Jürgen Klopp met with the media after the Reds' 2-1 win over Leicester City at Anfield on Friday night. The manager was measured as always in his response to the game. First, he assessed his team's overall performance against the Foxes.
Then the Liverpool manager touched on potential injuries to two Liverpool starters. He wrapped up his remarks by expressing sympathy for the Leicester City defender responsible for the own goals that gave Liverpool the victory.
Klopp was honest in his assessment. While he was happy with the result, he acknowledged that his team needed to be better, “The result is very pleasing obviously but we all saw the game and it was not our best performance, we know that.”
He lamented his team's performance in the first half. Klopp said, “On top of that, we played further on pretty much in Leicester's hands. We lost the balls in the wrong moment when we were too open, so for a long time we never got a foot in this game.”
Finally, he seemed happier with Liverpool's performance in the second half. The boss said, “2-1 half-time, we knew we have to improve and we did. Line was higher, more aggressive in the challenges, more connected.”
The manager also went out of his way to praise Trent Alexander-Arnold's defensive effort in the game. TAA was especially strong in the 2nd half, leaving it all on the field to help the Reds lock down the win. Klopp said about Trent, “Really good, and not the first time. It was good, to be honest. It was really good, very helpful and very important in these moments. Very, very helpful.”
Both Andy Robertson and Harvey Elliott left the game early due to injuries. The good news appears to be that both are minor knocks and they were taken off mostly as a precaution. Klopp divulged that in fact Elliott actually hurt Robertson in warm-ups.
Klopp said, “Funnily enough, Harvey, before the game, injured Robbo a little bit. In our warm-up game, he hit him with a knee at the hip, so it was a dead leg.”
He went on to clarify Elliott's situation a bit as well. He went so far just to call it a knock, “Harvey got a knock, which was quite painful, but when you see the situation because it is clear that's painful, but that's it, I think.”
The Boss didn't seem very concerned about either player's health. So that's good enough for us.
Klopp was all class when he was asked about the decisive own goals from Leicester City's Wout Faes. He offered his sympathy to the Belgian defender. The Boss said, “I really feel for him. Honestly, because it was absolutely unlucky. The first, how can it be more unlucky? And the second one, if you have ever played football, you go full speed in that situation, direction of the goal, you would expect the ball goes in.”
