ReactionJürgen Klopp press conference: Why FA Cup win at Arsenal was 'pretty special'
Jürgen Klopp described the manner of Liverpool’s Emirates FA Cup win at Arsenal as ‘pretty special’ after his side progressed to round four.
A testing third-round encounter at Emirates Stadium on Sunday saw the home team enjoy the better chances during a first half in which both sides hit the crossbar.
The Reds began to assert themselves after the interval, however, and edged in front in the 80th minute as Jakub Kiwior sent Trent Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick into his own goal.
The 2-0 victory was capped off deep into stoppage time when Luis Diaz rasped in a finish that ensured Liverpool’s name is in Monday’s draw for the next stage.
Read a summary of Klopp’s verdict on the game at his post-match press conference below…
On the difference in the amount of chances Liverpool conceded in each half…
No, everything was better in the second half. The first half… it’s difficult to prepare for something that Arsenal did tonight, for the full 90 minutes pretty much I would say but especially in the first half, the different set-up with [Kai] Havertz and [Martin] Odegaard more or less a double 10. It was a 4-2-2-2 with wingers wide, a massive threat.
So, we had a few days’ time to prepare for this difficult game, obviously with a slightly different team, and then in the last second Virgil [van Dijk] couldn’t play. That didn’t help. Timing was bad in the first half for pressing, for pretty much everything in the first line. That makes it tricky for the midfield and nearly impossible for the last line. So we had to defend deeper and had to block balls and stuff like this, but that’s then football as well, then you have to show desire, passion, determination and these kinds of things, which the boys showed. And then we changed obviously as well quite a bit and that caused then Arsenal problems. That’s how football is. These little parts, you cannot be always that influential. But as little influence as I had in the first half on what they did, I would say as little as the influence for Mikel [Arteta] in a moment like that.
We used now the information from the first half and tried to do better and did much better, everything was better. Then we created step by step, we were more in the game, we had our chances, we defended them better. A home game is actually an advantage, but when you are better in the first half and don’t score, it’s normal for humans that you get in kind of a rush. So it barely gets better or usually doesn’t get better in the second half, if you don’t score. And we felt more and more comfortable in that game and yeah, scored from a [free-kick] an own goal, which obviously you cannot plan.
We then had chances to score earlier but scored in the last second, which is fine as well and we are really happy. We all know cup competitions are not about being the better team, it’s about winning the game and we had in the second half much more good moments and deserved the next round. But of course we could have lost tonight as well, that’s clear.
On the squad stepping up to secure this win in the absence of unavailable players…
Wataru Endo was not here tonight, Dom Szoboszlai was not here tonight, Andy Robertson was not here tonight, Kostas Tsimikas was not here tonight, Thiago Alcantara was not here tonight, Stefan Bajcetic was not here tonight, Joel Matip was not here tonight. So, that’s a really good football team we missed. And if I forgot somebody, sorry! Football is like that. Sometimes you have them all available, it’s pretty rare, and sometimes you don’t have them available. I’m super-happy.
That’s why I said, first half you could see it didn’t click. It was not because of new players or whatever, it was just the timing was bad and that doesn’t help. Pressing rhythm and timing are extremely important – and we didn’t have either. I said to the boys in the meeting before the game: humans are like that. It’s a tough game, nobody comes to Arsenal and wins just like this [clicks fingers], so in this game there will be difficult moments [and] if we start in these moments – which humans very often do – [looking] for excuses and then we realise who else is not here, it’s normal that we have these problems, then we are screwed.
But if you know these kinds of things you can avoid it – and that’s what we did. The boys enjoyed the game, at least in the second half. That’s really cool. Staying in a game that looked in the first half like that, then growing into a game, is a pretty special thing to do. Especially an away game. So I’m really happy, with both halves then because we can learn from both.
On whether anything ‘can be read’ from the result about the Premier League title race…
No. I can’t. It doesn’t mean nobody can, but I can’t. If we draw now Man City away, for example, next round of the FA Cup, then we play Bournemouth, next FA Cup [game], Chelsea and then Arsenal again here. It’s really tough. I can’t read anything there. I know this league is crazy-difficult but you have to find solutions. I said it plenty of times: there are a thousand ways to win a game, we just have to find one. That unfortunately sounds much easier than it is, but for tonight it worked. So that’s good.
On the victory adding to Liverpool’s belief and confidence…
We don’t have a problem with belief and confidence, we are not really bothered about the things you are talking about because we can read the calendar. We see it’s January; it’s cold outside, stuff like this, and you just have to stay warm and play as good as you can, and that’s what we try.
On the performance of centre-backs Ibrahima Konate and Jarell Quansah...
Top, top. Oh my God, the horrible moment was [when] Ibou was twice down and then Jarell goes down and jarred his back, twisted a little bit. Actually, I thought that’s it and then it would have been really tricky early in the game. It was really good [from Konate and Quansah] and Joey [Gomez] again [was] good and Trent exceptional. Then you have Ali [Alisson Becker] for moments, so that’s helpful as well.
In front of that, Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] was really there and Curtis [Jones] wanted. For Cody [Gakpo] it was a bit more difficult, we put him again in that position, and then the front three I would say the timing was really not great for the pressing situations, that’s why they [Arsenal] could then pass too often. It was difficult, we try to prepare for everything [but] did I prepare for a double 10 and high winger? No, so more my fault than the boys’ fault. We had half-time to see it, to watch it, to learn from it and in the second half the set-up was much better.
On Van Dijk’s absence...
[He is] ill. I’m hopeful [he will return on Wednesday] but I don’t know. He came and it is difficult for Virg to look [rubbish] but he did, so we sent him home again.
On Alexander-Arnold’s performance and leadership...
There’s still a lot of space [to improve] but it’s outstanding already. It’s great. He enjoys it, obviously, and you could see that on the pitch today. One-nil up, he spoke to everybody without me shouting at him and telling him he has to speak and make sure we are now really compact and stuff like this. My God, what a player! Good game.
Age-wise he is there, he can do that and he did it. Like Ibou stepped up tonight, really, in that last line. That’s extremely helpful. We cannot put everything on Ali’s shoulders in moments like that just because Mo [Salah] is not there, Virg is not there and so on. Wataru grew a lot into that role recently. He is not a big speaker but in the game he was there, so missing all that is not cool but we have to do it anyway – and that’s what the boys did.