Former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has
said Jurgen Klopp must address the team's
current weakness with conceding from set pieces.
Liverpool have conceded nine goals from set
pieces in the Premier League this season, the
most recent of which coming in Sunday's 1-0 loss
to Manchester United.

The result leaves the Reds ninth in the table,
eight points off the top four, and Rodgers, who
was sacked as manager in October, believes a
change in tactics is required from the man who
replaced him.

Rodgers said on Sky's Monday Night Football: "My
preference is for man-to-man marking.
"Normally the opponent will send five players into
the box -- normally one in front of the goalkeeper
and four attacking the ball, splitting their runs
into various areas. My preference is to have
players marking those four and have one marking
the guy around the goalkeeper.

"When you're conceding goals -- and as Jurgen
Klopp can see, Liverpool are conceding goals far
too easily -- you have to intervene at some point.

"If you've got players being beaten one-on-one in
a duel too easily then you have to find a different
way -- usually switching from man-to-man to
zonal defending to try and help the team."

Rodgers also said Liverpool are still recovering
from the sale of Luis Suarez as they continue to
be hampered by a shortage of goals.
The former Reds boss said that, along with the
injury problems of Daniel Sturridge, another
cause of Liverpool's lack of potency is the absence
of players who could share the goalscoring

burden.
A second-place finish in the Premier League in
2014 came largely thanks to the 101 goals they
scored, but Liverpool sold Suarez to Barcelona
that summer for £75 million and have been able
to call upon Sturridge in only 24 matches since.

Rodgers' successor Klopp has frequently omitted
£32.5 million striker Christian Benteke as he
searches for a lineup to fit his preferred playing
style, but Rodgers said the loss of Suarez was still
being felt.

Liverpool reached January with just 22 goals from
20 league matches, their lowest ever tally at that
stage of a season.

"Since Luis left, the goals have gone right out of
the team. Not only that, but with Daniel being
injured," Rodgers said.

"Obviously Jurgen is having that problem now,
with people talking about the number of goals
and strikers.

"That season when we finished runners-up, if you
look, we had a front five going forward.
"Suarez, Sturridge, [Raheem] Sterling, [Jordan]
Henderson and [Philippe] Coutinho -- and then
the five behind them defending.

"Five on the attack, five behind, plus the
goalkeeper -- you're going to score goals, and
they were outstanding."

Rodgers said he had prioritised Champions
League qualification over winning domestic cups
during his time at Anfield, but wished that, when
Liverpool rejoined Europe's elite competition in
2014-15, they had been able to call upon their
side from the previous season.

With Suarez gone, Sturridge often a spectator
and new signing Mario Balotelli having an
unproductive season at the club, Liverpool failed
to qualify for the knockout stages, finishing
behind Real Madrid and Basel in their group.

"My sole focus when I went to Liverpool was to
get into the Champions League," Rodgers said.

"The club was synonymous with winning trophies
and I respected that, but I knew what the
Champions League meant to the club.
"My sole focus in my three-year contract was to
get the club there. We did that in two seasons.

"And when we arrived into the Champions League
we didn't have a squad as good, I felt, as the
previous one. I thought the team we had the year
before could have really done something.

"But no regrets. When I put the mind to getting a
trophy, we got to two semifinals -- one we should
have won, against Chelsea, and one we were poor
in.

"I did my very best. It's an incredible club, a
privilege to manage it and I will continue to
support from afar."

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