Klopp Talk: I Want to Win Football Games

Liverpool were just about good enough against Brighton and Hove Albion.

It was frequently sloppy, and the side could’ve easily conceded, but several moments of quality from Mohamed Salah in particular proved the difference. The manager was cautiously enthusiastic.

“I saw two very good football teams tonight, both trying to play football”, Jürgen Klopp told BBC Sport. “They had a brave formation and set up but we had a super solution for that. Our high press was outstanding but when we lost the ball in the wrong moment it was really difficult.

“They deserved the goal so we just had to adjust a few things like our protection and position in midfield and it helped. The beginning was outstanding and the end was good again. I couldn’t respect more what Graham [Potter] is doing here - they made it a really tough game.”

Discussing youngster Neco Williams, Klopp was clear that “the yellow card was the only reason [he came off]. He was good but I cannot ask a 19-year-old not to make another challenge anymore on a yellow card. We asked a lot, we put him on the wrong side and asked him for a really hard press. We asked for a lot but he can do that, he was good but yellow card was too much.”

And on the prospect of breaking Manchester City’s points record, the manager added that “ot’s not important for me, I’m not interested in any of this but I want to win football games. For sports people in general it might be important. We are champions and it could be softening but it is not - the boys go with everything.

“We now have 92 points and last season we had 97! We got five points more than this last season - that’s unbelievable, I have no idea how we did that.”