Klopp Talk: We Need the Right Decisions

A bitterly frustrating day for Liverpool at The Hawthorns away to West Bromwich Albion. While Liverpool managed to get themselves two goals ahead, they were in cruise control for most of the game and never looked at anything like their fluid best. The reds conceded a number of set pieces and there was a sense of inevitability when they eventually allowed in the second goal from one of these situations.

On what was a very frustrating afternoon, it is no surprise that the Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp was somewhat irritable afterwards.

“We controlled it pretty well”, Klopp told Sky Sports, as reported by BBC Sport. “Their only opportunity was with set pieces, the rest we defended really well.

“The whole game was a plot on the goalkeeper, everyone loves it in this country, but it makes life difficult for the goalie. It was a difficult game as the pitch got drier and drier. West Brom decided not to water the pitch at half-time and that makes it difficult. It makes a massive difference.

“A team like West Brom do not need a wet pitch, they can do it next year playing on a dry pitch in the Championship.”

With significant shade being thrown by the German on West Brom’s likely impending relegation, he was also frustrated about the refereeing decisions, with many feeling that Ahmed Hegazi should’ve been shown a red card for his collision with Danny Ings, who later could’ve arguably won a penalty.

“The analyst showed [the incident between Ings and Hegazi] to me, I don’t have to say anything about that, I don’t know why he did it, there is no reason”.

As for the penalty claim, Klopp stated that “People laugh at Ings when he goes down, but I don’t know anyone who doesn’t go down in that situation. We need the the right decisions, everything would be fine and we win 3-0 or 3-1”.

In somewhat more upbeat news, there was a general happiness for Danny Ings managing to score his first goal after such a long spell out injured, though Klopp still managed to see it in a negative light with the mood he was in. “I am very happy, but he should have scored a second”, the manager said. “I do not want to talk about positive thing, give me a night to sleep on it”.

This game shouldn’t matter too much in the grand scheme of things. Liverpool are still heavily favored to finish in the top four, and the real test will be against Roma on Tuesday. Still, it managed to be a difficult day that clearly got under the manager’s skin.