Jurgen Klopp was happy to see Diaz score the late goal, as he explained the reason behind bringing him on as a second-half substitute.
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Liverpool had to dig deep to get a dramatic point late on in the game against Luton Town on Sunday. The Reds created a number of chances during the Premier League match but failed to make them count. With 10 minutes left, Tahith Chong put the home side in front, surprising a lot of people. However, they were not able to hold on to that lead, as Liverpool fought back to score a 95th-minute equaliser through Luis Diaz.
It was a special goal for Luis Diaz keeping in mind the massive family issue he is dealing with currently. Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was happy to see Diaz score the late goal, as he explained the reason behind bringing him on as a second-half substitute. “That we have to talk about that, it’s wonderful, it’s emotional and it’s fantastic. But the real problem is not sorted. We wanted to give – and he wanted as well – Lucho the opportunity to be a little bit distracted from the other things,” Klopp said in his post-match press conference.
He added: “He cannot do nothing, he is waiting all the time, the whole family is waiting all the time. And so he trained now a few times with us and he was then in a good mood, and that’s good for him. I think the signs from Colombia are rather positive, optimistic but the one thing we all want to hear, it didn’t happen yet. He didn’t train a lot and you don’t know exactly when you can bring him. The game was obviously a game where another offensive player would make sense. If you bring him with the quality he has and 15, 20 minutes, I don’t know exactly how long he played, and he scores the goal, so it’s wonderful. That’s it.”
Klopp then shifted his attention to the game as he analysed the result. During the analysis, the manager expressed his displeasure with his side’s lack of counter-pressing in the first half. “Strange game. Strange feeling after the game. I think we should have won, but I think the draw is the deserved result – and we could have lost, so that’s how it is. Credit to Luton, they did really well but even with all what they did, we created chances and didn’t finish them off with the last conviction, to be 100 per cent honest,” he stated.
“We were not calm enough in these moments. We should have scored and we should have created, but first and foremost it was alright – we created probably enough, just put one or two to bed and it’s fine and you win 1-0 or 2-0. Absolutely fine, nobody won here with a crazy result and I knew before why, but now I felt it: they do really well.”
Klopp also stated that he informed the players that he was not happy with the lack of counter-pressing in the first half. “But what I didn’t like, particularly in the first half, was that we had 0.0 [per cent] counter-pressing and that is something I take personally, to be honest. I told the boys, it’s not OK, but because I know that they actually want to do it the question is then why didn’t they do it? So I have to figure that out. But I will, it’s not rocket science probably but that I have to watch it back. I have enough time for that,” he added.
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