Wolves 0-2 Liverpool: Jürgen Klopp's reaction
Jürgen Klopp was impressed with the maturity Liverpool showed in securing a 2-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers to remain at the summit of the Premier League.
Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk scored in each half to secure Friday’s win at Molineux, which extends the Reds’ unbeaten start to the top-flight season to 18 games and ensures they will be top of the table at Christmas.
A classy finish from Salah – his 14th goal of the season – put Liverpool in front in the 18th minute, before the forward provided the assist for Van Dijk’s volley that secured all three points midway through the second period.
Read on for Klopp’s thoughts from his post-match press conference, and click here for an update on Naby Keita’s fitness after the midfielder went off injured in the second half…
On how many points he thinks it’ll take for a team to win the league title this season…
I don’t know how many [points] a team will need this season. Everybody asks me about the situation, first in the table and all that stuff and that the last four times a team was first in the table at Christmas they won the league, but was it ever such a tight race? I think all the other teams play tomorrow and then I think three or four teams will have more than 40 points at Christmas, which is really exceptional. If you want to do the headline ‘Klopp says you need 105 points [to win the league]’ then do it. I don’t think about it. I didn’t think before about it and I don’t think now about it; I only just try to answer in a polite way.
On his side’s performance…
[It was] very mature, I think. It was such a difficult game to play. Especially with the rain tonight – heavy rain, wow – it made it a bit more complicated. The best thing to do to stay in charge of the game is to keep the ball. We did that for the first half an hour and the second half, but the last 15 minutes of the first half was like we had a little break – and then immediately, they fired the ball from half-right to far left and then you have to run like crazy. It’s just not a good decision not to stay in charge of the game. But second half, we could do that again.
Watch: Extended highlights of win over Wolves
Both goals obviously were nothing to do with the things in the game, just that we were really quick in mind around two set-pieces, which was brilliant. We thought before the game that set-pieces could be very decisive today because when we made the analysis, it was not that we saw we would have six, seven, eight chances in the game, so set-pieces are a nice add-on. The boys were really focused on that tonight, so it was a good game, a deserved win at a difficult place. All good.
On playing Fabinho and Jordan Henderson together from the start…
Gini was now just ready for a rest, that’s how it is. Hendo and Fabinho, of course they can play together – and today it was a very, very physical game, so we needed proper bodies. It was hard for everybody – you saw it, wow. I am not 100 per cent sure about the grass, I think it is a little bit different to Anfield, I am not sure, but it felt a bit deeper. Maybe because of the amount of water, so then that makes life not more comfortable for all of them. It was really hard work tonight and I am completely happy how they did it.
We could have controlled the game a bit more, but especially in the second half Mo was still desperate to score and made a few sprints, so we had still a few chances, the biggest one in the last second. I am completely happy with the performance, really. It is just such a difficult game, it’s not how you want to play football all the time, but you want to have the attitude all the time. It was just brilliant.
On defending against Wolves’ attack…
That’s a challenge, that’s a proper challenge. It’s just difficult. They changed a little bit with two proper strikers. We had the ball, we passed around, Adama [Traore] and Jimenez are really involved in defending, but in the moment we overplay then they are really in smart spaces. They hide in smart spaces and if you lose one ball, wow, then you have really to use your motorbike in the best way, especially when Adama is playing. The boys did really well. It was clear we would need to be physical; they were physical in a very good way I have to say, with no real ugly challenges tonight. It could have happened with the rain tonight, you cannot judge it properly, but both teams really tried to play football and to defend clean. It was just good.
On Van Dijk’s performance…
I have no problem talking about individual performances, we do this constantly – but to the players, to the specific players. He is in a good moment, he is very important for us and hopefully he can stay like this. The work-rate in general is just outstanding. I love the boy, but the two in front of him [Fabinho and Henderson], what they have to cover, they have to run much more to make life halfway comfortable for the centre-halves, so they did well. Dejan as well, playing after he had not a perfect pre-season and all that stuff, but now having game after game and that’s all good. Without that, we don’t have a chance. We won, deserved, and Virg played a proper part in that.