.

Those arrivals, costing an estimated £36m, followed last year's spending of £33m on more defenders and goalkeeper Simon Mignolet.

Despite the recruitment drive, Liverpool's woes continue at the back. The Merseysiders conceded three to Real Madrid on Wednesday to take their goals against tally to 19 for the season in all competitions.

Rodgers indicated the solution to his problems can be found in greater focus in training sessions but will not explore the possibility of changing his backroom set up at Melwood.

"A large number of the goals we have conceded have been soft. There hasn't been a corner with a clever move that has beaten us," Rodgers told the Liverpool Echo.

"It's been a simple ball into the box and we haven't defended it through either the first contact or by letting people come across us.

"The second and third goals against Real were disappointing. That's seven, arguably eight goals we've conceded from dead balls so far.

"We need to be more competitive and more aggressive in those situations. They are scrappy goals and we're giving away and you can't do that at this level.

"It's not a case of needing to bring in another coach, a defensive coach or anything like that. I wouldn't go down that route. The bottom line is our team is based on balance and at times it's been poor. There is a collective responsibility to defend better and that is what we have to do."

Rodgers indicated the root of the problem may be a combination of the new faces in his side settling in and the hectic fixture schedule they find themselves in.

"Our problem, and the issue we have which we need to find the solution for, is our lack of coaching time. Take this week, we played Wednesday night, the players physically recover on Thursday, and that leaves us with only a short period of time on the training field before we've got the game on Saturday.

"Over the last 18 months we have seen the developments of this team given coaching time. It's not really rocket science. The introduction of all our new players and having limited coaching has caused issues. We need to be better."