Klopp Talk: Important Win Is a “Huge Relief”

Coming off a demoralizing loss in the previous week to Tottenham, Jürgen Klopp was delighted at his team’s response against the bottom table side his Reds have infamously struggled against.

Even with the sense of urgency Liverpool will have brought to the fixture, Huddersfield manager and close friend of Klopp still managed to stifle the Reds in the first half, before Daniel Sturridge scored his 100^th club goal in the second period, followed by strikes Roberto Firmino and Georginio Wijnaldum to seal the win.

Speaking post-match, Klopp was clearly relieved at his side’s response to the challenge and particularly pf his defense’s ability to step up with a clean sheet.

"Tottenham was the worst game we've played in this season so far and that you cannot ignore it, but you have to work with it and that's what we did. It can happen, especially with the style Huddersfield played today -- a rather defensive style and we were a little bit stiff.

"It was not fluent, we had too many players behind the ball, it was clear we wanted to give them no opportunity for counter-attack and stuff like this, but you don't need seven players behind the ball to protect the counter-attack.

"That's how it looked a little bit in the first half, so it was not too difficult to fix at half-time.

"You could see immediately in the second half really, we had more players between the decisive lines and so it was more difficult for Huddersfield to defend.

"We had more chances, but it's a big relief, to be honest, because the pressure was there. There is no doubt about that.

"It helped a lot today -- three goals, three points, clean sheet, very, very important."

The German made a show of faith in his squad by including Dejan Lovren and Simon Mignolet in his team sheet, both of whom together were the two most-criticized players from the 4-1 loss to the Londoners. Lovren was ultimately replaced by Ragnar Klavan after picking up an injury in the pre-game warm up, but the manager still stood by his decision to start the under-fire center half:

“I thought it made sense” Klopp said of the trust shown in naming the same defense. “I will not change after one very bad performance, I’m not that confused.”

Liverpool will have the opportunity to put together back-to-back wins for the first time since August when they welcome Maribor to Anfield in the reverse fixture of their 7-0 Champions League victory over the Serbian minnows nearly a fortnight ago.