Press conferenceJürgen Klopp's verdict on Liverpool 0-0 Chelsea
Jürgen Klopp felt Liverpool demonstrated ‘a little step’ forward in terms of their performance levels following the goalless draw with Chelsea at Anfield.
The Reds and the Blues couldn't be separated in the Saturday lunchtime encounter at Anfield.
Kai Havertz saw a third-minute close range effort ruled out for offside by VAR, while Liverpool went close on a number of occasions throughout but were unable to break the deadlock.
Read on for a summary of what the boss had to say post-match below…
On the result and Liverpool's performance...
First and foremost, before the game I got a lot of messages [about my 1,00th game] and not all of them were nice. I think Arsene Wenger lost his 1,000th game 6-0, so I am really happy that didn't happen. I liked the start in the first half, I liked particularly the start in the second half, so that was good [but] we have to extend these spells. We have to play more football, especially in the first half when we won balls back, when we defended really well, when we were really aggressive and then we gave the balls away too easily. We had other moments where we played pretty well, didn’t get it to create a no-brainer or whatever, but it was good.
Match action: LFC 0-0 Chelsea
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For me, it is clear, in this situation you have to be ready for little steps – and this was a little step today, that's how it is. I expect progress and I think from the last league game [at Brighton] it was progress, definitely, and that's important. I saw us in a lot of moments really compact, really being together, good challenges, but of course the opponent is there as well and sometimes you have to defend them with passion. We didn't do that two weeks ago but today we did, so when you have a block in the last second like Robbo had, that is really important. These things are positives and from there we go.
On the gap in the table to the top four...
The distance we only can influence by winning – and we didn't do that today. They cannot all lose now, some of them will win, some of them will draw. There are a lot of games to play, there are still a lot of games to play, and if you count all the points then you see a lot of things are possible. But to get there we have to continue with the things again we did now for the last two games. I saw progress, that’s good and that’s what we have to keep doing.
On how Liverpool can extend their good spells in matches...
That’s in possession. We were compact, we won really good balls, we caused them problems and from there then we have to do better with the ball. That's possible and it was already better than the last league game, that we really keep the balls and play from there. It's like, even Thiago, who is obviously a great footballer, gave balls away, unforced errors and these kind of things. That’s what we have to do better. If we do that, if we defend well and then play in these moments more, use each other more then all of a sudden it looks completely different. That is where we have to get to.
On Stefan Bajcetic and Harvey Elliott providing a positive...
There are not a lot of good things in the situation we are in, but obviously that opens doors and gaps and situations for young players. It is obviously one of the rare positive things, especially Stefan. There was a door, I'm not even sure it was open, but he ran through it and he was exceptional. He does really well in the moment, I think that’s clear. We have to be a bit careful with him of course, he's really young. He had a yellow card and I don’t even know [if] it was his fault, to be 100 per cent honest, but he got a yellow card, so of course he got tired, but [he] was still really good in the game. Each player when he gets tired and is on a yellow card is a risk, and we didn't want to take that. But, no, he is doing really well.
Harvey played already the year before for us, I don't know how long he is already really a fixed part of the squad, so [I] would say it's slightly different even when he is really young. But he had already really a lot of good games and he can play different positions. In our situation that's really important, obviously we like... proper wingers, if you want, of course they are all not available, but Harvey can play there. In a different way, yes, but he can play there. He's more in position if he plays on the right side but there is Mo. So, that goes well – these are positives. They are not the only positives, but of course they are easy to see, and all the others maybe you have to try a bit harder to find them but they are still there.
On how competitive the Premier League is with where both Liverpool and Chelsea are in the table...
There are a lot of good teams – it is the strongest league in the world. I don't think anybody would argue that. But the situation of Chelsea, OK, I have no clue actually about the situation of Chelsea, to be 100 per cent honest. But that we don't do as good as we could has nothing to do with the quality of other teams. It's self-made, not everything [is] our fault, but [it is] still self-made and that's why we are where we are. That's how it is.
We have to go from here, we have to improve and we have to be... for us it's OK, usually a point against Chelsea is not a bad result but I sit here and I feel, I have to say, 'It's OK' because you obviously think, 'How can you not win against them?' They will win a lot of games, I can promise you – today they didn't. So, that's good. But, of course, first and foremost I am concerned about our stuff and we saw good signs, but I know we have to do the good things even better and longer and in an ideal world for the full 95 or 100 minutes and then we are there. We will go in that direction, I am sure.
On the importance of recording a clean sheet...
Massive, massive. So, directly after the game you cannot forget the chances they had, where we defended in the last seconds with a block. But tomorrow I don't remember them anymore, it's just a clean sheet and it feels really good. So, how I said, there are things we have to build on, that's what we will do. So, the next opponent now is not [in the] Premier League, but in the FA Cup and it's Brighton. That's a team we didn't do too well [against] in the last game. So, we said we should try to do better and that’s what we will try. It will be interesting.