'Liverpool lack the desire to defend'

Despite their attractive style of football, Jurgen Klopp's side have come in for plenty of criticism so far this season due to their inability to defend situations as they should.

Sunday's defeat to Tottenham was another fine example, with 'the Reds' losing 4-1 and conceding two goals in the first 12 minutes of the game, a result which caused Klopp to tell the press that he could have done better playing in his trainers.

Speaking on 'The Debate', Begovic was honest in his assessment of Liverpool's struggles saying that it appears that the players' first thought isn't defending and that they lack the pride and desire to want to keep clean sheets.

"I think for Liverpool it is a combination of things: communication, positioning and the desire to defend is lacking for Liverpool," explained the Bournemouth No 1.

"They don't look organised, they don't look like they want to defend. I look at some of their players and the first thing is how good they can be on the ball, how they can pass and go forward and how the full backs can attack and join in. I don't think their first thought is defending.

"I think as a unit they look all over the place and there could be many reasons. Confidence once again is low and there are people making bad decisions so it seems to be a bit of a mess.

"They are not doing the basics of defending and I don't think they have the pride it takes to be a defender.

"I don't think it's one thing, I think it's them as a unit. I don't think they're working together and there's a lack of continuity with the centre-back pairings and the full-backs, I don't think changing the goalkeepers is helping.

I don't think it is one particular player or one particular thing but everything in that defensive area is going wrong. I'm not sure how much time they spend on it or if they're being coached.

"I think generally, in football, the basics of defending are going out of the game and people are not learning them as much."