Jurgen Klopp reflected on what he thought would be another enjoyable win for Liverpool following their 3-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
Thanks to goals from Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah, the Reds secured three victories in one week at Anfield in all competitions.
After victories over Everton and Toulouse in the Premier League and Europa League respectively, Liverpool returned to the domestic league and beat Forest in the fourth division.
Klopp’s side continued their winning streak on Merseyside and secured a full points return in the top flight at home this season.
Read on for a recap of what the coach had to say during his post-match press briefing.
It was about the victory, his support for Luis Diaz’s current family situation in Colombia and more… REACTIONDiogo Jota on the 50th goal of the PL, victory message for Diaz and Forest
Yes, I told the boys after the match that the best thing that can be said after a match like this is that we played very well and there is a lot of room for improvement.
But this is also clear: the goals were fantastic, the patience we showed, the fluidity of so many moments on the ball, so many moments, the creativity, the solidarity in the way we related was really good, the goals we scored, I’m not sure, 70, or something like that, percentage of ball possession, I didn’t look at it, but the first goal was a counterattack.
Very good, even the third goal was a counterattack, the second goal was still a beautiful team effort. So yes, great, absolutely great match and the question will come anyway, so I can give the answer straight away, the preparation was the hardest I’ve ever had in my life.
I didn’t expect it, I wasn’t prepared, I don’t want to make the game bigger than it was, but it certainly was.
We tried to help Lucho in the fight we had because obviously we want to help. We can’t really help him, so all we can do is fight for him and that’s what the guys did.
We heard about it late last night. Then we talked to Lucho; [he] wanted to go home, [we] sent people with him, there are people who take care of him, there is also part of the family there, so that’s why they want to be together.
Absolutely understandable. Then we got the news from [his] mom, which is great, and from then on nothing. They are clearly working on it.
At a certain distance we are obviously not the first to be informed, but we try to be informed as much as possible, but we do not want to disturb in any way. [We] are not the important people there.
We just want to support. That’s all. Yes, how can you make a football match really important on a day like this? It’s really difficult.
I’ve never struggled with this in my life. It was always my safe place, sometimes my hiding place, as a player or as a coach, you could only focus on that for those 90 minutes and that was impossible.
Absolutely impossible to do. It was clear that we had to give an extra feeling to the match and it was about fighting for Lucho, then the boys took their shirts off and to be honest I wasn’t 100% prepared for something like that.
It was really moving, but also beautiful. So yes, that’s it.
We had a lot of weird games, let’s put it that way, where we had 10 guys reacting, turning the tables, things like that.
Checking a game wasn’t necessary that often. Leading 2-0 [today] was the situation and being completely dominant in the game, then staying in the game, keeping the ball moving, staying compact, not allowing them any counter-attacks or corners, and that’s the moment.
You may remember three or four years ago – I don’t know exactly, maybe longer – when we suddenly got a little better, more dominant, then we were leading at home and were still under pressure.
As if being 1-0 up meant nothing, everyone was thinking, “Oh my God, 1-0… 10 minutes left…” We were all halfway to the equalizer, and it was a situation where you have to grow. in it.
The boys have shown wonderful signs in every way, really in every way, but we have to relearn that now.
The key positions are obviously occupied almost everywhere by different players compared to that moment: up front, in midfield, in the last line.
If you want it’s Virg, Trent, Mo and Ali, so four players and the rest are something else. This is where there is room for improvement.
Creating without losing compactness is practically the underlying idea.
If you have to chase a game, that’s obviously a completely different task.
If it’s an open game, the task is different, but if you’re really in control, why not stay in control?
In the last five minutes before halftime we were suddenly a little too deep and they just managed to defend the ball.
One-on-one… we won the situation, but then there was a corner or a throw-in, which by the way is pretty much the same for Nottingham Forest and those are the times where we clearly need to improve.
You can always get better at creative things. This is always possible because kids have so much potential and we need to make the most of it.
Speaking of Alexis Mac Allister’s performance as Number 6…
This is obviously not a real discussion we’re having, otherwise we wouldn’t let him play there.
I think today everyone was able to see the advantage of having a player who comes from the offensive side of the game rather than the other side.
In a game where you have to create things, where you have to pass, where you have to change sides.
This is because not all the bullets hit the target. When you try something in a small space, it’s completely normal.
I have no problem losing balls around the penalty area because that’s where we should be counter-pressing and it can happen.
I’m really happy for him and he had a lot of good moments defensively, really killing the counter attack and stuff like that. He was really there.
He’s good at those things, that’s why we play him there. He’s really good in one-on-one situations and as a team we have to make sure the spaces are really small in those moments.
We can do it with the eight, with the wingers and with the center forward.
We can do it with central defenders defending in midfield in those moments.
Then at times we just have a really creative player in the middle of the park in Trent, which is helpful. Very useful.
