Phillips played an important role in beating Burnley as Liverpool moved to fourth in the Premier League table.
Follow Us
Liverpool were at their fluent best in the 3-0 drubbing of Burnley at Turf Moor on Wednesday. The three points brought Liverpool back into fourth in the Premier League table, edging out Leicester City on goal difference. Nathaniel Phillips was one of the star players of the night. The defender also scored a goal – his first for the club. Either side of his goal, Roberto Firmino and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored one each. Now, Liverpool have fourth place in their hand, going into the final Premier League weekend.
After the match, Jurgen Klopp heaped praise on the 24-year-old defender. When asked about Phillips in the post-match press conference, the manager said, “Very pleased, very pleased. I love the boy, he knows that. If we really make it or not, whatever, let’s talk after the Crystal Palace game.”
“Just let’s finish this season and then if you want I write a book about both boys – about Nat and about Rhys, it’s no problem. But let’s please play this game and let the boys stay focused, let them recover and all these kind of things. Then we can talk about that. I promise you if you want I answer [for] an hour your question.”
Klopp was also happy with the “matured” performance Liverpool showcased in their 3-0 victory against Burnley on Tuesday. “Really good, really mature performance with not a world-class start, let me say it like this. In the beginning we looked quite a little nervy, our passing was really not accurate enough, we gave too many easy balls away and made it too easy for Burnley,” he added.
“But after around 15 minutes we found our feet back and then we played really good football, that’s true. It was very helpful tonight to play that kind of football, score those kinds of goals. We missed the two big chances maybe of the game in the beginning, but the way we played there already was really, really good.”
Happy with the goals they scored, Klopp also said why they had to be at their best to see out the Burnley team. “[We] scored a wonderful goal. Second goal from Nat, outstanding skill from Sadio, nice little chip and great, great header. And the third goal, Oxlade at his best. It looks like timing is right but [it’s] not done yet, we know that.”
“Without that kind of performance, you have no chance here. Burnley is really too strong because the way they play, the way they went for our centre-halves obviously tonight, that’s so tricky to defend and the boys did really well and we needed each single good performance on the pitch tonight.”
