Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp questions need for defensive signings in January after upturn in form

Klopp: 'I don't think the solution is always a new player'

(Getty)

Jürgen Klopp has warned he may decide against signing defensive cover during the upcoming transfer window following Liverpool's recent improvement at the back.

Liverpool failed to prise Virgil van Dijk from Southampton in the summer and have looked vulnerable at the back on several occasions since, most recently when collapsing from 3-0 up to draw 3-3 with Sevilla in the Champions League.

On the domestic scene, however, Klopp's side have tightened up of late and conceded just four goals in their last nine Premier League games. Of the four, only Willian’s equaliser for Chelsea in a 1-1 draw at Anfield last month came from open play.

Some sections of Liverpool’s support will nevertheless hope to see defensive reinforcements added in January, but ahead of Friday’s visit to play Arsenal at the Emirates, Klopp suggested that he may wait until the summer to sign new recruits.

“That [speculation] will never stop, until we do it probably,” he said, when asked whether his defence’s new-found solidity had persuaded him to stay out of the transfer market.

“Everything that we do has influence on our plans, so yes but I don't exactly know how. You'll have to wait a little bit.

“When we win a game and we defend well I'm happy about that, when we don't defend well as a team I'm not, but I don't think the solution is always a new player.”

Klopp added: “Alberto Moreno did fantastic this season and then against Sevilla he did not play well, but people did not hesitate to say: 'That's why we need a new left-back.'

“I thought: 'Wow!' If people had said the same about you after a bad game that would have been really funny. Thank God I or we here make the decision and nobody else.”