In one of his shortest press conferences of the season, Jürgen Klopp met with the media to discuss Liverpool's disappointing 4-1 loss to Manchester City. It took the boss just under 7 minutes to discuss Mohamed Salah's “Wonderful” goal, the club's tough start to the second half and his selection plans for the upcoming match at Chelsea on April 4th.
For the most part, Klopp was pleased with how his team played in the first half.
“The first half was OK, not just because of the result but because of the performance as well,” he said “ City had more possession and these kind of things, but that always happens when we play here. We scored a wonderful goal, and could have scored a second one in a really good counter-attack. Then, I would say the situation was rather unlucky when Kevin De Bruyne gets a touch on the ball and rolls through Robbo's (Andy Robertson) legs. From there, of course, City was doing really well. So, 1-1, that's OK.”
Liverpool looked like a completely different team coming out of the locker room and not in a good way, A defensive lapse led to a Manchester City goal in the 46th minute and it was all downhill from there.
“I have no clue why we didn't have the challenge there when the ball was open,” Klopp said of the play. “No foul, nothing, just no challenge. Really difficult to understand. When you let them on the ball and they can cut inside and pass the ball and use their speed and the formation and all of that, then it is not about mental stuff in that moment – you just try to sort the things you can sort. It was not possible there. No, I don't think it is really to explain, but we all saw what we saw.”
Now Liverpool have to pick themselves up quickly as they have to travel to Chelsea just about 72 hours after the final whistle. Klopp made 4 substitutions in the 70th minute in an effort to prevent heavy legs in the upcoming fixture.
“We will do that (choose a Starting XI) tomorrow (Sunday),” he said. “It is not a lot of time, but it is time – we don't play tomorrow, we play Tuesday. We should play better, especially more consistently. Being good while you're feeling good is OK, but not being good when you don't feel 100 per cent is obviously not possible in the Premier League.”
Even after a loss, Jürgen Klopp usually spends a good deal of time speaking with the media. Not today. It was obvious he wants to move past this match as quickly as possible to get ready for Chelsea. Klopp says the club will play better in that match. For the sake of Reds' supporters everywhere, I hope he is right.
