The Reds’ 25-match unbeaten run across all competitions, which equalled a club record, was ended by a 3-2 defeat at West Ham last time out.
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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has spoken about the challenges of managing in the Premier League and how important it is to maintain the momentum. The club will be looking to return to winning ways following a shock defeat in the last match before the international break. The Reds’ 25-match unbeaten run across all competitions – that equalled a club record – was ended by a 3-2 defeat at West Ham United last time out. This weekend, Klopp’s side welcome Arsenal to Anfield in the league. In his pre-match press conference, Klopp was asked whether the strength of the Premier League is exciting or creates more pressure as a manager. He replied, “Both. This league is very exciting, absolutely, I can see that – even when I am completely involved but yes, of course, it increases the pressure as well.”
“The league is unbelievable. When I was in Germany, people spoke about the best league in the world [and] where is it. Maybe some people thought it would be Germany, [but] no it’s not. It could be Spain, maybe there were times when it could be Italy but for a few years now, for sure it’s the Premier League – no doubt about that. It’s not a competition [about] which is the strongest league, it’s just how it is. The amount of world-class players in this league is absolutely incredible; I think the English clubs came through this very difficult pandemic so far the best from an economic point of view.”
“It will not get worse for the next few years, I cannot see that – the league will get stronger and stronger and stronger. The managers get better and all these kinds of things, so, yes, it’s a tough race. When you have the momentum, you have to treat it really carefully and sensitively and if you don’t have it, you have to fight with all you have to get it back. That’s what we do.”
Klopp was then asked whether there’s such a thing as a ‘good defeat’ in order to refresh and go again. He explained: “Each defeat is good after you came over it. It needed a little bit of time for different reasons, but yes, a defeat is important information. In the moment when you lose, there is no good defeat, there is no good moment for a defeat, but after that we’ve had time, we could watch a lot of football in between that game and our game, unfortunately not with us being involved, just players of ours.”
“You always want to see and you always have to show a reaction on different things. I spoke after the game about the first goal we conceded, which I thought was a foul. It is a foul, by the way, but because you feel really hard the defeat, you don’t think it’s fair and all these kind of things. In an analysis [meeting] it looks completely different. The goal I hated most was the counter-attacking goal because we had to defend that much better. The other two goals were set-pieces and the second set-piece was incredibly well taken and really well executed.
He added: “The first goal, a foul, the second goal we have to defend it better and that’s what you have to learn from it, that this bit of aggression we have to show more. There are things we can do better. Scoring there against a team in form twice and being very dominant. I’m not sure how often you saw West Ham, but against us they played a little bit like the old West Ham, if you want – set-pieces and counter-attacks.”
“We were really in charge of the game, they had better moments – they always have good moments against us. We won at home against West Ham years ago, 3-2, and it was a really tight game, so you can struggle against West Ham, that’s absolutely clear, but the one goal I hated most was the goal after the counter-attack. These kind of things we have to improve.”
