What Klopp said
Jürgen Klopp rued Liverpool’s failure to take the chances they fashioned against Manchester City following Thursday’s 4-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
After Mohamed Salah had hit the post, a penalty from Kevin De Bruyne and goals by Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden took the hosts into a commanding half-time lead.
Sterling then added a fourth following a swift counter-attack midway through the second period as the Reds fell to a loss in their first game as Premier League champions.
Read on for a summary of Klopp’s post-match press conference…
On how much the defeat hurts after winning the title last week…
It has nothing to do with last week, to be honest. It hurts like defeats hurt. What I wanted to see tonight was a team who is ready to fight against Man City, who obviously had, I’m not sure if it’s the right saying, a point to prove or whatever. They had easy motivation for Pep, let me say it like this and then the decisive moments, City used and we didn’t and that doesn’t help. So we had probably more chances than we had in games which we won, but we didn’t use them, or none of them, so City were there. Usually we don’t give them that many counter-attacks – with two goals they had a throw-in which is a strength of us usually, but tonight it wasn’t and that’s how it was then and they have this result.
On the mood in the dressing room post-match and whether there will be a reaction against Aston Villa on Sunday…
The attitude was good, the game was not bad – we lost 4-0, but what kind of reaction do we show? Do we show that we use the chances or whatever? That’s what we want to do of course but it has nothing to do with the game tonight. In a game against City there are decisive moments and these decisive moments we have to use, and we didn’t and they did. If you see the goals, two or three of them were counter-attacks; they are good in counter-attacks obviously, but it’s not something which usually happens against us. It means we lost the ball in the wrong moment, where protection was not as it should have been and they have exceptional quality. That’s not new to me as well. I don’t know if we have to show a reaction, we have to show what we need against Aston Villa. Again, this game will be different to the game tonight.
On whether this is a reminder of how tough next season will be…
No, it’s a reminder of how good Man City is. I didn’t need that, that’s true, because I knew it before. Still the surprise is, and it’s nice that, in a league where City is playing it’s still possible that somebody else can be champion because that’s not really likely with the quality they have. So it’s not a reminder. We will see how next season [goes], it’s a while until then. We still have to play six games until the end of the season. I saw tonight a team which is ready for it, my team, that’s absolutely OK. But of course if you lose 4-0 you don’t have too many points on your side in arguments, so that’s what we take now. We now have two-and-a-half days or whatever to prepare for Aston Villa and that’s what we try. The next season we think about in the next season.
On the 20-point gap between the teams in the table…
If anybody thought before this game that the quality gap between Liverpool and Manchester City is 20 or 23 points, I cannot help these people. Football is not about that; football is about winning games and we did that in a pretty impressive manner. I saw, I think, pretty much all of City’s games and even the games they lost were good, unbelievable. It is the truth, it is not that they didn’t perform or whatever. They had then the moments when the opponent scored – and that was tonight the case. We had our situations and you know – if you’ve watched us before – we score in situations like this more often than not. Tonight we didn’t, not at all. So, then we conceded a penalty. I was really happy with the start of the game, to be honest. We were there, we were completely in the game, we pressed them. It was not comfortable for them, it was a good game – both teams pressed high, both teams tried to play football. When do you see that? That was all good but then in the very decisive moments, City was better tonight. How I said, if anybody thought that we are 20 points better than City then I cannot help them, I’m sorry.
On whether ‘results matter’ in the final games having won the title…
Results matter a lot, but I look not only for a result. That’s true. How always, we want to win football games. That’s the only reason we work on the training ground, the only reason why we go to away games and we have home games – to win football games. Yes, they matter, but I cannot change them after the game. If somebody saw tonight my team and wanted to say, ‘OK, for them the result did not matter’ then I cannot help that person as well because I saw that. We were in the game, we were fighting, we were running, we did everything we could tonight. Was it perfect from us? No. But that happens from time to time. The only problem is if we are not perfect and you meet Man City, then you lose. Then the result can be really, not so nice, how it is. That’s all. It was a challenge to come here, it would be a challenge each situation we would have been in – not winning the league, winning the league, a relegation battle or whatever. It is a tough place to come but we showed we can cause City problems. Just tonight, we didn’t use these moments or these problems for City, but they used theirs and that’s a big explanation for the result.
On whether beating the 100-point mark is a target…
Look, it is, but we cannot force that. To go there, we have to win football games – and we didn’t do that tonight. So in the first place, we should now make sure we are ready for Aston Villa. The points tally at the end of the season is the result of the results we collect until then. I said it to your colleagues, you know these kind of [goalscoring] moments we very often use but tonight not. Then they have a penalty for the first one, we lose a ball for the second one. Our problems were set-pieces a little bit tonight. The penalty, or the set-piece at least and how it came to that, and two throw-ins, I think it was two throw-ins. That is how City scored; with all the quality they have, they scored in these situations – and had a counter-attack. That is how football can be and if you are not perfect, this is not a good place to be. Then you will be punished and that’s what happened.
On the substitution of Joe Gomez at half-time…
[Because of the] yellow card. I thought because Joe got a yellow card and in the moment we don’t know in the moment exactly when Dejan will be back. I hope [it is soon] of course, but we don’t have a big number of centre-halves, so I thought I didn’t want to see him getting a second yellow. That’s why we did it.
Credit ( Text minus headline) : LFC
