Jürgen Klopp met with the media following Liverpool's 1-0 victory over Fulham. The boss said the Reds put together exactly the kind of performance he was looking for while also discussing the decision to have Mohamed Salah take the penalty kick and the consistency of Alisson in goal throughout the year.
Liverpool did not play perfectly as they missed several chances, but Klopp was excited about the club's creativity and ability to control the run of play.
“Really pleased with big parts of the game. First half, controlling, creating, not finishing the situations off,” he said. “They caused us a lot of problems, but we could have scored more often… So, five wins in a row is super-difficult; if it was easy, everybody would do it - we would have done it earlier. It feels like ages, ages, ages ago that we did it - and probably it is. The more I like it, to be honest.”
As good as Mohamed Salah is, The Egyptian King has missed two penalties this season. Klopp admitted that there was some discussion with Salah recently as to whether he still wanted to be the team's top penalty-taker. The answer was yes and it has paid off for the Reds as Salah has converted from the spot in consecutive matches.
“We had a conversation and he wanted to stay the penalty taker. We had a normal conversation about it. I said, 'OK, yeah, you are.' You don't feel great in that moment, that's what he said: I don't feel right in that moment because the pressure obviously increases with the penalties you miss. This today was a super penalty I would say - that's really clear. So, I think with all the goals Mo scored, we cannot just judge it with two missed [and] go away from it.”
Even though Liverpool are playing well right now, they have not been consistent throughout the year. One player who has been consistent is Alisson in goal.
“Absolutely, (he has been our most consistent play),” Klopp said “I've said [that] a couple of times. He was really touched that we got a clean sheet tonight, it's that long ago. He kept a clean sheet for us, especially in that situation, there were a few others, but especially in that situation. So, yeah, he is for sure the most consistent player we have this season. That's actually not bad news, it's good news, because if we are not in a great shape and the level of the goalie drops as well then we would have been completely lost.”
It is obvious that Klopp was happy with the result of the match, and well he should be. The Reds played well, in spite of some missed chances, Salah showed a return to form from the spot after being a bit shaky earlier in the year. Surprisingly, Klopp was not asked about the Champions League, even though the chances of the club qualifying are improving. Maybe no media member wants to bring it up and be the person who jinxes the run Liverpool are on.
