Milner wants boring Liverpool
James Milner urged Liverpool to become "more boring" after they blew a two-goal lead in a sensational 3-3 draw against Arsenal on Friday.
Milner and company led through goals from Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah in a pre-Christmas cracker at the Emirates Stadium.
But they collapsed in the second half as three goals in five minutes from Alexis Sanchez, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil put Arsenal ahead.
Roberto Firmino's equaliser earned the visitors a draw, but Reds midfielder Milner admitted Jurgen Klopp's side can't always afford to play the attacking style their manager prefers.
"When you are in a position like that at this level you've got to see the game out. We have got to become more boring," Milner said.
"There are times in the game when you've got to tighten up and not make those mistakes for five minutes.
"All the goals were our fault really and that's something we have to learn from.
"We play such good football going forward and maybe sometimes we need to switch that off for five or 10 minutes.
"We need to play it a bit tighter and keep the ball a bit longer rather than trying to break all the time."
Klopp refused to concede his team should have been more cautious after taking the lead, but he did admit their own mistakes were crucial in the meltdown.
"Defending is a team thing. Today we make individual mistakes and that is not cool. My job is to think about the performance and that was a winning performance," he said.
"We made mistakes on both sides of the game but it is unlikely to win 6-3 or something at Arsenal.
"We didn't take all of our chances but three goals should be enough. Arsenal were not in the game apart from 10 minutes. We need to be angry with ourselves."
Klopp did point the finger at goalkeeper Simon Mignolet after he was at fault for Xhaka's long-range goal.
"He misjudged it. A second hand would have helped but that is how it is," he said.
"You don't need to make it bigger than it is. It felt like we shouldn't have conceded but we did."
But they collapsed in the second half as three goals in five minutes from Alexis Sanchez, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil put Arsenal ahead.
Roberto Firmino's equaliser earned the visitors a draw, but Reds midfielder Milner admitted Jurgen Klopp's side can't always afford to play the attacking style their manager prefers.
"When you are in a position like that at this level you've got to see the game out. We have got to become more boring," Milner said.
"There are times in the game when you've got to tighten up and not make those mistakes for five minutes.
"All the goals were our fault really and that's something we have to learn from.
"We play such good football going forward and maybe sometimes we need to switch that off for five or 10 minutes.
"We need to play it a bit tighter and keep the ball a bit longer rather than trying to break all the time."
Klopp refused to concede his team should have been more cautious after taking the lead, but he did admit their own mistakes were crucial in the meltdown.
"Defending is a team thing. Today we make individual mistakes and that is not cool. My job is to think about the performance and that was a winning performance," he said.
"We made mistakes on both sides of the game but it is unlikely to win 6-3 or something at Arsenal.
"We didn't take all of our chances but three goals should be enough. Arsenal were not in the game apart from 10 minutes. We need to be angry with ourselves."
Klopp did point the finger at goalkeeper Simon Mignolet after he was at fault for Xhaka's long-range goal.
"He misjudged it. A second hand would have helped but that is how it is," he said.
"You don't need to make it bigger than it is. It felt like we shouldn't have conceded but we did."
Twitter - @SportswaveAndre