Kelly makes case for defence

Published Oct. 4, 2011 3:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

Goalkeeper Jose Reina has almost always been in the running for the Premier League Golden Glove for most clean sheets and has won the award three times. However, the 2-0 win in last weekend's Merseyside derby was only the second shut-out of the season - the first also coming against 10 men when the Reds won at Arsenal. Even League One strugglers Exeter managed to breach the defences in the Carling Cup in August but Kelly hopes the team can now move forward with a bit more confidence. "We've been working hard in training as a defensive unit," he said. "We've been trying to get the right balance between attacking and defending so that when we lose the ball we're not too open. "We did that well against Everton. We're all made up with the clean sheet and now we want to keep more of them." Kelly is currently with the England Under-21 squad as they prepare for their Euro 2013 qualifiers in Iceland on Thursday and Norway on Monday.