It's not easy being a Liverpool defender. It's difficult being a centre-back when your full-backs are often further up the pitch than the forwards, and it's challenging playing full-back when you are expected to not only keep the opposing winger in check, but also pose a threat to your opposite number.
It's interesting, then, that two Liverpool defenders who have come in for some criticism in recent months were named in the top 10 for their respective positions by CIES Football Observatory.
Dejan Lovren came in at No. 9 in a list of Europe's best centre-backs, while James Milner -- in his first year playing at left-back -- was tied for fourth in the full-back category. Both selections will have caused a raised eyebrow or two among Liverpool supporters, but the Reds' back four are an often unfairly maligned bunch.
A significant number of goals conceded by Liverpool come from either set pieces or counter-attacks. Set-piece goals are a collective failing and can't be attributed just to the back four, while Liverpool's occasional vulnerability to counters is as much a result of their adventurous use of full-backs and an extremely attack-minded midfield as it is any lack of quality.
As long as Liverpool play with their full-backs in such advanced positions and with only one defensive-minded midfield player, they will always concede goals, irrespective of who is in goal or in defence.
That doesn't mean they can't be successful, though. Their results in the first half of the season showed that having a good attack can render the occasional slip at the back fairly meaningless, and don't forget that Liverpool went within a whisker of winning the title in 2014 despite conceding 50 goals.
Jurgen Klopp would obviously like to tighten things up defensively, but unless he is prepared to completely change the team's attacking style of play (and there is no reason he should) Liverpool will always concede more goals than some of their rivals who play with a little more caution.
It's easy to look at the goals for and against columns this year and conclude that if Liverpool's defence was better they'd have been higher in the table, but those figures are misleading without context. Scoring four, five and six goals in games when things are going well can skew the numbers and Liverpool have dropped a number of points this season (especially since the turn of the year) because their attack has misfired.
The home loss to Swansea and the five points dropped in two games against Bournemouth can certainly be blamed on defensive lapses, but many of Liverpool's other missteps have been a direct result of the attack not functioning.
Of course, the really successful teams will ensure that they keep it tight at the back in the games when the attack isn't firing, but once again that comes down to a question of style. If you're set up to be an attacking team then you'd better hope your forwards get the job done otherwise you may find yourself in trouble, as even the best defences will occasionally concede.
For all the criticism they have received, Liverpool's struggles in 2017 have not been due to their defensive issues (barring a couple of notable exceptions). Statistically, Liverpool are no worse at the back now than they were earlier in the season when they looked like title contenders, but any goal conceded has more dire consequences now because the goals are not flowing as freely at the other end.
In the first half of the season, Klopp's men scored 46 goals and conceded 21. With just one game remaining in the second half of the season they have once again conceded 21, but scored just 29. A clean sheet against Middlesbrough this weekend would see their goals-conceded number match that from the first half of the campaign, but they would need to score 17 to match their attacking output.
Liverpool did not fall off the title pace because of their defence. The bulk of the damage was caused by the drop-off in their attacking play. Much of that was due to the unavailability of key players, with Sadio Mane, Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana all missing significant playing time and Philippe Coutinho taking three months to rediscover top form after injury.
Klopp's style of play has clearly not been as effective in the second half of the season and he has perhaps not managed the squad as well as he could have, but his brand of football worked fairly spectacularly in the opening months of the campaign when he had the players he needed to make it work. That's the lesson to be learned from this season.
If the opportunity is there to improve the back line, then by all means Klopp should go for it, but the key to future improvement is to ensure that his team can maintain their prolific attack even when one or more key components is missing.
Beating Middlesbrough this weekend is crucial to the cause, because the lure of Champions League football will make it much easier to attract the calibre of players that will ensure the drop-off is not so steep when the likes of Mane, Sturridge or Coutinho are missing.
Dave Usher is one of ESPN's Liverpool bloggers and the founder of LFC fanzine and website The Liverpool Way. Follow him on Twitter: @theliverpoolway.
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