Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp fumes at their performance against Leicester City following a 1-0 defeat to the Foxes in the Premier League.
The German admitted he didn’t like the way they play and they will not catch up with City if they continue to play like this.
Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah missed from the spot kick in the first half of the game before Ademola Lookman came off the bench to score the winner for Leicester.
It was a miserable night for Klopp’s side as they failed to close the six-point gap to Premier League leaders City and their wastefulness was to blame. City play twice before Liverpool’s next Premier League fixture on Sunday, January 2 against Chelsea, which could mean Klopp’s men will be 12 points behind the pacesetters if City stretch their winning run.
“Chelsea and us play against each other so we cannot both get the points,” Klopp said.
“Sorry for that but it was not our plan tonight to give City the chance to run away or whatever.
“But if we play like tonight, we don’t have to think about catching up with City. But if we play our normal football, we can win normal football games.
“We have to see how many points we can get and we will see what that means
“I don’t have a proper explanation for tonight but to find this explanation is my main concern and not, in this moment, the gap to City.
“I know it is easy to say but if we had won the game 2-1 I would not have liked the game anyway. Tonight, I did not like a lot in our football game. That is not cool.
“We have to do better, improve and go again.”
“We were just not really ourselves tonight,” he added.
“I think we started OK. I didn’t like 100 per cent the intensity even at the beginning but sometimes we have starts like this.
“We forced it a little bit too early, we crossed it a bit too early instead of taking the extra pass. We tried to change that at half-time but for some reason it did not click tonight.
“We were pushing but did not use the chances, missed free headers, all these things. In the end, I thought they deserved it.
“It is a nice story that a guy who is complaining about playing on the 26th and 28th only plays on the 28th and loses to a guy who had to play on the 26th and 28th.”
Meanwhile, Sportscliffs reported that Jurgen Klopp back Thomas Tuchel for five substitution in the Premier League.
When asked at a news conference on Monday if he would be in favour of the five substitutions, Klopp replied: “Yes, we have to put competition aside. Yes, [Manchester] City have better subs than Southampton and we have better subs than Burnley and yes that’s probably true.
“The problem is the intensity for a top class footballer in England is definitely at the edge. A top class player in England plays about 38 Premier League games, two cup competitions so maybe 43 [games in total]. International games because pretty much all of them play for their national teams so that could be up to 10 games plus Champions League games and the further you go, the more games it is.
“So, pretty quickly, we’ve reached an area of more than 50 games or higher. If I’m right, the first season I had here, we played the final in the 64th game so there are some key players who only are out when they’re injured. The decision in the managers’ meeting is made by 14 clubs as you need 14 votes to change it and there’s something wrong [with that].
“As an example, Burnley, and I’m not sure how many of their players play international football when our players have three games and they have no game. We’re talking about an issue that some clubs and players definitely have but it’s decided by other teams. Because we make a competition of it, they say no. That’s a real problem. [Five subs] is the right decision especially in this moment because you bring players back after COVID infection or after an injury and then they have to play immediately.
“This wonderful game where usually the player is in good shape, well trained, recover well and go for it. If we don’t do that, it’s much more difficult. The best and the most intense league in the world is the only league in Europe with still three subs and that’s not right.
“We should change it but it’s up to the Premier League to make this decision by themselves but they can’t because you need the votes from other clubs so I don’t see a real chance to change it.”
Source: Skysports
