ReactionJürgen Klopp on AC Milan win, Dubai trip, youngsters and season restart
Jürgen Klopp believes Liverpool's performance in Friday's 4-1 victory over AC Milan in a friendly was the result of all the squad's work during their intense Dubai training camp.
Extended highlights: Liverpool 4-1 AC Milan
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The Reds' stay in the United Arab Emirates ended with a comprehensive win against the Serie A outfit in the Dubai Super Cup.
Mohamed Salah, Thiago Alcantara and substitute Darwin Nunez (two) were on the scoresheet in the team's final warm-up game before the season's restart next week.
Read on for Liverpoolfc.com's post-match interview with Klopp in full...
On what pleased him most about the game...
That's difficult! A lot of things. It was a really good game. There was one situation which I didn't like – that was when we conceded the goal because it was directly after a drinks break. With the system they played, we avoided pretty much or denied all the switches. In that moment, we didn't deny the switch and then it was difficult and they could score. Then extra-time in the first half – three, four minutes – it was like we were waiting for the whistle but it was five minutes and they had too much possession there. Apart from that, we were super-dominant. We played a really good game. I liked how our midfield was connected, I liked our build-up because they surprised us a little bit with the system – I'm not sure they played it very often but because of their problems what they have with injuries, they changed. So building up with three, we needed to adapt a little bit. When we did that, pressing was really good as well.
And, of course, when you bring on the kids [in the] second half and you see the pass from Bobby Clark and the whole performance from Stefan, the performance from Mel as a right full-back and then Ben Doak comes on, 17 years old, and is this kind of natural force, it's really cool to see. In these 10, 11 days, the kids especially, everybody made a real step forward. That's why these things are so important, that we can involve them. And in general, tonight was the result of the last 10 days what we saw in training and tonight we could bring it on the pitch, which is obviously nice.
On the performances of young players...
It's absolutely cool. I'm not sure the Academy could watch the game tonight but when you see these boys and performing in a game like this, it's cool. It's a real physical game, adult football is a physical game and the boys need to make these steps [so] they can get ready for it step by step. How I said, the physical part will come but until you are that strong, you can create a lot of ideas, you can do things a bit smarter. And when you see what Bobby did with the pass for Darwin... and then Darwin scores twice, so really nice obviously. Oxlade, really good. Fabio when he came on, really good. A lot of really good things tonight and that's why we play football. We want to see good football games. And in the first game obviously the result was not cool but the first half was absolutely OK, and that's what you should not forget and that's why we could build on that. So for tonight, all good.
On whether any of the World Cup players may return in time for the restart next week...
Yeah, there's a chance, of course – they train already. Hendo is already training here. Virg is training here but I don't think we will try that. Hendo we will see, Trent we will see. But this group worked now together for nearly two weeks and we made a real step and that's cool. I don't know in this moment. I hope we all get through it and we all know in England, and in Europe in general, there's kind of a virus going around, so we hope we can stay out of that. Then we will make the decision obviously on Wednesday who can play on Thursday. But it's good and will be a very interesting game after that period but I'm looking forward to it.
