Jürgen Klopp met with the media following Liverpool's big 2-0 win over Newcastle. He discussed his club's overall performance, what it means for the season outlook, and the importance of consecutive clean sheets.
There is plenty to be impressed with after Liverpool's victory, but as always, there were moments when the Reds struggled. Klopp addressed both aspects following the match including Newcastle's threat from set pieces.
“It was a bit wild (to start the match) and stuff like this,” he said. “But in the moment we controlled it we scored incredible goals. Top goals and then the quick restart for a possible third goal… Because of the amount of set-pieces we gave away, that was always a threat and there is no advantage when it's 11v10 when there is a ball on the corner flag or wherever. There is no advantage, so there were too many but we had our moments.”
After a long stretch of bad play, Liverpool put together a good showing vs Everton and now have followed that up with a coveted road win at Newcastle. This does not mean that Liverpool is guaranteed to make a push up the table, they are currently 8th, but the signs are pointing in that direction. Klopp cautions about reading too much into the result though.
“Massive. Massive, massive, massive,(win)”, Klopp said. “I don't think we are in a position now where we can have a big mouth and say, 'We are here and go again.' It is obvious we are in a better place than we were a couple of weeks ago but there's still space for improvement and we have to show consistency.”
Liverpool posted a clean sheet on the road in Premier League play at St James' Park in April of 2022. Alisson made 4 saves in the match to keep the shutout, but it also speaks to how the defence has taken a step forward after struggling at times this year.
“I didn't know it but I heard now the last clean sheet away from home was in April here – I can't believe that,” Klopp said. “We have February, wow. Yeah, it's massive, but that explains a little bit the issues we had in the game then that we couldn't control it better, so just because it's so long ago that we were in a situation obviously like that. It's unfortunate football is not like cycling that you know it once you will do it always exactly on the same level. No, it is different. So the only way we can do it and get back on this track is by winning, and we did that now twice in a row and that feels absolutely incredible. Good.”
I think Klopp stuck the right chord in this press conference. He acknowledged that this was a big win for the club while cautioning that there was plenty of work to do and highlighting those areas.
He also separated the importance of EPL games from the Champions League which is hard for fans to do, I know Klopp wants to play well against Real Madrid, particularly at Anfield, but that performance has no effect on the Reds' next Premier League game.
