Klopp: You cannot only win the perfect games
Liverpool pleased Jürgen Klopp by showing they can win the games that are not 'perfect' in Saturday's hard-fought 4-2 success at Crystal Palace.
The Premier League clash at Selhurst Park featured as frenetic a first half as you could imagine, with the visitors ahead by the odd goal in five and having struck the woodwork twice too.
A brace of headed equalisers from James McArthur fuelled belief in the home crowd and the Eagles mounted pressure in the opening stages of the second period.
But Klopp’s men weathered the storm and ensured the victory – their 10th of the season in all competitions – thanks to Roberto Firmino’s delicate dinked finish.
“In the stadium, we felt a change in the atmosphere in the moment [Palace scored],” the manager told Liverpoolfc.com after the final whistle.
“Then you know how difficult it will be from that moment. Crystal Palace came back and scored a second, we scored a third and were better in the game again.
“At the beginning of the second half, Crystal Palace tried everything – not really clear but made kind of pressure. We didn’t play football. We tried to shout from outside ‘Please play football again’.
“When we did that, we had our moments and scored a wonderful fourth goal. All good.
“That’s how football should be. You cannot only win the perfect games. You have to win all the other games too. We showed a few things which I’m really happy with and a few things I knew before we had to work on.
“So we don’t have to make too big a thing of the good things we did, and we don’t have to make a big thing of the not-so-good things we did.”
LFCTV GO: Watch Klopp's post-match assessment in full
Klopp made a single change to his line-up from the previous Premier League match, the 2-1 win against West Bromwich Albion at Anfield.
With illness ruling vice-captain James Milner out of the game, Alberto Moreno stepped in at left-back – and earned praise for his performance.
“There was never a doubt about Alberto,” said the boss.
“He is a young player and needs to learn a lot of things. Sometimes he’s a little bit too passionate in defending. But he is still young and can learn things.
“You see he is quick, has a good left foot, a good attitude and runs up and down, up and down. It’s nice for a manager to work with boys like this. We have to work together and we do – all good.”