Liverpool can’t depend on their defence, they must stick with gung-ho attack against Villarreal

When Liverpool run out to face Villarreal in the last four of the Europa League on Thursday, it'll be exactly 45 years to the day since the completion of their very first semi-final tie in the competition.

Well, sort of. Pedantic point of order! Back in 1971, the UEFA Cup had yet to be founded, never mind its successor. This was the Europa League's pre-predecessor, the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, an anachronism even in its day, set up in the 1950s not by UEFA but with a little help from the bigwigs at FIFA, who saw football and multinational industry as compatible bedfellows. Just imagine.

Liverpool made the semis of this expo-fest in the 1970-71 season, and came up against Leeds United. The cast wasn't half bad: Ian Callaghan, Emlyn Hughes, Tommy Smith, Ray Clemence, Steve Heighway, John Toshack, Billy Bremner, Jack Charlton, Johnny Giles, Allan Clarke, Norman Hunter, Mick Jones. It would have made for a very passable European Cup final. This wasn't even UEFA's second-string competition at the time.

Liverpool were the better side in the first leg at Anfield, but struggled to break through a resolute defence. On the few occasions they did, Leeds keeper Gary Sprake - who four years earlier famously threw the ball into his own net at the same ground, the inspiration for a half-time PA blast of Des O'Connor's Careless Hands and The Scaffold's Thank U Very Much - was in fine form. "Toshack and Alec Lindsay in particular had reason to stare at Sprake in frank disbelief when he thwarted them," reported the Guardian. Alun Evans hit a post, Hughes missed a one-on-one, Larry Lloyd went inches wide.

The match was settled midway through the second half, when Giles sent a free-kick in from the left, and Bremner flashed a header past Clemence. It was Bremner's first big match since suffering a hairline fracture of his leg just two months previously. Not a bad recall by Revie.

That goal settled the tie overall, too, for Liverpool couldn't conjure a reply at Elland Road, despite once again carving out the majority of the chances. Bremner's was only the fourth goal Liverpool had conceded in that season's competition in ten matches. To illustrate how impressive that defensive record was, consider the quarter-final which saw Liverpool beat Bayern Munich 4-1 on aggregate. Gerd Muller played in both matches, but couldn't find the net in 180 minutes of football. The following calendar year, Muller would score 85 goals in all competitions.

It's fair to say, 45 years down the line, as Liverpool go into semi-final battle again, their defence isn't quite so resolute. Liverpool shipped a two-goal lead yet again last weekend, this time against Newcastle United, a month after doing the same thing at Southampton, and two months after capitulating in similar style against Sunderland. They're keeping a fascinating rhythm.

In the wake of the latest aberration, opprobrium. Most of it has been lumped on the head of poor, hapless Simon Mignolet. Safe Hands Simon must surely be testing Jurgen Klopp's patience now, even if the new manager has offered both kind words and a new contract since his arrival. Liverpool fans must hope the latter, a piece of paper which ostensibly keeps Mignolet at Anfield until 2021, is less grand gesture than realpolitik, designed to bolster the confidence of the number one while the season is in flight, while maintaining some level of market value. Liverpool fans must hope.

The unwelcome situation surrounding Mamadou Sakho was the other contributing factor against Newcastle, though mainly as a result of the pall his failed drug test cast over a shocked Anfield. Initial reaction was that Sakho will be a big miss for the rest of the season, and indeed he has been impressive recently, particularly in matches against Manchester United and Everton. But he's also been the architect of a fair bit of nonsense against Borussia Dortmund and Southampton, good old Martin Skrtel taking most of the heat for the latter display. Sakho's suspension will be a blow, but this isn't the loss of peak-era Henchoz, never mind Hansen. A patched-up defence of professional players should offer at least some resistance.

Klopp and Liverpool have taken some criticism in the wake of these two-goal debacles, due to their perceived inability (or reluctance) to shut down games when they're seemingly won. Results show there's something in that, but pointing out a problem and fixing it are two very distinct things. It may be a puzzle with a piece or two missing, unsolvable with this personnel. It's worth remembering that this is still a Brendan Rodgers squad, designed for gung-ho attack but ill-equipped for solidity. So it may be wiser to stick with that philosophy for the rest of the season, until Klopp gets chance to address the situation in the summer. If a defence is proven to be unreliable, there's little sense in a gameplan that relies on it. Pour forward, then, in the Rodgers style, and see where it takes you. Risking the shipping of an occasional two-goal lead for the greater statistical good - Liverpool have scored 16 times in the previous five matches, after all - might be a price worth paying. For now, at least.

In that sense, the loss of Sakho shouldn't be so much of a problem. Just as they did in 2014, Liverpool's strikers will have to bear a heavy load, and hope the defence somehow holds out this time. It's worth a punt if silverware's the goal, because few would bet the farm on Liverpool keeping three Europa League clean sheets in a row. And in any case, an ability to keep it tight isn't a guarantee of anything, as Shankly and his men found out to their cost back in 1971.