Klopp Talk: “We Are Still In A Battle”

How’re you feeling? Coming down still from that wildness? Intense very well may be an understatement in how to describe the match today against Manchester City, with missed chances and bad calls abounding on the wet Etihad Stadium grounds. While the match ended 1-1, either team could’ve had plenty of other goals if the universe had let them. In the end, though, both teams were lucky to come away with a point.

“It’s very good, of course,” Jürgen Klopp said post-match, regarding the result. “It’s the way you have to play against good sides; it was intense, we defended well. We had some problems but we came back, we took the game, we were the better side and they came back.

“We gave them the opportunity to score and they did it. That’s how it is. It’s not that I’m not satisfied; it’s more that actually, I expect things like this from us. That’s it. I cannot run around after a draw against Man City.

“But, of course it’s a success. It’s good if you get a point here in a game like this. If you can perform like this, that’s positive too. I’m fine.”

The Reds took the lead in the second half, thanks to a penalty taken by James Milner after a tackle on Roberto Firmino, but the home side equalized not long after. There were many chances by either side to take the lead, including a phenomenal opportunity squandered by Lallana - which he apologized for later.

“Obviously he’s one of the best – if not the best – player, technical-wise, I have ever worked with. If he couldn’t [score] in this moment, I thought it was because he worked so hard before,” Klopp said of the English midfielder. “Immediately after the game, Adam said ‘sorry’ to me and I thought ‘why?’ – but now I know why he thought he had to say sorry. But he didn’t have to because his performance was outstanding again.”

The match went further to ensure Liverpool’s position in the coveted top four bracket of the league, but with nine matches left, it’s clear there’s still hurdles to cross.

“We are still in a battle, that’s how it is. It’s a really important sign that we can already do this. We have to improve – in a game like today, we have to improve and in all of the other games, we have to improve,” the manager continued. “I know a lot of reasons why we couldn’t and, as I said, it’s a long-term project and if I wake up every morning and think, ‘Oh my god, we lost the points there and there’ it wouldn’t make it better so I don’t do it.

“I am really focused on the moment. If I think about something then it’s about the future, the rest is done with the analysis. Everybody knows, four points, five points, six points matters. We’ve spoken already about all the games, where we lost them and all that stuff – but is it allowed to think like this? No.

“If you do it, it’s a success and if we don’t do it, we will be disappointed, but we would not stop working and would not stop believing in this project. We are really convinced about the circumstances we have and we want to use it.”