Jurgen Klopp urges Liverpool to keep fighting after Leeds ‘setback’ this season. He called his players so stick together and move forward.
On Saturday, the Reds suffered their first Premier League defeat in front of an Anfield audience in nearly five years, falling 2-1 to Leeds United, with an 89th-minute strike from Crysencio Summerville ending Virgil van Dijk’s home league record at 70 games.
After 12 games, Liverpool is ninth in the leaderboard, closer to the bottom three than the top four, and Klopp admitted his team is not at its prime today now.
“It was a setback, without a doubt,” he told Sky Sports. “I believed we had a really good start before conceding a bizarre goal.”
“We got the equalizer, but it didn’t restore our confidence; we battled to keep the ball and gave quite so many games away.
“We had good possession and chances, but if it’s 1-1 and you defend the scenario around in the second goal like this, you leave anything open.
“In the end, it was two vs one in the box, and they can polish it off; the trouble is that we can’t handle this type of contest right now.”
When asked how he plans to address his team’s present problems, Klopp focused on his team’s injury woes, claiming that a lot of his top players just haven’t had the time to go back to their peak condition due to a demanding schedule and a tiny squad.
“Perhaps certain guys have been overrated, but Harvey [Elliott] has been terrific for us this campaign,” Klopp said. “He got off to a good start but couldn’t maintain it.” Thiago has been ill, and the same [guys] play up front all the time – those are the three forwards we still have. We would combat, and that is exactly what we have to do.
“Every teamwork is composed of individual accomplishments.” One thing leads to another. You can see this game in its entirety; you cannot protect as well as we did for the second goal, but we did, and that is why we failed. Instead, there would have been a landmark and we would have continued from there.
We now have everything, and it seems really weird.” We must apply our ability on the field and battle against something. We had injury issues from the beginning. Players have been required to play since the first day. It’s our predicament, which means we have to help ourselves, and that’s exactly what we’ll do.”
Jurgen Klopp warns Liverpool about ’emotional’ Jesse Marsch & Leeds threat
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has warned his side not to underestimate a struggling Leeds ahead of the two sides meeting in the Premier League this weekend, claiming opposite number Jesse Marsch will have his side fired up for the encounter.
After a promising beginning to the season, the Whites have now lost seven of their past eight meetings and have dropped into the bottom three following last week’s devastating defeat to Fulham.
Although Marsch has confessed that the clock is running out for him to save his job, Klopp thinks that Leeds will not be a walkover for his team’s faltering team.
“When we think about how we can better our condition, it sounds like we just need to play better and then – ah, there’s still an enemy,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp spoke to Sky Sports.
“And Leeds’s actually trying for it; they’re incredibly energetic and combative. I believe Jesse was a lot of high press in Salzburg and Leipzig. Now there’s a lot of midfield press, making spaces incredibly tiny, going for counter-attacks, and a lot of really good, skilled players.” ” [Patrick] Bamford returns, followed by [Jack] Harrison and [Brenden] Aaronson, pace and hunger, and finally genuine engines. I’m not sure if [Tyler] Adams can play, but if he can, he’ll be another strong worker in midfield. So this team has plenty to admire about it. And they haven’t had a real outcome in the last six or seven games.
“So they will be present. And I heard Jesse Marsch say he’s tired of losing, and he was already crying on the sidelines. He’s certainly having a good time in the locker room. As a result, he will open fire on them.”
Klopp’s side, like Leeds, has yet to establish any real pattern in the league this season. Liverpool is now seventh in the Premier League rankings, having won only four of their first eleven games.
A win over Leeds on Saturday should help the Reds kick off their season and maybe rekindle their drive for European next season’s football.