Klopp must counter cultural legacy to free Benteke potential

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp seems perplexed about what to do with striker Christian Benteke. Paul Little believes a little pragmatism would be a start.

Liverpool do not score enough goals, just 25 in 22 league games so far this season. Not scoring enough goals debilitates a team in more ways than just the obvious. The fact that you can’t score enough goals magnifies any defensive error punished by the opposition. The inability to score goals increases pressure on everyone. It saps the confidence of those tasked with hitting the back of the net, and it heaps pressure on those tasked with stopping the opposition from doing likewise. And it has a serious impact on fans. The fans lose belief, and the players feel it.

Not getting enough goals killed Brendan Rodgers. Now the chronic goal shyness is hurting Jurgen Klopp. And he is hurting. You only had to see him after losing to Manchester United last weekend to know it. Going out and buying goals seems the most popular solution. Liverpool may well go down that line – witness their big money offer for Alex Teixeira of Shakhtar Donetsk. But then as we’ve seen, such purchases don’t always produce the desired or expected results. So, working better with what you’ve got is an approach that cannot be ignored.