Jürgen Klopp offered a frank and honest assessment of his club's 3-0 loss to Brighton. Ever the classy coach, Klopp praised Brighton's performance while offering some warranted criticism of Liverpool's. He also addressed the rare quadruple change in the second half and his message to the club in the locker room.
Honesty Is The Best Policy
Reds supporters everywhere saw how the match played out, so there was no reason for the boss to sugarcoat things and he did not.
“Congratulations to Brighton, they played an outstanding game. I really thought in moments we made it a little bit too easy for them, but in general, they played outstanding and we didn't” Klopp said. “We tried to help the boys with a slightly different organisation. I actually thought it could have worked pretty well; we had moments where it worked well, where put them under pressure, but in all situations when we won the ball, we lost the balls in the moment much too easy. That's the main problem, so it means we never get this something going.”
Due For A Change
Per EPL rules, teams are only allowed to make 5 substitutions per match. It's rare to see a manager make four in one window, but that's exactly what Klopp did to try to spark his club. It is believed to be the first time Liverpool have ever brought four subs on the pitch at one time.
“(We) just fresh legs, not getting injured,” Klopp said. “We had these situations today, you saw it, we are a team who don't foul usually like harsh or whatever... we got yellow cards and you could see [the] frustration was involved in that and the two yellow cards, [so] don't make it worse with getting a red and stuff like this. It was clear, it makes absolutely no sense to talk about it, but it would have been really necessary to play real football.”
Silence Speaks Volumes
I'm sure just like the fans, Liverpool knows they played badly. They don't need a firey speech from Klopp to tell them that.
“I didn't say a lot after the game now to the boys because I don't think anything I would have said would've helped,” Klopp said. “It's not the right moment to start. If I have to say something, which helps either way, like wakes somebody up, or lift somebody, then I have time for doing that tomorrow. I was not in the right mindset to do that this afternoon.”
LFC Globe Verdict
As always, Klopp was very honest in his assessment of Liverpool's performance. They did not look good at all. He tried to spark the team with a quadruple change and a slightly different tactical formation, but nothing snapped Liverpool out of their funk. Hopefully, a short turnaround before playing Wolverhampton in the FA Cup will allow the club to put this match out of their mind and refocus.