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The former Reds star is looking for a collective improvement at Anfield after alarming back problems were exposed in an opening day game.
Liverpool’s defense was “utter and utter confusion” against Leeds, says Steve Nicol, with the Reds legend urging the Premier League champions to come together as a unit and avoid conceding goals “for fun.”
Jurgen Klopp’s team has been a model of consistency over the past two seasons.
Much of their success has been built from behind, with big deals for Dutch midfielder Virgil van Dijk and Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson seen to have plugged long-standing leaks.
However, the Reds appeared to be far from tight in their most recent outing as newly promoted Leeds outscored them three times at Anfield.
Liverpool found a way to get over the line, with a Mohamed Salah hat-trick on the opening day that helped them to a thrilling 4-3 victory.
However, there are issues that Klopp must address after receiving a major scare from the Whites, with Nicol worrying about the gaps and costly mistakes that have crept back into the Reds’ game.
He said ESPN FC: “You have the Liverpool bottom line trying to push up, almost in the middle line.
“That’s not ‘well, it was one of those days,’ it’s a huge fundamental problem.
“There is nothing more basic than closing the baseline when there is no pressure on the ball. It really is a big problem if you mess up.
“When you mess up, you see what happens, and if you don’t fix it, you’re in big trouble defensively.”
The former Reds defender added, with an unusual error by Van Dijk that allowed Patrick Bamford to score for Leeds at one point: “I don’t care how good they are as individuals, you have to defend as a group and they are not defending as a team. group.
“I’m not talking about what is in front of the baseline, I’m talking about the real back four. Whatever the four in the back did, they did together last year when they were successful. That’s the key of everything.
“Whatever is going on in front of them, be it good or bad, they are the bottom line, their job is to be the bottom line, they are the last line of defense.
“What they did well was that they did everything together. They were up and down the field, whatever it was, together.
“What they are doing now is that they are everywhere. It is an absolute disaster and it is huge. You are wrong and you will lose goals for fun.
“When you start thinking about yourself and not the line, you see what happened. Absolute and absolute chaos “.
