Jürgen Klopp on Palace win, being 'on fire' and 37-goal Salah
Jürgen Klopp was left satisfied by Liverpool's display of resolve after his side fought back to defeat Crystal Palace 2-1 on Saturday.
The Reds fell behind early on at Selhurst Park when Luka Milivojevic netted a penalty, but then performed with an impressive blend of patience, maturity and quality to turn the game on its head.
Sadio Mane equalised shortly after half-time and Mohamed Salah snatched all three points with his 37th goal of the season six minutes from the end.
As well as providing an update on the injury Adam Lallana sustained soon after coming off the bench, Klopp discussed his team’s overall display, the mood in the camp ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg and his top scorer Salah post-match.
Read on for a summary of the boss’ press conference…
On his reaction to the result and Liverpool’s performance…
[It was] hard work, very intense, very difficult and in the end a deserved three points. The start in the game was not perfect for us, of course. The first chance was for Crystal Palace with the fantastic save from Loris Karius [after a] long ball. The next long ball was kind of a 50/50 situation, I didn’t see it back, but I think it was dangerous play from both [Karius and Zaha] kind of, and then Loris touched him, 100 per cent. Penalty for Crystal Palace, which makes the game not easy and the job not easier. Then you have to still play football and we did that first half but not often enough and not good enough in a few moments, otherwise I think when we did it good we were in front of Hennessey.
In the second half we knew that we had to carry on and down our nerves first of all because it was quite emotional - a penalty on one side, no penalty on the other side, a yellow card and stuff like that. We did that but then we lost a little bit of the power at the end of the game because in the last two weeks, [there have been] completely different intensity levels for the players with friendly games. Some trained really hard, some didn’t train a lot, and coming together in one day and bringing them all on one level is always a big challenge. Today you could see that. Both teams were not at their best, so it was a question who will in the end shoot one more goal. It was us, so I am really pleased with that.
On Liverpool’s mood ahead of the Manchester City game on Wednesday…
In the moment, nobody should be worried about our mood. The boys are really on fire, I like that, but I know as a football professional you always have to deliver, deliver and deliver. We really took back [players] from completely different countries and time zones, then you have two days - or one-and-a-half - to be prepared. Then you saw physically we were not at our best today and you need all what you have to beat Crystal Palace. You have to fight, we fought and I am really happy about it. We didn’t play the best football we can play, no problem with that but it helps, especially in the Premier League. It will still be very difficult against Manchester City. I don’t think it gives us a big advantage against them, but no problem with that. We will be excited about the opportunity to play City in a quarter-final early enough, but in the moment we are still enjoying this result.
Watch: Highlights of the comeback at Crystal Palace
On Salah’s performance and 37th goal of the season…
That’s true, that makes him a proper striker. If you only score on a perfect day then you cannot score 37 goals, that’s clear. [He is] outstanding. Just having him on the pitch on a situation like that is good. Hopefully it stays like this, that’s the most important thing. Both goals we scored today were fantastic goals; both were team goals, both were outstandingly good play. We had more of these situations, coming into the box to the touchline, crossing the ball flat and hard. We could have had more players in the position, but you saw even though the boys can play better, they are still dangerous. Roberto Firmino fought today a lot, with himself as well and the circumstances, but then he had his moments - very important moments for us. I am completely fine with that. The three points are the most important thing.