Klopp Talk: We Should Not Lose Confidence

We can probably all agree that the game was an absolutely shambles and that hitting ourselves with a large-ish mallet would have been preferable to sitting through it. But in the grand scheme of things, it was one game. A game with a lot of things to learn from and performances to improve, which the boss was ready to highlight in his post-match press conference.

“Both teams were not really compact,” Klopp said. “I was also not happy about this. Yes, we were not compact enough, all three up front were not really involved, we didn’t jump in the midfield [and] go on Fernandinho.”

“Against City, you can always come a step too late and then they pass through the lines so that’s how it is. We had our chances but we were at a maximum of 60 per cent.”

The fact that the team wasn’t playing to their full capacity and that everyone seemed to completely give up playing football before the final whistle was blown is something that needs to be addressed immediately, and presumably is on the top of Klopp’s to-do list (right after some light to moderate screaming). The boss doesn’t want the magnitude of this defeat blown out of proportion, however.

“I think if City takes too much confidence from this game today, they make a mistake. If we lose too much confidence because of this game, we also make a mistake,” he added. “After the international break, one man down, young players on the pitch in different positions, it was hard for the boys I know.”

It’s one game. There’s another coming up in 4 days. There’s plenty of time for Liverpool to regain the focus they need and show us just how much of an aberration this game was.