Jürgen Klopp met with the media following Liverpool's 1-1 draw at Luton Town. The boss spoke about how he felt the outcome was a deserved result for both sides, Luis Diaz's stoppage-time equalizer and the play of Darwin Núñez.
You can always count on Klopp to give an honest assessment of a match. Liverpool dominated the match statistically, but Luton deserved their goal and he credits them for it.
“I think we should have won, but I think the draw is the deserved result – and we could have lost, so that's how it is,” Klopp said “Credit to Luton, they did really well but even with all what they did, we created chances and didn't finish them off with the last conviction, to be 100 per cent honest. We were not calm enough in these moments. We should have scored and we should have created, but first and foremost it was alright – we created probably enough, just put one or two to bed and it's fine and you win 1-0 or 2-0. Absolutely fine, nobody won here with a crazy result and I knew before why, but now I felt it: they do really well.”
Liverpool would have dropped all three points instead of just two had Luis Daiz sent home an equalizer in the 95th minute. For Klopp and the rest of the club, the strike meant more than just salvaging a point, though.
“It's wonderful, it's emotional and it's fantastic. But the real problem (Family Issues) is not sorted,” Klopp said. “We wanted to give – and he wanted as well – Lucho the opportunity to be a little bit distracted from the other things. He cannot do nothing, he is waiting all the time, the whole family is waiting all the time. And so he trained now a few times with us and he was then in a good mood, and that's good for him. The game was obviously a game where another offensive player would make sense. If you bring him with the quality he has and 15, 20 minutes, I don't know exactly how long he played, and he scores the goal, so it's wonderful.”
The question was asked after Liverpool struggled offensively if Núñez should remain in the Starting Lineup. Klopp delivered an emphatic answer to that question.
“Our five offensive players are all in the team, they are all in the team. We just have that many games that they cannot play all the games, so that's how it is,” Klopp said. “The whole team was not in a goalscoring mood today obviously and that's then not helpful. But Darwin, what makes him really different is that he's involved in pretty much everything, so that's good. We are calm.”
It is clear that Klopp always puts the focus on his players. This press conference is just another example of that. He heaped praise on Luis Diaz and also showed support for Núñez when he did not have his best game. The result was a disappointment for Klopp, but he also understands that Luton played well enough to get a point.
