Jurgen Klopp does not believe defender addition would have solved Liverpool's defensive problems

Jurgen Klopp dispelled the notion that Liverpool's defensive problems would have been solved if they had a signed a defender – referring to their failed pursuit of Virgil van Dijk – in the summer.

The German coach was speaking in the aftermath of Liverpool's 2-2 draw against Sevilla in their opening Champions League group game on Wednesday (13 September). Despite talking down the need for defensive reinforcements, Klopp made it clear that his team's defending has to improve ahead of their upcoming fixtures in the Premier League, Champions League and EFL Cup.

Liverpool went behind to Wissam Ben Yedder's strike in the fifth minute of their game but went into the break 2-1 up following goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah. They should have had more of an advantage but a missed penalty from the former and some good goalkeeping kept Sevilla in the game.

The La Liga outfit were the better side in the second-half and Liverpool were made to pay for their missed chances when Joaquin Correa equalised in the 72<sup>nd minute. There were further chances for both teams to take all three points but it was not to be. Sevilla were surely the winners of the night after salvaging a point away from home.

Klopp was not impressed with his team's defending and believes both goals were conceded in an easy manner. The Reds have now conceded seven goals in their last two games with five coming during their loss to Manchester City last weekend.

The Merseyside club were hot on pursuit of Van Dijk in the summer to address their defensive issues, but failed to complete a move after Southampton refused to sanction the sale. They failed to bring in other reinforcements with the manager deciding to stick with his current options. Dejan Lovren and Joel Matip started the game, while they have Ragner Klavan as the third choice.

"I know here, you're always looking for this thing, so the defence was always something we were talking about -- [we] didn't sign this or that and all that stuff," Klopp said, as quoted on ESPN.

"But, if these problems would have been sorted with one player, you could imagine we would put all our money in and say: 'Come on, let's do this.'" the German coach explained with regards to their failure to sign a defender.

"It's not about this, it's kind of this being dominant and losing a little bit the grip on the game. That's all space for improvement for all of us.

"We need to learn to be dominant and not to give easy goals away and the first one was, for sure, not necessary and too easy," he added.

"The second, I have absolutely no clue how they came through that, to be honest, I have to see that again. It's not a general defending problem but we have to improve, 100 percent."