Jurgen Klopp admitted thet had eleven problems on the pitch in the first half of their game against Villarreal.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says they had eleven problems in the first half of the game against Villarreal in the Champions League.
The Reds went 2 goals down in the first half of the game in Spain before Luis Diaz came in to change the game for Liverpool.
Liverpool pulled 3 goals back in the second half of the game to have a 5-2 victory on aggregate against the Unai Emery side.
Speaking to the media about what went wrong in the first half of the game Klopp said: “We had 11 problems, if you want, in the first half. We just had to mix it up, you can do that with explaining, what I did obviously, but you need then fresh input as well. Sadio all of a sudden was involved in the game, that was nothing to do with the position, it must have been a misunderstanding.”
When asked if Luis Dias was the solution to the problems last night Klopp said: “it’s not that Luis was the solution: the solution was that we move more. We were really fixed in the front line. As I said, we had Sadio left, Mo right and Diogo in the centre and if you play against a man-orientated or a man-marking system, you play into their hands because now you give the ball there and they win the challenge.
“I think we couldn’t keep one ball in the front line in the first half because of the wrong movements, but if you cannot only play the balls in the front line you need the options in midfield as well. Obviously Thiago got massive pressure when he dropped, our full-backs – especially Robbo – were too early, too high in moments and we had five players in one line and nobody for the decisive pass.
“So there were so many problems, it’s not that I can explain it now, but you saw them as well – and you saw the second half. The difference was talking about it at half-time – we said at half-time we have to start doing what we wanted to do in the first place and don’t play into their hands because they play man-marking and were really on us.
“In that moment, you maybe remember the first pass through the half-space, Naby Keita could turn, then Sadio, if we had passed the ball there, all of a sudden they had the problems we had in the first half, so we turned and were running four or five players towards their last line.”
Liverpool are not in the Champions League final following their victory over Villarreal and will face the winner between Real Madrid and Manchester City.
