Jürgen Klopp was in justifiably a good mood when he met with the media this evening after Liverpool's 2-1 win at Tottenham. While the manager was characteristically low-key, you could tell he was relishing the victory. The boss called the win “massive” and was effusive in his praise of Mohamed Salah and Ibrahima Konaté in particular.
First, he addressed his enthusiastic celebration with the travelling Liverpool supporters after the final whistle. The manager said, “Yeah. It was not my plan actually, I didn't want to do it but I got carried away and I thought the people deserved a little bit [after] tough times, they had now to travel a lot in the Premier League until they saw the first three points. So yeah, I got a bit carried away but it was big, absolutely big.”
He then talked about the challenges that presented themselves during the match. He praised his team for showing fight, especially after Tottenham scored in the 70th minute.
Klopp said, “Then Tottenham scores their goal, which was really well played, and we had to keep fighting. We did that and I liked that and people who follow us a little bit longer know in our best spells, if you want to win an away game this is completely the normal way to do it and I am really happy about it tonight.”
The manager was very pleased with what he saw from French defender Ibrahima Konate tonight. It was his first start in the Premier League this season after coming back from a preseason knee injury.
Klopp said of Konate, “Ibou first half already he was outstanding. A top game, absolutely. Of course, we are happy to have him, but we didn't have him a lot, that's how it is. This is now really intense for him, he had now two starts in a row. I hope he is fine and we can go from here.”
The manager then turned his attention to Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian striker's 2 first-half goals were the difference in the match. Klopp was impressed by his overall performance as well.
Klopp said, “Tonight, what pleased me the most, he scored the two goals and then he played like a real, real team player. I am not surprised by it, but it is just important because he gets confronted with these questions as well, 'slow start' and these kind of things, and then it's like you have to score a hat-trick here or whatever. He was all about first defending and then you will get your chances again.”
Klopp finished the press conference by hailing his team's resilience in a hard-fought-for match. He was particularly fond of how the team reacted after Tottenham's goal.
The boss said, “What we have to show is that we are not punched too hard when you concede a goal. I liked that tonight; I didn't want to concede a goal, but I thought the reaction afterwards was good. Of course, the opponent's stadium back and everything, it's really difficult, but everybody was 100 per cent in and threw everything in and that's what I liked the most.”
Have a night, Jürgen! We loved Klopp's spontaneous celebration with the travelling Liverpool fans. It's a long way from Merseyside to London and the boss showed that he and the team felt the support. It was an outstanding gesture by our outstanding manager.
We also agree with the boss in terms of the Reds' level of fight in this match. It was indeed a massive win. This is the kind of win that could turn Liverpool's Premier League season around. It was a massive win against a really good team at just the right time.
