Klopp On Simon Mignolet Error: A Second Hand Would've Been Nice!

Two-misjudged balls, one needless over-elaboration and a world-class finish was the difference as the clash between Liverpool and Arsenal ended in an up-and-down 3-3 draw. Even with the Reds losing Jordan Henderson early in the first half to a hamstring issue, Jürgen Klopp’s men had nevertheless been dominating the game through goals either side of the half time whistle from the on-fire duo of Philippe Coutinho and Mohamed Salah.

However, a four-and-a-half minute meltdown in the second half saw the hosts not only eradicate the two-goal deficit, but actually take the lead following rapid fire strikes from Alexis Sanchez, Granit Xhaka and Mesut Özil. The fault for the second Gunner goal, lays squarely at the feet of goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who somehow managed to only get one hand up in letting a barely-swerving, long-range strike from Xhaka right down the middle of the goal.

It’s clear we gave them the opportunity, it’s no secret,” Klopp admitted in his post-match interview. “We could’ve defended the cross much better on the first goal.

“Then a shot from distance, yeah, we can all agree Simon could make a save in this moment. He misjudged it. A second hand would have helped but that is how it is.

“Defending is a team thing. Today we made individual mistakes and that is not cool. You don't need to make it bigger than it is. It felt like we shouldn't have conceded but we did.”

The shocking equalizer from the Swiss midfielder was sandwiched between goals from Sanchez, who pounced on a mistimed clearance from Joe Gomez, and an excellent finish from Özil who chipped over Mignolet after a swift one-two with Alexandre Lacazette, capping a whirlwind five minutes of action.

The barrage from the Londoners marred an otherwise dominant performance from the visitors, who had even squandered a chance to extend their lead when Sadio Mané fluffed what would’ve been a fantastic volley when bringing it down appeared the easier choice. Given the promising showing, Klopp chose to focus on the positives as his side have now managed to stretch their unbeaten run to 13 games:

“I thought we were clearly the better side,” the 50-year-old argued. “[Arsenal] couldn’t play how they wanted to play. Before they had their goal, we could’ve had 2, 3, 4. Life’s like that.

"My job is to think about the performance and that was a winning performance. If you want, the draw is our halfway win. We are always a better side when we draw.”