Klopp Talk: “We’re Not the Harlem Globetrotters”

This weekend saw Liverpool return to their winning ways, albeit without much excitement. The Reds were undoubtedly in control of their game against Brighton, but with the only goal coming from a Salah penalty early in the second half, it’s easy to see why most fans spent the game slightly concerned and mostly bored. When asked about the quality of the play after the final whistle blew, Klopp was his usual practical self:

“I faced these questions at the beginning of the season pretty often. We had results and people obviously thought the difference between the City game last year in the Champions League, or the Roma home game, was too big. That’s absolutely OK, but we are not the Harlem Globetrotters, we have to deliver results. For that, we need to perform.”

“It was not the best performance of the season in a few departments, but I would say it was the most mature performance of the season. It’s so important. On good days, everybody can win football games. On an average day, not a lot of teams can win football games. On a bad day, only a few can win football games. Today was not a bad day but it was a difficult day for us. It was a difficult game because Brighton are doing really well.”

“We played a lot of times against a 4-5-1 system, but how they do it is different and it’s really difficult. It was clear before the game it would be difficult, so I’m really happy that the boys took the game like it is and were not waiting for it to click in the game somehow, and if it’s not clicking you get annoyed or frustrated and the performance drops. We had a constant level in a very difficult game and I’m fine with that.”

A controlled, professional performance is how Mark described it in the recap, and it’s clear that Klopp agrees. After the fireworks we saw in December when Liverpool were unstoppable, it’s heartening to see the same team perform well and get the results we need as we prepare for the title race.