Jürgen Klopp Had No Problem With Southampton's Defensive Tactics In Draw

Liverpool were thwarted on Saturday by a tough defensive effort from Southampton in a 0-0 draw. But while similar tactical displays have annoyed manager Jürgen Klopp, he said he had no issue with the cautious way the Saints approached the contest.

In fact, he felt that Southampton played in a logical manner against the Reds' high-powered attack.

"If we play this football then it would be crazy to give us space, so why would they do that?" Klopp asked (via the Guardian). "That is what we have to work on, it is our job and we have the players for it. It is never easy, you cannot only play counterattack, you cannot only play high-press, you have to prepare for everything."

Klopp continued to place the blame of the stalemate on his own side rather than on Southampton's playing style. But he emphasized that his players are becoming better at handling such suffocating defenses.

"There is nothing to moan about, you can't ask them: ‘Come on, give us a little more space or something?'" Klopp said. "Before the season we had to work on this, and that is what I meant when I say we are happy with the performance against Southampton, because again we did well. It isn't a game where you have 20 chances, we had four or five. That is more than enough, especially how big those chances were."

The manager added that the draw with Manchester United earlier in the campaign was different than the Southampton one because "we weren't good" against José Mourinho's team.

"It isn't a problem," Klopp finished. "A lot of teams play against us like this, we move on. We cannot change what other teams do."