Liverpool 2-1 Tottenham: Jürgen Klopp's reaction
Jürgen Klopp praised Liverpool for producing a textbook performance to beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Anfield, with the boss declaring: “It was just how football should look.”
The Reds rallied with a rousing response to Harry Kane’s first-minute opener on Sunday, forcing Spurs goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga into a string of fine saves before finally levelling through Jordan Henderson’s 52nd-minute finish at the Kop end.
Klopp’s team duly continued to dominate in search of a winner and got their reward when Mohamed Salah converted a penalty won by Sadio Mane’s persistence 15 minutes from time.
Victory restores Liverpool’s six-point lead at the top of the Premier League and means they have taken 28 points from a possible 30 so far this season.
Read on for a summary of Klopp’s post-match press conference…
On Liverpool’s performance and response to falling behind so early…
I am absolutely pleased, but to be honest I expect it as well. An early goal is obviously not the best thing that can happen, but sometimes it makes one thing clear: game on. That’s exactly what we expected Tottenham to do, being very compact, being very aggressive, chasing us. We lost that ball in midfield, they had a counter-attack and that’s it. It was bit unlucky for us because Ali made first a save and then Harry [Kane] was there. So, I am pleased, but I expect it as well. The game I loved, a super game. It was just how football should look, how you should play against a really strong, good, organised side with the threat constantly in your mind that each ball you lose will possibly end up in front of your own goal.
The counter-press was exceptional, it was kind of back. That was the plan today – we wanted to be really strong, especially in that department, because it was clear we probably might be dominant but that means you lose balls. You cannot finish each situation off and then the counter-press must be there. I loved that, that was really, really good. I told the boys at half-time, the only problem in this game so far is the result – apart from that, it’s good.
We tried to adapt in a couple of situations, they set a few traps for us in their possession, how they wanted to do it, so we wanted to adjust there a little bit. They had the big chance [of Son], but it was only a long kick, not even a pass I think. Dejan misjudged it in one moment, thought he could let it bounce, and then Son is away and Ali made a very special save. I think he didn’t touch the ball but he was so big in that moment and that made life kind of uncomfortable for Son. He still finished it really good but luckily enough for us it was the crossbar.
Then again, we were in charge, we pushed them back, played really good football, created chances in the first and second half, [there were] super saves of the goalie of Tottenham – wow, what a game he had. The first goal we scored, I loved because in other games maybe when the striker goes down and everybody is shouting for a penalty, there are maybe players around who switch off a little bit but Hendo was not bothered by that and finished that situation off. Really important, really nice. The second goal is a sensational counter-press situation of Sadio; having the ball, losing it, losing it twice, coming in front of the opponent and then he kicks your calf, that is a super, super situation. We won it, we deserved it and I am really happy about the performance.
On whether it was Liverpool’s ‘most intense’ display of the season…
It’s possible, of course. Speed and intensity for players like this is a lot about the momentum, if you don’t think too much about it then you can run like they can run, even more than today. In the stats running-wise, we are not up in the table. Intensity runs yes, sprints yes, but not in general because we have the ball quite a lot – we had today nearly 70 per cent possession, I think. You need these intense runs in the moment when you switch sides, then Trent has to speed up, Robbo has to speed up, whoever has the ball has to speed up. That’s important, but it’s not that tiring that you think it is not possible. If you don’t get really in the game then the same run feels double as intense. That was the best sign of the game today: being 1-0 down can exactly change that and now you try to chase the game immediately. We didn’t chase it, we just played it. Very often in football the result is the result of the performance and today it worked out. The performance was really super – really, really good. I liked it a lot. In a difficult game, being 1-0 down against Tottenham with the strength they have in counter-attack is really tough, so the boys deserve a lot of credit for that today.
On whether Salah’s ankle issue that forced him off late on is ‘serious’…
No. It’s the ankle, the ankle he has struggled with since the Leicester game. It’s good, but the longer the game goes the muscles get a bit tired, stuff like this, [and] if you get a knock on it then you feel it more and it makes no sense to try to push it through because we had other players, still options to change, and that’s what we did. No, nothing serious.
On whether he made a tactical tweak at half-time to get Trent Alexander-Arnold into the game more…
That’s what we thought when we saw the line-up that we do it like this, but I think Son was pretty busy with Trent, to be honest. He was constantly on his bike. But yes, it makes of course sense to put somebody there in the shadow of Trent because if you leave him alone, which they never did, then we have pretty good crosses, to be honest. On the other side you have to protect it but yes, it’s true, that’s what they did [push Son high on Alexander-Arnold’s flank]. In the last seven or eight minutes when it got a bit more difficult for us, we wanted to kind of control the game but now, after that high intensity game, it’s not endurance or whatever, it’s just [about trying] to keep kind of a rhythm and not to lose the rhythm. They now chased the game, they used the width, we changed and brought Joe [Gomez on] and [put] Trent a little bit higher but that didn’t really help because we still couldn’t defend the diagonal balls. That can just happen but that’s a big challenge in football, playing a game like this with only being one goal up and the opponent is Tottenham, who changed completely offensively, it can get a bit scrappy but I am completely fine with it. Ali had two proper saves, I think, in that period so I am completely fine with it.
On whether it was Liverpool’s best performance of the season so far…
I don’t know exactly. I loved a lot of games already this season, the Arsenal game was a good one as well, to be honest. But we need to play really, really well and I got already the questions: ‘You’re now on 28 points, blah, blah, blah...’, but you only have to think about what would have happened if we would have lost today and how the questions would have been. We know exactly what we have to do. We have to be focused and concentrated on all the specific games: next one Arsenal, then Aston Villa, then Genk, then Man City, then again international games, and then a very busy December and stuff like this. So [there’s] a lot to come, but so far, so good.